Need help regarding WD MyBook Home Edition

[eXan]

I'm still debating on which drive to get... Just today my local computer store has started selling these models of MyBook external drives:

WDH1CS10000 - 1 TB
WDH1CS7500 - 750 GB
WDH1U10000 - 1 TB

The first 2 are Home Edition and the second one is Essential Edition.

I'd like to get 750-1TB drive so this looks nice, and the price they are asking for it is reasonable enough (for my area at least >_>)

My questions are:

1) What is the drives' RPM? I can't find any info about it... I want to believe its 7200, but the MyBook Studio Edition 2 500 GB which is also sold locally has 5400 RPM drive it it
2) Do I really need to install that WD Drive manager and Backuo Anywhere software to make the drive work? I just want to use the drive as an additional FW storage, not for automated backup software.
3) Whats the difference between Home and Essential editions besides USB-only for Essential? I ask because Essential costs slightly more than Home, but doesn't have FW/esata

And finally, is getting this MyBook better than buying a separate SATA drive and a FW enclosure? I originally thought of getting a Samsung 1 TB drive because local prices for MyBook (and other externals) was sky-high, but I still need to find a good enclosure with FW, but these newly arrived MyBooks are priced about the same as Samsung +Enclosure so I wonder what is better to get

 

[Apple Ink]

Essential - 7200 - 16MB - http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digit...U10000N/dp/tech-data/B000VZCEUI/ref=de_a_smtd
Home - 1 TB - 7200 - 16 MB - http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digit...xternal/dp/tech-data/B000WBJDUA/ref=de_a_smtd
Home 750GB - 7200 - 8MB - http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digital-7200RPM-External-Drive/dp/tech-data/B000WGQ68C/ref=de_a_smtd

No you dont need to install the crappy software... just format the drives in HFS+ for Mac only with Disk Utility!
Price... Strange but I find the Home to be discounted fro $210 to $180 (http://store.westerndigital.com/sto...goryID.13093200/parid.13092300/catid.13092800) while the Essential costs $180 (http://store.westerndigital.com/sto...goryID.13093400/parid.13092300/catid.13092800)

Hope this helps!

P.S.: You'd be better off buying the FW drive!

 

[eXan]

Essential - 7200 - 16MB - http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digit...U10000N/dp/tech-data/B000VZCEUI/ref=de_a_smtd
Home - 1 TB - 7200 - 16 MB - http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digit...xternal/dp/tech-data/B000WBJDUA/ref=de_a_smtd
Home 750GB - 7200 - 8MB - http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digital-7200RPM-External-Drive/dp/tech-data/B000WGQ68C/ref=de_a_smtd

No you dont need to install the crappy software... just format the drives in HFS+ for Mac only with Disk Utility!
Price... Strange but I find the Home to be discounted fro $210 to $180 (http://store.westerndigital.com/sto...goryID.13093200/parid.13092300/catid.13092800) while the Essential costs $180 (http://store.westerndigital.com/sto...goryID.13093400/parid.13092300/catid.13092800)

Hope this helps!

P.S.: You'd be better off buying the FW drive!

Thank you very much for the reply ^^ Now I feel better about MyBook drives ^^ Yea, if I'll end up buying it, I'll go for FW.

Any more opinions about MyBooks?

Edit: I've noticed that the Amazon's page about 750 GB Home has conflicting info >_< In the product title it says the drive has 16 MB cache, but lower, in the specs it say 8 MB...

 

[weckart]

You are going to be limited by either the USB or FW400 bus, so putting a superfast drive in that enclosure is a waste of time unless you get FW800/eSATA.

As for Mybooks - I have three of these:

Weaknesses: The power supply is light but not the most robust. On the cheapest usb Essential version, there have been quite a few reports of failing adapters.
The Essential has a mini-usb port instead of the full sized socket. It might be a little easier to dislodge the cable if you catch it accidentally. Not sure why WD though it was a good idea to put that in this enclosure.
Could be a little quieter, but not the noisiest either
The Mybook World editions boast Gb network adapters, yet saddle these enclosures with such weak cpus that you get usb speeds from them. Not really worth the extra for networking.
Not the easiest to open without breaking the enclosure, if you want to put a larger disk in further down the line.
Double disk versions are noisy and best avoided.

Plus points: The power connection is not proprietary, so you can replace this with any suitable power adapter if yours fails out of warranty or you lose it.
It's not a Seagate (who would have believed that Seagate would drag the Maxtor name down?)
Can be had for cheap. 1TB Essential could be had for less than £60 ($87) recently. That's less than the cost of the bare drive.

 

[eXan]

Thank you for the information. Do you have any experience with Home edition? Amazon's 4/5 reviews are very negative... I don't want to loose data

 

[dubhe]

FYI I have a WD Elements which AFAIK is the same inside, just has a basic enclosure with a usb port and a power in. It says on the website that the Elements doesn't sleep with your computer but mine does, and it sleeps if I don't use it for a bit as well.

I can't see any reason not to get it, it is cheaper than the MyBook.

Just my thoughts.

 

[Chipskip]

Buy it

I have been running a My Book Home Edition since 11/08 (Yes, Black Friday). I love it. I did have an issue with eSATA (I am on a PC, for another 2 wks) but WD's firmware update Jan-09 fixed any and all issues I had. I keep all my movies on it and have it shared to the aTv (XBMC/Boxee).

Newegg.com has the 1TB for $149 with free shipping. Also they have the World Edition (networkable) for $179.

 

[alphaod]

If you use it, you may want to look into the Studio edition with has FW800 instead of FW400 on the Home edition.

 

[eXan]

I have been running a My Book Home Edition since 11/08 (Yes, Black Friday). I love it. I did have an issue with eSATA (I am on a PC, for another 2 wks) but WD's firmware update Jan-09 fixed any and all issues I had. I keep all my movies on it and have it shared to the aTv (XBMC/Boxee).

Newegg.com has the 1TB for $149 with free shipping. Also they have the World Edition (networkable) for $179.

Sadly, Newegg doesn't ship to my area, so I have to buy what is sold locally. 149$ is a very low price, because here it costs about 190$

If you use it, you may want to look into the Studio edition with has FW800 instead of FW400 on the Home edition.

Again, I have to choose from what is sold locally and the only Studio Edition they offer is 500 GB, but it costs >200$

I don't have a FW800 port anyway.

 

[Chipskip]

I don't like the poll, to black and white.

One of the reasons I got a My Book, was because it is user upgradable. Meaning I bought the external case and internal HD in one purchase. Then when a larger drive, for the right price, comes along... I can just upgrade (2TB Limit). Not all combo units do that.

The My Book was short term for me. 1TB will only last me another month or so. So now I am looking at the bigger picture, network enclosures, that are expandable. Most of which have a software/hardware limitation of 2TB. Even the Thermaltake 4 bay unit for $500 is limited to only 2TB total (4 x 500GB)(enclosure only). A lot of money for such a low limitation. The My Books allow you to daisy chain FW400 or use a hub for USB or eSATA if you can. Plus a TB for under $200 isn't bad.

Now, today I did stumble across Data Robotics' Drobo (16TB Limit), I think it is the ultimate answer for me... I just can't afford that upgrade right now. So it will most likely be another My Book Home Edt. to tide me over. Which I can plug into my AEB(n) and be good to go.

Sorry so long... hope my research has helped.