429 of 436 people found the following review helpful:
Solid (and heavy) like a rock :)
This is, by far, the most robust external hard disk I've ever owned. And, when I say solid, I mean almost 3 lbs. solid (I didn't put it on a scale but it feels that way), 100% metal casing, likely to survive a building collapsing on top of it. Given that I bought it for backups, not for travel, I actually like it this way. I like it very much.
60 of 63 people found the following review helpful:
good overall, but not fast enough
This is a good hard drive for the price and size. (well, probably for just the next few months or so, anyway)
It's quieter and takes up less space than my seagate 500gb and WD 500gb that i purchased 2 years ago.
It does heat up but only slightly warm to touch.
However, it's reading/writing speed comes nowhere near the previous two hard drives...
This is, by far, the most robust external hard disk I've ever owned. And, when I say solid, I mean almost 3 lbs. solid (I didn't put it on a scale but it feels that way), 100% metal casing, likely to survive a building collapsing on top of it. Given that I bought it for backups, not for travel, I actually like it this way. I like it very much.
It's probably helpful to enumerate the features I feel are worth being aware of before one buys it (and I shall answer any additional questions if you drop a comment, to the extent that I can):
# Heavy, solid build, almost bullet-proof enclosure.
# 8"x4"x1" rectangular prism (these are not exact measurements but I'm confident it's close.
# USB port for data transfer, cable included.
# External power supply.
# Silent run - you can't hear it spinning unless you place it close to your ear.
# Cool - after one night of uninterrupted operation it was barely warmer than room temperature.
# Not a speed demon but I backed up 50GB in something like 20-30 minutes.
# Formated as FAT32.
# Comes with no software but it was instantly recognized by both Vista and my PS3 (more about that later)
# There is no manual to speak of - and no manual is needed.
# One year warranty.
# 30-day free tech support during the warranty period where the clock starts running after the first call to WD.
# Lacks the (to me annoying) carnival lights that some other drives have these days - only one blue LED, on the back, blinks when read/writes are performed.
I can't think of anything bad to say about this device. I went for the 1TB size because I wanted to back up several smaller computers on it and my 320GB PS3. For a stress test and if you are going to use it with XP or Vista you may want to reformat the disk as NTFS - Microsoft will be spinning your disk for many, many hours and, if you bought a dud, chances are it will stop working during the 10-12 hours format process. Or, you can check the 'fast format' option and the formatting will be done in less than one minute.
After the overnight test was passed, I partitioned the disk into 4 using Vista (no problem whatsoever) and I formated 3 of them as NTFS and one as FAT32 (get FAT32FORMAT off the Net because Microsoft's utility does not work on a 300GB partition). Backups ran flawlessly with Microsoft's backup interface and backing up the PS3 was incident-free too - it instantly recognized the FAT32 partition and I have a nice PS3 backup now.
I highly recommend this drive as a backup device that does not travel a lot.
P.S. - if my review seems to be coming from someone who uncritically gushes over little gadgets, do check my other reviews of electronics or my reviews in general. I am trying to be as objective and as factual as possible and, in this case, I believe, we have a good, solid device that fully meets expectations.
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No-nonsense looking, matt-black finished, metal case.
The texture of the finish is high-quality: very fine, yet industrial.
It feels really solid.
While not an ultra-portable, I actually feel more secure carrying it around than my other lighter enclosures.
I would say it is 'substantial', rather than 'heavy'.
No fancy and flashy LEDs to distract from its purpose.
That one blue LED at the back does it job without fuss and works very nicely for me, thank you very much.
Note that no sync, encryption or backup software is supplied.
Take a look at My Passport Elite if that's what you need.
Quiet and cool.
While not absolutely silent during access (and especially on start-up), you'd be hard pressed to hear it otherwise.
The one way I can be very sure it is spinning at the moment is to put my palm on it to sense the tiny vibrations.
It gets only warm to the touch after long and heavy access.
Power efficiency.
No power switch to bother with. Just connect power adapter and USB cable.
It powers up automatically when connected via USB to a running computer, and auto shuts-down when disconnected.
When connected, it auto spins-down after 10 minutes of inactivity and auto spins-up when accessed again.
These are out-of-the-box with my XP and NSLU2 devices (uNSLUng 6.10 firmware on flash drive).
No need to install any utilities or write spin-down scripts.
Great value.
I am getting a second one to backup the first one serving its duties as my always-available network storage and server (via the NSLU2).
