Customer Reviews

Western Digital My Book World Edition 2 TB Network Attached Storage

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

I bought the 2TB version of this (but not the version that has two physical drives). I'm not really all that interested in having the redundancy of RAID, weird programs backing up my computer when I'm not around, or software that allows me to connect to it remotely. I just want to throw my data on there from any one of the computers on my network and be able to get it off reasonably quickly, and I want it to go to sleep when I'm not using it. This drive does those things well.

I was looking for a drive that:

1. allows me to ssh in and tweak things by hand if I want
2. goes to sleep when not in use and wakes up without a problem
3. is cheap, quiet, and looks good
4. is fast enough for my needs
5. doesn't have any gotchas that impair its use significantly

In these respects this drive performs well.

The first thing I did when I got it was enable ssh, which you can do through the web menu. Then I logged in and disabled the mionet script. Mionet is the software that allows you to log in remotely, but it's apparently the buggiest and most wasteful program ever. You can supposedly disable this through the menu but it comes back on when you are not looking, so you actually need to physically go in and disable the startup script. I'm a linux guy so this was no problem. There are some howto's on the web that will tell you how to do this.

I played around with twonky, which is the software for playing media through UPnP. I think it's a cool idea, but the truth is that I have no need for it. I don't need/want to stream to anything but computers, and in that case it's easier to just map this drive and play the movie or song from that computer using my normal software. So I disabled twonky as well. It seemed to have a bunch of spawned processes, so this was probably a good thing. This also needs to be done through ssh.

I didn't install any of the software that comes on the CD's or anything. Apparently that software is crap anyway. I'm not sure what I would want it for. This drive works once you stick it on the network...no configuration necessary. I can get to the drive either by referencing its IP address or the hostname I gave it through the web interface.

The drive is silent and unobtrusive. The led white bar on the front slowly flashes on and off if it's sleeping and moves up and down if it's not. You can disable these leds through the web interface so it's even less obtrusive. I was worried that the sleep feature wouldn't work correctly but it works perfectly, which is one big plus about this drive. You don't notice it go to sleep because it's so quiet anyway, but it does after 15 minutes or something of not being used. Then when you try and read from it again it starts up quickly and there's no fuss. No need to turn it off or mess with it in any way, ever. Nice.

Performance is...pretty ok considering the type of device it is. According to the reviews I read, this drive is fast compared with others in its class. If you want something real fast, you have to pay up. Anyway, I have a gigabit network and I do realize you can't ever actually get the theoretical optimal speed. For reference (indicator of how good my network is or isn't), when I copy from one computer to another (both pretty fast computers) using SMB I get about 19.5 MB per second. When I use SMB to copy something onto this NAS I get about 10.8 MB per second. It's not as fast as copying to a computer, but I knew that going in. This is a powersaving and inexpensive device and both of those say it won't match performance of a fast computer with a PCI express gigabit connection. Anyway, when I read from it I get more like 16 MB per second or a little more. That's nearly as fast as a computer-to-computer copy. So I'm satisfied. I can certainly watch movies off of this drive directly without any skipping or anything. If you want a dramatic speed improvement over those, you can use ftp instead of smb (the latter just means mapping the network drive and copying to it through windows for those of you who may not know). I don't need the extra speed, though, and it's more of a hassle to use ftp, so I disabled the ftp server. Some day I may actually upgrade the SMB server the drive comes with. Apparently you can get a significant performance boost doing that but it's much more of a hack than the things I mentioned above. I don't want to risk screwing anything up in this drive now that it's working so flawlessly.

You can still remotely use this drive if you configure your router to pass http requests or ssh requests to it. No need for mionet. That's true of any computer that runs ssh and an http server. I would be crazy to sign up for some service to provide this capability. I didn't look closely at the twonky server, but I got the feeling that it would eventually want you to sign up for something as well. I shouldn't comment too much because I just disabled that garbage.

Things I don't do that apparently this drive can do:

1. Stream movies, pictures, or music to UPnP devices or Ipods
2. ftp, apple protocols
3. remote use using mionet
4. automatic backups
5. utilize an external USB hard drive
6. anything else besides just hold

so you will have to read other reviews for info about these features.

So yeah, I'm more techy than probably the average user, but the few tweaks I used weren't that significant. Since this drive allows ssh access, runs linux, and is popular enough that lots of people have it and have figured out how to tweak it, it's pretty easy to get working perfectly and there are plenty of howtos on the web. I'm real happy with it.

================
Edit: Instructions on how to do the tweaks I did are not available in the instructions. There are a number of sites on the web that describe how and why to do them. Just make sure your tweaks apply to the new "white light" version, which is this one. Some tweaks refer to the old "blue circle" version. Anyway this is what I did: First enable ssh through the web menu and ssh in as root. Default password is welc0me. Use these tips at your own risk obviously.

