Pros: Great dependable drive made by an actual hard drive manufacturer.

It has a very simplistic yet functional design. The hard drive is contained within an aluminum shell which helps to dissipate some of the heat as well as give it a much sturdier feeling. The drive lays horizontal on rubber ends which help reduce vibration and noise as well as keep the drive from being pushed around.

Laying flat also eliminates the risk of accidentally knocking the drive over as is the case with most external drives.

The indicator access light is not too bright and out of the way so it won't be flashing in your face when you are trying to sleep.

Cons: No eSATA, but that's only a minor con in this case.

Other Thoughts: I've run this drive for over a year now and have had no troubles. It's very reliable as one would expect from a major hard drive manufacturer. It has even saved me from total data loss as I was able to copy everything over from a failing drive before it kicked the bucket a few months later.
I hope WD continues to use this design more instead of their "my book" design. Sometimes simplistic is better.

Pros: I have been using this drive as a backup/dump drive everyday since Sep, 09. It is sitting behind my monitors and is totally out of sight. I don't hear while it is operating so it is completely quiet to me. It feels just a little bit warmer than body temp when backup is running; otherwise, it sits idle and nothing seems happening to it. It powers down when the computer is down or in sleep mode. It powers up when the computer is powered up.

Running daily backup onto this drive cannot be simpler. I use robocopy (free from Windows 7 ultimate, or free download from MicroSoft) and Windows 7 scheduler. I simply shutdown all apps and let Windows 7 goes to sleep. Scheduler wakes up at 5:00am and backups the data, then goes back to sleep. Totally painless operation.

Cons: As a backup device? No con.

Other Thoughts: Robocopy command to mirror a dir:

robocopy "D:\LocalLibraries" "z:\LocalLibraries_backup" /MIR /V /NP /R:10 /W:30 /MT:2

/MT:2 tells Windows 7 to fork 2 threads to copy files. Max 128.

/MIR is to mirror

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.

Pros: Western Digital has never failed me yet. They have the best hardware out there when it comes to storage. Im using it for a backup drive on my Windows Home server. It works great!!

Cons: Price, Price, Price. Cheaper would always be nice but hey you gotta eat too.

Other Thoughts: ALWAYS BACK UP YOUR DATA!!!

Pros: Fast, extremely cool to the touch even after migrating a few hundred gigabytes over. Took only seconds to re-format after I got it out of the box.

Cons: Comes as Fat32, not really a problem if you know this ahead of time. I recommend those buying this drive just format it to NTFS before you accidentally put anything on it.

Other Thoughts: Took over a week to get it shipped here but other than that I'm extremely satisfied with this drive. Buy it.

Pros: Excellent storage space! FAST for an external. Great looking!

Cons: Stays fairly warm, considering it's shell is aluminum. Other than that, read "other thoughts"...

Other Thoughts: I don't own this particular one but I do have the older 500gb silver version of it. Had it for probably 5 years now, still going strong!

The ONLY thing I dislike about the older versions is that they came with a power plug that looked similar to a PS/2 port and finding a replacement is a pain!! Believe me!! So yeah, I lost my power cord and not being able to find another one, I was forced to convert my drive to an internal (it's a SATA model). Not really a BIG con, but now it's running off SATA instead of USB... FAST drive compared to my main IDE 500gb Seagate Barricuda.

Other than that, it's still runs very strong and FAST!! I am definitely looking for another external Elements to add on to this one for even more storage space. I love Western Digital and their VERY RELIABLE hard drives!

Pros: The drive was not DOA, passed drive tests, and burn in. The unit has a solid build, generates little heat, and is not clunky like separate external enclosures tend to be. Read/write times are good and go unnoticed. Smooth plug and play with Windows XP (the only operating system I am able to test with this drive).

Cons: This drive is obviously a modern external drive, and as such is targeted at modern operating systems. This is not a "con," but more of a fact of life. See below.

Other Thoughts: (1) No on/off switch; the drive powers down when disconnected from a USB port or if it is inactive for a period of time (2) Some people may want to make a bootable DOS floppy disk using DOS USB drivers to run various utilities with or on this drive. (For example, SpinRite is a DOS program that can certify a drive free from defects, repair bad clusters, and correct other errors.) My experience is that such DOS drivers will not work with this drive (probably b/c it is so large). (3) The price is good and is a great upgrade for a computer. Since storage is offloaded to this drive, there's no need to open up your current machine and alter its internal storage! (4) This is a great modern piece of technology. (5) Download disk tools from Western Digital's site to monitor drive fitness. (6) Newegg = conscientious fast shipping.

