User Reviews

1. Review Date: 2009-11-23

   This drive is like no other drive I have ever bought. Once you connect it to your system, it FORCES a Virtual CD drive (VCD) onto your operating system that CAN NOT BE REMOVED IN ANY WAY by the user. This is GARBAGE! This drive is going right back. I have never heard of such an insane idea as this. There is nothing on the packaging to indicate that this drive will take over your OS. This feature is burned into the drive's firmware!
   
   WORST IDEA I'VE SEEN IN 10 YEARS.
   
   User: Mark S. Deneen
   Rating:
   Summary: BEWARE OF THIS DRIVE!!!! It is HARDWIRED.
   Helpful Votes: 0
   Total Votes: 0
   

2. Review Date: 2009-11-12

   I bought my My Essentials 1 TB external hard drive about 2 1/2 months ago. I had never purchased an external hard drive before but looked around, saw this one and the price seemed as right as I could make it so I bought it. Installing things onto my computer has always given my nerves a little rattle. Never the less, the installation worked fine. Soon began the backing up of my data. I was pretty wary of it all but it seems to be doing fine. I would just suggest that unless you have done this before to GO SLOW! The last thing anyone wants to do is act rashly and end up with a $120.00 paper weight. Get adjusted to what it does and what it doesn't. I still haven't figured it all out but seeing the degree of negative reviews I want to say that I am having a decent experience with mine.
   
   User: Obi-Wan
   Rating:
   Summary: It works fine by me.
   Helpful Votes: 0
   Total Votes: 0
   

3. Review Date: 2009-11-11

   Western Digital continues to disappoint. My Mybook drive just failed - (makes clicking sounds). Good thing I know not to rely on such a flaky brand name for important backups.
   I have not used this drive much - I have drives from other manufacturers which have lasted 5 times longer and are still going.
   
   I have had problems with WD since the last 17 years. Once I got a batch of 5 drives all of which failed within 3 months.
   
   Now I only get a WD in my hands if its a left over from some project where I did not order it. But now I think even no drive is better than a free unreliable hard drive.
   
   I was also disappointed to read another review here where one has to run some proprietary WD software in order to use the drive.
   
   DONT WASTE YOUR MONEY AND TIME.
   
   Buy from another manufacturer.
   
   
   
   
   
   User: Taufiq Habib
   Rating:
   Summary: Unreliable Hard Drive - Goodbye Western Digital
   Helpful Votes: 1
   Total Votes: 1
   

4. Review Date: 2009-11-09

   What an idiot. I'm now stuck with this really truly dreadful software, which is utter bloatware, wont recognise drives and uses [...] framework. You have really let me down WD, your drives were amazing before and now you have added a pig of piece software to what could have been an excellent drive which apparently I cannot remove? Really gutted. It hogs four running processes in the background which consume the best part of 200Mb. A ruined product.
   
   User: Stephen Scott
   Rating:
   Summary: Should have known better...
   Helpful Votes: 1
   Total Votes: 1
   

5. Review Date: 2009-11-08

   it was affordable easy to transfer files at a decent speed overall pleased with price & preformance
   
   User: noreservations
   Rating:
   Summary: affordable and does the job
   Helpful Votes: 0
   Total Votes: 0
   

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Editorial Reviews

Our best-selling My Book external drive is an elegant, high-capacity storage solution for all the chapters of your digital life. Our latest edition now features visual, easy-to-use, automatic, continuous backup software and drive lock security protection. At last, beauty, brains, and simplicity together.

Elegant design. This book-like shape takes up minimal space on your desk and allows two or more My Book drives to nestle neatly together like volumes on a shelf.	See your life safe in one place. WD SmartWare software - A visual control center with a single screen view of all your data. From it you can back up, retrieve, and secure your files.	Password protection. An extra level of security with password protection and 256-bit hardware-based encryption.

Features at a glance Automatic, continous backup Illuminated capacity gauge Password protection and hardware encryption WD SmartWare software 2-years limited warranty

Smaller, sleeker, more streamlined design - We've made these award-winning drives even smaller, sleeker, and more elegant. As always, this book-like shape takes up minimal space on your desk and allows two or more My Book drives to nestle neatly together like volumes on a shelf.

WD SmartWare™ - A control center for your drive that gives you the power to:

-- Protect your data automatically - Relax, your data is secure. Automatic, continuous backup will instantly make a second copy whenever you add or change a file.

-- See your backup as it happens - Seeing is believing. Visual backup displays your content in categories and shows the progress of your backup.

-- Bring back lost files effortlessly - Retrieve your valuable data to its original location whether you’ve lost all your data or just overwritten an important file.

-- Take control - Customize your backup, set drive security, run diagnostics, manage the power settings, and more from the WD SmartWare control center.

Find out more about WD SmartWare™

Drive lock - Gain peace of mind knowing that your data is protected from unauthorized access or theft with password protection and 256-bit hardware-based encryption.

Illuminated capacity gauge - See at a glance how much space is available on your drive.

USB 2.0 interface - Powered directly from the USB port on your PC. No separate power supply is needed*.
* An optional cable is available for the few computers that limit power from the USB port.

Power miser - My Book external drives are designed to save energy. WD GreenPower Technology™ lowers internal drive power consumption by up to 30%, a sleep mode reduces power during idle times, and a power-saving feature turns the drive on and off with your computer.

Planet friendly - We designed a small box from recycled materials to minimize waste. We encourage you to recycle it.

Ready to plug-and-play with Windows PCs - If you're a Mac user, check out our Mac version of this product.

Ideal For

• Protecting your data with automatic, continous backup
• Retrieving lost data effortlessly
• Adding extra storage space for photos, videos and music
• Securing private or sensitive data

Compatibility

Formatted NTFS
Windows® XP, Windows Vista®, Windows 7
Mac OS® X Tiger®, Leopard®, Snow Leopard™ (requires reformatting)

Note: Compatibility may vary depending on user's hardware configuration and operating system.

What's in the box

External hard drive, WD SmartWare software, USB cable, AC adapter, Quick Install Guide.

Backup software you'll really use � WD SmartWare Five great reasons to love it:
1. It's easy - Data backup can be a chore, but it's your family photos, your movies, your music - your life - and it's important to protect it. So we made this software extra easy because we really want you to use it.
2. You can see your life safe in one place - See your content displayed in easy to understand categories like movies and photos. Watch the progress of your backup as it happens with the instant-feedback color bars. Now you can truly be sure that all your stuff is backed up. A unique visual interface lets you see the drives connected to your computer. WD SmartWare will automatically scan your computer and find all of your personal files, including e-mail. Content category gauges show how much information you have to be backed up in each category. You can even mouse over a category to see a file count. Simply click Run Backup and WD SmartWare will automatically start backing up your files. As your backup is running the category gauges will change color showing you the backup as it happens. When finished, you’ll see a status screen and information about your backup. You only have to do this once. After the first backup your files will be backed up automatically every time you change or add a file.
	3. It's always on the job - WD SmartWare is always watching your computer, so when you change a file and save it, create new files, add new pictures, movies, or songs, WD SmartWare will instantly back them up.
4. You can bring back lost files effortlessly - If you ever accidentally delete an important file, or need to get an earlier version of a file, you can find and retrieve it in seconds with this easy-to-use interface. Restore files and folders by categories – photos, music, video, for example. Find a lost file with the search function. Go back in time to retrieve an older version of a file.
5. You're in control - WD SmartWare software is also a control center for your external drives. From it you can: Customize your backup Set drive security Run diagnostics Manage the power settings, and more...