Is Western Digital Junk Now?

[dwmreg]

I've been a big fan of Western Digital for years, but recently I'm having some problems Western Digital (WD) either cannot resolve or they selected not to when they have before. Let me tell you why and I'd like you to tell me if you've had the same or different problems.

I have a My Book Studio Edition II Firewire 800/400, eSATA, USB 2.0 connected to a Mac Mini Server using Firewire 800. It is a 6 TB model. My Mac is a recent model Mac Mini Server running OS X 10.8.x.

1) The drive is the *second* one that I've owned. The one that I bought new was replaced with the same model under warranty when the original one started throwing errors about the drive "having a problem" and "to contact technical support" a pop-up appears (source unknown) to warn me about this. I check the console logs and I find this "WDDriveManagerService: WDDriveManager received a non-zero Array StatusL 1, on Drive 'xxxxxxx' ".

WD replaced me previous drive immediately under warranty when this happened now not so much. They blew me off and told me to keep using the drive. I'm skeptical at this point about the change in direction they are taking and the error happens at least daily now.

2) WD's management software displays TWO icons in my Finder menu bar. I submitted a trouble ticket about that too this morning.

I've always know WD's software sucks and the sucking continues it seems.
I'm concerned I'm getting the run around about #1.

Anyone else experience this? What vendor are you going with these days?

 

[opinio]

I am no familiar with the drive, but can you use OS X/Disk Utility to manage the drives?

I usually format and delete any proprietary software that comes with a hard drive.

 

[Bear]

...
Anyone else experience this? What vendor are you going with these days?

For external drives? Seagate. For internal drives Seagate or Western Digital.

Western Digital external drive cases have all sorts of issues.

I am no familiar with the drive, but can you use OS X/Disk Utility to manage the drives?

I usually format and delete any proprietary software that comes with a hard drive.

Pretty much this. Standard external drives don't need management software.

 

[Giuly]

Download AppCleaner and remove the Western Digital software.

Obviously, it's not the WD drive that's the problem here, but some software. WD hard drives are fine, both internally and externally, if you use appropriate software - in the case of OS X, that would be Disk Utility.

Also, you might want to upgrade the firmware on the drive.

 

[Ifti]

Cleanly remove all software and then reinstall 1 copy of the WD Drive Manager to manage the drive.

A lot of my external drives are WD, and Ive had several Studio and Mirror drives as well. Ive never had to return any to WD for any reason TBH.

 

[thedeske]

Western Digital external drive cases have all sorts of issues.

Agree - There are a few companies that make reliable enclosures but the big drive makers are notoriously cheap when they develop their own.

 

[kumquat]

I have 7 My Book Studios running, 4 of them are new from just since around Christmas and I haven't had any problems with any of them at all. Maybe you just got a dud. Frankly, after my experiences with other drive makers, specifically LaCie and Seagate and iOmega (- now defunct?), you couldn't pay me to store any of my stuff on their drives unless it was stuff I wanted to lose catastrophically for some perverse reason. I've, also, heard horrific things about G-Drive from a guy who owns an Apple repair shop. If WD drives are going to **** now, too, I'll have to go back to physical media and printing everything out again.

 

[ljonesj]

i have had more bad luck out of the enclosures for seagate than the drives themselves even thou i had them fail also. ive in all the western digital's i have had only one fail and i got it used with my wd mybook studio 2. in my experience i have had seagates fail more but i may just be unlucky with them

 

[KUguardgrl13]

I have a My Book and a My Passport running with no issues. I reformatted before using them. My bf uses a My Passport with his PCs with no problems but a My Passport Essential was a dud as was a Seagate hybrid drive.