WD My Book 1TB External Hard Drive Storage USB 3.0 File Backup and Storage

This is the third generation of WD My Book external drives that I have had (the first is over four years old and still running fine). The hardware, always good, just keeps getting better. The current drives use WD green drive technology that spins the drive only as fast as needed and slows it down at other times. Saves considerable energy. The drives fall short of my expectations in two ways. First, WD needs to be much more forthright about the security features they provide. Their specs are vague and some would lead you to believe their security feature hardware encrypts the content of the drive. The fact that I can turn it on and off with change of a password and it takes zero time to re-write the disk suggests the feature really is not much more than password access to the drive -- something that is much less desirable from a security perspective. I was expecting hardware encryption. I dont think I got it. Second, WD provides some basically grossly over-simplified back-up software. It provides no ability to control which directories are backed up; all or nothing. Dont bother to install it!

I have 2 of these drives. Theyre dependable so far in that Ive experienced no problems with any data loss. Theyre plug and play and I use them as stand alone externals for back up. I dont unplug them and move them around which is why I bought 2 of them. One is running on an HP XP and the other on a Sony Vaio 64 bit Windows 7 desktop. My only complaint with this drive is that its slow to wake up. If I want to copy a file, when I drag it to the WD Drive, I oftentimes get a not responding message and then a few seconds later it copies ok. If I double click to open the drive to copy something into a folder, it takes about 10 seconds for the drive to wake up before I can copy to it. Other than that, the drive is fine and at a good price, its perfect for backups.

I ordered the 2tb version. I average around 60MB/s. Whereas hooking this same drive via SATA to my PC, I average around 78MB/sec. I was using a usb 3.0 nec pci-e card. I suspect this is a limitation of the usb 3.0 standard, though theoretically it should not be a problem. And to address my biggest issue with this hard drive is that there is no way to turn off the encryption for this hard drive. I thought this to be an option, so I didnt mind ordering this over similarly priced alternatives. This bothers me because if for whatever reason you remove the drive from the case to install directly into a computer, you will not have any access to the stored data. You will be prompted by your computer to initialize, which will pretty much guarantee recovery will be impossible. In my case, I did not have a usb 3.0 card at the time, and the 2.0 speeds were ridiculously slow. So I removed the drive and hooked it up directly to my computer via SATA in hopes to transfer >1tb data much faster than usb 2.0 speeds. However, I had zero access to my hard drive when installed directly to the motherboard. Computer would not recognize the drive. If I initialize when prompted I would be able to use the drive in Windows just fine. BUT when I put the drive back into the external enclosure, the computer would no longer recognize it again, because the hardware controller is decrypting data that is already not encrypted, so its just scrambling the data up. This was before I installed the wd software. So I installed the software hoping I could disable it. Lo and behold, it was already disabled. So whats the point of enabling it? You can set a password to the drive to access it. Buyer Beware! edit 12/13/13: Just saw the many thumbs down on my review. :( The point I was trying to make, was that if the enclosure breaks for whatever reaason, ie the usb port or power port breaks, then unless you can fix these problems (ie. resolder a new port on a circuit board), there will be no way to recover the data on your hard drive without paying hundreds if not thousands of dollars to a professional. You would normally be able to remove the hard drive from the enclosure and buy a new generic enclosure (or even use a same brand/model enclosure) or hook up the hard drive directly to the computer to access the files. HOWEVER, all data using the stock enclosure is automatically hardware encrypted, whether you set a security password or not! And the encryption is unique to each device, meaning simply buying a new model and switching out the hard drives will not work. Your computer will not be able to access any files on the hard drive at all, and will insist on formatting the drive to something it can recognize (making professional recovery even harder). You can search the reviews for encryption, and you will see that people have already ran into this problem.