Amazon's price for this is extremely competitive, and I do love buying my gadgets here (with Prime and no-hassle returns, you can't go wrong)
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I bought the Elements 1TB external hard drive and hooked it up. It was ready to go out of the box. It has a small footprint and looks rugged. Note that my drive came formatted with the FAT32 file system - that limits the size of files you can store on the drive to under 4 gig. This is an issue only if you have large files (I have some huge home video files that exceed the FAT32 size limit.) I reformatted the drive using NTFS and that took care of the problem. If you need a USB 2.0 external, this one is a great value.
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This is a good hard drive for the price and size. (well, probably for just the next few months or so, anyway)
It's quieter and takes up less space than my seagate 500gb and WD 500gb that i purchased 2 years ago.
It does heat up but only slightly warm to touch.
However, it's reading/writing speed comes nowhere near the previous two hard drives.
It's good enough to have as extra backup space, but not quite as a partition(s) to access for daily use.
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This is a very reasonably priced TB hard drive. It's nice that it doesn't come with any software because I'd rather put all my money towards the hard drive itself rather then to software that I'd be deleting anyway.
The hard drive is nice and quite. I have a 500GB hard drive too that makes tons of noise while using it.
Based on the recommendations of other reviews, I went ahead and formatted it with in NTSF with the "quick format". (Without checking, "Quick Format" it'll take about 9 hours!) It comes formatted in FAT32, which only allows up to 4 GB file sizes. NTSF allows much bigger file sizes
You only get a USB cable with this. So if you want a hard drive that transfers data fast, pay the extra money and get one with a fire wire. But this suites my needs because I'll be hardly transferring data directly. I'm using it for video editing and when I upload videos from my MiniDV camera to it, it's enough for the USB cable to handle.
I'd like to point out that instead of getting 1024 GB's, you get 931 instead. It's because advertisers like to thing there are exactly 1000 bytes in KB, 1000 KB's in a MB, etc... When the number is actualy 1024.
(6 Months Later)
I just bought another one so I could make full backups from my previous one. This one also works great! & my first hard drive is still going strong.
Also, I remember my first hard drive was delivered cold. I once started up a computer that was also cold & it didn't sound right. So I waited for my new hard drive to warm up to room temperature before using it. I recommend you do the same.
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I have had this product for about 2 months now and I am very impressed. For like $114 I got this snazzy looking TB drive from a decent and well known company. It runs way quieter than the 60GB Acom Data drive I got two years ago for about $200. Many people have complained about this drive not having a power button or power on indicator light which I could care less about. The drive goes to sleep when you aren't using it so I don't see a reason for a button. Anyway, if you are running a mac os then it will automatically offer to configure time capsule (hard drive back-up) for you. I would have to say that the only thing that is a minor inconvenience when it comes to this drive is that when you go to drag a file to the hard drive from your desktop if the drive has gone to sleep you might get an hourglass cursor for a couple seconds while the drive boots up before you can drop your file.
Convenience - 10/10 (What TB drive isn't convenient?)
Appearance - 10/10 (Looks so sweet next to my black Macbook!)
Noise - 3/10 (In a good way. You can here it if you try.)
Cooling - 9/10 (Drive does not get very hot at all.)
Size - 10/10 (Small)
Overall - 9.5/10 (Highly Recommended)
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I won't try and give a full product review - plenty of people already have, and quite frankly they've done a much better job than I could have hoped to do. However, I have a few quick points to make that I haven't seen mentioned below, which I personally would have found helpful:
--> Although fairly compact, this hard drive is still indeed powered by an ac adapter, unlike the western digital passport models. So yes, you'll have to plug the hard drive into a USB port as well as an external power source. (Not really that big of a deal, just more wires to mess with. And before you get too worried, the AC Adapter does come with the hard drive)
--> The hard drive package doesn't really mention this, but I will: I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THAT YOU REGISTER YOUR HARD DRIVE ONLINE BEFORE YOU FORGET. That way, should something happen to your hard drive, you can take advantage of Western Digital's warranty (a little over 1 year for the WD Elements). You also get 30 days of free phone support. Go here to register your drive: https://websupport.wdc.com/registration/index.asp?err=expired&lang=en
--> After you register your hard drive, you will have the option to extend the warranty for your product (check under the "Options" Column of the registered products section, under the "Manage Your Account" page) It's $24.95 to extend the warranty an additional 730 days (2 more years). As much as I love Western Digital, (currently, I have 7 assorted wd hard drives), I've had at least 1 external hard drive act up on me (nothing to report on the Elements model so far). $25 is nothing compared to what it will cost to fix or replace a hard drive. Personally, I prefer the peace of mind.
