Western Digital My Book Studio II - 2 TB (2 x 1 TB) USB 2.0/FireWire 800/400/eSATA Desktop External Hard Drive
by Western Digital
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Category: CE
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Digital Photo Product Details
Manufacturer: Western DigitalAudio: English (Original Language)
Format: CD
Platform: Windows
Model: WDH2Q20000N
Product features:
- Box Contents - Dual-drive storage system, FireWire 800 cable, FireWire 800 to 400 cable, USB cable, AC adapter, Software CD, Quick Install Guide
- Lightning-fast FireWire 800 combined with RAID 0 yields the speed you need for smooth video editing, rendering complex 3D objects or special effects
- WD's GreenPower drives, this system uses about 30% less energy than standard systems and runs quietly because it doesn't need a fan
- 2TB = 2000GB Hard Drive Capacity
- Pre-configured to RAID 0 (Striped)
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Western Digital My Book Studio II - 2 TB (2 x 1 TB) USB 2.0/FireWire 800/400/eSATA Desktop External Hard Drive
Customer Review: Great Choice for Home Desktop Back-up
Summary: 5 Stars
I purchased the WD My Book Studio II as the external back-up to my new desktop, selecting the Western Digital since it offered the best combination of features for the price. Set-up was simple: install the software, plug the WDMBSII into a power source, connect the cable to the desktop (I used the supplied Firewire cable) and proceed to configure to your particular needs. So far -- and we're talking a couple of days here -- the WD has performed flawlessly and quietly.
A number of reviews here and on other sites have been highly critical of the set-up process, and some reviewers have been unable to get the system up and running. I had no such experience; in fact, I was pleasantly surprised at how smoothly the initial start-up actually went. For first-time users, the following comments may be useful:
1. READ the instructions. If you are running a PC, you will find that the WD is preconfigured for MAC users. This means that PC users running Windows (I run Windows 7) MUST configure the WD drive for Windows use. If you don't configure the WD it won't work. Period.
2. Leave the CD-rom loaded while you are going through the configuration process. Once the software has installed and the drive is connected, LAUNCH THE READ-ME FILE. I couldn't find the instructions about partioning and configuring the drives anywhere except on the Read Me file, but perhaps I overlooked it. The configuration process is not intuitive for first-timers (like me) and I would have been lost without the step-by-step illustrated instructions that are accessible on the CD.
3. Don't get rattled if the installation/configuration/partition process does not precisely follow the detailed guide on the CD. For example, my particular CD did not automatically launch the installation Wizard the guide said it would. In fact, I never could find the Wizard, and the installation seemed to take the first step or two automatically, but it was easy enough to figure out what I was supposed to be doing as opposed to what the instructions indicated I would be seeing.
4. Make absolutely certain that you are partitioning and configuring the WD drives, NOT the hard drive on your desktop. Your PC hard drive is almost certainly going to be labeled "C". Until you partition and configure the WD drives, they will not be labeled (named). How do you know which of the drives are the ones you want? Simple: Just look at the free space. A newly-installed WDMBSII with 2 terabytes will show something on the order of 1,875 gigabytes as free space. If you have a hard drive on your PC with 1 terabyte of memory, not only will it be labeled "C" but it will show <999 Gigabytes of free space (in other words, it is half the space available on the WD, depending on how much of your hard drive you have already used).
5. The main decision you will have to make is whether you want all of the memory on both WD drives available to use, or prefer to create a fail-safe mirror. My installation was set to the mirror option by default, and I decided to leave it that way. As I understand it, this option means that your WDMBSII will precisely mirror the information contained on your desktop hard drive. As a fail-safe, the WD allocates half the total space to create a fall-back mirror, so that even if one of the WD drives fails, your data is not lost (I am paraphrasing as a non-expert here, so computer experts please forgive my less than precise explanations).
6. Once the process is completed, you will see that the WDMBSII has been labeled (in my case it is the "F" drive).
7. That's it for the WD installation. You will still need to run a back-up. If you have been using a DVD-R/W up 'til now, don't forget to change the settings so that your back-up goes to the WDMBSII.
PROs: Good/very good system for a very decent price for a 2 terabyte desktop back-up package. So far, seems to be running flawlessly. Added security of knowing that you can replace a failing drive in the WD without losing critical data. Speedy back-up using Firewire or e-SATA cables. Includes USB 2.0 and 2 Firewire cables (one 800; one 800 to 400).
CONs: No e-SATA cable (must be purchased separately), which is annoying. Set-up can be (very) confusing IF you do not launch the guide on the CD. Instructions in the guide did not precisely match the process for me, but maybe I missed something. Again, not a fatal error IF you launch the guide. These are quibbles.
Overall: A very good/excellent choice at a great price for what you get.
More Western Digital My Book Studio II - 2 TB (2 x 1 TB) USB 2.0/FireWire 800/400/eSATA Desktop External Hard Drive reviews:
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Description of Western Digital My Book Studio II - 2 TB (2 x 1 TB) USB 2.0/FireWire 800/400/eSATA Desktop External Hard Drive
Western Digital Digital My Book Studio Edition II WDH2Q20000N Hard Drive Array WDH2Q20000N Hard Drive ArraysDigital Cameras and Photo Categories
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