1. To disable mionet: First disable it through the web menu. Unfortunately the wakeup script will start it up again in 20 minutes or so because of a bug, so we fix it by editing /usr/mionet/monitorCVM.sh using vi. At the top (after the comments) add the following:

# Start of hack to make Mionet obey startup flag
if [ ! -f "/etc/.mionet_on_startup" ]; then
exit 1
fi
# End of hack to make Mionet obey startup flag

2. To disable twonky by moving its startup script to the root home directory:

mv /etc/init.d/S97twonkyserver ~

3. To disable mDNS responder by moving its startup script to the root home directory:

mv /etc/init.d/S9mDNSResponder ~

I disabled ftp through the web menu. There are other things that can be disabled or even upgraded but these are what make the difference and it all works for me. Reboot the NAS after making these tweaks.

If you do a "top" command before these tweaks you will see a number of processes dealing with these three features. After you will see that much less is running and when you copy to and from the NAS you will notice a performance boost. For security you can then disable ssh through the web menu if you want.
=========================

I bought this drive to use as network storage for video editing and multiple computer backups. Biggest problem I had was that it was exceedingly slow to transfer. It advertises Gigabit ethernet, but has an onboard processor that is 10-15 times slower, bottlenecking the entire process. I found it took me only 15 seconds to transfer 1GB from my laptop to desktop via ethernet (through my router), but it took 4.5 minutes to transfer the same 1 GB file to the MyBook World Edition located on the same router. I tried letting it sit overnight as I transferred 1TB of data to it - it stalled at 300GB when I found it the next morning.

Definitely not worth the money. I returned it and am looking for something better. I guess it's okay if you don't want to actually access or write to the drive often...

 

So I bought this primarily for the TwonkyMedia server built into this unit. I was so happy when it was delivered. The setup was a breeze, I named my unit on the network, copied all my movies and music to it, then let the TwonkeyMedia server scan all of the media on the drive. When it completed the scan and it built the media database, I ran to my new Sony Bravia XBR KDL-52XBR6 52-Inch 1080p 120 Hz LCD HDTV (also purchased from Amazon) and used the remote to see if I could play my movies from the TwonkyMedia Server. Both devices claim to be DLNA compliant. To my great disappointment, the TV was able to "see" the TwonkyMedia Server but said that there was no compatible media files found. (I know from the research that I did, that this was not accurate.) The problem was, the Western Digital "My Book World Edition" came with TwonkyMedia Server version 4.4.9 on it but the version that would work with my TV is 4.4.11. So I contacted TwonkyVision/TwonkeyMedia/PacketVideo and they won't support TwonkyMedia on NAS drives!!!! And Western Digital only has basic FAQ's on their site. At this point, I sit here without the ability stream my movies to my TV as was represented by Western Digital and Twonky.

I did not get what I a paid for as far as I am concerned. I looked at various websites that would guide you through upgrading the TwonkyMedia Server on the Western Digital My Book World Edition, but the catch is, if you "hack" into the Linux OS of the My Book and install the upgraded TwonkyMedia Server on it, you will lose your warranty from Western Digital. It totally sucks. This product puts the consumer in an bad place with no support for the third-party application. Since getting the "My Book World Edition", in August 2009, there have been two firmware releases that I anxiously applied while thinking it may also contain the upgrade of TwonkyMedia. But to no avail, it did not. Duped again....

I've got one of these expecting something to go along with my DLNA setup, but it's been quite a let down so far.

1) Western Digital takes forever to update their own firmware and you got no way to manually update the media server (Twonky Media Server) other than wait for a firmware update.

2) Twonky Media Server doesn't support subtitles nor Sony Bravia TVs

3) There's a built-in torrent client with this Network Attached Storage (NAS) but it's as good as not having one, couldn't be slower than it is and the process to add up multiple torrents to it is a pain.

4) User/Groups setup is quite messy and confusing and it takes quite a while to figure it out.

Anyhow, it's an OK purchase but nothing more than that, as most hardware manufactures, the software part is a let down.

WD Discovery software was touted to "discover" the NAS automatically, but it did not. I had to put up the expense of returning two (2) units for failure. One had a rattling sound even before I used it. The third one was still not "discovered" automatically. I had to call WD tech support. The first tier support tech asked me to go through the giration of the most common troubleshooting steps like plugging into a wall outlet instead of a power strip. It took a second tier support tech to reset the NAS and start the discovery process. The question was why was the NAS not set to factory default in the first place, which is always a universal starting point. The documentation consisted of a simple 4-step procedure, which was essentially a non-starter for me. The web-based configuration was quite helpful.

