Western Digital WDG1SU5000 My Book Premium ES Edition 500 GB USB/eSATA External Hard Drive by Western Digital
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Digital camera reviews of Western Digital WDG1SU5000 My Book Premium ES Edition 500 GB USB/eSATA External Hard Drive
Digital camera Review: Good Price with value
Summary: 5 Stars
i always buy western digital hard drive and they were good and i like there warranty.Digital camera Review: A DUD!!! DO NOT BUY!
Summary: 1 Stars
I got a MyBook Essential Edition as a gift from a friend. It was a DUD. The computer would not recognise it and so I followed all the instructions on the website and in the user manual. As a last resort, I called customer service. They verified that it was a DUD and told me that they could send me a replacement if I give them a credit card number to hold while I return the DUD. Because I only had a debit card, they said that would work just fine BUT they would DEDUCT the cost of the REPLACEMENT drive from my card until the DUD arrived there.
An absolute ripoff!! I have spent the whole day crying over this STUPID HARD DRIVE and I will definately NEVER deal with WESTERN DIGITAL again! Their product AND their service STINK!
Digital camera Review: Would have been great if....
Summary: 2 Stars
....my computer would have recognized it. Spent hours trying to get it to work. Reading someone elses review, I now see that I'm not the only one. Something about certain adapter cards not being compatable. Very annoying, wish they said that on the box. Returned it to Bestbuy. Got a LACIE hard drive-much cheaper and worked right away. Digital camera Review: WD MyBook Premium HDD 500gb
Summary: 4 Stars
The WD premium 500gb harddisk is compact, has a good amount of storage space and is fast and reliable. It has a nominal 7,200 RPM speed and 16mb buffer. Noise/ heat emanating from the unit is low. There is a handy AUTO sleep/ wakeup feature.
The difference between this and the Essential edition is the FireWire 400 and capacity guage in the Premium edition.
However, as many others have mentioned before, the inner blue ring meant to be the Capacity Gauge gets a lot of background light from the outer ring, and hence its function is still in doubt for me.
But, considering performance, reliability and storage-this is a great drive to archive files-for students, professionals and home users alike.
This unit isn't small enough for travel use though. So, I use a 120gb WD Passport for that. The real difference is the USB powerup in the passport (but slower R/W speed) vs the Power cord in the MyBook (with higher transfer speeds.)
Digital camera Review: Functionality vs. quality
Summary: 3 Stars
Description: The WDG1SU5000 MyBook ES Edition drive is an external 500GB hard-drive with two interfaces - eSata and USB2. It has a led display at the front ("capacity gauge") which is supposed to indicate the remaining free space.
Functionality: the drive was instantly recognized when I plugged it into the USB2 port. When the computer is turned off the drive automatically goes into "sleep" mode.
Noise: I had to change the first drive I received. It was vibrating so strongly that when placed on a table it made a rather loud and irritating low-pitched humming noise. I placed the drive on a sponge to prevent the table from resonating. In order to keep the drive from falling (it is supposed to stand on its narrow side), I laid it down on its wide side, which the WD web-site claims is OK to do. After two days, while still functioning, the drive started making annoying buzzing noises. Placing the drive back on its narrow side stopped the noise for about two hours and then the noise came back again.
I replaced the drive. The second one I received and still possess does not vibrate so strongly and can be placed on the table without humming noticeably. However, when the drive head jumps back and forth (while reading, for example), the drive makes rather strong creaking noises. I placed it again on a sponge and it became quieter. I do not try again to lay it down on its wide side.
The LED capacity gauge: I have installed the gauge driver as required. it is very hard to notice anything on the capacity display. The "gauge" consists of two rings - the outer ring indicates that the drive is working and the inner is supposed to show how much free space remains. The problem is that the outer ring is not isolated from the inner one and its light actually illuminates the inner ring from the inside, making the free-space display too hard to read and practically unusable.
Support: I have posted a question on the Western-Digital WDC site concerning the capacity gauge and received a list of automatically generated links which have nothing to do with the question. I tried to get their attention on the web and through emails, filling forms as required and replying to automatic emails as indicated, but to no avail. Finally I gave up.
Pros: USB2 and eSata interfaces (I have not tried the eSata). Auto "sleep" mode. Price.
Cons: somewhat unstable and noisy. Difficult to get support. Capacity gauge is only a gimmick. Does not get its power from the USB port - needs to be plugged into the electricity.