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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Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Western Digital WD Elements 1 TB USB 2.0 Desktop External Hard Drive WDE1UBK10000N (Black)
Customer Review: Solid, simple, quiet, cool, efficient, value
Summary: 5 Stars
Aragorn's review is spot-on.
Plain and simple.
No-nonsense looking, matt-black finished, metal case.
The texture of the finish is high-quality: very fine, yet industrial.
It feels really solid.
While not an ultra-portable, I actually feel more secure carrying it around than my other lighter enclosures.
I would say it is 'substantial', rather than 'heavy'.
No fancy and flashy LEDs to distract from its purpose.
That one blue LED at the back does it job without fuss and works very nicely for me, thank you very much.
Note that no sync, encryption or backup software is supplied.
Take a look at My Passport Elite if that's what you need.
Quiet and cool.
While not absolutely silent during access (and especially on start-up), you'd be hard pressed to hear it otherwise.
The one way I can be very sure it is spinning at the moment is to put my palm on it to sense the tiny vibrations.
It gets only warm to the touch after long and heavy access.
Power efficiency.
No power switch to bother with. Just connect power adapter and USB cable.
It powers up automatically when connected via USB to a running computer, and auto shuts-down when disconnected.
When connected, it auto spins-down after 10 minutes of inactivity and auto spins-up when accessed again.
These are out-of-the-box with my XP and NSLU2 devices (uNSLUng 6.10 firmware on flash drive).
No need to install any utilities or write spin-down scripts.
Great value.
I am getting a second one to backup the first one serving its duties as my always-available network storage and server (via the NSLU2).
Amazon's price for this is extremely competitive, and I do love buying my gadgets here (with Prime and no-hassle returns, you can't go wrong)
Customer Review: A Superior Drive
Summary: 5 Stars
Many years ago I purchased a Western Digital WD1200B external USB drive for backing up my computer systems and files. Recently I just purchased this Western Digital Elements drive to replace the former which had a capacity of only 120GB. I noticed a number of improvements Western Digital made since the old drive was manufactured, notably:
1. The new Elements drive has over eight times the capacity.
2. It has a smaller footprint.
3. It is much quieter, in fact, it is practically silent. The old WD drive has a significant hum as the platters spun.
4. And, I got it for $10 less than what I paid years ago for the 120GB drive.
The drive comes formatted as FAT32. When I first started backing up files, the backup suddenly stopped and Windows gave me an error message saying the drive was full and that I needed to make more space. Since I realized this was nonsense, I investigated the issue only to find that the real problem was that I was copying a file greater than 4GB which is something FAT32 does not support. Instead of converting the file system I did a complete reformat of the drive to NTFS. This served as a sort of burn-in since it took a few hours. I then proceeded to copy about 90GB of files from the old drive. When this was finished I used the Vista Backup and Restore utility to create a backup image of my Vista system. Everything worked well, and I encountered no problems whatsoever. Well, I guess what I am saying is that the drive did exactly as advertised. I found no complaints in this drive.
This is my fourth Western Digital drive. I've had two external USB drives, one internal (a replacement for a crashed drive from another vendor), and an NAS drive. So far, I not had any issues with the Western Digital products. Nevertheless, I always do my research before purchasing anything which includes checking what experience other people have had with the product. If I did my homework well, the purchase should merit five stars as it does in this case.
Customer Review: Durable, quick, and simple. Easy to replace drive inside, too!
Summary: 5 Stars
I've always had good luck with WD drives. They've worked just fine out of the box, and this one was no exception. I unboxed it, set it up, plugged it in, and was on my way in under five minutes. I partitioned the drive, formatted it as NTFS, and it's been working ever since.
Compared to past drives I've owned, this is nearly silent. When being accessed, it makes a quiet clicking noise which is pleasing to the ear (it sounds like the drive is doing exactly what it should be, with no issues). The drive does make a soft buzzing-like noise when idle after being accessed, but it's quiet and probably caused by a little platter vibration.
There's no big flashy light (just a small one on the rear), no big power button, just a metal enclosure with two connectors on the back and rubber end caps. It's elegant in its simplicity. It feels really sturdy and blends in on a desk.
Access times weren't blazing fast but they were on par with other drives I've used in the past. After a period of inactivity, the platters do spin down, but both spin down and spin up are very quiet and hardly noticeable.
Today, I was moving the drive and I had removed its rubber end caps when I noticed two small, recessed latches toward the back, one on either side. When I depressed them, the rear of the drive popped off and I could see the internal hardware of the drive. It's so simple and elegant inside that I plan to reuse this drive's casing even after the drive itself dies - all I have to do is unscrew the drive, slide it all out, then reverse the process.
I'm thrilled with this drive so far, and I would absolutely recommend it to others (especially over the new models which are all plastic).
Customer Review: A Fantastic External HDD, Especially To Watch Movies From
Summary: 5 Stars
Pros: This drive is the absolute fastest accessible external HDD I've ever owned and I've had a plethora of them - Buffalo, WD Passport, Iomega, Hitachi, Samsung, Seagate, Acomdata, etc. It has the most durable, cool casing I've ever seen and it's much better than the newer WD Elements models. It never gets hot like many HDDs and I keep it on for days without any issues as I hot swap it between computers.
Cons: It doesn't have a power button because it's automatic. However, I like to have both as most of my HDDs have had both options, but it's not a deal breaker.
If you have the power supply with the detachable prongs, make sure you go to Western Digital's website and request a replacement via email. The detachable one is faulty by design and needs to be replaced. Even though they say it's provided free for those who've purchased their WD Elements drives within the past 60 or so days, they will still send you a replacement free. It is after all defective and their responsibility.
Other Thoughts: I primarily use this drive to play movies through my PS3 and it is the fastest drive I've plugged into it. Usually it takes a few minutes for the movies and folders to appear on the XMB of the PS3 but this one appears almost immediately after the USB symbol that the drive is recognized shows up. I can pretty much instantly play video files that I have on the drive and it never hiccups like many drives I've owned before it. Steer clear of Seagate drives! They are disastrous! You can't go wrong with highly reliable Western Digital Drives. They are are brand you can count on and customer service that is top notch and highly professional.
Customer Review: Does what it says...
Summary: 5 Stars
It's your basic hard drive. And although I'll wait a few years before I decide whether it is a good product or not, as of right now I love it. I was in Best Buy yesterday, and they had 320 GB hard drives for $99. Ha! I got this guy for a little more than that, and I have three times the space!
I'm not a techie and this thing was easy to use. Two cords, a power cord, and a USB. Plugged the USB into the drive and my computer, then connected the power cable. A small blue light goes on to let you know it's running. My Vista desktop recognized it and installed the drivers in about a minute. Then I was transferring files with a simple click-drag. After saving about 50GB worth of music and pictures, I unplugged and disconnected the hard drive. A week later, I reconnected it and everyhthing was there.
So, it's doing what it's supposed to. I don't know what the "shelf life" of these things are, but it seems like a simple, reliable product. It's worth noting that the case seems very rigid. I bet I could drop this thing and it would be okay.
Obviously I have not owned it for very long. And the true test of a hard drive is filling it up and seeing if it lasts for years and years. I mean, how it performs now means nothing if it won't last a long time. But as long as it lasts as long as I think it will, and as long as it performs like it does now, I think this is a fine product and would recommend it to anyone.
<Edited Feb 1st, 2011>
This Hard Drive is still going strong. I have about 650GB of files stored on it. It is working fine.