Well with all the demands for offline backup to store all that stuff you think is worth storing this may be a good choice. I got my unit to throw all my photo files into after the supposedly automatic backup from Norton quitworking. Not being a real techy type I had my doubts as to how to hook it up. No worries. You just plug it in and attach the USB and you are off and running. The software is all preinstalled and my computer recognizes the drivers right off. All I did was pick how often I wanted it to run a backup on my files or amendments to them. Amazons price was really good as I looked a lot of places for this unit. So if you too need s secure place for some of your importasnt data, you can pick which kind, this might be the one. Western Digital Has been around a long time and not because they make bad stuff.

This was a good deal on a high-capacity hard drive. I wanted to get a drive that would theoretically be the last external storage I would ever need, and I was pleased that this one at least offered some means of eventually upgrading to USB 3.0. So far its working great with no problems. I converted it to FAT32 for use with my PS3 and had no problems doing so. I use it to backup files and store music, video, etc. that I wont always have room for on my computers hard drive. I dont use it for automatic backup, so I cant comment on that. I rated the bundled software at 1 star because I have no interest in it and wish it had come without. They should just give you a code to download that stuff if you want it. For people worried that it cant be removed or the drive will not work correctly, I have not had any issues after removing it and reformatting to FAT32. I have only had this for about 6 months, so long-term viability is still to be seen, but so far I dont have any complaints and still consider it a good deal.

This 2TB hard drive workds great to extend the memory on my DishNetworks ViP 722K recorder. This price of $109.99 is less than the 1TB WD for $119.99 recommended on Dishs Website. After connecting the power and usb connections, this hard drive needed to be formated. I went to Menu, then multimeda, then it asked me if I wanted to format the harddrive. It took around 15 minutes or so, then the DVR recorder had to find the signal again. After all was said and done, total time was less than 30 min. total setup to get everything up and running. I did call dishnetwork to talk me through the formating part. Just didnt know where to find it. Movies take about 13-15 min to transfer over to the harddrive. One thing I like is that once I copy what I want to the harddrive, when I go to MY RECORDINGS, MY MEDIA comes up at the top of the list, so it is easy to find.

