Customer Reviews

Western Digital WD Elements 640 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive

5 star:		(155)
4 star:		(45)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(28)

 

 

I bought this Western Digital WD Elements 320 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive WDBAAR3200ABK-NESN (Black) last week at, I regret to say, Target - not Amazon. Target had it "on sale" at $59.95, an irresistible price. This unit works perfectly with Linux (both Ubuntu Linux - which is my main computer's operating system - and the modified-Xandros Linux found on the ASUS Eee PC 1000 10-Inch Netbook (1.6 GHz Intel Atom N270 Processor, 1 GB RAM, 40 GB Solid State Drive, 20 GB Eee Storage, Linux, 6 Cell Battery) Pearl White which I own) and, naturally, Windows. (It is "pre-formatted" for Windows - it has some programs incorporated which I of course immediately deleted as I do not use Windows.) This unit will also work perfectly with the Apple Mac operating system (Windows and Mac compatibility are specified on the box.) As another reviewer has mentioned, it may be necessary to format the drive for use with a Mac.

Used with a Linux computer, no formatting or any other special operations are necessary. Just plug it in and you're instantly "on!" (Of course, this same comment about no formatting necessary also applies to Windows computers, though, the first time you use it, a Windows machine may take a few seconds to recognize the new drive.)

Packaged with the unit is a standard USB connection cord (supports v. 1.1 and 2.0 and, in addition to connecting to your computer for data transfer, it also powers the unit; no other external power supply is necessary) as well as the usual warranty, etc., information. In addition a CD containing the operating manual is included. I have not looked at this - really however, what is there to know about how to use this external drive? Just plug it into your computer! - that is, of course, if you use these drives as I use them: as storage units only. (I now own quite a few of these drives.)

I find that, especially with Ubuntu Linux, that it is very easy to copy everything in one's "Home" folder to one of these external drives and, should it become necessary to reinstall the operating system, it is quite easy to restore all of your documents, music, pictures, etc. from the external drive. It is also possible to store one's music, videos, audio books, etc. on one of these drives thus freeing up space from your computer's hard drive. (That's why I have several of these things!)

Naturally, the same uses I mention above are also available to Windows or Mac users. These portable external hard drives are very useful and this one, being a simple, basic, unit, is all one truly needs, in my opinion, if your reasons for buying one are the same as mine. I do suggest that, if you do not have an urgent need for one of these drives, or if you are buying an "extra" or "spare" unit, you wait until you see a really good "sale" price either on Amazon or elsewhere.

Like all Western Digital external hard drives that I own it is very well-made and, with reasonable care, should last a very long time. (My oldest Western Digital external drive - 40 GB, "huge" at the time I bought it - is over five years old, still in use, and still going strong.) In my own personal experience the company is reputable, responsive and VERY customer-oriented.

I highly recommend this unit.

I retired my little Passport for use solely as a backup for my MacBook, since they had the exact same size hard drive. So then it was time to shop for a replacement to move data back and forth between my PC's and Mac's. There was a great deal for this little gem that I saw on [...] from Dell, so I scooped it up. It seems like a great drive. It is substantially faster than my Passport, so that was a plus. It moves back and forth from machine to machine, up and down the stairs, gets carried around in the briefcase and works like a charm. My only complaint was that I had to wipe it and reformat it in order to be able to have the Mac write to it, but that took only a few minutes.

Very happy with this purchase!

This thing is the exact same width and length as the passport, but slightly thicker. It really is like a brick, and is not the slickest looking thing out there. But I LOVE the matte casing. My 500gb passport got so scratched up from the tiniest handling that I dread smooth shiny surfaces now. I don't know why this only has 1 yr warranty as oppose to the passport's 3 yrs. But hopefully it's of the same quality I've always been expecting from WD. The price was good, and amazon surprisingly delivered it super fast even with super savers s/h. Ordered on black friday and got it today on a Monday. Quite happy so far.

I bought this around Christmas and it's been a great purchase. I simply unpacked it plugged it in and was backing up my files in no time. It's the easiest thing ever. I have had zero problems with it and would recommend it to anyone looking for a lot of space to back up their files with.

