Western Digital My Book Essential Edition 1TB Review
Ever since the advent of the USB storage devices, it has become extremely easy to add storage to your PC without opening up the case of your CPU and cram in a hard drive. Western Digital needs no introduction as it is easily amongst the top in the storage industry. It’s “My Book” series are amongst the most popular external hard drives in recent years. The company has a series of hard drives that are devised to suite the specific needs of individuals. Their attractive casing, solid built quality and great performance makes the Western Digital external hard drives very popular.
The latest model launched is the Western Digital My Book Essential Edition 1TB USB 2.0, which promises a good chunk of a space at an equally tempting price. It is a USB 2.0 drive external storage device that can be used in either RAID 1 for data security or as a single volume in RAID 0 to take full advantage of the 2 other drives. Though not intended for high throughout performance, its read and writes speeds are on par with other external hard drives. This drive is also projected to be more eco friendly and consumes less power than its predecessors. Targeted at users the external hard drive is perfect for users looking for a simple and secure direct attached storage solution.
Design:
Glossy again:
The WD My Book Edition’s glossy black interior makes it look incredibly sleek and hence dust and fingerprint prone. The casing and the curved corners makes it resemble the classic books and it can easily nestle amongst the books of your rack. Though it would have been better, if it were designed to stand vertically, users want the book feel. The External hard drive is relatively compact for its two bay enclosures, but the real disappointment is the bulky power adapter which makes the package less portable.
Ports and Connectivity:
On the front of the drive is an LED whose colour changes with the drive’s status - powered on, in use, idle, and error. On the back of the drive is a power connector, a low profile USB 2.0 port and a power switch button. It lacks a Firewire port and an eSATA connection, which is extremely disappointing. However, that is justifiable, as the drive (which is preconfigured for RAID 1) is optimized for data protection rather than speed. Here lies the true USP of the drive: If any one of the drives dies, all you need is to replace the drive and there would be absolutely no data loss.
When configured for RAID 0, the extra storage space comes at the cost of more vulnerability. The 2 drives cannot be set up as 2 different volumes and the status and data integrity of one drive has nothing to do with that of the other.
Compatibility, Configuration and Capacities:
The My Book Essential Edition is available from 500GB to 2TB capacities. The My Book Drive is compatible with Windows® XP, Windows Vista®, Windows 7 in the Windows range and Mac OS® X, Tiger®, Leopard®, Snow Leopard in the Mac series. The Drive supports the following languages : English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian.
The file setup is FAT32 that allows you to save about 4 GB in size and one can switch onto the NTFS. If you are a Mac user, all you need to do is to reformat it into OS X’s file system HFS+.
Setup:
Setting up the Hard drive is very easy. All you need to do is plug the power cord to the wall , other end of the drive, USB to the back of the PC and then to the back of the drive.
Features:
Hard drive:
The internal hard drives are user replaceable and all you need to replace them is press a spot in the middle of the top front edge and replace the drive.
The My Book uses the 3.5 inch SATA hard drives and allows you to use ONLY Western Digital hard drives. While this restricts the flexibility of the drive, it is not much of a problem as WD Drives are popular and are sold for relatively cheaper prices.
The Back Up Software:
Along with the drive, there is a full version of the WD Backup anywhere and a 30 day trial for Mionet for remote access. The WD Back up anywhere is a wizard driven back up solution and allows you to back up selected data to any other media including your iPod. The serial key required to install the software is at the back of a corner on the back of the setup instructions poster – a very obscure place. The interesting aspect of this feature is the Visual Backup feature that enables you to display your content in categories and show the progress of a backup.
Data Protection:
Data in the WD My Book is protected by an extra level of security with password protection and 256 bit hardware based encryption.
Cost per gigabyte:
It is not fair to compare the My Book Essential to single direct attached hard drives atleast, in terms of cost per gigabyte. When viewed against single drive units from Maxtor and Vox, the model offers a very compelling value. It is cheaper than the LaCie 2big Dual and Vox V1. Even when you factor that you get roughly half capacity when using the RAID 1 configuration, the My Book Essential offers a highly competitive value.
Accessories Provided:
Apart from the External Hard drive, there is the WD SmartWare software (preloaded), 2 USB Cables, an AC Adapter and an Instruction Manual that comes in the package. There are 2 USB wires provided with the device – one 5 inch and one 2 inch connectors. They are quite handy as most drives do not come with sufficient cables.
Performance:
The transfer rate on the USB 2.0 is about 60MB/s and the average read speed is around 35 Mb/s which is not as bad as it sounds. Sure it lacks Firewire and eSATA ports, but as mentioned earlier the drive focuses more on data protection. A file transfer of 1 GB took almost 40 seconds and copying back to the computer took 20 seconds. The edition is significantly faster than the LaCie while operating through USB 2.0 but it trailed behind most single hard drives by a small margin.
It is reasonable to expect a write speed of 23MB/s and a read speed of 51Mb/s.
Power Consumption:
The Western Digital WDBAAF0010HBK External Drive is designed to save energy and uses WD Green power Technology to lower power consumption up to 30 percent. There is a sleep mode that reduces power during idle times along with a power saving feature that turns the drive off and on with the PC it is connected with. Apart from being a low power consuming drive, the company claims that the packaging has been entirely done out of recycled materials and hence, focusing on less wastage.
The battery remained cool even throughout long and lengthy workloads. Considering that it remains cool and does not produce much noise, the model is a winner in this segment.
Warranty:
The external hard drive is provided with a warranty of 3 years from the date of purchase. Though this is not as good as the 5 year warranty provided on some other drives, it is better than the stingy one year warranty provided on most other drives. The Western Digital website provides Web based support including downloads, a sizeable knowledgeable base, product RMA and an online installation guide.
Verdict:
The Western Digital My Book Essential Edition 1TB USB 2.0, is another product from the storage major that caters to users who are looking for a drive that offers good value as well as data security bundled with a stylish sleek design. Though the drive provides a rather impressive amount of external storage, the hardware seems to have a shell life and there are faster drives in the market than this. However, if you think the design would look great in your rack and you hardly care about the size or other features, this is a good choice.
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My Book Essential Edition 1TB Desktop Hard Drive - Technical Specification Table
| Manufacturer | Western Digital |
| Model Name | My Book Essential Edition 1TB USB 2.0 |
| Product Code | WDBAAF0010HBK |
| Drive type | Hard drive array |
| Enclosure Type | Desktop |
| Hard Disk Interface | USB 2.0 |
| Dimensions (H x W x D) | 137 x 54 x 166 |
| Weight | 1.15 Kg |
| Colours available | Black |
| Capacity | 1TB |
| Other Capacities available | 500GB, 640GB, 750GB, 1.5TB and 2TB |
| Drive Device, Buffer Size | Variable |
| Hard Disk Rotational Speed | 7200 rpm |
| Software included | Memo AutoSync WD MioNet WD Anywhere Backup |
| Compatible systems | Apple MacOS X 10.5.2 or later, Apple MacOS X 10.4.11 or later, Microsoft Windows Vista / 2000 / XP |
| Data transfer rate | 480 Mb/s |
| Compliant Standards | RoHS |
| Power Source | Power adapter |
| Power Requirements | 100 - 240 VAC |
| Package contents | WD My Book Mirror Edition external hard drive, USB cable, AC adaptor and a quick install guide |
| Warranty | 3 years |
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