Western Digital My Book Pro Edition 500GB Review

[houlty]

4. Noise ? After testing connecting both FireWire 400 (I don?t have FW 800) and USB 2.0 simultaneously and individually I can confirm that connecting via FireWire switches the drive?s fans to mini hair dryer mode, very annoying indeed.

Hmm, interesting. I received this drive the other day and was disappointed at the noise it makes, but I've only ever used firewire because i have it connected to a mac. I wouldn't of thought the connection would make a difference but if it does, I may have to switch to USB2.

I would of never of thought of this, but will have to try it now.

[peacemf]

i own the 320gb and the 500gb (not the pro) :)

its good, but on the table its (hard top) it hums and sometimes you can hear it accessing :(

[.Neo]

Yep it definitely makes more noise when connected via FireWire than when using it in USB2.0 mode. Over here the HD accessing ticks aren't really worth mentioning. A friend of mine has the 320GB Essential Edition as well (USB only) and the HD ticks are louder than the ones my Professional Edition produces. No idea why. :wacko:

[IncidentFlux]

Update: 3 Days of usage

Fan Noise reduction -?Workaround>

I got some really good advice from Amazon and newegg customer reviews. About flipping the internal fan around, looks like a design oversight, as the fan sucks in air, instead of out. After flipping the fan around the drives are running much cooler and its not kicking into leaf blower mode even with FireWire (400). Eventhough I've been stress testing the drives in RAID 0 mode and had?left it constantly copying 200?gigs?of?data?and?managed?to?fill?it?up?last?night?and?all?that?time?it?was?was?in?silent?mode.?I?even?tried?to? stress test it further by playing three MPEG 2 VOB files during the:)opy process. Still silent :)

Amazon User Reviews

WD Button Manager[/b]l]

WD Button Manager

I also noticed the WD button manager doesn't even load if both USB and firewire (400) are connected or even just FireWire. Anyone else have that issue with WinXP SP2?

I hope WD would release a firmware update, to JBOD the drives into one logical volume or just two drives. Anyone got their product support link? I couldn't find it.

Edited July 22, 2007 by RADicaLMMS

[mujjuman]

nice reviews

[dr.bisho]

i should get my self One of these :p

[.Neo]

Fan Noise reduction -?Workaround>

I got some really good advice from Amazon and newegg customer reviews. About flipping the internal fan around, looks like a design oversight, as the fan sucks in air, instead of out. After flipping the fan around the drives are running much cooler and its not kicking into leaf blower mode even with FireWire (400). Eventhough I've been stress testing the drives in RAID 0 mode and had?left it constantly copying 200?gigs?of?data?and?managed?to?fill?it?up?last?night?and?all?that?time?it?was?was?in?silent?mode.?I?even?tried?to? stress test it further by playing three MPEG 2 VOB files during the:)opy process. Still silent :)

Just for interest's sake how does one flip the internal fan arPSAny walkthroughs?

PS

I updated the first post wi:) better quality pictures. :)

Edited July 23, 2007 by .Neo

[Creamy]

Looks like i'm up for a new HD! (Y)

[Jotnar]

FYI

You can get the USB 2.0/eSATA 500GB MyBook at BestBuy for $149 as of yesterday.

cheers

[St4t1c]

ordered 2x 500gb Premium ES's today, (usb2 + eSata), should have them tomorrow...they look sweet, and the review should get a WD approval after so many people bought the thing..:-P

[.Neo]

hahaha, I'll make sure to apply for one. :p

[IncidentFlux]

Just for interest's sake how does one flip the internal fan around? :p Any walkthroughs?

Not sure if you were kidding, or not, but... best part is, it won't void your warranty, pull the fan out, turn it around, and screw the enclosure back in again. No need to glue, screw or stick anything on the fan itself, just make sure the fan stays on top of the holes when you're finally closing the enclosure.

Still running it with RAID 0, lets see when I lose my first drive, somehow I can't stand to lose half of my space eventhough I don't need it at the moment.

Edited July 25, 2007 by RADicaLMMS

[Quillz]

I just picked up my second Western Digital MyBook today, this time in a 500 GB flavor, for just $149! (Maybe not the greatest deal, but consider my other MyBook cost the same, and yet only holds 320 GB. I got it last Christmas.) As it's more of a bare bones external hard drive, it doesn't have many of the backup features as the Pro models, but hey, it's a 500 GB hard drive, as long as it stores my files, I'm happy.

[jeffx]

I don't think this was mentionned anywhere, but is there a way to turn off the blue LED?

Is the noise really that bad, is it audible when the drive is not being used?

TIA

[IncidentFlux]

I don't think this was mentionned anywhere, but is there a way to turn off the blue LED?

Is the noise really that bad, is it audible when the drive is not being used?

TIA

Currently there is no way to?turn?off?that?big?blue?LED,?outer?rim LED?rotates?during?reads?and?writes,?pretty?useful IMO. Noise levels are fine in idle mode. In my case levels are below my computer's, so I'm satisfied, but when it was switching to hairdryer mode that was really annoying, especially if your system doubles as a media center computer.

