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: Excellent for Stationary Use
Summary: 5 Stars
This is an excellent external hard drive, unless you need to move it around a lot. It is reasonably heavy for its size and, in my opinion, is not in the "portable" category. Yes, it can be moved and packed for trips. But, there are smaller, lighter drives for regular portability.
However, I use it in a fixed location in an office setting and have no need to move it anywhere. For that use, it is excellent. It is very solid and heavy duty. Were it to be moved around within our office, I have great confidence in its ability to get knocked around a little without suffering any damage. The metal case is heavy duty, and the rubber protectors on both ends add to its toughness appeal.
In summary:
- It can be used in a portable situation, but is not ideal for that because of it's weight.
- That being said, its toughness would help protect it.
- Speed seems fine to me. Not extraordinary, but very good.
I'd buy another one for stationary or very rare portable use. For situations where I need regular light portability, I'd use something else.
Customer Review: Solid Drive
Summary: 5 Stars
I bought this drive to back up music and movies. It's a solid drive, not heavy at all (unless you never go to the gym). The only thing that sucked was that Amazon would not ship it directly to me, I'm a contractor working in Iraq. I sent it home, and my girlfriend shipped it to me. It survived the Military mail system, which I'm convinced consists of punting boxes (I spent 8 years in the Marines, so I know by experience).
This drive so far has been to two other Middle Eastern countries and still works perfectly. It's survived being thrown around in my backpack, and multiple Airports. I reformatted it to NTFS when I got it, it took me about an hour to transfer about 130 GB to it, which isn't bad. If you want a solid drive, that isn't fancy, does the job, and isn't too big, get this drive.
So far this drive is US Marine resistant, which says alot about the quality and construction of this drive! It's quiet, and I don't feel like I'm in a Techno club with a big bright blue light like other drives.
Customer Review: Solid and reliable drive
Summary: 5 Stars
I'll start off by saying I'm very happy with this drive. I've owned it for a year now and have been using it as an external backup drive to replicate my growing digital picture, movie, and music collection. I haven't tried WD's included software but instead have been using SecondCopy to replicate (vs. create backup files) to the Elements drive. This allows me to plug the Elements into my router and use it to serve up movies and such without having my computer on.
Connected via USB, the drive is fast enough when transferring files. While it is large, when in use and even idle, it's very quiet and relatively cool to the touch.
I like the rugged look/feel of the matte black aluminum and silicon bumpers on it. While it's collected a nice bit of dust sitting on my desk, it's a classy looking bit of tech that fits in with my gizmo laden desktop.
If you're looking for a reliable 1TB external drive, get this one before it goes out of production. I highly recommend it!
Customer Review: Have used for five months; no issues
Summary: 5 Stars
I use this primarily for storing HD video, mainly taken of the family with our HD camcorder. I have used it regularly, have about 20 files stored on it, and it has worked flawlessly without any issues. It does get a little warm once it is on for a while...not hot, just warm. It is also absolutely quiet; does not make a sound.
I have noticed that if I leave it on after I power off my PC, when I try to power on again my PC will not boot up; it locks up and won't go into the boot-up process. I unplug the Elements USB (or pull out the power cord to turn it off), turn off and restart the PC, and then the PC boots up as normal.
This brings me to my only complaint: I wish it had a power on/off switch, rather than having to pull out the power cord or disconnect it from the PC every time. I knew that when I bought it, though, so I'll give it five stars for being reliable, fast, and dependable...for the past five months, anyway. If things change I'll update the review.
Customer Review: Great Drive for Low Price
Summary: 5 Stars
I am very happy with this drive so far. Right out of the box, I was impressed with how heavy this is. It's NOT a cheap plastic drive. It has big rubber soft boots on each end, so it sits nicely on the desk, and will not slide around. It does have to lie flat. It can't stand on edge.
As others have said, it comes factory formatted with the FAT-32 file system, so it works great with Mac, Windows, Linux, etc., but you need to re-format it if you want to save big files on it. I quick formatted it with NTFS, and it took about 15 seconds.
To test it out, I copied an assortment of over 2,500 files of various types & sizes, in 240 folders - about 2 GB in all, and it took just 2 minutes, 27 seconds to do this. Fast!
After running all day on my desk, it is not even the slightest bit warm. It is also silent running. When it is in full-speed file copy operation, you can just barely hear the heads clicking if you put your ear right up to it.