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- manufacturer #: WDH1U5000E
- quickfind code: 136212
- 150 in stock for next day delivery.
31 reviews
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Product Reviews
Fast, reliable, looks good
os:
Windows VistaI've been using this hard drive for about a month now, and have had no problems with it whatsoever. I've only used 90GB so can see this lasting for a very long time.
It's very fast - I'm using it to store some of my older games and they load in literally seconds. The write speed is decent too, at a sustained speed of around 25mb/s.
It's also completely silent when idle, and you have to try hard to hear the slight clicks when writing large files or spinning up (which it takes only a few seconds to do). Despite having no fan, it's well ventilated on 3 sides so runs cool.
Superbly robust too - I've often forgotten that it's plugged into my laptop so have knocked it over when standing up but it hasn't suffered at all, not even cosmetically.
Looks great. Glossy black with a cool blue LED looks very modern.
Only negatives I can think of is the rather pointless software that comes preinstalled, and the fact that the supplied USB cable is a bit short for my use. But then, I don't think many people will have it as far from their computer as I do.
Country
Can someone who has purchased one of these please tell me what country the product is made in, and how many years gurantee the packaging says it comes with as well please.
Thanks in advance.
Re: Fan
os:
Windows VistaThis is a very quiet drive i bought one the other day, fantastic, well worth the money. There is no fan inside, the only time it makes a noise is when you access the drive but thats it. Quiet during file transfer. The long term however i cant quite say as i've only had it a week or so.
some thoughts continued...
Now to the more important stuff. First of all the drive is supremely quiet. This is the first external drive of this size which I have had trouble to hear when idle. Just like the previous generation there is no fan but this time there is also very little vibration. At the back the power lead is different having no box but being more like a chunky adaptor than a regular plug. The new adaptor is also internationally universal (you simply slip on the pin type you need). I use my old drives in two rooms between two computers so used to have a setup where I left the leads at each computer and swapped into each drive as needed. With the new drive you can still use the older power adaptor but the USB connection is the 'mini' type as often seen on cameras rather than the regular 'B' connection so you can no longer simply swap between drives. Also there is no longer a physical power switch on the front which I used to rely on to change drives (I am assuming this may be an optional software control but have not yet read the manual).
Brilliant piece of kit
Im using this hard drive to store full itunes playlists and videos that i edit from my digital camcorder and not once has it slowed down. The software that comes on the hard drive is pretty ueful as well as you can back up one or more computers. Simply just plug this drive in and within a few seconds you have full access to all your files. The only dissapointing thing is that it is not bus powered and therefore requires a spare socket at your workplace but apart from that is brilliant and good value for money.
Cool!
os:
Windows XPHad this for christmas and must say a good hard drive with a large capacity. This drive worked straight out of the box and runs quietly.
Nothing bad to report yet.
Answers to questions and some first thoughts
os:
Windows XPMy drive says it was assembled in Thailand with a drive manufactured in Malaysia or Thailand.
It comes with a 2 year warranty.
I own two of the previous generation WD My Book External Drives (both My Book Premium ES 500GB).
The new drive is slightly smaller and and now glossy (a bit like the new macbooks) rather than the prevous matte 'charcoal' look. This means the drive casing may scratch easier and it kind of forces you to stand it up whereas I used to lay the others on their side and use the small notches to stack them together. This drive has no stacking notches but does sit quite safely on top of the other two if space is important. Another quality of the new shiny gloss look is that as soon as it comes out of the the packaging it picks up minute bits of dust and you are more likely to notice finger marks so expect to be dusting (like a macbook)...
continued...
Again, like the previous generation all software comes on the drive itself but you don't need to use for the drive to function. The drive worked out the box but was formatted in FAT32. It is now running in NTFS. One big problem with the new generation is that there is currently no budget eSATA edition.
last one...
The drive cost 75 but only has USB2 where as for the same price you used to get eSATA thrown in. Although I don't yet have strict eSATA I used to format the drives connected to the motherboards internal SATA sockets as formatting drives this big (500GB) using USB takes an absolute age. This is going to become more important when we get TB drives becoming the norm.
good
os:
Windows XPworks well. quick setup. heavy enuff not to topple over when standing up. keep nice and cool. quiet
