Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 6-10 of 91
 Dead as in kicked the bucket, bereft of life, expired June 19, 2008
Tim Mouradian (North Shore, MA United States)
17 out of 22 found this review helpful
The thing still spins, but the files are corrupt, the tests are not passing, my entire DVD collection is gone. I've no idea what happened.
The thing is under the warranty so will be going back to Texas tomorrow, I don't think they recover the data though, from what I understand they simply send you the replacement, as if it is going to do any good re: my DVD collection that is now gone.
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07/14/08 Update:
The replacement drive has arrived and it seems to be working ok. I found another issue which is more of Microsoft limitation, not Western Digital. The drive comes formatted in FAT32 format and per Microsoft this format does not support files larger than 4Gb, to quote their technical support "You cannot create a file larger than (2^32)-1 bytes (this is one byte less than 4 GB) on a FAT32 partition."
As most DVDs routinely exceed 4Gb limitation there are 2 possible options: a) to reformat the drive into into NTFS partition or b)files will need to be split into smaller chunks.
Both are not very appealing, because reformatting into NTFS means losing compatibility with external DVD players and splitting the DVDs means changing the original media.
 Quiet and Fast but bundled software is 30 Day trial only February 19, 2008
Michael P. Kukielka (Rochester Hills, MI USA)
15 out of 17 found this review helpful
I bought one of these a month ago at Costco for about $200 after a coupon. I bought it on the spot with little to no research trusting that if I didn't like it, I could return it. So far that hasn't been necessary since the drive has met and exceeded my expectations after a few gremlins plagued the initial installation.
This is the 3rd WD HDD I've purchased. Historically, I've had problems with faulty WD products, particularly the 160GB portal HDD which I had to return twice because of bad sectors. I did not feel confident that this product would be any less troublesome and it seemed I was correct during installation. It refused to recognize the Desktop it was attached to, restarting everything always turned up different results. Sometimes I could get the devices to see each other only for them to lose the connection a few minutes later, other times I had no luck whatsoever. Finally, after approximately 20 attempts, the HD started working. I was about to return the device right before my last try. I tried this on several PCs with both USB and Firewire connectors and the same results so I'm convinced the HDD was at fault.
The drive is very quiet, more so than my internal HDD. I have it connected via Firewire, which is the fastest conventional external connection.
READ TEST:
* 5000 files (300 MB total) FireWire was 33% faster than USB 2.0
* 160 files (650MB total) FireWire was 70% faster than USB 2.0
WRITE TEST:
* 5000 files (300 MB total) FireWire was 16% faster than USB 2.0
* 160 files (650MB total) FireWire was 48% faster than USB 2.0
There is an eSATA connection available, but I don't have the connector on my PC. It would provide even faster transfer speeds.
The Memeo backup software bundled with the device is 30-Day trial only and not worth purchasing IMO. Although surprising that the software was trial based, I have other solutions and primarily use the device not to duplicate files but to store files apart from my PCs.
Aesthetically, it's neat and attractive with a matte black on metal finish. It has a white LED indicator light bar on the front which provides an interesting light show to externally indicate its current status. Nice functional little detail but I'm not always clear on what each animation means.
 Awesome backup solution December 28, 2007
A. Lee (Mountain View, CA United States)
13 out of 13 found this review helpful
Setup in 2 mins, low noise, auto shutdown by itself to reduce energy consumption. A+
Quiet, lots of storage, good price December 26, 2007
Andrey Zubkov (Bridgewater, NJ USA)
12 out of 12 found this review helpful
The drive runs very quiet. It powers itself off at times of inactivity. The transfer speed is decent, can't ask for much more from a backup drive. The price is reasonable. It also comes with simple backup software right on the HD.
The only minor issues I have are 1) the included mini-usb cable is about 3 feet long, and 2) when your PC is not shut off, the drive still has its light on even though it's sleeping. This light is very bright in a small room at night. Other than that, it's very easy to use: just plug-n-play.
Pure junk August 4, 2008
D. Brasfield (AL USA)
11 out of 17 found this review helpful
Looks nice, doesn't run warm.
Lasted 45 days before it started spewing bad sectors. Just outside of Amazon's 30 day return policy.
Now I have to fight through Western Digital support to get a replacement. I would rather have my money back so that I can buy another brand. I hate to support garbage. I normally never buy from Western Digital, but I had hoped that they had changed. Not. I knew better.
I really do have other things to do with my life.
I had a Seagate ST305004FDA1E1-RK FreeAgent Desktop 500 GB 3.5" USB 2.0 External Hard Drive fail on me within 2 weeks of purchase. Some whiz-bang of an engineer decided that a hard drive didn't need any ventilation. It's bad when a brand new drive runs too hot to touch, then grinds to a halt, literally.
David
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