Western Digital WD Elements 1 TB USB 2.0 Desktop External Hard Drive WDE1UBK10000N (Black)
by Western Digital
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Category: CE See more product details |
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Western Digital WD Elements 1 TB USB 2.0 Desktop External Hard Drive WDE1UBK10000N (Black)
Customer Review: Nice!
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a very reasonably priced TB hard drive. (It was $110) It's nice that it doesn't come with any software because I'd rather put all my money towards the hard drive itself rather then to software that I'd be deleting anyway.
The hard drive is nice and quite. I have a 500GB hard drive too that makes tons of noise while using it.
Based on the recommendations of other reviews, I went ahead and formatted it with in NTSF with the "quick format". (Without checking, "Quick Format" it'll take about 9 hours!) It comes formatted in FAT32, which only allows up to 4 GB file sizes. NTSF allows much bigger file sizes
You only get a USB cable with this. So if you want a hard drive that transfers data fast, pay the extra money and get one with a fire wire. But this suites my needs because I'll be hardly transferring data directly. I'm using it for video editing and when I upload videos from my MiniDV camera to it, it's enough for the USB cable to handle.
I'd like to point out that instead of getting 1024 GB's, you get 931 instead. It's because advertisers like to thing there are exactly 1000 bytes in KB, 1000 KB's in a MB, etc... When the number is actualy 1024.
(6 Months Later)
I just bought another one so I could make full backups from my previous one. This one also works great! & my first hard drive is still going strong.
Also, I remember my first hard drive was delivered cold. I once started up a computer that was also cold & it didn't sound right. So I waited for my new hard drive to warm up to room temperature before using it. I recommend you do the same.
(About 1.5 years later from 1st purchase)
Well I am sad to say that my first hard drive pretty much died a little while ago. But I got countless hours of video editing off of it! The one thing that probably contributed to its death is that I took it on several rode trips. I made sure it was padded in the suitcase, but just that fact that it got moved around.
But the drive did not die without warning. I started noticing that it would not let me copy certain files off the drive. It said something like, "Cannot read source file or disk." I ran the error checking utility in Vista & it fixed all the files! But soon I started noticing the same problem with new files. I then decided to switch the positions of the 2 drives. I now used my newest one for video editing, & the old one for backups. But as I was doing my first backup on it, the drive became unresponsive halfway through it. It would not cooperate at all. Just now, I tried putting more files on it & it copied over at a measly 4MB/S (should go about 15) & it also makes a slight abnormal noise. I do not trust to work on it anymore.
However, this is a risk with all HDD's. If I am in need of another external hard drive, I would probably go for Western Digital again. I have already bought a replacement, but I decided to with internal this time. (Which is faster, more reliable, & cheaper.) I found out I could take out the DVD-ROM out of our small desktop, connect it through a SATA to USB converter, & replace it with the WD 1TB internal hard drive. Now I use my working external drive for backups.
It'll be nice when 1TB SSD's are this cheap!
Customer Review: Solid (and heavy) like a rock :)
Summary: 5 Stars
This is, by far, the most robust external hard disk I've ever owned. And, when I say solid, I mean almost 3 lbs. solid (I didn't put it on a scale but it feels that way), 100% metal casing, likely to survive a building collapsing on top of it. Given that I bought it for backups, not for travel, I actually like it this way. I like it very much.
It's probably helpful to enumerate the features I feel are worth being aware of before one buys it (and I shall answer any additional questions if you drop a comment, to the extent that I can):
# Heavy, solid build, almost bullet-proof enclosure.
# 8"x4"x1" rectangular prism (these are not exact measurements but I'm confident it's close.
# USB port for data transfer, cable included.
# External power supply.
# Silent run - you can't hear it spinning unless you place it close to your ear.
# Cool - after one night of uninterrupted operation it was barely warmer than room temperature.
# Not a speed demon but I backed up 50GB in something like 20-30 minutes.
# Formated as FAT32.
# Comes with no software but it was instantly recognized by both Vista and my PS3 (more about that later)
# There is no manual to speak of - and no manual is needed.
# One year warranty.
# 30-day free tech support during the warranty period where the clock starts running after the first call to WD.
# Lacks the (to me annoying) carnival lights that some other drives have these days - only one blue LED, on the back, blinks when read/writes are performed.
I can't think of anything bad to say about this device. I went for the 1TB size because I wanted to back up several smaller computers on it and my 320GB PS3. For a stress test and if you are going to use it with XP or Vista you may want to reformat the disk as NTFS - Microsoft will be spinning your disk for many, many hours and, if you bought a dud, chances are it will stop working during the 10-12 hours format process. Or, you can check the 'fast format' option and the formatting will be done in less than one minute.
After the overnight test was passed, I partitioned the disk into 4 using Vista (no problem whatsoever) and I formated 3 of them as NTFS and one as FAT32 (get FAT32FORMAT off the Net because Microsoft's utility does not work on a 300GB partition). Backups ran flawlessly with Microsoft's backup interface and backing up the PS3 was incident-free too - it instantly recognized the FAT32 partition and I have a nice PS3 backup now.
I highly recommend this drive as a backup device that does not travel a lot.
P.S. - if my review seems to be coming from someone who uncritically gushes over little gadgets, do check my other reviews of electronics or my reviews in general. I am trying to be as objective and as factual as possible and, in this case, I believe, we have a good, solid device that fully meets expectations.