I have also purchased Western Digital My Passport Essential 500 GB on Amazon. And I am extremely satisfied with both.

There are only few differences between My Passport Essential & this WD Elements:
1) My Passport Essential has 3-year warranty and WD Elements has only 1-year warranty
2) My Passport Essential is 0.6 ounces lighter than WD Elements
3) Different external appearance
4) Different software included

Length:: 0:16 Mins

I used to have a 120 GB Western Digital hard drive similar to this one in size and function, it worked perfectly fine but my new laptop has 320 GB now so I had to upgrade. I liked the simplicity, reliability and stylish design of my previous Western Digital hard dive, so I did my research and when I saw this one online - I knew that's the one I was looking for.

The design of this hard drive is so stylish that I feel that even Apple designers admired this beauty and simply copied it with their Apple TV Apple TV MC572LL/A (2010). The bottom and top are matte black which makes it less of a fingerprint magnet, while the sides have a glossy finish which adds a nice touch to it. The top part has a nice glossy WD logo. The bottom has little rubber feet to prevent vibrations. Overall, I don't think you will find anything more stylish and with such a practical design than this hard drive. It's very tiny and thin.

It's very simple to use - just plug it in the USB and THAT'S IT, no extra AC adapters or cables. There is a white LED light next to the USB which blinks when the hard drive is in use (it is solid if it's just connected to the computer doing nothing).

The one thing that I don't like about this hard drive is the speed. Because it is a USB hard drive - it may take a few hours to back up 320GB of data. But I can't complain as it is a portable drive and I knew the drawback. So if you need a fast external hard drive for backups at home - please consider the one with FIREWIRE. You may have to have it plugged in the wall outlet when using it, but it will be faster.

I purchased a Western Digital external MyBook a while back that was completely unreliable and frustrating. I am pleased to report that the WD Elements portable drives appear to be much better and do not have the constant write errors that the MyBook had.

I've been using this drive for several weeks now as a media drive for an LED LCD TV. It's been functioning very well for that purpose. When I opened the package, the drive itself was smaller than expected. The last portable drive I owned was a Toshiba, purchased perhaps 3 years ago, and the Elements drive is much smaller than that was. It requires no additional power source other than whatever device it's plugged into, which is a great feature for portability or, in my case, transportability from living room to computer. Both the computer and the TV recognized the drive quickly.

Edit:
Based on the ever so helpful comment from Tyler I received on this review, I'll admit that the 7-10% functional decrease from the advertised size is not entirely due to the formatting of the drive and the read/write space that is subsequently reserved. Thanks for the clarification, Tyler. In short, yes, the majority of the space is due not so much to formatting (my mistake) as it is due to the base system.

But to those who are purchasing the drive, what I originally said still applies, even if the reason or explanation for it was not accurate. Don't expect the available space on this 640GB drive to actually be 640GB when you take it home and plug it in. You'll see the drive mounted and you can expect to see about 93% of that space available (ie, approximately 595G). This is true of just about all hard drives, even from other manufacturers.

While I'm at it, here's an update on the actual performance of the hard drive (as of 1/20/11):
Still functions like new. I continue to use it mostly for storing and watching media on my TV, and for that purpose, it's been great. I have had no read or write errors, even after consistent use and a couple of reformats.

I bought it about a year ago and had all of my photo files stored on it and now it doesnt work at all, i have to have a professional data recovery service TRY and get my files back! western digital is not helping with this issue either!

I bought this a couple of months back during the Black Friday deals. Got it for a song at $50. I have already dropped it twice from the top of my writing table and it is still working good. Very elegant to look at sturdy too.

The first WD Elements 500Gb external hard drive I received made a repeated clicking sound as soon as I plugged it in. My computer didn't detect the drive. I called WD customer service and they said to return the drive because the clicking indicated it was broken. Amazon promptly sent me a replacement drive which suffered from the ***exact*** same problem. Not that I'm going to give it a try, but even if the 3rd drive worked initially I would be concerned about storing data on such a defective product.