Western Digital My Bookâ„¢ Essential Edition (WDG1U5000N) 500 GB USB 2.0 Hard Drive

Pros: Lots and lots of storage, great price, nice looks, turns itself off with computer
Cons: USB2 only, no FireWire or eSATA. Big honkin' transformer.

A tale of two neighbors Let's start off with a tale of two neighbors. We'll call them Timmy and Jimmy. Timmy and Jimmy lived next door to each other and had identical computers, each with state of the art hardware and lots of handy peripherals. ...

Pros: Price, Speed, Convenience, Easy to use
Cons: None

I purchased a Dell Inspiron E1705 notebook (from Dell) in February 2007. The notebook came with a 120GB hard drive. I knew then that the drive would not accommodate my needs and would eventually need to upgrade. I also have a second pc that has ...

Pros: Reasonable price for an external drive. Works flawlessly.
Cons: None

My computer has an external drive that has been in service now for over 3 years. Knowing how hardware wears, I realized that I am starting to push the limits of this drive. Sure, it could last another few years, but then again, it could go tomorrow. ...

Pros: quiet and sleek looking
Cons: customer service

I thought this external hard drive was going to be the answer to all my dwindling space issue on my iMac due to all the home video I was downloading. The product states that it is both PC and Apple compatible. What it neglects to tell you is that you ...

Pros: Easy to install (when it works) Small
Cons: Stopped working after one day Unreliable (see other online reviews)

I just purchased a WD My Book Essential Edition 500 GB external hard drive yesterday. I backed up files from an old HP laptop, transferred some additional files from a 2-yr-old Gateway laptop, and then went to transfer everything over to my newer Dell ...

Pros: Quiet, cool, reliable, compact, easy to use and store
Cons: No FireWire interface

I use this hard drive for backup. I love it! It's quiet and ultra-portable. It's fast. It's completely plug & play--just plug in the USB cable and you're ready to go in a few seconds. I did have to reformat the drive, from FAT to NTFS, so that I ...

Pros: Sleek quiet stylish case
Cons: Will loose your info if used in a professional manner

Well, even though I have quite a past with Western Digital and their drives. I figured, Oh well, Lets try this one. Great for an external storage device. Was fast and even quiet! Then I started using it like I do everything else I own (Extreme use) I ...

Pros: East of installation. Size of hard drive. Size of product.
Cons: None

I purchased this 500 Gigabyte Western Digital Hard Drive from Buy.com for about 170 dollars. My iMac was giving me the error message that informed me that my hard drive was running out of disk space. My applications were not responding after a short time of opening them. I needed much more storage for my graphic and music files.

The item was shipped promptly and all I had to do to install it was plug in the power and connect the USB 2 hub to my iMac. My computer quickly recognized and displayed the drive on my desktop. I did not have to download any driver or go through any process to do this. This item was a true plug and play device. I have had no trouble saving my files to the drive and was able to free about 3 gigabytes on my main drive.

Pros: Lots of Storage, Quiet, Stylish
Cons: A little thick, external power adapter adds bulk.

I purchased this drive to complement my Notebook while I travel. I've collected lotsa stuff over the years and I like to be able to take it all with me. I got a really good deal on this and I'm loading it up now with all my files. It is very quiet and hopefully it won't overheat due to not having a fan in it.