Pros: Rubber casing makes it very durable and creates soft contact with whatever surface it's sitting on. Very clean looking and quiet. No problems with detection by Win Vista/Win7. No issues with operation thus far.

Cons: No on/off switch (if you consider that a negative).

Other Thoughts: Great value for a quality 1TB external HD.

Pros: Fast. Relatively Quiet. Looks nice, essential. No fluff. No crummy buttons. No awful case. Just a nice, clean external drive case. No annoying lights on the front. Doesn't vibrate my desk. Easy to stack. Price is right - I'd be willing to pay more for the essential line, without the unnecessary, prone to breakage, crud, that WD keeps putting on their externals.

Cons: As others have noted, the rubbery bits on the end caps tend to collect dust, permanently, not a huge problem though. I wish they could be daisy chained, but not a big deal - it is after all called the essential line. It does tend to run a bit warm, but hasn't caused any problems - and I'm guessing this is only noticeable because it doesn't have a giant unnecessary plastic shell to hide the temperature.

Other Thoughts: Have had many issues long term with the WD external drives on my Macs, especially the awful 'mybook' line - this one however, has worked flawlessly from day one. Have had it for nearly a year now. Writing the review since I'm on here buying 4 more now that the price is under $100 =) I'm a bit of a drive junkie, I have A LOT. This is my current favorite external drive.

Pros: I plug it in and it works.
It's affordable and has a lot of space.

Cons: It comes formatted for FAT32. Don't forget to format it to NTFS before you start copying files.

Other Thoughts: Newegg is so efficient. Free shipping, fast delivery, and helpful reviews make shopping so easy.

Pros: It works perfectly and it's very quiet. I'm using this as a backup HDD for half of my data.

Cons: No power switch, you have to unplug it to turn it off.

Pros: Easy to use, plug it in an go, works great with Windows and Mac.

Cons: I wish it had a firewire port. Lack of a firewire port probably keeps the cost down.

Other Thoughts: I've ordered 3 of these so far and have been impressed with their performance. Honestly I think it performs faster on the Mac, but that might be due to the formatting. I have one formatted for the Mac and two formatted FAT32 that I can connect to both Windows and Mac. The Time Machine application on the Mac works perfect too but there is a special trick to formatting the drive. Western Digital is a name that I've trusted for years and I will continue to buy more drives from them.

Pros: I have two of these and they work just fine; they're nice and quiet. They look pretty slick too. The rubber on both ends is nice--keeps them from sliding around my desk(I have a tendency to inadvertently knock things around with my carelessness).

Cons: Being black, the dust that sticks to them is easily noticeable, but that's about it. I never use any of the backup software that is bundled with these external drives so I can't comment on that.

Pros: This external drive uses a WD "Green" 1TB SATA drive. It's a 5400 RPM drive with power saving features. It's very quiet and does not get hot like the other external drives I own.

I like the plain black color and the sticky rubber end caps.

Western Digital is the best HD manufacturer.

Cons: Not reall a con for this specific product, but one of my friends had a problem when starting up his computer with an external drive attached. Disabling the "Boot other devices" option in the BIOS resolved the problem. Some BIOS's have a "Boot from USB" option and I would advise disabling this also unless you plan to use it (security risk).

I have read that the "Green" drives are not the best choice for RAID arrays or constant duty heavy use situations. In these cases, the "Black" drives would be a better choice.

Other Thoughts: I purchased this external drvie about 9 months ago and I am very happy with it. I know several other people who have this unit also.

I also purchased several of the WD "Green" internal drives for myself and these are all working great.

The lower capacity reported by your OS (931 GB vs. 1024 GB) is a result of how the space on the drive is allocated into sectors. Some of the space is used internally and this is common for all hard drives.

The best policy for backing up your files is to only attach the external drive to your computer when you need to copy files. Otherwise keep it tucked away somewhere safe. With the external drive attached, then you could loose your backed up data if your PC gets zapped (lightning strike, stolen, mutilated, flooded by rising ocean levels, etc.).