Ok here it goes. This is my first ever external Hard drive so please bear with me on this review. **Just buy this one period**** hahahaha just kidding but no seriously this one is nice. ****HERE ARE SOME IMPORTANT INSTRUCTIONS IF YOU GET THIS HARD DRIVE ****** 1st - Dont move it around: This is a desktop hard drive NOT a portable drive like the Passport Wallet Drives. So just put on your desk and dont move it around too much. The reason is that apparently with this particular hard drive, the connector in the back may become loose and create a bad USB connection. Supposedly this hard drive doesnt like being unplugged and replugged too many times. I just put mine laying down flat and not standing up, I dont want to run the risk of the desk shaking and having the drive topple over and possibly damaging the drive. Ive had my hard drive for almost 3 months now and I have not experienced any problems with the connectors yet, but again I dont ever unplug and replug it back and fourth. I just leave it alone. 2nd - DONT INSTALL THE ***** WD Smartware ****** **This is the most important thing to remember*** When you plug it in for the first time ***DONT INSTALL THE WD Smartware*** The only thing you should install or run is the SES driver. What this does is it rememebers your hard drive for the next time you restart your computer or when you plug in your hard drive back to the computer. Other wise its just going to keep asking you to relearn the device everytime you plug in the hard drive. Thats it...that is all you need to do. I found Scott Saccentis review to be very helpful. He did his review back in October 12, 2011. This is the title of his review How to set up your WD My Book Essential 3TB 3.0 USB drive This is a quote from his post If you dont install the SES driver, you will have to put up with the minor irritation of having to sit there a few seconds every time you plug it in and have it re-recognize the two drivers that it will successfully install, and hit the error on the SES driver not being found. For me, this is enough of an irritation that I install the SES driver. But you absolutely do NOT have to, if you dont mind putting up with those few extra seconds on every plug-in. Your call. If you want the SES driver installed, follow the next step. If you dont, skip it and NO harm done. --I dont want to sit there for a slow driver install every time I plug these things in, that is not the way to go for me. So I install the SES driver. BUT, I am not going to put the WD bloatware on my machine. And I dont have to. The SES driver is available as an automatic OPTIONAL download from Windows Update. So you need to launch Windows update from your computer, and you need to re-check for the latest updates, to refresh the list. Now that you have plugged in this new drive, you will find among the OPTIONAL Windows updates an SES driver listed. Install this update in the usual way. I dont think you need a reboot, but then it never hurts. So after downloading and installing the update, remove your new drive from your computer, the usual safe way, by Safely Remove Hardware and Eject Media :) Reboot. Now plug your new drive back in again. You should find it is discovered just a bit quicker now, and with no driver error. Great. Here is the direct link to his review: http://www.amazon.com/review/R31CQOY6CS24X/ref=cm_cr_dp_cmt?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B0042Z55RM&nodeID=172282&store=electronics#wasThisHelpful The reason: Here is the reason for not installing the WD Smartware to your computer. When I first got this hard drive i installed the software and then proceeded to do a full back up of all my files in my computer. Only later to find out that it back up about 30 - 40% of all my data. I was LIVID (furious) to say the least. It takes alot to make me very angry but this did it. I tried in vain to figure out why this happened or how to get it to back up the rest of the files. Eventually i uninstalled the software and restarted fresh again and just copy the files on my own. So here is what you do: - Buy this hard drive...LOL - Plug it in and install that SES driver that I mentioned - Next go to and click the Computer tab in the start menu from your desktop home screen - Look for the folder icon that says My Book - If you want a shortcut icon on your desktop home screen then right click the My book folder and select create shortcut - If not then just open it from the computer tab.... your choice - Then after you open the My Book folder, you can now start creating New folders for you to start transfering files into. Just drag over any files or folder that you want to back up. Simple.. Now, I know what some of you might be saying to yourselves right this very moment. i.e. What???? I have to do what again??? I have to drag over each folder??? Isnt the software supposed to do that for me??? Like I said before the software SUCKS. I will explain. Trust me when I say that its not as bad compared to what I had to go through along with many other people that have gone through the same pain. ***It really doesnt take that long to transfer folders over. Most people already have their folders pretty organized in their computers. You have your Picture folders, video folders, documents, music folders or games folders. Those are your main catagories anyway. Most of your stuff will fall under one of those catagories anyway. So just drag over the entire folder over to My Book and thats all there is to it. But over all there really isnt an explanation to excuse for that drawback on the software except for my explanation in my conclusion for this product. Conclusion: This was my first external hard drive purchase so I did a lot of research reading reviews just like your are doing right now. What I have found is that every product out there has some flaws. Its up to the buyer to do their homework and weigh the Pros and Cons and decide what suits them the best for their needs. I did just that. I read reviews for many different brands of external hard drives and based on those reviews I was made aware of what I might encounter with this particular hard drive. ***I wish that I had paid more attention to some of the advice given but alas. Having said that, after doing much research I decide that this one stood out the most out many other brands available. Even with the minor inconveniences, this one is still a better choice i think compared to some other brands where I saw some bad reviews for their hard drives. Some of the things I read where of drives crashing, just stopped working out of nowhere, bad software issues etc, etc, etc.. ***I found that out of all the other brands or models out there, this model has the least amount of problems or flaws at a reasonable price. OH and I just saw that the price dropped too. Now this drive may have a minor issue with their software BUT at least you have an option where you can still use the hard drive without it. Plain and Simple. I hope this review helps you to make a smart decision on your hard drive purchase. Good Luck!!!

