Western Digital My Book Essential Edition 500 GB USB 2.0 Desktop External Hard Drive WDG1U5000

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Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5 x 12 inches ; 3.6 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B000EXRSVM
• Item model number: WDG1U5000N
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (313 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #13,869 in Electronics (See Bestsellers in Electronics)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: March 9, 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 WDG1U5000 My Book Essential Edition 500 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 500 GB Hard Drive.

What's in the Box
My Book Essential 500 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.

See all Product Description

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

147 of 152 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Quick & Quiet, March 31, 2006

By	Kevin Brancato "Economist & Blogger" (Alexandria, VA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Visually appealing, extremely quiet operation -- just a slight ticking under heavy use. Very stable, with two long thin rubber strips keeping the case from moving. Installation is automatic on Win2000. Drive powers on and off automatically with the computer. Green ring of light on front flickers to indicate read/write.

However, operation of the drive was quirky at first. Opening the root of the drive would always bring up the annoying software install menu. (The software includes Adobe Acrobat Reader, Google Toolbar for IE, and Picasa). To facilitate use with both Windows and Mac, the drive comes preformatted to FAT32. However, this limits file sizes to 4GB. Using Windows utilities to reformat to NTFS was simple and hassle-free.

Note that a small slip of yellow paper in the box suggests downloading and installing an updated drive utility. Unfortunately, starting this updated utility brings up a blue screen of death, forcing a reboot of my Win2000 machine. Fortunately, the utility software is unneccesary.

Were it not for this hassle, I would have given the drive five stars.

UPDATE (March 18, 2008): The drive is STILL in perfect working order -- after nearly two years of weekday backups and a switch to XP. For months now, I have been using TrueCrypt for file encryption without any problems.

UPDATE (May 12, 2008): Drive died over the weekend, causing the blue screen of death, and now makes sad clicking noises as it tries to mount.

RIP

100 of 104 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Simple, Quiet, Well Constructed Drive!!, May 13, 2006

By	S. Singh "Gadet Geek" (Glen Allen, VA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I was looking for a 300GB+ External hard-drive to backup my data, photos, music and home-videos. I wanted a rugged drive as I was planning to keep the drive off-site and transport it back & forth for monthly backups.

I evaluated LaCie, Seagate and other alternatives on the market and found the My Book has comparable or better specs and was aesthetically more pleasing than most. I also liked the simplicity and the concept of the My Book. The footprint is also among the smallest in the industry for a 500GB drive.

The drive looks sleek and is not intrusive or odd on a desk. The casing is made of hard plastic. It looks and feels rugged. The drive has "morse-code" vents which, beside looking funky, help keep the drive extremely cool. Drive operation is extremely quiet. When placed vertically there are 2 rubber strips on the bottom to prevent the drive from sliding or vibrating. Multiple drives can also be stacked on their sides - rubber feet are included.

The setup is pretty simple, just plug-in the power and connect the USB cable. Windows XP recognizes and sets up the drive quickly. Look for the drive under "My Computer" - you're up and running!!

The drive comes pre-formatted as FAT32. You can reformat it to NTFS with relative ease under Win XP. There is some included Google software which you can copy to your local machine or download from Google.com. The drive switches on and shuts down with your computer. You can also turn the drive on/off via a large button which is surrounded by the green indicator.

The only thing I miss is the WD Backup software - which seems to be bundled as an incentive with the Premium My Book drive. Another feature that people might miss is the "One-touch Backup" button offered by competitors.

Overall, I'm very pleased with this drive!!

60 of 67 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Don't waste your money, February 7, 2007

By	A.K. (Dallas, TX) - See all my reviews

I had 2 MyBook Essentials die on me in less than 2 months. WD said they will replace the drive (for the 3rd time) if I mail it in. Too bad I have over 300gb of data stored on my drive. The computer (or any computer for that matter), fails to recognize the drive. Comes up as Unknow Device. My data is more important to me then getting a new drive from WD. So I went and purchased an external case (Vantec NexStar3) and took out the hard drive from MyBook and placed it into the Vantec case. My computer had no problems recognizing the new external case. From what I've been reading online, lots of people are having problems with MyBooks. WD is refusing to reimburse me for the price of the new case. I will post on every forum/review site that has anything to do with MyBooks and let everyone know the truth about how bad the quality of these overpriced drives really is. If you are thinking of getting a MyBook, DONT!