Western Digital My Book Essential Edition WDG1U5000 500 GB

Western Digital My Book Essential Edition WDG1U5000 500 GB

WDG1U5000E - External hard drive - 7200 rpm - USB 2.0 more

2 offers from £81.00 to £135.99

Overall user rating Western Digital My Book Essential Edition WDG1U5000 500 GB 6 reviews | Write a review | Add product to list

Small, simple, elegant, and very easy to use. Just plug this drive in, and you've got plenty of room to back up and save your valuable data, music, photos, and movies.





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2 out of 2 offers for Western Digital My Book Essential Edition WDG1U5000 500 GB   sorted by Price  
My Book Essential Edition WDG1U5000 - Hard drive - 500 GB - external - Hi-Speed USB - 7200 ... My Book Essential Edition WDG1U5000 - Hard drive - 500 GB - external - Hi-Speed USB - 7200 ...
Small, simple, elegant, and very easy to use. Just plug it in, and you've got plenty of ... more
room to back up and save your valuable data,
music, photos, and movies.The elegant case, iconic
of a book, takes up less space on your desk,
stacks horizontally, an...
£ 81.00 microwarehouse.co.uk

Postage & Packaging£5.88
AvailabilityNew Ships same day
microwarehouse.co.uk...

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MyBook, Me Like
A review by orrin31 on Western Digital My Book Essential Edition WDG1U5000 500 GB
May 30th, 2007


Author's product rating:   


Advantages: Very easy to use
Disadvantages: USB only

Recommend to potential buyers: yes 

Full review
The ‘Essential Edition’ of the Western Digital MyBook only has USB2.0, which for me, is fine as I can plug it into any computer I wish. Other editions include Firewire, which of course costs more and not all computers support Firewire.

It has a (fairly long) 3m power cable, a standard USB (type B) cable to connect to the computer and the box itself, that is very simple to set up and to use. The front has a green circle that lights up when switched on and flickers when in use. Apart from that, it is completely black in colour and has no other distinguishing features. It took me 2 minutes to set up and start to use, and that included opening the cardboard packaging!

I decided to buy the 500gb capacity, as I already had another external hard disk which has 320gb, which was completely full. I needed another 500gb as backup and storing extra files. I’m in the middle of converting the vast collection of family videos to DVD and it’s surprising how much space you need to do this. I’ve only a 80gb internal hard disk so an external disk is helpful and can be shared more easily.

The two most impressive things with the MyBook when I opened the box:
1. It’s smaller than I expected it to be, smaller than the size of a realm of A4 paper (much lighter too) and
2. It’s REALLY quiet. There’s no fan, so apart from the circle of green light at the front you wouldn’t have thought it was switched on. My other external drive is pretty quiet but you can hear a faint whirling sound. With the MyBook – no sound at all!

It’s pre-formatted with FAT32, so be careful when copying large files (it has a file size limit of just under 4gb). If you’re using Windows XP or Vista, format it to NTFS. This includes basic compression and security. More importantly, NTFS uses the space on the disk much more efficiently. Warning: NTFS will only work on the latest versions of Windows.

The drive has some ‘free’ software on the drive. Unfortunately, none of it helps you make backups, it’s just Google stuff (desktop, toolbar etc) and an old version of Adobe Acrobat Reader. I wouldn't bother even looking at this if I were you! Delete it!

Like most computer hardware, the speed is only matched by the connection to the computer. Since it uses USB 2.0, you only get USB 2.0 speeds (480Mbps), which for a 7,200rpm hard drive is quite slow, especially if you have a large capacity drive (+100gb). Firewire 800 is much faster but you’re paying for the extra speed too, so there are some questions to ask yourself before buying one of these.

I noticed that it powers down when the computer shuts down and powers back up when the computer is switched on – nice touch! The green circle can be pressed for a few seconds if you really need to turn it off in a hurry, though use the ‘Safely Remove Hardware’ facility, in Windows if you can.

The only serious issue I should mention is that the maximum operating temperature is only 35 degrees, as it has no fan. This means it needs good ventilation. This is particularly important if your computer is situated in a confined place (eg. a box room). I have put mine near a window, just in case. It would be nice if there was a temperature warning light somewhere at the front of the box.

On the whole, the MyBook has almost no drawbacks. The USB 2.0 speed and the temperature warning are the only things I can think of, but they are to be expected. Even the price is very reasonable. A bargain! 