The WD My Book Essential 3.0 1 TB is great for those whove been wondering if they wanted a USB 3.0 drive for their desktop PC. With its superfast performance the drive will significantly alter your expectations for external hard drives. Costing about $88.99 for the 1TB version buying from Amazon.com and about $125.00 for the 2 TB version; the My Book Essential 3.0 is about $50 more expensive than its USB 2.0 counterpart, however, I feel its difference is well worth it. If you have a PC desktop and are looking for a simple external hard drive, look no further than the Western Digital My Book Essential 3.0. I have been using the WD My Book Essential 3.0 1 TB since receiving it on 03/4/11 backing-up all my personal data files approx sixty-five (65) times, they are very large (over 12,000 mp3 & photos alone) without any tribulations. The Western Digital 3.0 ran flawlessly with a noticeable difference in speed compared to my old 2.0 USB external drive. I also have run numerous virus and malware prgrams through the device without any difficulty. I also recognize I used this product approx. sixty-five (65) times backing up my data files without any problems, will it continue to be reliable in the future, time will tell. Update: 12/06/11...Still backing-up all personal data very well without any problems at all!!! Design and Features The WD My Book 3.0 is a no-frills storage device. It has a straightforward design with one tiny white light on its front that serves both as the power and activities indicator and on its back it only has a Mini-USB 3.0 port. The drive is bundled with a Mini-USB 3.0 cable, a power adapter, built-in software and a well-illustrated quick-setup poster. Even without the quick-setup poster, its very easy to set up the WD My Book 3.0. Just connect it to a computer using the included USB cable, plug in the power, and turn it on. After installation, the hard drive is instantaneously available to the computer and is preformatted using NTFS file system. For those who have older desktop PCs with only 2.0 USB ports (2.0 USB ports designated by the color White - 3.0 USB ports designated by the color Blue) you will have to purchase a USB 3.0 PCI Interface Card and install it in your computer before you are capable of utilizing the 3.0 speed.

I had a 2 tb wd essential hard drive as well as a WDTV box and loved it. I decided that i wanted to expand my collection, so i gave my sister my old 2tb wd hard drive and purchased a new 3 tb one for myself(transferring my important files over to the new one before giving over my smaller drive. I spent about 2 days transferring my files and finally plugged in my new 3 tb hard drive into the wdtv box and nothing. It didnt recognize it at all, my computer was able to see all of my files but the wdtv box does NOT recognize anything over 2tb. So, now after several hours of research, I know that I shouldnt have wasted so much time and effort. I just wished someone warned me of this before i made this (semi large purchase). I also tried to partition the hard drive to trick the wdtv into thinking that it was 2 separate hard drives totaling 3 tb, but it doesnt work. Now my only options are to clear out this massive hard drive, purchase a new 2 tb hard drive and refill it again (remember it took 2 days) or purchase a much much more expensive wdtv live player that can accept a hard drive larger than 2 tb. Overall.. please check which wdtv player you have before purchasing any hard drive over 2 tb, it will not accept anything larger I dont have much to say about the hard drive functioning for a computer. It seems to work pretty well, but the usb plug gets a little wacky, it tends to loose the connection when you slightly move my laptop. Its possible that i got a bad cable and thats that, but fair warning overall.

I have owned this hard disk since November 2011 and so far, it is working out great!! I had read all the product reviews and I was wary about how fragile it is( people said it stops working if it drops), so I am being extra super careful with it like I would my baby! People also recommend that you should not use the WD backup software for one reason or another, so the first thing I did was to create folders called back up, and then copy pasted my Documents, Videos and Pictures in these folders to avoid anything going wrong. Anywho, I bought this for back up and movies and it serves its purpose. However, if you are a PlayStation 3 fanatic and you want to play games you have saved on this hard disk, please note that you have to re-format the disk to FAT32 because PS3 doesnt read NTFS. I dont know the politics involved in some of these decisions, so I am just giving free info..................... I use my older smaller WD hard disk 250 GB passport for PS3 games and back up, so I am good to go for the time being. Otherwise, this is my second WD hard disk and I hope it continues working just fine.