As a Portable Drive? Western Digital My Book Pro Edition 250GB External Hard Drive How good is Western Digital My Book Pro Edition 250GB External Hard Drive as a portable drive? Is it reliable/durable if carried from class to class as student at college?Thanks...Jon As a Portable Drive? Western Digital My Book Pro Edition 250GB External Hard Drive How good is Western Digital My Book Pro Edition 250GB External Hard Drive as a portable drive? Is it... » Read More As a Portable Drive? Western Digital My Book Pro Edition 250GB External Hard Drive How good is Western Digital My Book Pro Edition 250GB External Hard Drive as a portable drive? Is it reliable/durable if carried from class to class as student at college?Thanks...Jon « Show Less
568848
I wouldn't recommend any of the My Book series for frequent moves, they just don't seem substantial enough. Don't get me wrong, they're good drives, just not built for moving around alot. You might want to look at the Western Digital Passport series of hard drives instead which are supposedly very rugged.
1123955
DONT MOVE IT SO MUCH, IT MIGHT SAY BOOK, BUT IT DOESNT MEAN THAT YOU MUST TAKE IT EVEYWHERE ONCE IN A WHYLE, I DO NOT RECOMMEND IT FOR OUTER USE JUST AT HOME OR TAKE IT TO YOUNEIGHTBOORS HOUSE TOPS!! NO MORE THAN THAT, BUT IF YOU WANT SOMETHING TO TAKE IT EVEYWHERE GET A MAXTOR EXTERNAL DRIVE EDDITION, THOSE ARE PRETTY RUGGED AND SHOCK PROOF MY FRIEND
904713
I've only used it as a standalone hard drive copy device, but I believe you can use it as an external hard drive unit too. I'm using Mac OSX
563272
My 4TB drive is used as a backup drive in a Mac Pro computer (I have four internal drives). The first drive was faulty but it was promptly replaced by Western Digital and the replacement now works without any problems.
1128740
I have 3 westerns in my pc i havent had a seagate in awhile. I have a seagate external drive and its ran fan for like 7 years. So i would look up some reviews of both and see which one is best.
1668242
I was wondering the same thing, and read this review:I've been wanting an external for a long time, but the price just wasn't right. Caught this during the holidays and couldn't pass it up. Being it's my first external, I have nothing to compare it to, but I am pleased with my purchase. Great portability, lightweight, and big amount of storage. I was worried about compatibility with a Mac, but it works seamlessly between Mac and PC. Would consider purchasing another in the future. Also, the same item is at Wal-Mart and on the product page it states that it IS supported by both Mac and PC formats. http://www.walmart.com/catalog/allReviews.do?product_id=10992462 Hope this helps! I was wondering the same thing, and read this review:I've been wanting an external for a long time, but the price just wasn't right. Caught this during the holidays and couldn't pass it up. Being it's my first external, I have nothing to compare it to, but I am pleased with my purchase. Great portability, lightweight, and big amount of storage. I was worried about compatibility with a Mac, but it works seamlessly between Mac and PC. Would consider purchasing another in the future. Also, the same item is at Wal-Mart and on the product page it states that it IS supported by... » Read More I was wondering the same thing, and read this review:I've been wanting an external for a long time, but the price just wasn't right. Caught this during the holidays and couldn't pass it up. Being it's my first external, I have nothing to compare it to, but I am pleased with my purchase. Great portability, lightweight, and big amount of storage. I was worried about compatibility with a Mac, but it works seamlessly between Mac and PC. Would consider purchasing another in the future. Also, the same item is at Wal-Mart and on the product page it states that it IS supported by both Mac and PC formats. http://www.walmart.com/catalog/allReviews.do?product_id=10992462 Hope this helps! « Show Less
482506
I have been loking around for an external drive, and I've noticed they all fail! IMO the best way to gois to have 2 of the drives and do a periodic copy of each to each. I have a free agent on my mac and it has been working perfectly, but I am looking for a drive to back up between a PC and a mac. Two cheap drives may be more reliable than a single more expensive, since they all fail and you cant "pay out" of the uncertainty. Change that: Buy two expensive hard drives and dont even fool with the Seagates..
1310603
It isn't a dedicated external drive, so can be initialized by any disk utility app you should have with Windows of any version. It isn't especially fast for constant random access but it is very reliable for backup storage. Id recommend it if you're in need of mass backup. I use it for iTunes media files and it works great.