I still don't swallow manbearpig cereal

Pros: Great price, easy setup, no worries so far. Solid construction, slim shape so you can fit it anywhere.

Cons: The only LED is a blue light on the back of the drive. Why bother? Either have a light on the front or don't have one at all. I just see very little point to having a bare LED on the back like this. But that's purely aesthetic. Technically, this is a great drive!

Other Thoughts: Definitely a worthwhile purchase.

Pros: nice enough if it doesn't cr*p out.

Cons: worked fine for 5 months. then it started making a sporadic buzzing sound. now some files bring up cycle redundancy check data errors, leaving them unusable.

Pros: Large amount of storage (something like 940gb out the box) and fairly cheap for the products you get. I ripped 2 of mine apart and found they have these drives:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136317

Which has had over 1200 reviews with 4 out of 5 eggs!~ Good product. I have bought three and am going to buy a dozen more!

Solid feeling aluminum case for heat dispersal, simple design, no flimsy switches.

Comes ready to roll out of the box (power cable and USB cable included).

FREE SHIPPING!

Cons: The old power cords had a slightly loose connection which would cause them to power off if nudged, but this is a cord issue not a drive issue.

Comes formatted with fat32 which is only a problem if you need it to host files larger than 4Gb. Took approximately 24 hours to format to NTFS.

Other Thoughts: Short of the cable being kind of finicky on the early models this has been an outrageously awesome buy. I recommend anyone looking to get a drive get one of these, then get one more just because you can!

Pros: Large amount of space, runs very quiet, low temp level, great price, actually works!

Cons: None

Other Thoughts: I was concerned about the product when I read how some people were losing their files, or the product would just stop working. Bought this about a year ago and have been very pleased. Everything is still there, and it is still working.

Pros: it dosn't turn off, yet it dosnt heat up. a perfect size for easy storage.

Cons: it dosnt pay my gas and it dosnt make me coffee. no seriously the only complaint that 1tb only exist when you buy a 1.5tb exturnal, because WD basic software drops the size to the high 900 so i dont get the satisfaction of seeing 1TB on drive info

Other Thoughts: wish the price would drop just a bit more

Pros: Works fine, great price, especially w/free shipping! I have purchased 3 of these now, 1 for myself, 1 for a present, 1 for a friend. Reformatted 2 to NTFS, left 1 fat32 for Mac, and have put lots of data on all, with no problems at all.

Cons: I have some reservation about transfer speed, but not sure if it is motherboard chipset or drive.

Pros: Good capacity, decent speed, easy installation, no problems. Everything I expected/hoped for in a drive like this.

Cons: Power is not purely coming from USB, which is actually understandable, but still not the best.

Other Thoughts: Formatting to NTFS took an entire night, but that's what you get with a drive this size, I guess!

Pros: HAS ALOT OF SPACE, its QUICK and NO problems:)

Cons: i say none

Other Thoughts: its really compact and portable great for storing/sharing information or saving other computers

Pros: I like the black color metal-like case that look cool and nice, the rubber ends that protect the case is awesome. Setup is easy and fast. I am not sure what the rpm of the drive is as I could not find information given here or WD website, though the speed is acceptable in FAT format. I guess I like it so much that I already have four of these.

Cons: Clicking sound occurs the first time I used it. The drive is pre-formatted as 'FAT32' and seem to work best in that format by design. Since 'FAT32' does not accept single file larger than 4GB, I tried formatting the drive in NTFS, but this make the transfer rate extremely slow and unacceptable; I have to format it back to FAT, then the transfer rate is back to normal.

Other Thoughts: I wish Newegg would list complete specifications for this drive. The rpm is an important decision factor for hard drive shopper. The shipping and delivery is fast and service is good as always.

Pros: Small size- Quite

Cons: No Power button

Pros: Good durable case, holds tons of info!

Cons: Not to portable, since it has a power supply, but still great for the price

Other Thoughts: Highly reccomended

Pros: It was pretty cheap and didnt seem to be easily breakable.

Cons: Started clicking 2 days after i got it. I've now had it about 3 or 4 months and the clicking is LOUD. I use it mostly for video storage and although ive seen it transfer data at 30MB/s, it usually lingers between 3-5 MB/s, which is a complete and total disappointment. Currently i have nothing open in my pc besides this browser and an explorer window and its telling me its going to take 2 hours and 33 minutes to move 6 GB...

