Western Digital WDG2T10000N My Book Premium Edition II 1 TB USB 2.0/Firewire RAID System

Every time I need 2 restart my computer, my WD MyBook 1TB model starts up with its loud noisy fan.

For about 5-10 minutes, it's blasting really loud 4 no apparent reason. It doesn't take that long 2 scan the contents of a hard drive or does it?

So after about 5-10 min. of loudness, it suddenly just "crashes" so 2 speak. I can hear the actuator arm slide back & I get the blinking blue light of "doom" (lol, yeah I know).

In XP, after you hear the drive completely shut off & crash, you will get a "read/write fail" error message. In Vista, you don't get that exact message. The drive just disappears completely from My Computer.

Some days, I will restart my computer & it will quietly work like it's supposed to. However, most of the time, it will just spin up & then crash.

I really like this product when it's working. If you leave it alone 4 long periods of time, it will eventually stay quiet without interruption. But if you restart your computer or turn it off & restart the drive itself, it will go berserk. Sadly, I need 2 leave it on at all times 4 it 2 work properly.

I'm literally about ready 2 throw this in the garbage. Too many times have I lost sleep at night because of its loud fan when Vista was patching & restarting itself.

And just today, I was so P.O.'d that I was looking 4 a replacement MyBook. Also, I'd like 2 point out that my other MyBooks are great, not hating on Western Digital, but this particular model simply sucks. I really like the new line of 1TB MyBooks that WD has put out recently. *Those* drives are actually quiet & simply work. Below is a link 2 the product I am speaking of:

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Just thought I'd vent this out. Hope this little review helps anyone else out there! =)

There is a fan inside the case & you have a one-year warranty... I would get the Studio II instead (five year as of this writing).

I purchased this unit March 18th of 2007 & the unit began 2 fail after the first six months of use. One or both of the drives started going bad. I called WD & they RMA'd the unit.

Six months after that, the one or more of the drives are failing again. The unit is only 30 days past the WD 1 year warranty & they will not replace the unit even though it failed 4 the exact same reasons. They don't consider the Warranty from the time of replacement, just the original purchase.

To add insult 2 injury, their only suggestion was 2 use one of WD's preferred data recovery vendors 2 get the data back. I don't want the data back because it was the backup, not the primary drive. What a joke..

This has turned into a $300 mistake meaning that this is the LAST business WD gets from me. My company has bought probably $4k worth of their product over the past 5 years. So, any external unit I buy from now on will NOT have WD on the housing, controller, drive, etc.

Good luck WD! You just lost another customer....

Eric Caldwell
Web-JIVE.com

I didn't discover until after purchasing the drive that WD has not certified any of their drives 4 64 bit operating systems. I could not get the drivers 2 install & the drive wasn't recognized in My Computer. Since I bought this 2 run a mirror backup 4 photo editing I'll be sending it back & going another route.

Overall---good device. Main problem - WD tech support - hard 2 understand when talking 2 them - called twice, had 2 wait about 20 min before talking 2 someone overseas. Instructions shows it works with Vista - which it does -- as long as you don't want 2 use the RAID software that allows you 2 split the drive in half & back up all data on the other drive. Tech said you must hook up device 2 a machine with XP & then set up in RAID 1 format - then rehook up 2 Vista machine. If you only hook 2 Vista - you will only be able 2 use it in full 1 TB mode. I recommend the device - just not their tech support. Also, couldn't get firewire 400 2 work with Vista - had 2 use USB. The loud fan noise others mention only comes on when it first powers up ..and then it's on 4 only about 5 seconds. I paid 200 via the popular auction site.

WD's My Book Premium Edition II dual-drive storage system offers RAID mirroring 4 extra data protection or RAID striping 4 extraordinary capacity & performance. Triple-interface & a powerful combination of features & performance make this system the storage solution of choice 4 creative professionals, workgroups, small offices & anyone looking 4 extra assurance that their data is safe.