WD My Book Premium II 1TB USB 2.0 / IEEE 1394a / 1394b External Hard Drive WDG2T10000N

Pros: Lots of space, 3 interfaces

Cons: Maybe a little noisy at startup, but that stops once the drive is running.

Other Thoughts: The drive arrived in a slightly damaged box and showed some scratches/dings on the hard drive case - so a black mark for Newegg on shipping this box (and I was told the shipped item was not refurbished).
However, the drive works flawlessly. After all, this item is used to store data, it's not something that needs to be admired for its looks. - so I'm still a happy customer/user.

Pros: The RAID1 configuration w/quick format for windows took all of 2 minutes. Contrary to other complaints, the cool blue light ain't all that bright and indicates what is happening within. [SO FAR], it's rocking.

Cons: Having configured as RAID1 I'd like to see 2 drive letters to insure it is actually mirroring. Also, I wish it was plug & play as I am extracting data from several computers.

Other Thoughts: Some reviews warned of overheating and yes, it does get rather warm after an hour of working. My goal is to backup many years of data, so I'm patient on this initial transfer and move files in 20G chunks then let things cool down before resuming.

Pros: Massive amounts of space. Blue lights are cool when they spin :)

Cons: Slow transfer rate through USB. I do not have a fire wire connection on my pc (will be buying one shortly) but the USB connection is slow... Also, does make some noise. Not much and it only happens when you are accessing the drive and the disks start spinning up but it is noticeable and it does vibrate my desk... which is quite large.

Other Thoughts: Massive amounts of space. Put it some place you wont notice/look.

Pros: NewEgg handles RMA well. Pretty light on the front. When used as a paperweight, it does a good job of keeping papers from blowing around when I slam door in anger because of lost data on hard drive.

Cons: First one died after 3 weeks. RMA went well. Replacement drive overheats, fan comes on very loud after about 2-3 hours of heavy access, then drive shuts down. Drive restarts and works after cooling down, but can't use for unattended backups. Basically a waste of money.

Other Thoughts: I bought this drive to backup a file server. The backup process takes 8 to 10 hours. This drive cannot be used for this purpose. Back ups are for peace of mind. This one provides stress instead. I may use it for less intense jobs, but never for constant use or critical data. Never.

Pros: I have never been one to buy something pre-built particialy because I can ususaly do it better myself. However I have to say that the drive has worked perfectly. It is quite fast and I like how it is rather compact since an external raid cage will be alot larger. I am mainly using this as storage for media content and this drive didnt flinch after backing up over 200gb of data in one shot.

Cons: The Raid manager kinda annoyed me, it failed to recognise the raid status, however it stated working eventually and the only time you would ever need that is if you wanted to set up the drive in raid one for mirroring, i say use your 1tb and dont bother with halfing it. The one thing that could have made it better would be e-sata however thats not really a con.

Other Thoughts: This drive is perfect for almost everything. It is well built and sturdy. In addition the only time that i have knoticed the fan being loud is at startup, than it quites right down and you can barely knotice that its running.

Pros: I love the amount of storage that this thing packs. I also love that there are 2 HDD's inside the case allowing me to make the setup into a RAID 0 or 1 with the packaged software. Although there are faster alternatives, I've only used the USB2.0 port to transfer files to and from the book. It transfers at expected speeds for USB2.0, so I guess that's a plus! You can hard shutdown the book if it won't turn off on you buy holding down the power button for about 5 seconds. Just make sure you aren't causing any action on the drives or you might lose data if you hard shutdown. The amount of ports available is very nice, especially at this price. While 7200RPM spindle speed is considered the norm anymore, I have seen some at 5400RPM. It's attractive! Looks nice anywhere you put it. The blue lights are not blindingin anyway.

Cons: The fans can get LOUD! I stress the word LOUD. I've also had this overheat on me twice during a 100GB continuous back-up on a 90 degree day. It can be picky when trying to turn off. The circular display with blue lights includes 4 LEDs behind the plastic ring - my top LED has not worked since I recieved it (you really have to look, though)

Other Thoughts: Although it's overheated on me twice, I have to admit that I keep the book in pretty tight quarters, and it was a very blazing hot day. While this all plays a factor, I didn't expect this to ever happen given the noise level of the fans.

Pros: Quiet, cool, reliable (so far)

Cons: power connector came loose within 2 days (hasnt loosened since reseating)

Other Thoughts: I like the RAID-1 functionality as I have lots and lots of pictures, home movies, etc that I need to make sure don't get lost. RAID-0 performance really nice.

Pros: Cost, capacity, speed, and 3 forms of connectivity.

Cons: Works under Windows 2003 but had a catastrophic failure after 3 months. RAID 1/mirror did not work and both drives were lost and show as unformatted. Fortunately had a tape backup from 2 days earlier. Don't let RAID 1 mirror provide a false sense of security!

Other Thoughts: Never had an internal RAID array or mirror fail me like this. Not recommended for a server or business environment. Upon failure, 2nd drive did not continue working. After 11 hours of "rebuilding" the array appears as unformatted drive. First and 2nd level Western Digital support consisted of offering to replace the device.

Pros: None

Cons: After finally getting this drive to work and using fire wire. I am comforted in the fact that it is working. But 2 months and thirteen days in, I find that it is making music. Making some new humming sound. As entertained as I am by this new found musical ability, I find that my drive will not open. So now two months of information, countless movies, my own artistic work is lost forever. Hopefully, I can send this drive in and my information is saved. It seems ridiculous to spend nearly $xxx on a terrible drive.

Pros: Great amount of portable storage at a good price. Adequately fast transfers

Cons: At first a little difficult to format even under windows.

Other Thoughts: Vendors should start including the fact that similar hardware items can be used under Linux, by them omitting this fact they are probably losing potentially a 1/3 of their own market.