Other Thoughts: Dispite how much i like WD, this isn't a good drive.

Pros: The drive enclosure looks solid, the transfer speed for USB is pretty good too, took me 30 minutes to transfer 30 gigs of files.
The black color of the unit goes well with the rubber pads on both ends. The hard drive seems to ventilate properly, because after 30 minutes of transferring files it is still just as hot and not hotter.
USB cable Included

Cons: I heard a click a few times at some point, it may or may have not come from the drive, owning it for 1 day it does not sound like a good thing.
I personally do not like Power adapters or anything extra attached this type of peripheral
The power adapter is standard size, not the slim types that allow you to squeeze in other plugs.
The indicator LED (blue) for drive usage is in the rear of the hard drive near the power cable, where you will hardly ever look.

Other Thoughts: Temperature wise the drive enclosure feels slightly warmer than my hand, I am not sure if it is a positive or a negative thing, because i do not know the true temperature of the drive in the enclosure, the enclosure comes with rubber ends on both sides which i believe is to reduce shock to the drive, i do believe they may not help and at the same time they also look removable which is a good thing.

Pros: Large capacity, good price. In my opinion the speed is very good. Using it as a general purpose backup for several systems around the house.

Cons: Reformated to NTFS, took a really long time but I guess that's expected

Pros: Not very expensive - but well made case, that does not run as hot as some other similar items ..

Also very fast throughput.

Cons: Throw out any of the software that comes with these drives and re-format them.

Pros: No problems with transferring large amounts of data. Simple to use. Doesn't get too hot. Basic, no-frills design.

Cons: Sometimes difficult to stand-up vertically due to rubber feet.

Other Thoughts: I've bought several of these and have had no problem yet. I used to buy the Accomdata, but this is a better bargain so far (even without eSata). Recommended.

Pros: Price, simple to hook up, sits right on top of tower

Cons: none that I've noticed. there isn't a power button, but I use it as an archive/backup drive. I plug it in, put my music library, pictures, and documents on it; then unplug it. I update the files once a month, really not a big deal.

Pros: Good, Fast, Cool, plug in and play, LOTS of space.

Cons: Had to reformat it

Other Thoughts: My first external hard drive I bought, and I think I'll buy western digital again.

Pros: Very Simple, no other programs needed, just plug in and transfer away!

Cons: no on/off switch, but a small one

Other Thoughts: when i frst got i transfered about 30 gigs into right away and had no problems. Does seem to get a little warm, but no problems. I mostly use this with my Western Digital TV HD Media Player, and it workes great with it.

Pros: Very quiet and fast. Hardly vibrates, and it stays cool.

Cons: No power switch. Is formatted to FAT32 by default.

Other Thoughts: Perform a quick format to NTFS, it hardly takes a minute

Pros: easy install, came on time, works fine, unobtrusive

Cons: somewhat slow

Pros: Can be partitioned and used to back up both Mac and Windows. After creating a Mac partition, Time Machine recognizes the drive and does its thing.

Cons: I wanted a firewire connection, but it's not that important.

Other Thoughts: This is the first time I signed up for an extended warranty, b/c I've read some weird reviews about external drives in general.

Pros: Does what i need it to

Cons: none

Other Thoughts: using this as a network back up drive works 100% so far

Pros: Exactly what you would expect from a well know brand like Western Digital.

Cons: The hard drive heats up fairly quickly but is still well under operating temperatures.

Pros: I have had this drive for nearly a year now, and I have not had any problems with it whatsoever. It is very energy efficient as it goes into a stand-by mode after about 5 minutes of non-use; even in minor usage it is practically in the stand-by mode (I have all my music on the hard drive, so it is in constant use as it plays the songs and remains in this near-stand-by mode).
It is relatively very quite, unless being heavily used.
Even without a cooling fan, this device stays about room temperature even after several hours of use.

Cons: No cooling fan, though it still works wonderfully and keeps around room temperature regardless.
Sometimes I worry if the USB connection is securely connected to the drive as it is pretty loose. This doesn't provide any negative affects toward the drive itself, rather it only makes me a bit uncomfortable.

