Western Digital My Book Essential Edition 1TB USB 2.0 External Hard Drive

Product Description
Our best-selling My Book external drive is an eleganthigh-capacity storage solution for all the chapters of your digitallife. Our latest edition now features visual easy-to-useautomatic continuous backup software and drive lock securityprotection. At last

Cheaper price for new model - you can see where they have cut costs!
Just like Mandarin, whose review is listed above, I assumed that the sole 1 star review which talked about build quality was a one off. I had bought the earlier model of this drive back in February and was impressed - really easy to use, not aesthetically unappealing: a pretty good purchase. When I came to buy a second to backup all the files I'd put on my original one I was prompted "there is a newer version of this item". The price was lower, the new model had a few additional [not very important] features so it seemed like a no-brainer.

I was SO disappointed. The drive arrived, I unpacked it and the DC in and mini-USB in were misaligned such that I could not plug in either of the cables. Moving the unit made no difference. I returned the package to Amazon by DHL and have now received a notification that a refund is on its way.

Only problem is what do I buy now? There is no point getting a replacement as it looks like WD have cut costs by massively reducing quality - what a shame.

Not very impressed - returned not working
I've used WD internal drives for many years so when it came time to buy another I decided to try an external one for the added ease of moving data about.

There was just one reviews complaining about poor build quality so I discounted that and ordered the drive.

The comment on build quality was right, the sockets were not aligned in the case. Poor Start. However, sitting the unit on desktop "moved" everthing in the case into alignment and plugs went in easily.

This comes with a quick start instruction leaflet and following the instructions - not difficult - installed the drive.

Started scanning my drive, then popped up a message saying it had "no mounted drive". It had died. It could see my drive but its own had died within minutes.

I'm pretty sure the noise like dustbin lids being hit with broom handles coming from the unit may have been a bit of a clue that all was not right.

I've initiated a return and waiting for my dhl van to arrive. Now just need to decide whar to purchase.

Overall, a very dissapointing start to using WD external drives.

Reliable and trouble-free - highly recommended
I currently own 2 of these - the first is now over a year old and the newer one about 6 months, as well as one of the smaller 500Gb variety that I have owned for 3 or 4 years. The 1TB drives are from successive series and the capacity differs slightly between the two. All three units use a mini USB connector at the case although I would prefer the larger standard connector as I sometimes need a longer lead and thus have to resort to an extender rather than a longer cable, which I have yet been unable to find.

I have never had an issue with any of these WD units in use. Two are known to have fallen on to a hard floor on several occasions when an office cleaner was too enthusiastic with a vacuum cleaner, but they have never suffered physical damage to the cases or the drives within. Unlike similar drives made by WD's main competitor, these do not suffer from the infamous and fatal 'click of death'.

I use 2 of them as backup devices and the third for file storage, and may soon need to add another, probably 1TB or 1.5TB for additional file storage. Like most of the proprietory external hard drives available, these come formatted as FAT32, which for backup purposes is useless as my system backups run to well beyond the 2GB size limit, even if run as incremental rather than full standalone baackups. I always reformat to NTFS straight out of the box to allow the larger file sizes.

The provided backup software is very limited in its capabilities and totally unsuitable for my needs and thus discarded, but as I use another backup product that I have relied upon for several years (before acquiring the first of these drives) I do not consider that an issue.

Truly appalling quality control
Truly appalling quality control. The "DC in" and "usb in" were completely misaligned on the reverse of the case. I would have had to take the case apart to realign. Very disappointing that something like this would get past any quality control process.

I am now getting really annoyed with manufacturers, not Amazon. I had just returned a Samsung Story Station to Amazon for refund as it died after 1 week when completing the second back up.

Full marks to Amazon, for providing a paid return service and a normally a very quick refund. My search will continue for a 1TB external hard drive but am running out of realistic options as most appear to have gremlins.

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