Western Digital WDG1U3200 My Book Essential Edition 320 GB USB 2.0 External Hard Drive

by Western Digital

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 11.5 x 8.1 x 4.7 inches ; 2.6 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 3.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B000EVMK6C
• Item model number: WDG1U3200N
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: May 2, 2006

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description Is your computer loaded with photos, music, video, and all sorts of important files? If so, you should make extra room, back them up, and keep them safe on Western Digital's WDG1U3200 My Book Essential Edition 320 GB Hard Drive. This reliable, easy-to-use external hard drive is the perfect storage solution for all your precious digital assets.

Save and back up all your digital assets with the My Book Essential Edition Hard Drive. View larger.

Simple, easy-to-use design.

Connects to your computer via USB 2.0 interface. View larger.

The elegant case takes up very little space.

Installation is a breeze because you don't really "install" anything -- just plug it in and it's ready to use. There is not even an installation CD because all the included software loads automatically from the hard drive the first time you plug it in. The My Book Essential is all about simplicity. Just plug it into your computer's USB 2.0 port and you're ready to start saving and backing up your files.

But that's not all. Western Digital uses a smart design to make the My Book Essential look as good as it performs. The elegant case resembles a book and takes up very little space on your desk. Plus, it stacks horizontally and allows two or more drives to nestle neatly together like encyclopedias on a shelf. Inside the stylish exterior is an exceptionally fast, ultra-quiet, cool-running hard drive. Last but not least, the My Book Essential is equipped with free Google software that searches your drives, manages your photos, and simplifies Web searches.

My Book Essential Edition Hard Drives are ideal for:

• Simple add-on storage for your files, music, photos and movies
• Adding virtually unlimited storage with multiple USB 2.0 external hard drives
• Archiving the music stored on your MP3 player
• Adding plenty of space for digital video capture and editing
• Saving and organizing your digital photo collection

Note: For higher performance and automatic backup software, consider the My Book Premium Edition 320 GB Hard Drive.

What's in the Box
My Book Essential 320 GB USB 2.0 external hard drive, USB cable, AC adapter with power cord, and quick install guide.

Product Description

Small, simple, elegant, and very easy to use. Just plug it in, and you've got plenty of room to back up and save your valuable data, music, photos, and movies.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

43 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fast install, superb performance, attractive and quiet drive, March 16, 2007

By 

Heath L. Buckmaster "_heath_" (Sacramento, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Western Digital WDG1U3200 My Book Essential Edition 320 GB USB 2.0 External Hard Drive (Personal Computers)

I purchased the Western Digital My Book Essential Edition 320GB External Hard Drive this week, and within 15 minutes, it was up and running providing more storage for my system.

It really was as simple as unpacking, plugging in the included USB cable, plugging in the power, and that's it. The drive automatically powers on and off with your computer, or you can alternatively shut it down manually using the button on the front.

When you first attach the drive, XP will see that there is an autostart on it, and prompt you to run some programs. The Essential version comes with several Google tools (desktop, toolbar, picasa), and the Western Digital Backup utility. You can choose to install these, or ignore them for the time being (I ignored them since I already have the Google tools that I want to use).

The first thing I did was copy the WD Backup Utility off of the drive, then format the entire thing as an NTFS file system. FAT32 has space limitations, so if you want to take full advantage of the drive without partitioning, NTFS is the way to go.

My recommendation is to do a non-quick format, only if you have the time. If you want to start using the drive immediately, quick format will do, and usually with a fresh drive, full format is not especially necessary.

Just like many hard drives, there are a couple performance settings that you may want to tweak. Go into the drive properties in the XP device manager, and turn on the Performance setting. This allows write caching to the drive, and will improve the performance, but it does mean that if you want to disconnect the drive, you have to use the Safe Remove in XP. Personally, I always opt for performance option, because I don't plan to ever remove the drive.

The Essential Edition has one green ring on the front of the "book", which will flash on heavy disk activity, letting you know that something is going on. Otherwise, it just stays green letting you know the drive is powered on.

Like many disk drives, the unit will stop spinning after lack of activity, to save power. It's pretty fast though, so when you need to use it again, it spins right up (audibly).

Differing from the more expensive edition, this one does not have FireWire, only USB 2.0. It also lacks the second green ring on the front which is a capacity meter. Personally, I don't need the extra ring showing capacity, and USB 2.0 works fine for me, so the price difference was not worth going for the more expensive edition.

Form Factor is pretty slick, it looks like a book on your shelf, albeit, a black plastic book with a green light ring on the front. The top looks like a punch card, and vents the head from the drive. Watch for dust accumulation inside the device (use an air blower to clean it now and then).

All in all, it's a very quiet and unobtrusive drive, that was very easy to install, and runs like you would expect a Western Digital to run. An excellent purchase.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars So far so good, January 16, 2007

By 

Michael Dunn "MikDun" (Chalfont, PA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Western Digital WDG1U3200 My Book Essential Edition 320 GB USB 2.0 External Hard Drive (Personal Computers)

Bought this after my LaCie took a crap. Apparently there was a defective heat problem with it...regardless it conked out and I made sure to replace it with one that could handle heat effectively and that would most likely last longer than a year. Western Digital has a good rep for drives, and this particular model has more holes in it than a cheese grater, which really helps disperse heat. So far it has worked great, runs quiet, smooth and independently. I love the auto/off feature...it really is nice not having to worry about turning it on and off. It is an external hard drive, but acts like its an original part of my laptop (turning on and off with it, and being recognized with no problems).

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Buy, May 15, 2007

By 

M. Gray "human" (Cleveland, OH USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Western Digital WDG1U3200 My Book Essential Edition 320 GB USB 2.0 External Hard Drive (Personal Computers)

This drive is everything taht I thought it would be. It is extremely quiet (which doesn't really matter anyway), a huge amount of space for such a low price, and great for storing anything. Drive comes preformatted in Fat32, but a quick switch to NTFS allows full utilization of all the space this drive has to offer. One of the best features is that this drive stops spinning after about 10 minutes of complete inactivity. This should help to improve drive life by a substantial amount. Once you return to your computer and click into the drive, it spins back up and is ready to use in a matter of seconds. As for heat, there is decent ventilation on the top of the case and the drive does not (from what I can tell) feel "hot to the touch". The drive comes preloaded with Google software, and WD's self-diagnostic tools both of which can be deleted without any problems. All in all.....amazing.