Other Thoughts: NOTE: I mentioned that it stays room temperature, but that is because I keep it on a level and solid surface (i.e. a desk). It does get very hot if put on a couch or bed or other molding surface.

Overall, this is a very good drive and definitely worth the purchase! I strongly recommend this drive to anyone looking to for a drive of any kind.

Pros: Works as advertised.

Cons: USB connection at back of drive feels "flimsy" and loose.

Other Thoughts: Using this to back up every game and program I own so I don't have to swap discs or order replacements when the originals get scratched beyond use.

Pros: Bang for the buck

Cons: little on the slow side

Other Thoughts: Would buy again

Pros: I really got into digital photography a few months ago (about 1k photos/month) and ended up using just about all of my computer's storage capacity. I purchased this particular drive with the intent to store these high-res photos and to provide an easier backup for all my documents. I have been really pleased with its performance. It is quiet, operates smoothly and quickly, and easily communicates with each computer I have plugged it in to. Aesthetically, the matte, black finish matches my computers perfectly.

Cons: Burning files to CD or DVD directly from this drive can sometimes take a little longer. That's the only con I can think of.

Other Thoughts: I've had this drive for a few months and have been nothing but pleased with it. Even at the rate I'm loading photos onto it, I figure it will be another 5-6 years before I max it out.

Pros: - High Quality build, very solid throughout
- Rubber corners protect from accidental vibrations (or worse, maybe)
- Long USB cable (compared to other EHDs which give you super short cables)
- Blue LED light for activity

Cons: - No on/off switch

Other Thoughts: I am reviewing this EHD 2 months after purchasing it to make sure I have a somewhat reliable review for others to read. I had to make sure that 2 months of rigorous transferring of data, including max capacity and formating, would be withstood. No problems so far. Hopefully for a long time.

Pros: Easy to use product that performs as advertised. Setup is plug and play that anyone can do. It has durable construction and can withstand its share of abuse. I've had this drive for eight months now and haven't had any issues with it. The drive has been moved from computer to computer numerous times and unfortunately been pull off the table top more than once and still performs like new.

Cons: Doesn't power down with host. This thing continues to run/spin even when my WDTV is turned off. Recommend removing hardware from the computer or other device if it is not going to be used for a while.

Other Thoughts: I really like this drive, it has performed beyond my expectations and I've purchased another one because of that. It's rubberized ends help durability and the flat black finish hides scratches and dust. It's a perfect match for anyone that plays rough with their electronics.

Pros: I have 2 of these drives for a year or so and 1 of the new 1.5 element drives just like this one.I Want buy anything elses Love these Drives never have problems.

Cons: 99.99$ for 1tb whats there to complain about. With free shipping gotta love that can't hate.

Other Thoughts: The 1.5 tb drive was 130.00$ with free shipping to really like it. Its EXACTLY the same size I thot it would be a little bigger. Its on newegg on sale might want it over this one. More bang for your buck.

Pros: I have had this HD for over 11 months. Pluged it in, set it on my desk with my other 3 Maxtor 1 TB drives and forgot about it. when I call on it , it is there ready to do thejob it was designed for.

Cons: None.

Other Thoughts: Excellent recall time. I am thinking of buying myself 3 more to replace the Maxtors. But, haven't made up my mind as of yet.

Pros: as advertised, so far so great.

Cons: none yet

Pros: plug and play, very fast, no (noticeable) noise

Cons: the power light is too bright, it's unessecary

why did they format it in fat32... whatever

if i was to do a full format it would take probably the whole day

Other Thoughts: all around it's a great harddrive, i'm very happy with it and i would definitely buy this one again

Pros: Usb works everywhere
Hasnt died yet

Cons: Usb is slow
Doesn't turn off drive in Linux (I think windows does this)

Other Thoughts: In hindsight I really shoul've spent the money and gone with firewire. It takes forever to write 1TB out to these drives.

Pros: Durable non-slip case, plenty of space, runs cool, and a blue LED (everyone loves indium gallium nitride)

Cons: Slow and comes formatted for FAT32 to be compatible with all the linux/mac childrens.

Other Thoughts: Bought a couple and love them and treat them equally as I would my own two kids.

