Western Digital 500 Gb My Book Essential Hard Drive By Amy Nil on - Updated Oct 15, 2011
After we began digitizing our home movies, it became apparent that our 100GB hard drive was not going to cut it. We also have a large music and photo collection, so I decided to start looking into options for backing them up.
There were some factors that we considered when picking out a hard drive:
1. We wanted an external drive. With two laptops (one being a Mac), the cost of 2 larger internal drives wasn't worth it.
2. We needed a backup drive that was both PC and Mac compatible.
3. We wanted something affordable, but did not want to purchase a hard drive from a manufacturer we had never heard of.
The Western Digital 500GB MyBook Essential Hard Drive fit the bill. We got it on sale last fall at Best Buy for $120, but I have seen it recently for about $90 after a $40 mail-in-rebate.
I would highly recommend this hard drive to anyone looking for a good backup hard drive. It has a USB 2.0 port, so you just plug it in and you are ready to go. I have had no problems switching between the PC and the Mac. It has been really reliable - no complaints!
I keep this hard drive in the same spot at home, but in my opinion it is not extremely portable. It is larger than the portables I have seen, and just is not designed for on-the-go use.
My only warning would be that it has just a USB 2.0 port (no FireWire or eSATA), so transfers are not that fast. This is fine for our use as a backup drive, but if you are looking for something more similar to a second hard drive, Western Digital also makes a MyHome edition (which has both FireWire and eSATA compatiblity).
About The Author:
Western Digital MyBook Essential Purchased at: Best Buy Price: $120 on sale
Western digital makes good hardrives from what I heard.
Thanks I haven't heard of this, I am familiar with Lacie. I am going to check this out I like the USB Port.
This sounds like a really useful external harddrive. I like the fact that it is both PC and Mac compatible; you don't always find that, and I know many people have one of each. Great detail, thanks!
I don't mind usb 2 speed, but agree that it should totally have fwire as well
I've been considering a backup hard drive. Not too worried about the usb 2 speed especially for the great price you got!
I have heard about this external hard drive & have been wondering it it was a good as I thought. Sounds like it is, for all the extra space & memory you get.
If only it is more portable then it will be a perfect product.
Western Digital supposedly makes really good hard drives. I've been looking for an external hard drive. I'll have to check this out. Thanks for sharing!