[jwoo]

sorry if this is a noob question but im looking into getting an external hd...and ive heard the western digital is the as good as they get...but i what i dont know is the difference between my book essential, my book premium, and my book pro.. so if someone could help me out with that, that would be great....

thanks

[.Neo]

sorry if this is a noob question but im looking into getting an external hd...and ive heard the western digital is the as good as they get...but i what i dont know is the difference between my book essential, my book premium, and my book pro.. so if someone could help me out with that, that would be great....

thanks

Essential Edition = USB 2.0 only - Black enclosure green LED rings

Premium Edition = USB 2.0 + FireWire 400 - Black enclosure blue LED rings

Pro Edition = USB 2.0 + FireWire 400 + FireWire 800 - Silver enclosure blue LED rings

World Edition = USB 2.0 + Ethernet - White enclosure blue LED rings

More details and additional differences here: http://www.westerndigital.com/en/products/index.asp?cat=5

Hope it helps.

[.Neo]

Not sure if you were kidding, or not, but... best part is, it won't void your warranty, pull the fan out, turn it around, and screw the enclosure back in again. No need to glue, screw or stick anything on the fan itself, just make sure the fan stays on top of the holes when you're finally closing the enclosure.

Nope wasn't kidding. The reason I ask is because I don't see any screws on the outside of the silver casing. How do you pull it off and stuff? Is it some kind of clicking mechanism?

[NightCrawler.]

Same here.

I have a 320GB essential. Only difference really is you dont get a space gauge and its black with a green light instead of silver with a blue one. I dont really remember if it has a firewire port lol, but I use USB anyway :)

I would have loved to get a 500gb pro edition but i didnt have the money at the time.

Apparently the cooling vent design that goes around the 3 edges spells something in morse code, but ive never bothered to try and work it out :p

Is this the one you bought?

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/in...duct_uid=109361

I will be getting that one very soon :woot:

[IncidentFlux]

sorry if this is a noob question but im looking into getting an external hd...and ive heard the western digital is the as good as they get...but i what i dont know is the difference between my book essential, my book premium, and my book pro.. so if someone could help me out with that, that would be great....

thanks

My Book Side-by-side comparison chart

http://www.wdmybook.com/en/compare/compare.asp

Nope wasn't kidding. The reason I ask is because I don't see any screws on the outside of the silver casing. How do you pull it off and stuff? Is it some kind of clicking mechanism?

All the second edition?drives are officially user servicable. Screws should be visible if you have any of the following drives.

Western Digital Support

How to dismantle a My Book Pro Edition II, My Book Premium Edition II, or My Book World Edition II to replace a hard drive.>

[peacemf]

for the noise a quick solution is to place something under it....

i use some a post-it pad :) even placing a piece of cloth will stop the vibration....

i think its because the rubber feet are too thin.....

[.Neo]

All the second edition?drives are officially user servicable. Screws should be visible if you have any of the following drives.

Western Digital Support

How to dismantle a My Book Pro Edition II, My Book Premium Edition II, or My Book World Edition II to replace a hard drive.>

Yeah so basically that only applies to the 1TB+ drives, not the single HDD Editions (750GB and below) this review is about.

I'm not too bothered by it though. Maybe your MyBook II simply makes more noise (by default anyway) because it has to cool two HDDs instead of one?

[IncidentFlux]

Yeah so basically that only applies to the 1TB+ drives, not the single HDD Editions (750GB and below) this review is about.

I'm not too bothered by it though. Maybe your MyBook II simply makes more noise (by default anyway) because it has to cool two HDDs instead of one?

Cooling two drives and RAID added more overhead. Noise issue has become a non-issue thank God. I even went further and took out the 'drive cage cover' yesterday, so now air will pass through both sides of the enclosure.

[peacemf]

has anybody got an I/O error 0x8007045D in vista whilst using these drives?

cos i did :(

i was trying to backup my lela star videos and i got a few of these errors......

is there a way to fix it without removing all restore points?

[IncidentFlux]

Hi,

I've been looking to invest in a extern hard drive for months now looking at your comment about the Western Digital My Book Pro Edition 500GB Review does the fan workaround/solution work with the Western Digital 1TB My Book Premium II?

It should work with all second edition drives, especially in your case, only differences between pro and premium editions is the color and formatting, Pro is Mac HFS formatted and premium is NTFS formatted, both can reformatted either way.

How hot does it get during normal usage?

When I?had?first?opened up the enclosure, the drives were pretty hot that was before my modifications and they had been copying data non stop for about 12 hrs. However the outside was only warm not burning hot as the insides.

Approx. how long would you estimate the USB/FireWire cable provided be?

Both cables are about a meter long maybe slightly more.

What kind of speeds do you get and on what interface, and is this RAIDo or RAID1?

I didn't do any benchmarking, for figures check out these reviews.

Site Reviews:

1.?MaximumPC?Review

2. MacLife Review

Buyer Reviews:

1.?New Egg - Customer Reviews for Western Digital My Book Pro II

2.?New Egg - Customer Reviews for Western Digital My Book Premium II

[The only thing that will matter is your real world performancence, I've hooked my book via FireWire 400, through my Audigy 2 ZS's FireWire port and am running it in RAID0 mode, just because all my stuff is backedup. End of the day if you want RAID0 for performance which will never peak even with FireWire 800 or RAID1 drive mirroring then go fLike I said earlier The Seagate FreeAgent Pro 750GB external drive is better overall value for money if RAID is not a requirement.nt.