Pros: WD has some quality drives, and this is definitely one of them. I haven't seen any data corruption, and at nearly the one year mark, they're all operating at top notch. Great form factor and very easy to stack (the little rubber grips on the end allow airflow between them).

Cons: I hate the lack of an on/off switch, and the back facing LED is sometimes hard to see. I'd love other ports, but there are more expensive models that have those. Unlike the MyBooks, the power brick is right on the plug rather than being in the middle of the cable, making it hard to plug in multiple on a power strip without blocking other ports.

Other Thoughts: These drives have held up under all the abuse I've put them through. I currently own 3, which are being used to store every imaginable type of media (music, videos, software, photos, documents). I have one in particular that hosts all of the content for my media center and stays on 24/7. I've never had any issues with it.

Pros: Sturdy Casing - not cheap plastic like many other harddrives.

Cons: Obviously not designed for mobile use even though that's what I use it for. My power port inside the harddrive is starting to get a little loose but I bang it around here and there because I use it on the road so much.

Other Thoughts: I would definitely buy one again. I wish it had a faster port than USB but everything for the specs works great.

Pros: Very small design. Drive kept very cool. Almost no noise to speak of. Very tiny blue light on back of drive. Hardly seen. Great storage space (1TB).

Cons: Nothing really to speak of. Have had this drive only a few days, though.

Other Thoughts: Using this as a back-up for my other hard drives. The transfer speed is fast. Drive keeps really cool, even after hours of transferring. I have bought in total three of these specific drives over the last week. The price was 99 (it recently went up). I bought these ones because of the amount of positive feedback and yup, the price was right. I feel a bit better now that I am backing up my hard drives. NEVER rely on just one hard drive to store all your important files!!! I have been extremely lucky and have never had a hard drive fail, but I now know that I am tempting fate, so have now bought these back-ups. Am almost done transferring the first one, will update with a review later on with other ones. I'm hoping that these will last a few years like my other drives. :-)

Pros: 1 tb of storage. Quiet, slim and sleek styling. USB 2.0 and reliable. It runs cool - not hot.

Cons: None so far.

Pros: Very quiet and easy to use. I like the rubber ends so it doesn't slide on the table.

Cons: None at this point.

Pros: Great product

Cons: requiers the power cable (i wish it could power via the usb cable)

Pros: Nothing much to complain or praise. Just a solid piece of hardware that does exactly what I need it to do -- back up my files and system when I need to and go to sleep when I don't care about you. People complains that it runs hot, but I respectfully disagree.

Cons: It is not $65. Doesn't run hot like many have said. Is it a con? The drive body does vibrate quite a bit during use. Hmm... I wonder if it lasts very long since vibration isn't a very good thing to hard drives... But there is no vibration at all once it spins down or no activity (duh!).

Other Thoughts: I really don't know what people are talking about that the drive runs hot. I categorize it as warm to touch during and after 750GB of system backup. In fact, I expect it to get even hotter since it doesn't have a cooling fan, but it really didn't get hot at all. Standby is right around room temperature. So this drive is very energy efficient. I agree to many that a power switch is nice is I want just don't want it to be left on while I am away. I recommend plug this drive to a UPS so it gets protected all the time. You don't want your backup disk fried by accidental lightning strike. I do question about is service life span because the drive does vibrate a lot.

Pros: Traditionally I've avoided WD disks after having two of them die on me. However, I now own two of these external 1TB disks (for under $100, wow!) and couldn't be happier.

Cons: They're not free.

Pros: Stays put due to rubber end caps, nice matte black finish

Cons: Died after 6 months

Other Thoughts: This drive was never bumped, bounced, or moved in any way. Started clicking and died after 6 months of use.

Pros: Cheap. but most importantly, its made by reputable company.

Cons: doesnt have an off switch so it turns on every time i turn on my computer unless i unplug it before hand. This isnt that big of a problem tho

Pros: The HDD has lasted me only 5 months...It worked fast, didn't seem to have any problems. I thought it was a GREAT hard drive. But just yesterday, it died.

At first, I figured "maybe the power cable isn't giving enough power" so i tried it with my other power cable. still failed

"What about the USB cable?" Replaced, still failed.