<SUMMARY> An inexpensive NAS solution which should satisfy most users. Easy to set up, speeds are adequate. My experience with WD customer support was outstanding.

This isn't just a hard drive, it's actually got a server running Linux inside. The processor for that server is the limiting factor for transfer speeds, so as far as performance, yes it's (comparatively) slow, but unless you get a dedicated server or NAS costing several times as much, you're just not going to get a speed demon. I think this is ideal for the average person who has a ton of video and music files. I had no issues streaming HD video to a laptop over a "G" wifi connection.

We're running the included automatic backup software as well. It basically scans your files periodically and makes an automatic backup so in case your laptop dies / gets stolen, etc the files are backed up. Very handy and was quick and easy to set up.

I should note that the drive on my first WDMBWE failed a few months ago and left a sour taste in my mouth, however it's been replaced with the sweet taste of a new WDMBWE with more capacity than the one that failed! I'm outta luck on the data unless I want to pay for data recovery (Unnecessary since it was all backup) but their advance hardware exchange earned FIVE Stars with me. Fast, easy, hassle free exchange and return shipping.

Their customer service and 3 year warranty period really made a difference.

One minor issue is that it's not as seamless with Vista - does not show up under "my Computer" as a mapped drive as in XP. I finally solved the issue by putting an icon on the desktop -

<UPDATE> - It turns out I had different "workgroup" names - I had changed the default name for my network so after I put the MBWE on the same workgroup, the computers found it right away.

If you have questions / comments of if this review was helpful, please let me know!

I received this item just a few weeks ago but only last week I was able to set it up. I getting a new apartment soon, therefore I was looking for a way to centralize my media files, music specially, into one place so when I played it from my iTunes regardless if it was from my MacMini from the main lounge/get together with friends room, or from my laptop laying back on my bedroom, or from my future 27" iMac from my studio while working.
So, so far it has worked perfectly, as soon as I connected the HD into small home network I was able to discover it in the MacMini as soon as it was switched on, instantly I can have my music playing with no hastle in the iTunes from the MacMini into the HiFi stereo, and simultaneously my brother was also playing different songs remotely from his laptop in the kitchen.

Also, since I have the PS3 connected to the network, I can stream pictures and movies in the 50" LCD Screen in the lounge with no problem since both devices, the HD and PS3, are DNLA complaint.

The HD is also surprisingly quite, it does not make any noise at all no matter how much data are your retrieving... only annoying thing though is the white bright light in the front which I think should have been made more conspicuous, and also does not really say anything since it goes up and down, up and down... WTF does it mean???

The on/switch is another tricky one at first... you might think that just a press on it will make it work, well that is not the case... you might have to press and hold for about 4 seconds to make it work to both switch on and off the HD.

One cool thing would have been if WD had planned to make the HD WiFi enable, so people who does not have a choice of wired connections could connect it to their wireless network.

As a concluison, go for it... simple to set up, nice looking works on both PCs and MACs so everyone can enjoy it in a multiOS environment, and the price is not that bad also.

Suggestion to WD, include WiFi, and swap the casing for a silver/metal look like... I think a lot of people would find it more eye pleasing, white is to dull unless all your computing equipment is Apple white designed to match it.

I found that just having this network drive slowed things down. I used it attached to a wired lan. Nevertheless I couldn't deal with the slow down. Too bad. I will probably just use it as a usb drive.

Was supposed to be compatible for Mac OS 10.4 or higher; but it is not; WD tech support said it could be used for Time Machine back-up but NOT for the Network side of things and they have no idea when a patch will be available

This item is designed for basic usage only. After installing the driver, two drives will be mapped: Download and Public. Anyone in the domain will have full access to these two drives by simply mapping it as followed: \\MyBookWold\Download and \\MyBookWorld\Public. I created another folder within the item's configuration called Media, along with its default Download and Public. I made it "unpublic" so only certain users would have access to it. I then mapped it \\MyBookWorld\Media and set it to reconnect at logon, but always get a pop-up at the right corner of my windows 7 Pro taskbar saying "Not all drives can be connected" at every log-on. I then opened up My Computer and saw that the mapped drive was X out. I clicked to open it and was able to retrieve files from it. I had to do this steps everytime I rebooted my PC. The only drives that reconnect automatically are the Download and Public ones. I personally don't recommend this NAS Drive from WD.

Don't try to contact their tech support team. After spending nearly an hour with one man, I was transferred to "2nd-level" tech support. I wonder if they had a "3rd-level" tech support where there's a man saying, "Return the freakin' drive."


Not to thrill about this NAS Drive.