More Reviews
Book-shaped external storage? Brilliant!
Review of Western Digital My Book Essential Edition WDG1U5000 500 GB by Ohajiki

Advantages: Good value for money, very simple to use
Disadvantages: Not portable and has a power cable and usb cable

...500gb available. Produced by Western Digital who are a confirmed producer of storage devices both internal and external, I chose it because of it's confirmed brand and at the time the price was good. It is a quirky shape in that as the title suggests it is book shaped. To give further guidance it is about the height and width of the paperback edition of the Da Vinci Code and as such fits nicely on a book shelf., obviously without the wiring. The ...
...it is quite quick and transfers your files easily. - It is externally powered which means it is faster. - You can do drag and drop backups if you only want to back up one folder to save time. - It is good value for money is that it gives you what you want for a reasonable price. - It is easy to use and will self install on most machines above Windows 2000 (which includes Vista), although drivers for Windows 98 were also available online. - Unlike ... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
very helpful

19.11.2007
Great as always
Review of Western Digital My Book Essential Edition WDG1U5000 500 GB by thewhitewolf

Advantages: space, price ease of use
Disadvantages: none

I really do love Western Digital hard drives as they deliver great performance and storage at very reasonable prices. This is no exception. This is a very cool and compact metal-cased storage device that works as well as you would expect from Western Digital, which means phenomenal performance at a great price. Design Its presented in a big box, and I was very relieved (and also surprised) to see how small it actually is! At 8cm in width, by 1.5 ...
...on/off button to as on the MyBook western digital range. During powerdown of your computer, the hard disk will automatically turn off, so there is no need to turn it off yourself. I would thoroughly recommend this product due to its great reliability and very good value for money. ... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
very helpful

05.11.2007
Your data should be safe
Review of Western Digital My Book Essential Edition WDG1U5000 500 GB by FirstToTry

Advantages: Fast, nice design, prevents data loss and corruption
Disadvantages: slows down the start up time (unknown reason)

General Western Digital specialises in producing external hard drives therefore their products are of good quality. The My Book Essential offers 500 GB which is more than enough for a standard user (Family usage). You can back up your pictures, videos, documents and programs without running out of space. Design The HD has a slick design and the shape of a book; it is small - however not small enough to be a portable hard drive. But ...
...the included set up from Western Digital that allows you to manage sync groups and automate backups or update files on the external drive. Based on my personal experience data stored on the drive is really secure! It happened more than once that my friend unplugged the drive while being used - regardless this fact I was happy enough not to lose data or discover that it was corrupted. USB/memory sticks often break down after being accidentally pulled ... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
helpful

11.12.2007
(03.07.2008)
Look at all 3 models before you buy....
Review of Western Digital My Book Essential Edition WDG1U5000 500 GB by nemo183

Advantages: Build quality, price,easy to use.
Disadvantages: Limited speed (USB2), no software.

Before you buy this product, it's worth making sure that it's the one for you as there are 3 versions - Pro, Premium and Essential. As the name suggests, "Essential" gives you the basics - 500MB with USB2 support. It's easy to install, and although it should work via an additional powered usb hub (if you have one), it's probably safer to use a spare USB port direct to your machine. Other than that, it's really just a question of plugging it in ...
...file system it comes preformatted with - at the time of writing it's FAT32, and most users will probably want to make their first job that of changing this to NTFS, which is both simple and quick. 500GB is obviously loads of space for either making backups on, or holding ripped copies of DVDs. The "Essential" edition has perhaps just two main drawbacks. 1) It comes with no backup software, and this alone can cost £30 -£40. 2) It only has a USB ... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
helpful

12.12.2006
Quick review of Western Digital My Book Essential Edition WDG1U5000 500 GB
Review of Western Digital My Book Essential Edition WDG1U5000 500 GB by BelgischeFriet

Good hard drive. Nice plastic case. When the drive spins up, it makes a bit too much noise in my opinion. It's easy to install, windows finds it automatically. There is some extra software with it (I think backup software), but I didn't use it. Summary: good product.

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
helpful

19.04.2007


Western Digital My Book Essential Edition WDG1U5000 500 GB

Hard drive

Capacity: 500 GB

Interface Type: USB 2.0

Buffer Size: 16 MB

Performance

Interface Transfer Rate: 480 Mbps

Seek Time: 8.9 ms (average)

Track-to-Track Seek Time: 2 ms

Average Latency: 4.2 ms

Spindle Speed: 7200 rpm

Manufacturer's product description

Small, simple, elegant, and very easy to use. Just plug this drive in, and you've got plenty of room to back up and save your valuable data, music, photos, and movies.

Power

Power Source: Included AC adapter

Power Device: Power adapter

Voltage Required: AC 120/230 V ( 50/60 Hz ), AC 120/230 V ( 50 - 60 Hz )

Environmental parameters

Min Operating Temperature: 5 °C

Max Operating Temperature: 35 °C

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Listed on Ciao since : 21/08/2006


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