It gave me the error as an "I/O error." So I figured in the first place it was internal. So I decided to call support and was on hold for a good 10 minutes. After verifying tons of annoying information, the representative asked the problem. I addressed the issue. After about a 20 minute call, they said that they can send me a new drive and I'll send them the faulty one all for free. Only thing I have to pay for is shipping the hard drive.

So WD is good with their service. Hopefully the next drive will last me much longer.

Cons: Pretty much mentioned in the Pro's, the drive had a horrible lifespan.

Also, once in awhile I would lose some files or something. So if you get this drive, make sure you have another source for backing up your files as well.

Pros: It's a WD, they've always been great drives for me.
I own 3 of these drives (3 other WD's 2x500GB-1x750GB) and about to order 2 more (1 for me, 1 for my dad, we're collecting tv shows)

Cons: None that I can find, really.

Other Thoughts: 2 things...
-1st: the inventory space on hard drives take up about 5-8% of drive, so about 60gb will be gone from the start, leaving about 940GB 0f usable space. This is universal for ALL hard drives. Don't get bent over it.
-2nd: This drive goes to sleep when not using it. So, if you double click it after not using it for a bit, it's asleep. give it 5-10 secs to spin up and your golden! Then, it works flawlessly. No need for a power swith, (which is always in an inconvenient location), these drives will keep the power situation better managed than you ever could. I have 6 WD drives hooked to my machine with this feature and 2 that aren't. The 2 with switches are a constant pain in the head to remember to turn them on and off.. Go WD!!

Pros: Cool design.
Seems to stop spinning when there is no read and write - sometimes this becomes annoying because the response time would be long

Cons: Inevitably becomes hot - since there is merely no space between the container and the hard drive. Unlike MyBook, which has huge space, but also bigger.

Other Thoughts: DC converter sucks

Pros: -Cheap external Terrabyte
-No problems since I bought it last November
-Quiet

Cons: -could use a fan, but that hasnt stopped it from working, it has some side vents but nothing on top

Other Thoughts: I just opened it up today and discovered that the drive is a Caviar green. That could very well explain why it doesn't get that hot after hours of use and also seems to go into that "sleep mode." Personally I am not a big fan of Caviar Greens since they have slightly lower specs, but after seeing how this drive works I might have to reconsider my opinion. This thing is on for at least 16 hours a day, and I am constantly watching videos or playing music from it or downloading to it. I plan on getting another internal and making this a backup drive since it seems that it will last awhile. Also, the warranty sticker is on the screw that holds the........... I don't know what to call it, the power chip? Whatever its called, the drive isnt involved in the warranty sticker so you could always remove the drive and still have the warranty if it fancies you =)

Pros: Works as advertised. Rubber guards on front and back (removable) are a welcome addition to keep the thing protected.

Cons: No power switch! This drive only makes sense to buy if you want an external drive that is always on.

Other Thoughts: I didn't read thoroughly enough, and missed that there is no power switch on this external drive. To be honest, had I known this, I would have ordered something else, as I use my external drives only now and then, not needing them always on.

Pros: works once

Cons: It works once and that's it. I backed up 10 years worth of data when I received the drive 5 months ago. I disconnected it, plugged it in today and ... clicking, all data lost. But for a mere $695-$1200 a Western Digital affiliate will recover the lost data... and WD gets their kick back, no doubt. Don't buy it.

Pros: I've had this hard drive for several months already, and I've not had a single problem! this hard drive is easily one of the best out there! It's got so much space where I can back up virtually everything I will ever need. This is also very quiet, and after a while of not using it, it goes into a "sleep" mode where it uses up less power, and makes even less noise.

Cons: none

Other Thoughts: i like waffles :-D

Pros: It works
It's quite

Cons: none really

Pros: A lot of space! 1 TB of hard drive space in a compact and sleek design. the hard drive feels very heavy duty and durable. so far so good, i've transferred lots of files and had no problems or write errors.

Cons: there is no on/off switch which isn't a big deal, you can simply unplug the power cord from the back of it when you don't want it on.

the usb plug connection is a little loose (where you plug it into the hard drive) but it doesn't fall out or anything, it just feels loose when you put it in there.

Other Thoughts: newegg is the best! i got this during a shell shocker deal for a very good price (20 bucks cheaper than other sites sell it for)

Pros: good for it's price. For windows vista i get 15mb/sec transfering file , but upgrade to windows 7 i get range around 30-50 mb/sec. big different and time saving.

