Western Digital WDH1CS5000N 500GB My Book Home Edition External Hard Drive

Had this product 4 only a few days so can't offer any reliability comments.

No issues with hooking this drive up. Plugged in the power supply & connected 2 the computer (Win XP) via FireWire/1394 interface. Drive was instantly recognized & could R/W 2 the drive.

No supplied software installed automatically or manually by me. Since drive came formated 2 FAT, it was only a DOS command away from converting 2 NTFS. Couple min later & drive converted & all initial data still intact. First task was 2 make image of C: & D:, about 60G of data. Went with no hitch.

Drive is quiet & runs cool 4 a device without a fan, 94°F at the top of the case, about a 20°-24° rise over amb. Drive turns ON/OFF with the computer & when sitting idle 4 a period it goes 2 sleep. Does take a few sec 2 turn back on & ready 4 data I/O but that is 2 be expected.

I've had good luck with WD drive in the past & I'm not expecting anything different in this case.

I never ceased 2 be amazed by reading the owner reviews. One thing that seems 2 be clear is a number of people want champaign at a beer price. eSATA is not that common of a interface but the Co. should have provided the cable & oh, not charge 4 it. Drive not working with Vista but what new about hardware issues with Vista. IMO when you are in a very small minority reporting a problem, why does the problem have 2 be because of the new piece of hardware & not something with your existing equipment or set-up? These kind of comments have little credibility with me.

After purchase I found out my son has one of these attached 2 his work computer as does the rest in his work group. Had them 4 about 6 mo & no problems with any that he know of. That's not saying problems can't come up but isolated problem doesn't raise 2 the level of "piece of junk" comments.

Oh, 4 stars, nothing is perfect & haven't had long enough 2 include reliability in the rating.

I may come back later reporting my unit has failed but then again, it may run 4 a number of years like my other drives have. Only had one HD failure in more than 20 yrs of computer ownership. I'd have no hesitation 2 recommend 2 a friend.

I bought this external HD & out of the box it did not work, does not mount on any Mac or PC that I have, even after running multiple tests. The HD spins up, but does not mount or can be found by any disk utility tool. I am also an IT professional & have used these in the past before at work, but even those are starting 2 give us flaky results! Mine just happened 2 not work out of the box (lucky me, huh) Anyway this thing is a total waste, stick with Seagate, LaCie or G Force.

Beautiful! Set up is very easy, thereafter, it's there when you
want it, otherwise, it "sleeps" & wakes when you need files from
it. No muss, no fuss!

I've just done some testing of some of my computer gear with a small power meter & was surprised 2 find that this drive draws at least 5 watts all the time when it is plugged in. Powered up & idle, it uses about 7 watts, but when it is spun down & turned off, it is still sucking 5 watts. 24 hours a day! That is way too much! I will start unplugging it when it's not in use.

I bought this hard drive mainly 2 back-up all the music files I recently had 2 re-rip 2 my new computer (about 70GB of mp3's were lost when my old computer got infected with a really nasty bit of malware & had 2 be re-formatted 2 insure its removal). Needless 2 say, I didn't want 2 lose all those files a second time, hence the external hard drive.

On with the review... Build quality appears 2 be good. The drive is very compact & looked good at my work station. Connections are simple; Just connect the power cord from the drive 2 the wall & the USB (or Firewire) cable from the drive 2 your computer. The drive powers up & down automatically with your computer.

Once powered up, the fun starts. The device drivers seemed 2 load OK, but the drive also loaded a diagnostic tool with the driver & without my permission. Then the set-up auto run kicks in & wants you 2 install a bunch of junk software. I de-selected all of the various pieces of software that set-up wants 2 force upon me & click continue several times 2 effect. Finally I click cancel, & Windows (running Vista Home Premium 64bit) gives me a warning that some software may not have installed correctly, which I ignore 4 the time being since I chose not 2 install any. I then try 2 access the drive via My Computer so I can delete all the junk that's been pre-loaded. It shows up as a hard drive (about the only thing that works), but when I double click on the icon, it just takes me back 2 the set up screen & once again tries 2 force its junk software on me. Same thing as above, I refuse & cancel & get the same windows warning (changing auto run in the control panel 2 "take no action" makes no difference). A right click will give me some options, properties, etc., but I still can't get into the drive 2 delete those pre-loaded files. Finally give up & just try 2 reformat it completely, but had no success with that either. I closed all my windows & tried 2 eject the drive using the "safely remove hardware" button in the task bar, but windows says it can't eject the drive because it's in use (even though it's not). I give up & shut down my computer & disconnect everything once its all off.

Now things get really interesting. When I tried 2 re-start my computer, I got a blue screen warning me of certain doom & destruction, & windows can't start properly. I had 2 do a system restore in order 2 get my machine running properly again! Whatever Western Digital loaded on 2 my machine really messed it up bad! This computer is a month old & was running fine prior 2 hooking up this WD external drive, so there is no other probable explanation.

I don't see why its necessary 2 try & force this garbage software on people by linking it 2 a setup.exe when you try 2 access the STORAGE device you just spent your hard earned money on. I bought this 2 store data on, not play with cheap, & obviously corrupt, software. Sure, put it in a folder on the drive & let me install it IF I WANT TO. And whats with it loading its diagnostic program with the driver package? Why let cheap marketing tactics get in the way of what could have been a OK product.

So, whatever you do, DO NOT BUY A WESTERN DIGITAL EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE!! Perhaps WD & Norton should team up...together they could dominate the "Trash Your Computer" market.

Your baby's first step, your wedding in Bali, all your important milestones... all captured in digital photos & video. What could be more important? Store them safely & keep them backed up on a My Book Home Edition triple interface external hard drive.With this elegant, collectable product that takes no more space than a paperback book, you can save a copy of your photos 2 an online sharing service, duplicate your e-mail & contacts 2 your iPod, & back up all your precious files 2 your My Book. Set it & forget it; every time you save something it's automatically backed up.