629559
I just had a Western Digital 2TB My Book fail miserably (miserably!!! Dead!) after two months. I've never had any other drive fail (and I've used much smaller capacity WD external drives w/out issue in the past). But i'm now a Seagate (1TB Freeagent) user because I won't trust the larger WD's any longer. Once bitten! ;) Since the failure, many of my colleagues have admitted the same type of failure from their WD's and are using Seagates with good results. If you search online, you'll see very mixed reviews with similar negative views of the Seagates, but I can only speak from my own very frustrating experience with my WD. I just had a Western Digital 2TB My Book fail miserably (miserably!!! Dead!) after two months. I've never had any other drive fail (and I've used much smaller capacity WD external drives w/out issue in the past). But i'm now a Seagate (1TB Freeagent) user because I won't trust the larger WD's any longer. Once bitten! ;) Since the failure, many of my colleagues have admitted the same type of failure from their WD's and are using Seagates with good results. If you search online, you'll see very mixed reviews with similar negative views of the Seagates, but I can only speak from my own very... » Read More I just had a Western Digital 2TB My Book fail miserably (miserably!!! Dead!) after two months. I've never had any other drive fail (and I've used much smaller capacity WD external drives w/out issue in the past). But i'm now a Seagate (1TB Freeagent) user because I won't trust the larger WD's any longer. Once bitten! ;) Since the failure, many of my colleagues have admitted the same type of failure from their WD's and are using Seagates with good results. If you search online, you'll see very mixed reviews with similar negative views of the Seagates, but I can only speak from my own very frustrating experience with my WD. « Show Less
1120024
I have a "very old" External Hard drive...not this make/model...I turn it on once/quarter to backup recent files...it's probably over 3 years old. Recently, I bought one of these WD Elite 500GB models...my plan is to backup on two externals...in case one fails. I know this seems lame, but it is the only way to ensure everything sticks around. Seems like its worth the extra $100.
482504
That may be true, but I've noticed that Seagate gives you a five-year warranty while Western Digital gives you only one. As long as you don't keep your ONLY copy of something important on the drive, I would go with the Seagate knowing that you'll have at least five years of replacements in case it fails.
1651631
Hi Susan, the HD WD Elements 2TB is a low end HD, it is used to store/back up data and it comes back to sleeping mode. If you need a heavy duty (continuously running), you should look for WD PURPLE Series. I know this one is internal drive 3.5 inches. I do not know WD has USB or not. Good luck...
809744
I have both the 256gb and the 1tb USB drives. So far I am quite impressed by the transfer speed and reliability of them. So much that I carry a great deal of information to include pictures and songs. So far neither one of them failed on me. You need to verify that the drive is a legitimate one by checking that on the USB port connector has the serial number engraved. I understand that there are some cheap ones on the market with a much lesser performance and capacity from what is described! I hope this may help!
141733
The drive works well. USB 3.0 is faster only if the computer being used is too. The drive is slightly smaller than WD, Toshiba, etc. But it is not significantly smaller or faster than a like WD. I think WD comes in 2TB for about the same price.
1152555
I haven't opened my case yet, but I have a 500 GB solid state drive. It's possible it can be a Western Digital, but I don't know if they vary based on drive size. The 1 TB drive could be from a different manufacturer.
1120022
I bought a western digital 500Gb external hard-drive for back up. I was always afraid of this hard-drive crash, so one day I started to backup my WD backup hard-drive, that's when I get a error message saying IO error from this cursed WD hard-drive. All my precious pictures are gone, I still regret until now that I should have second backup for my data. Never buy from WD again. The good news is that there are data recovery services, but they will cost you an arm and a leg.
98247
Western Digital's support portal doesn't say, and honestly once the drive dies your warranty is forever impacted, as you only have a year from the refurbished drive before it's no longer supported. In the review I didn't clarify the seller, the seller was EOnline. When I ordered it it was posted as a WD1500HLHX, now my review is showing under a 600GB model so perhaps I'm not the only one they were making that mistake with.
1128741
I've chosen Western Digital because of reliability. I've owned 4 WD drives: An 80GB, a 160GB, a 500GB, and this 1TB, and haven't had one of them fail on me. But as another user stated, WD sends just the drive itself. You'll have to download software, find screws, etc