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| Western Digital 500 GB My Book Essential 2.0 - USB 2.0 External Hard Drive WDH1U5000N | 
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| Brand: Western Digital
Category: CE
List Price: $169.99
Buy New: $93.99
You Save: $76.00 (45%)
New (33) Used (1) from $93.99
Avg. Customer Rating:  70 reviews
Sales Rank: 46
Media: Personal Computers
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Batteries Included: No
Hard Drive Size: 500
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.5
Dimensions (in): 5.4 x 2.1 x 6.5
nv:Capacity (GB): 500
Interface: USB 2.0
Spindle Speed (RPM): 7200
Buffer Memory: 16MB
Average Seek (msec): <8.9
Track-to-Track Seek Time (typical read, ms): 2.0
Data Transfer Rate on USB 2.0: Up to 480 Mb/sec
Temperature, Operating (C): 5 to 35
Temperature, Nonoperating (C): -40 to 65
Warranty: 1 year warranty
MPN: WDH1U5000N
Model: WDH1U5000N
UPC: 718037120805
EAN: 0718037120805
ASIN: B000XRK3LG
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
if you use Windows and have large files: do this before anything else July 26, 2008
I've been using this for a year now, and it's generally been ok. I had some issues at first where the drive wouldn't show up on my computer running XP, or the drive icon would show up and then disappear with no apparent pattern. The WD website was no help. The backup software is not helpful in my mind, though I've never found one I liked.
OK, so I admit, I did not read the manual, but just plugged the drive in. One piece of advice: if you run Windows, before you do anything else, reformat the My Book. "This WD device is preformatted as a single FAT32 partition for compatibility with all updated Windows and Macintosh operating systems. The FAT32 file system has a maximum individual file size limit of 4 GB." I never read that in the manual. Recently, I kept trying to move 2 4.3GB files on it, and it kept giving me an error stating "There is not enough free disk space" when there obviously was. It took me a while to figure out it was because of the formatting. As I am relatively tech competent but not hard core, I don't want to go through the process of backing up everything essential on the drive on another drive and then reformatting or risking losing everything by creating partitions and reformatting within them. I ended up just splitting the files (which means I will have to combine them again if I ever use them again).
Also, if you want 500GBs I'd think of getting a 320GB Passport instead. I have a couple Passports, and in the end they have been much more useful since they are easy to carry around (no power adapter and smaller size) and never have given me problems. I fly often, and security always asks to examine the My Book drive unless you take it out and put it in a separate bin.
 Only As Good As It's Owner! July 25, 2008
People!
We have to remember that this is a HARD DRIVE in an external case, and it is cricically susceptible to heat!! Keep it cool and unobstructed so it will give you the service that I have always known and trusted WD to provide.
No Kidding.
If you don't need 500 Gb, consider the Passport Model. Much smaller, rugged and totally reliable.
 Do not buy this - you may lose data July 25, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Don't buy this if you think your power will ever go out, or you might pull the plug.
My hard drive was getting full. I had lots of family photos and music files and various other stuff. So i bought the Western Digital 500GB My Book and 'moved' 62G of files onto it. A week later I go to find something and there are no, zero nada files on it. I do notice that the drive letter shows that there is only 420GB free. First help person says, did you ever unplug it. Sure I say, afterall it's a hard drive like the one in your PC you should be able to turn off power. He says oh your data is gone then!!!!
I tell him that there must be something on there taking up that space but he doesn't understand me so i ask him to escalate (we're dealing with India now). Finally after several hours and requests to escalate since I know there is data on there, I get a very smart person who understands right away what i am saying regarding only 420GB free, must be data on the drive. He has me run some sort of scan and it finds all my files!!!! Whoohoo right?
Wrong, it just finds the data, and gives them new filenames like 000001.chk, 000002.chk, 000003.cha and so on for 30,000 files or so. The help desk guy then sympathises and recommends some software, you can purchase, that will go through all the files and put the correct extensions on them.
So hour and days later i have 3,000 .txt files with no names, and 2,000 .jpg files and 5,000 .ppt .... and so on. Now i get to open each one and name it appropriately.
Do you want to go through this experience? If you have no fear that your power will ever go out, or you'll accidently pull the plug then go ahead, buy it.
I do own a Maxtor exernal for my other PC, 2 years now, multiple power downs and no data loss.
Avoid this product, their warranty is useless July 24, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I purchased one of these units last December for use as expansion space to hold music and photographs. It failed 5 days ago, unable to "be seen" by either my Mac or Windows computer; it worked one day, failed the next without being touched or moved; in other words, no physical damage to it by me. I had about 40 Gigs of data on this 500 Gig drive.
Suspecting either the power supply or USB-to-PATA interface card, I contacted Western Digital(WD) to see what I had to do to recover my data and have the defective unit repaired or replaced. I suspected that the drive itself was probably OK because of the nature of the failure to be seen at the interface. They told me that IF I tried to open the unit and recover the data from the drive, that that action would "void my warranty". Only if I paid one of their "preferred partners" [a minor fortune] to open the unit and recover my data to DVDs would they honor the warranty on their obviously defective product. If I had them send me a replacement unit, and subsequently returned the original unit in a "tampered condition" [i.e. I opened it to get at the hard drive to recover my data] they would then charge the retail price [$169, more than the current Amazon price for a NEW one] to my credit card. No person in their right mind would ever use this "warranty", so, in effect YOU HAVE NO WARRANTY for Western Digital products, unless you are willing to throw away your data or pay more than the price of a new drive to recover the data which THEY should have recovered for you in a repair department and sent back to you installed on a new drive. They obviously would rather just toss you another empty made-in-Thailand drive, or intimidate you out of using the warranty you paid for, than operate a proper repair service at US labor costs, to help you recover your data.
So, AVOID THIS PRODUCT LIKE THE PLAGUE. Buy one of the many Amazon "external hard drive enclosures" and a separate hard drive from Maxtor, Hitachi, Seagate, or other manufacturers who support their products; then, if the enclosure fails, you can open it up without "voiding the warranty" and recover your data if the drive itself is OK.
I went ahead and opened this defective unit, removed the hard drive and installed it on a desktop computer as a SLAVE drive, and am now copying the data to the main drive on that computer; nothing was wrong with the drive, only with their controller, as I suspected. I will buy an empty external enclosure from Amazon, and reuse this drive until it fails. I will also never buy another Western Digital product, because their warranty policy and customer service attitude STINKS. You can decide if you want to buy from this company at your own risk.
 Good July 24, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I have never had a problem with western digital/my book line. I use them in a business oriented backup system and always have worked without failure.
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