Western Digital My Book Essential Edition 1 TB Hard Drive

Last year, I used WD My Book 500GB, which I paid ~$100. WD 500GB was working with no problem. This year, I needed more storage space to save my numerical data so I ordered WD My Book 1TB with the same price (~$100).Everything is working perfectly.

It takes a long time for this drive to register an addition to its storage. Sometimes, I need to close its connection to the computer then open it again to see the new item there. What gives?

I have five WD external HDs on my network; and all are of the My Book design with USB 2 interface. Like all WD drives, this baby is reliable and ready to go out of the box. Just Plug it in, opt for the optional software (backup etc) by name brand vendors and your're good to go. Except for a external power supply that went out (I belive after a major storm without surge protection) the remaining units, less than 1 TB or less in capacity, all have been running constantly without problem for years on end. No noises, no problems. That's been my experince. I was also able to order a replacement WD power supply at the WD online store. It was fast and simple and I now have the WD unit up and running after a short few day shipping delay; its still running strong with the replacement external power supply!

Completely failed. Such a simple device, made for one purpose-- to store files. You would think it would be able to do that without failing. But nope. If you buy this, you are insane.

I bought a 2TB version of this at my local Best Buy about 8 months ago and I am very happy with my purchase. For one, I have never installed any of the software on it (and I've actually deleted the folders containing that software) and it works basically like a plug and play. It ejects fine (unless I have Windows Media Player open, as my library is based from the hard drive, in which case I have to restart my computer...minor issue), it works well and it does exactly what I want it to do.Pros:*Works without the software that's included*In 8 months I've never had a problem adding or deleting anything*Works with Vista, XP and 7 (so far that's all I've tested)*My favorite thing: It's formatted as Fat32. That means that any movie, t.v. show, music or photo that put on there is viewable/listenable through an X-Box 360 or a PS3 via connection through a USB port on the system. It even plugs into my parent's HDTV and you can watch things from it. I really like how compatible it is.Cons:*The unit is pretty heavy for a hard drive but the outer case is made of plastic. I don't feel like this hard drive would take traveling well. However, I do not intend on traveling so it's perfect for me.*It's hard to keep clean as dust will make it into the vents on the top. I use an air duster to get in there but I know eventually it'll cake so bad I won't be able to clean. I hope this doesn't mess with the electronics inside.As for the firmware, I haven't had any problem with it so far and my laptop has run the gambit from XP to 7. I have had no freezing problems, ejection problems, it only created one drive slot in My Computer and the unit stays relatively cool. It gets a little warm if you leave it running and working for awhile (I can watch about 3 hours worth of t.v. streaming videos from the X-Box before it gets warm enough for me to want to turn it off) but it's never been alarmingly hot, even after 8-9 hours of continued usage.If you're looking for a simple back up hard drive that's compatible with all things Windows (I haven't tested on a Mac yet so I cannot judge there) that's reliable and worth the money, I'd get this item. I've got the 2TB which isn't available here on Amazon but if you need one that big, I'd suggesting finding one of these that is that big. I've got over 1TB of movies, music and t.v. shows and I feel safe and secure in leaving them on this hard drive (although don't get me wrong, I do keep a back-up :D ).