Customer Review: External Hard Drives as They Were Meant to Be!
Summary: 5 Stars
Hard drives like the Western Digital Elements series of external hard drives are become hard to find... that is hard drives that are built well and are JUST hard drives.
Recently, I purchased the latest version of Western Digital's Essentials external hard drive in 1TB size and was unpleasantly surprised to find that the new version of the drive had Western Digital's accompanying software backed into the hardware. Whenever the drive was plugged into the computer, their Smartware virtual CD would load as well. In the past, this could be removed with a repartitioning of the drive... NOT ANYMORE! It was literally hardwired into the hardware! The only way to get rid of the virtual CD and prevent it from loading each time is to install and run their software... this is what many of us would call malware (See reviews of these drives for more information).
But, the Elements line of drives live up to their name... just a well-built (built like a tank actually!) external hard drive. These drives come with solid metal cases and rubber endcaps that protect the drives and provide for a nice stacking surface that allows air to flow between stacked drives. The cable ports are solid and don't move around when a cable is plugged in or unplugged.
These drives run silent - very silent - I had to look at the indicator light on the back to make sure they were being written to. I have yet to detect any serious heat from these drives either.
Speed seems to be about average. I am using them as clones for my photo and video drives. Opening large photo files from them is just fine, no performance issues. Copying times for my clones seems about average - nothing to write home about, but nothing to complain about... I would rather it go about average and get my backups right!
So far, I can find nothing to complain about with these drives and would find them tough enough to take on the road (just not in a carryon as their weight is a little hefty because of their solid build.
In this age of "pretty" external drives and drives with useless software packages, it is nice to find these throw-backs to the day when all you wanted was a good solid external hard drives. I bought two 1TB drives and expect to buy more as needed.
Customer Review: Durable construction and reliable operation
Summary: 5 Stars
I purchased two of these WD 1TB drives last November for creating redundant backups. I selected this drive based on customer reviews and ratings. For those of you that participate in this activity on Amazon.com, thank you!
Disk drive capacity continues to grow without bound. Customers are now buying the 1.5TB version of this drive from Western Digital. Apparently, the larger capacity drive still has the same style, case durability, and g-shock rubber end-cap features as the 1TB model I bought.
Here is what I like about this drive:
Rugged, solidly-built case: Although the case for this drive is not formally ruggedized, it is nevertheless very well constructed for operation in the real world. Robust metal construction, not plastic. There are rubber rings at each end to cushion against g-shocks. Nice features.
LED indicator: A single small blue LED indicates transfer of files. Simple, clean design.
Quiet operation: This drive runs very quietly. If it wasn't for that blue LED indicator, I wouldn't know if it was operating (unless I put my ear right next to the drive).
File transfer speed: I use these drives as redundant backups. File transfer speed to and from these external drives is very good, even when lots of small files are being transferred. Some of the large capacity external drives a few years ago seemed to trade transfer speed for capacity. Not any more. Originally, I reformatted both to NTFS and placed about 0.5 TB worth of files on each one. However, in December I upgraded to a macbook (note: moving from a PC laptop to a macbook was one of the top twenty smart things I did in 2009). I reformatted one drive to Mac OS Extended (Journaled). I then copied all the files from the NTFS drive to the Mac-formatted drive with both connected to my macbook USB2.0 ports. As expected, transfer took several hours. Repeated the process to get both in Mac format. Very smooth operation.
Note: From the product description, it implies that power is supplied through the USB port. Actually, an external power transformer is included.
Epilogue: It amazes me that I have terabyte drives!
Customer Review: The Good the BAD and the Tips
Summary: 5 Stars
The Good
1. A no nonsense product...
2. No funny software gimmicks....just plug and play
3. Rigid protective casing with rubberised corner
4. Stays well gripped where ever it is kept.
5. Read and write data fast...no need to wait.
6. No fans in the product so it is very silent,
7. Drive warms up slightly on using but it is OK
8. all my laptops detect this drive fast and wihout any glitches.
9. really fast shipping, recieved it the next day.
The BAD
1. The disk rotates always when it is connected to computer...so plugging it always to a computer may be a bad idea.....connect it only when you need it for your drive's long life.
2. The Rubber material at both ends are soft but they attracts lot of dust ..and within two days the product look like it is used for 1year.
3. Big hassle to carry a power adapter and a USB cable along with this product...so bag is a must for those who wants to carry it around.
4. product looks like a solid block (not a "beauty") ...( again i need only a storage space )
Tips
Drive comes FAT32 formatted... lot of Geeks are worried about the format and formatting to NTFS .....
I decided to keep it as FAT32 because
1. NTFS is windows specific ..will not work with Mac ...but FAT32 will ...
2. Any time you can format your drive to NTFS from FAT32 if you want
3. But you cannot go back to FAT32 from NTFS
4. files in FAT32 needs more space than NTFS...(i still dont know how is that) ...but i have 1TB of storage space now so am not worried about that ..but may formatt it to NTFS when my drive have only 20% of space left ....
5. Some say movies more than 4GB file size cannot be saved in FAT32 formats as 4GB is the max size....but this dont affect me because i am not a movie fan.
6. So if you are using this drive not for movies ...FAT32 is the way..no need to format.
Wish
This product would be "excellent" if there was a carrying case which can fit the Drive, the charger and cables all together