Western Digital WDG1U5000 My Book Essential Edition 500 GB USB 2.0 External Hard Drive | 
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| Brand: Western Digital
Category: CE
List Price: $329.99
Buy New: $190.00
You Save: $139.99 (42%)
New (4) Used (4) Refurbished (1) from $84.98
Rating:  296 reviews
Color: Black
Media: Electronics
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Batteries Included: No
Hard Drive Size: 500
Shipping Weight (lbs): 4.8
Dimensions (in): 11.6 x 8 x 4.7
Warranty: 1 year warranty
MPN: WDG1U5000N
Model: WDG1U5000N
UPC: 718037117843
EAN: 0718037117843
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Features:
| • | Store and back up your music, photos, videos and important documents with this external hard drive | | • | Easy to set up and use with built-in installation software | | • | Simple user interface features USB 2.0 connectivity | | • | Device holds up to 500 GB of data | | • | Measures 5.55 x 2.25 x 6.71 inches (WxHxD) |
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Product Description
Package Includes: WDG1U5000 MyBook, USB cable, AC adapter with power cord, Quick Install Guide The Western Digital WDG1U5000 MyBook is a small, simple, elegant and very easy to use portable memory tool. Just plug it in, and you've got plenty of room to back up and save your valuable data, music, photos, and movies. Plug it into your computer's USB 2.0 port and start saving -- it's all about simplicity. The 500GB hard drive will store either 142,000 digital photos, 38 hours of Digital Video (DV), 60 hours of HD or 200 hours of DVD quality video. It can also hold up to 125,000 songs in MP3 format, or 12,000 songs in uncompressed CD quality. Serial Transfer Rate(USB 2.0) - 480 Mbits/s (Max) Read Seek Time - 8.9 ms Track-To-Track Seek Time - 2.0 ms (average) Operating Systems - Windows 98SE/Me/2000/XP or Mac OS X 10.2.8 (or higher) Requires available USB port Physical Dimensions(HxLxW) - 6.71 x 5.6 x 2.25 (170 x 141 x 57.2 mm) Weight - 2.90 lbs. (1.32 kg)
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 WDG1U5000 My Book Essential 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 Essential Edition Hard Drive. View larger. | 
Simple, easy-to-use design. | 
Connects to your computer via USB 2.0 interface. View larger. | 
The elegant case takes up very little space. | Installation is a breeze because you don't really "install" anything -- just plug it in and it's ready to use. There is not even an installation CD because all the included software loads automatically from the hard drive the first time you plug it in. The My Book Essential is all about simplicity. Just plug it into your computer's USB 2.0 port and you're ready to start saving and backing up your files. But that's not all. Western Digital uses a smart design to make the My Book Essential look as good as it performs. The elegant case resembles a book and takes up very little space on your desk. Plus, it stacks horizontally and allows two or more drives to nestle neatly together like encyclopedias on a shelf. Inside the stylish exterior is an exceptionally fast, ultra-quiet, cool-running hard drive. Last but not least, the My Book Essential is equipped with free Google software that searches your drives, manages your photos, and simplifies Web searches. My Book Essential Edition Hard Drives are ideal for:
- Simple add-on storage for your files, music, photos and movies
- Adding virtually unlimited storage with multiple USB 2.0 external hard drives
- Archiving the music stored on your MP3 player
- Adding plenty of space for digital video capture and editing
- Saving and organizing your digital photo collection
Note: For higher performance and automatic backup software, consider the My Book Premium Edition 500 GB Hard Drive.
What's in the Box
My Book Essential 500 GB USB 2.0 external hard drive, USB cable, AC adapter with power cord, and quick install guide.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 291 more reviews...
 Started off well, then died. November 21, 2008
Mike Sweeney (Salisbury, MA United States)
I had this hard drive for about a year in a half. It had pretty much all my stuff on it. Sadly I didn't back most of my stuff up, and next thing you know, it died. It started making 3 clicking noises, then 3 more clicking noises. It would be recognized by my computer but basically the drive couldn't be read. I'm not sure if the data is still there but I would have to pay $1700 to send it out to drive savers which is not worth the money as of right now.
When this drive worked for me, it was really good, but I have to give it 1 star because of how quickly it failed after buying it.
Moral of the story, only buy this if you plan on rarely using it for backups and other things, because this drive WILL fail in a certain amount of time.
 Works great November 17, 2008
J. Mcdaniel (Knoxville, TN)
I use this device to backup both my laptops and have never had any problems with it. I've had it for around two years now (I don't like to write reviews until I've had some experience with a product.)
I like that the drive can be easily disconnected from the power and data cables. Size and form-factor are great for my needs. The unit stays in a sleep-state when it is powered but not connected to a PC. It wakes up instantly when a data connection is sensed / plugged in.
The only thing I haven't been able to do reliably is connect it directly to my router for wireless access but that isn't a big deal to me because I worry about the security of using it that way (even though I keep my wireless network secure, there will always be a hacker smarter than me...).
Drive Failures October 29, 2008
Alex T. Nguyen (Chantilly, VA USA)
The Western Digital MyBook drives really fail. A lot.
Customer Service tries to be helpful but there's not much they can do.
Take backups often.
Not reliable, do not trust WD October 20, 2008
Some (New York)
The "My Book" drive I bought died in 8 months. I've been in the field for over 15 years and that is only the 3rd time I've had a drive quit on me. The big difference is the other drives that went bad were over five years old. I still can't believe how unreliable WD drives are. I have an external Lacie drive that has been running 24/7 for the past two years and is still doing fine.
If you value your data, do not trust WD drives. Yes, they're inexpensive, but your time and frustration is worth paying a bit more for a more reliable brand.
Failed after 1.5 years October 15, 2008
G. Ross (Minneapolis, MN United States)
I used this as my media drive to store my MP3s. After 1.5 years it has failed. I noticed a couple weeks ago that it became sluggish. So I backed up my data to another drive and low and behold today this one failed. Upon power up it would try to spin up but just make loud clicking noises instead. The light stayed on but the drive was unresponsive and not recognized by Vista.
This will be the last WD product I purchase.
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