bigrich76's Full Review: Western Digital WDH1B5000 500 GB USB 2.0 Hard Driv...
Being the knucklehead that I am, it took a disaster for me to realize that I needed to have an external hard drive to backup my system. I fought the mp3 era for as long as I could but finally gave in back in 2003 and from then on up to January of last year I amassed a massive 130gb of music. I was trying to reset my iTunes library and accidentally deleted my whole collection! Yes, it was a bad day. After dealing with that situation I realized that I needed an external storage solution so I began researching them and settled on the Western Digital MyBook line. I took my time getting one because I noticed the prices were falling pretty consistently and I wanted to wait until the 500gb models were below $120 and in this case my patience paid off as I was able to pick up a 500gb Office Edition MyBook drive brand new from Staples for $48!
Looks: The sleek design of the MyBook line allows for seamless integration into any workstation. I'm not gonna lie and say I love the silver of the Office Edition cause I was really set on the black of the Home Edition, but for the price I paid I had to learn to love it. The silver one has white LED indicator lights on the front of it that tells you not only the capacity of the drive, but also the current status as well. The lights aren't too bright either so don't worry about them lighting up your room. It's got vent holes at the top and bottom of it to allow sufficient air flow since there's no fan in it. Overall it's a very sleek, modern looking piece that can fit in anywhere.
Installation: Piece of cake, plug in the supplied AC adaptor to an outlet and into the drive, plug in a USB 2.0 cable to your computer and into the drive. Done.
Software: The drive comes with 3 main programs, MioNet Services, WD Anywhere Backup and Memeo AutoSync. You can pick and choose which one's you want to install. It is a wide misconception that the WD Anywhere Backup program is only a 30 day trial, it all depends on what version drive you have. Only the Essential Edition drives are limited to a 30 day trial of this software, the other's come with a product key that allows you to activate the software giving you unlimited use for as long as you own the drive. Memeo AutoSync allows you to set parameters for automatic backups and is a handy tool for maintaining current backups of your system. Also included with the software package is some Google software; Google Toolbar and Google Desktop.
Performance: I've had my drive up and running since the day after Thanksgiving and it's been flawless. The only thing I don't like about it is not being able to turn it off via the power button on the back of it, and the fact that it "goes to sleep" and if it's in sleep mode when I click on "my computer" then none of the icons will show up until the drives wakes up, which takes a few seconds. Beyond that, it does what I expect it to do and has given me no problems. The drive turns off and on with your computer, which isn't a bad thing although I'd like to turn it off by itself. I haven't figured out if there's a way to keep it from going to sleep but if I do I'll let you know.
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