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 this is not meant to be one so when you consider buying this HD think of it as your home HD. Performance The Hard Drive is connected via a USB 2.0 interface which allows standard data transfer. Unfortunately it needs to be plugged into the mains in order to function unlike portable HDs. With 7200rpm there is no delay when playing music or games from your hard drive, so you can avoid using up... Read review

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Advantages: space, price ease of use
Disadvantages: none

...hard disk, with access to files within the disk is as instant as a normal hard disk drive. It can be stored on it's side, or standing up right. They can also be stacked, if 500gb isn't enough for you! There is no circular light around the 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

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Advantages: Holds tonnes of files!
Disadvantages: It is quite heavy.

...I decided to buy an external harddrive as I store a lot of music and photographs on my computer and I would like it to be backed up in case my computer breaks and my files are irretrievable. I decided to start on Amazon.co.uk and searched "external harddrive" on their main page. A number of different models came up - the Western Digital My Book external harddrive came up a few times with different storage sizes - 160GB, 320GB, 500GB etc. The Western Digital My Book external harddrive stood out next to the others as it looked to be a nice size, it was better looking than most of the others available with its smart black casing and it had more variety of what storage size you can get. Space The 320GB harddrive holds up to 90,000 photos or 80,000 songs or 25 hours of film. The 160GB harddrive holds up to 45,000 photos or 40,000 songs... Read review

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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 and away you go. Your only main concern is which 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... Read review

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Advantages: small, lots of storage and really reliable
Disadvantages: less portable than a small form hard disk drive, needs main to use

...This is my second hard drive. The first one I bought was a sony vaio that I bought off of ebay - a portable 120GB hard disk drive from the far east. It started giving me disk read and write errors about three to four months after I bought it. Moral of the story, buy from a reputable manufacturer and seller. So I bought this from Amazon co uk, who are by far a superior online seller. Prices have come down and i managed to get this for £60 including free delivery. The drive is compact, not portable. It needs to be plugged into mains as well as the computer which makes it less portable, but it is so quiet I can't even hear that is switched on even when it is writing or reading. I would highly recommend this product or even one of the bigger sized ones, though I couldn't afford the 1TB mybook. Remember 500GB is marketing, actual... Read review

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Advantages: looks great, quiet, funky green ring light on the front, good value, easy/no setup
Disadvantages: cant think of any yet

...hard drive, i also wanted to have a backup of everything that is on my laptop, this my book allows me to do this, as i only had 2 usb ports on my laptop, i also had to buy a one to 4 usb hub to give me more inputs for example my mouse, webcam etc, this only cost me 5 pounds and may not be an issue to yourselves. soon after buying this, my flatmate bought the very same package, mybook 250 gb and a usb hub. overall i tihnk its a great buy, its great value, looks great and does the job very well.....what more can we ask for?!... Read review

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Advantages: The size, the look, everything
Disadvantages: price a bit hefty

..., with access to files within the disk is as instant as a normal hard disk drive. It can be stored on it's side, or standing up right. They can also be stacked, if 500gb isn't enough for you! There is no circular light around the 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. At this size you will never need to buy another hard drive ever.... Read review

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Advantages: Very Stylish, Great Value, and Quiet. A USB hard drive for backups or storage
Disadvantages: A Little on the large side and another mains cable.

..., but not good for moving around several locations. And my only regret about this purchase.......... ...... not buying and the next size up. My Books are available in 80GB, 160GB, 250GB and 320GB Some models also support Firewire connection, Older models of Western Digital USB drives are reported to have a short lifespan and therefore short not be trusted totally as a backup device. No lifespan data is available on the My Book range yet.... Read review

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Advantages: FAST, QUIET, RELIABLE
Disadvantages: NONE

...I purchased the Western Digital My Book 320GB from Amazon.co.uk for ?108 for this price I received next day delivery. Also Western Digital are one of the biggest and most respected manafacturers of hard drives in the world, and most of the big PC manafacturers use Western Digital hard drives in their systems. The main purpose of purchasing the Western Digital My Book 320GB was I wanted to store all my music in one place and with the drive been 320GB this would give me plenty of room for storage. In the box is a AC adaptor (this is to power the drive) a USB and Firewire cable (I chose to use the USB connection method) instruction manual, Western Digital My Book 320GB and a CD that contains software that includes backup software, this software will allow you to regulary keep a backup of your hard drives contents. The other software... Read review

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Advantages: stying,price,reliability
Disadvantages: storage may not be enough for some people,FAT32 format from factory

...if like me you are a bit forgetful. It does also have a manual button on the front in a lovely shade of neon green.The other thing that i found good is the styling. It hasnt got flashing lights or a flashy case to draw you in. A bit like the ipod i suppose. Just a good design. I recently read somewhere that the dots and dashes on the back for air ciculation are actually a code which spell out different words aswell. Noise levels on the unit i think are good although it is only the second external drive from a manufacturer i have experienced. All others have been built by myself using after market cases and hard drives. Western Digital do other options on these hard drives now with different sizes of drive and different connection options including firewire,wireless etc. to cope with home networking and the need for larger capacities. I have... Read review

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