My Book Pro Edition II WDG2TP20000 - hard drive array

Advantages: Solid, feature packed, easy to use
Disadvantages: Not as fast as direct attached storage, plus a little noisy.

...I have been using my Buffalo (called 'Bertie'!) for over 4 months now, and it has worked very well indeed. Bertie is connected to my gigabit switch and is accessed by 4 other computers, and it also hosts a file sharing site too. The drive sits in a Windows environment, and is very easy to connect up. After a 15 second boot process, you access the features of the drive through a browser. All the usual tools for network drives are there, plus some seriously useful user permissions, and trashcan tools. It has hot swappable drives too (I bought a spare just in case), but this sold beast I feel will never breakdown. It's not the quietest drive in the world, but this is a minor annoyance. The actual data transfer over the network is not as fast as directly attached storage, but the benefits of using a network far out weigh this. When I need... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Looks good - easy set-up, triple interface, quick transfers
Disadvantages: Poor back up software

...This is a triple interface external hard drive...really easy to set up out of the box. It comes with the wires to connect to USB 2.0, Firewire 400 and 800 - two ports (supposed to have really quick transfer times with the 800 interface). I am running Mac OSX 10.4.9 and just plugged in the drive to my computer, the icon appeared on the desktop - installed the button software and all was up and running. The only downside is the included Retrospect Express backup software - it's is the weakest part of the package. The transfer times are pretty good, I use the Firewire 400 and 500MB files are copied in a minute or so. There is a blue light on the front that will show the status of the drive - this is also the on and off switch. The size is perfect, like a large book and it sits next to my Powerbook and blends in perfectly - my unit... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful

Advantages: Fast, nice to look at, easy to use
Disadvantages: Ummmm, the pro version is only available in white?

...As information for those who don't know, this is an external storage device. Basically that means that inside the device is a hard disc drive for storing your data and it connects to your computer via either USB or firewire (all types). There is lots of information about the device that need explaining. Firstly it can store up to 500Gb's of information in what is known as raw format. When you format the device to make it compatible with your computer you will only be able to store 465Gb's. This is because the device needs a file allocation table which is a directory of all the information on the drive. It takes up lots of space but the device is useless without it. The speed of the actual hard drive used inside doesn't actually matter that much. The speeds at which hard drives can exchange data is far greater that the firewire 800... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful