Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #8 in Consumer Electronics
• Model: WDH1U5000E
• Released on: 2007-11-25
• Dimensions: 6.50" h x 2.13" w x 5.39" l, 2.54 pounds
• Hard Disk: 500GB

Manufacturer's Description
Are you running out of hard drive capacity? Do you need to archive some important digital documents, photos, or music? This elegant external hard drive, reminiscent of a book, is the perfect solution. It takes no more space than a paperback book. Collect two or more and they nest neatly together like volumes on a shelf

Box Contents

Customer Reviews

So far so good
The problem with Hard drives is that their not all 100% reliable yet. You'd be an idiot to back up very important data only on one hard drive as there is always the possibility of failing. That's why I feel it's unfair to judge solely on the 1 star reviews of people who've lost all the data because they've stupidly put all their valuable data only on this hard drive. Like all Hard drives you have to be careful with it. Don't drop it or spill any liquid on it. Avoid traveling with the item and ideally try not to use it too regularly.

Anyway, I've currently have had this machine for three months now and filled it fully up. So far there's been no problems whatsoever. The data is still there. Other plus points include the nice sleek design of the thing, the built in fan to cool the HD and the simplicity of use. I think software is provided to use the hard drive however it really isn't necessary as you can easily use the thing via my computer on Windows. As others before me have mention you should reformat the HD from FAT32 to NTFS before you start putting data on it. I think there is either a one or two year warranty that comes with the product so if it does fail you'll get a replacement(albeit you'd lose all your data, hence the importance of backing up).

The true test for the machine is whether it'll last several years. I'm positive it can as long as you are careful. In short, it's an excellent device probably the best on the market at the moment. In fact I'll probably purchase another one of these soon.

Worked very well and easily !!
Not being very computer literate, I made this first purchase of an external drive with some trepidation.

However it worked like a dream straight out of the box. Plugged it in the USB slot,switched power on and my Vista SP1 laptop recognised it immediately.

As recommended in previous reviews, immediately re-formatted the default FAT32 of the new drive to the NTFS of my laptop. The advantage of doing so before the drive has been used is that "Quick Format" can be used. This took seconds and was so easy I had to re-check that it had actually been done.

Later I successfully created a full back up of my entire laptop on the new external drive using Acronis True Image Home. The 500GB size means plenty space for future back ups etc.

I am very pleased with the Western Digital My Book 500GB and would recommend it to others.

Great
I've used this HDD for over a year and I use it like a normal HDD always connected to my PC. I use my PC everyday too. Its never had a problem, its really quiet, it fits snug, easy to set up and it has a perfect amount of storage space.

I'm so happy with it, my next purchase will be a bigger capacity WB Book.