- Convenient dual interface (USB 2.0 and FireWire) offers maximum compatibility and speed
- 500 GB capacity, 7200 RPM, 16 MB Cache
- Capacity gauge shows you at a glance how much space is left on your drive
- Smart design takes up less space on your desk and stacks horizontally
- Intelligent drive management features ensure optimal operation
They’re your photos¿your music¿your videos¿your important files. Make extra room for them, back them up, and keep them safe on YOUR book. WD’s My Book Premium is the perfect external hard drive for all your precious digital assets.Amazon.com Product Description Is your computer loaded with photos, music, video, and all sorts of important files? If so, you should make extra room, back them up, and keep them safe on Western Digital’s WDG1C5000 My Book Premium Edition 500 GB Hard Drive. This reliable, easy-to-use external hard drive is the perfect storage solution for all your precious digital assets.
Save and back up all your digital assets with the My Book Premium Edition Hard Drive. View larger.
Simple, easy-to-use design.
Hard drive features dual interface connectivity (FireWire 400 and USB 2.0). View larger.
The elegant case takes up very little space. Installation is a breeze because you don’t really “install” anything… More >>
Western Digital WDG1C5000N My Book Premium Edition 500 GB USB 2.0/Firewire External Hard Drive
i advice you to buy this product if you need a huge storage.
Thanks
I was really enthused about this drive. However, the lack of a physical on/off power switch seemed a little bizarre when I took it out of the packaging. It came up FAT32 and I wanted compressed NTFS so I fired up disk management under Windows and started up the format. At about 5% the format “finished”, it said the drive was RAW but there really wasn’t a drive there. The blue lights were on. I went to re-format it and it wouldn’t format. I tried to activate the partition and Windows said “unexpected error”, please restart. I plugged it into another computer and it wouldn’t recognize it as a hard drive. I power cycled the first machine, plugged it in, no blue light, doesn’t recognize it as a hard drive. I am returning this and will not trust my data to any Western Digital “My Book” product. Good concept, very flawed execution. Don’t trust your data to this product line.
Now what, …. I have saved all my data in some unknown scrambled format and can’t do anything about it.
I was hoping for a storage device that would give me the option of recognizing what I saved and being able to change what needs to be changed at a time when I feel it’s necessary.
Now I have to wait till doomsday arrives when I have to reinstall all my unidentifiable scrambled files?
Way to much money for nothing!
This review is from the perspective of a Mac user. I am guessing that, for the most part, this is good product for PC users… but I think there are some things that Mac users need to know before they purchase. Things that Western Digital fails to mention in their product descriptions, and even in their user manuals.
Let me begin by saying, this product says it is Mac compatible, but it is obviously designed mainly for PC. Also, the user manual is an obsolute joke. It is only a few pages and fails to go beyond basic install instructions. If, for whatever reason, the automatic install they brag so much about in their product descriptions doesn’t work as advertised (it didn’t for me!), expect to be on the phone with customer service.
1. First thing I noticed was that on the box (in fine print) it says that the Google software that comes with the drive does not run on Macs. I was unable to locate anywhere where this information is provided pre-order. Okay, that kinda sucks, but it’s not really a deal breaker, so I went ahead and opened up the box.
2. Regardless of your OS, the drive won’t work properly if it is plugged into a power strip, so your going to have to keep a power outlet open for just this single device. This is just kinda sketchy to begin with, but it also makes plugging it in at your work station that much more difficult. (Not mentioned in user manual)
3. Nowhere will you be informed that the drive is, in fact, not “plug and play” for at least some Macs… In fact I believe it specifically goes out of it’s way to imply to be “plug and play” for both operating systems. I thought this was great as I would be able to use the drive to transport my files conveniently from computer to computer (including from my Mac to PCs). This is not true. First of all, on Macs the drive will not be “plug and play” at all. You will need to reformat the drive with disk utility before it will even appear on the desktop (Even though in the directions it claims it will appear automatically after being plugged in and fails to even mention the possibility this won’t happen). Once you have reformatted, you will only be able to use the drive on other Macs. Now maybe some of you are saying, “You idiot! Everyone knows that you can’t use a hard drive on two different OS!” Well, in my opinion, the description of this product ommits an explanation of the true nature of its OS compatibility, at best…. and at worst, it uses intentionally misleading language.
4. Finally, there was no way for me to know any of this if I hadn’t opened the box. This is the important part… If you open the box, Western Digital will absolutely refuse to provide even a partial refund.
Am I saying not to buy this product? No… What I am saying is that Mac users need to be aware that this product is not quite as Mac compatible as Western Digital claims.
Mac users beware…
I have had this drive for two days and after copying files over and setting it up, I found I could not network the drive! An error occurs referring to not enough server space. I did my research and found that for most people who encounter this problem the solution is quick and easy, but for Western Digital, they do not support sharing over a network! Strange, but I tried everything to get it to work. This is my most disappointing purchase in some time, I am returning it and will never by Western Digital again.