I've only had the wd elements hard drive for about a week now, but so far I'm loving it! It seems relatively fast for an external hard drive, and I love the look and feel - it has a great compact design. And it's incredibly simple! No fancy lights or unnecessary programs running in the background. I've already ordered another one and I can't wait for it to get here!
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This is a very basic 1TB USB 2.0 External Hard Drive. And thats a good thing. Just plug and play if you like.
I use it for my photography. I have three of these hard drives total. And just ordered two more.
One mirrors my desktops 1TB internal hard drive using Bounce Back Pro 8.0 for daily backups. I dump all my unedited images to the second drive in DNG format for deep storage. And the third one is sitting ready if one fails (as they all eventually do), or I need additional storage
It has a great looking matte-black finish, and the case is metal with rubber bumpers. It looks high tech, professional, and tough. It looks and feels like something you would see in an IT department.
THIS IS NOT A PORTABLE HARD DRIVE!!!
I use Lacie 500gb "rugged" hard drives if I need portability. Even thought I think the wester digitals are tough, I wouldn't consider them for travel, because of the corded brick adapter. And I'm sure some corners were cut to achieve the incredible price.
I formatted mine as NTFS for my Vista Ultimate computers. This keeps the disk from spinning constantly, and holds more data than FAT32 format. This will keep you from using it directly with a MAC computer. Mine are never going to be used for anything but my PC, so a moot point for me. Again, I use my Lacie hard drives for transfers from PC to MAC, which I do often in photography.
Its a quiet and cool running drive. It's not completely silent but you have to make effort to hear it spinning.
I am a heavy user, and they don't get hot.
It turns on when you connect its power supply and USB to a computer that is ON. It automatically spins down if there is no activity for 10+ minutes, and automatically starts up when you click on it for saving, retrieval and backup.
For the price they scream for consideration. They are an exceptional deal, that works.
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I researched the comparable products and read the reviews on this Western Digital Elements 1 TB USB 2.0. Both my systems are running Windows XP Pro with Service Pack 2. I was aware that the WD HD was formatted FAT32.
I unpacked the drive and was impressed with the sturdiness and convenient size. I started a backup of about 25 GB of data. It seemed slow, but I let it continue to run while I was called away on errands. Over six hours later, it was still running and finally errored out. There was data on the drive. I prepared to "scrub" it and requested an RMA from Amazon.
The scrub process reported data errors, so I thought I'd better reformat even after the scrub. The reformat (NTFS) went very quickly. I figured I had nothing to lose with trying another backup after the reformat. What a complete difference! The backup and drive performed as fast as my Seagate FreeAgent.
I researched the FAT32 and NTFS differences and find that I should have reformatted to NTFS right out of the box.
The drive is as fast as any I have experienced in the past. I can recommend this to anyone needing convenient extra hard disc backup space. And I recommend anyone running Windows XP to reformat to NTFS before using it.
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The Good
1. A no nonsense product...
2. No funny software gimmicks....just plug and play
3. Rigid protective casing with rubberised corner
4. Stays well gripped where ever it is kept.
5. Read and write data fast...no need to wait.
6. No fans in the product so it is very silent,
7. Drive warms up slightly on using but it is OK
8. all my laptops detect this drive fast and wihout any glitches.
9. really fast shipping, recieved it the next day.
The BAD
1. The disk rotates always when it is connected to computer...so plugging it always to a computer may be a bad idea.....connect it only when you need it for your drive's long life.
2. The Rubber material at both ends are soft but they attracts lot of dust ..and within two days the product look like it is used for 1year.
3. Big hassle to carry a power adapter and a USB cable along with this product...so bag is a must for those who wants to carry it around.
4. product looks like a solid block (not a "beauty") ...( again i need only a storage space )
Tips
Drive comes FAT32 formatted... lot of Geeks are worried about the format and formatting to NTFS .....
I decided to keep it as FAT32 because
1. NTFS is windows specific ..will not work with Mac ...but FAT32 will ...
2. Any time you can format your drive to NTFS from FAT32 if you want
3. But you cannot go back to FAT32 from NTFS
4. files in FAT32 needs more space than NTFS...(i still dont know how is that) ...but i have 1TB of storage space now so am not worried about that ..but may formatt it to NTFS when my drive have only 20% of space left ....
5. Some say movies more than 4GB file size cannot be saved in FAT32 formats as 4GB is the max size....but this dont affect me because i am not a movie fan.
6. So if you are using this drive not for movies ...FAT32 is the way..no need to format.
Wish
This product would be "excellent" if there was a carrying case which can fit the Drive, the charger and cables all together
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