Western Digital Essential External Hard Drive USB 2.0 320 GB

...is a very nice addition to my computer setup. The only problem I have now is; now it is full and I need another one! I’m now looking at the sister model; the Western Digital My Book Premium Edition, but this time I’m going for the 500gb, just in case.  ... more

I bought this about 6 months ago, as my internal 80gb hard drive was getting full and I needed something to back up my MP3 files and documents. I also planned on transferring the family camcorder videos to DVD, so I needed some extra storage.

I’ve always wanted a Network Attached Storage device (NAS) but they seemed expensive. A NAS is a small box that connects to your computer via a network, using your router, and has a hard drive built in. After looking at a range of external storage devices, I decided on this external USB hard drive. There were several sizes but 320gb seemed right based on the price.

Setting it up was very easy, just plugged in the power and connected it to the computer via the supplied USB cable. It was already pre-formatted with FAT32 but I prefer NTFS, as it includes compression, so it may increase the size of the capacity. The downside of using NTFS is that it won’t work with Windows 95, 98 and ME, but since I use Windows 2000 and XP NTFS is fine.

Once switched on, using a small button at the top of the device a drive letter appear, just like a normal hard drive, and you can use it just like an internal drive (c:).

It has a fan inside the case, which can be a bit noisy, but it only starts when your using it for fairly long periods (ie. Copying large files or many files, such as a 30gb of MP3 files, in my case). The drive spins down (shuts down) after about 10 minutes of not being used, which is nice.

It comes with two V-shaped feet, which can be attached to the bottom of the case. This is important to allow air to circulate and help keep it cool. I found it a little difficult to attached them to the case but once you work out how it works it becomes easier.

The power supply is a little bulky but comes with quite a long cable. The bulky shape of the power supply is the only problem I have, though it’s only a minor complaint.

On the whole, it is a very nice addition to my computer setup. The only problem I have now is; now it is full and I need another one! I’m now looking at the sister model; the Western Digital My Book Premium Edition, but this time I’m going for the 500gb, just in case. 

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