Cons: it's heat up really hot when it's working .

Other Thoughts: woulda give it a 5 just it get too hot.

Pros: Great price, ton of space, decent read/write speeds.
As far as the actual drive goes, it seems rock steady.

Cons: As many people have noted, the AC adapter does not fit securely into the socket on the enclosure. I first noticed this a few weeks ago (after about 2-3 months of ownership), since it would randomly disconnect.
It's not a huge issue if you don't plan on moving the drive a lot (just tape it in place to your desk or something), but if you plan on carrying this places it might get kind of annoying (actually, it is kind of annoying anyway).

Other Thoughts: This is an okay drive- I wouldn't recommend it to anyone as you can probably get one for cheaper that does not have this kind of problem (I think the FD G-Force is considerably less, and I haven't had a problem using one that's much older than this WD).
I wish WD would just fix this- it seems to be a recurring problem with the product.

Pros: newegg shipped very quickly the first time, unfortunately the drive didn't work...but newegg issued an rma quickly, and I sent it back the same day they issued me the rma

Cons: The first 1 didn't work, the 2nd one did...that's 50%...
Newegg was the MAJOR issue here, I got the first 1 on 8/19, and shipped it back on 8/20...I didn't get my replacement 1 until 9/8, they had only shipped it on 9/4!! These time lags are outrageous!! I had contacted them several times by phone and live chat and email! very disappointing...I point out that all these delays are longer than the times they state on their website, for rma processing.

Other Thoughts: Not sure if I will ever buy from Newegg again. In retrospect, I should have asked for my money back instead of a replacement....and then just paid for another 1, it would have been much fast

Pros: Enough space for now. Came with fat file system, but quick format and changed that. Overall, Hard drive performs like it should. And it is fairly small

Cons: NONE

Pros: Alot of space and it stays cool. not much else to say about it other than i use it constantly and that i dont regret buying it.

Cons: other than the fact that it has a external power source (which isnt to big of a deal, since the cable is fairly long), none

Pros: Newegg shipped the item very quickly. The drive itself took me longer to unpack and read documentation than it did to install. I shut down computer (helps when installing lol) hooked up to a USB 2.0 port, powered device and booted computer. Simple backup done in a simple way. Windows 7 installed the device easily, changed to NTFS from FAT32 in only seconds, and checked drive for defects. Once I got results began transfer of items. It was that simple! That is the reason I chose USB device, but would be just as easy for SATA, etc. Windows 7 and Windows XP provide utilities to stop the drive already, so no need for any program to shut down disk. The program from WD does allow spin down or standby, so that is a plus if you d/l it from WD or you can let Windows manage it. This appears to be another awesome drive from WD. I have an internal WD5000AAKS as well and I can find no problems after a couple of years. You can upgrade your registered drives at WD for a small price break

Cons: I would like to see a switch for shut down, but for the money spent I could care less. It would also be nice for WD to package their retail drives with the utilities on CD, but cost seems to be a factor in that. No COMPLAINTS at all about the drives.

Other Thoughts: For the folks who have disk speed issues; please remember most USB 2.0 connections are mapped from the mobo in the rear. AFAIK it should not take hours to change file allocation to NTFS on empty drives before use. You should always check your hardware before you actually use it with your favorite utilities. IMHO WD has the best product for the money out there.

Pros: Great for backing up data, or moving very important data very easily.

Cons: none

Pros: Use for backing up data.

Cons: none so far

Other Thoughts: nice

Pros: Great price. Access speed not bad.

Cons: No problems so far.

Other Thoughts: I bought this external drive for my wife to store family media and other data. She loves it and couldn't believe external terrabyte drives had come down to $100. I've always loved Western Digital and this drive doesn't disappoint.

We've had the drive for 2 months now and no problems yet. It's a great gift to couple with a new digital camera.

Pros: Gets the job done using it as a backup for my HTPC with XBMC on it hasnt given any troubles so far

Cons: NONE.... So far

Pros: Simple design, easy installation, decent value, runs smooth

Cons: none

Other Thoughts: I'm using this WD Hard Drive on Windows 7 Beta and it runs perfectly fine. You can easily use it with the Xbox 360 because it's already formatted in Fat32, so just plug in your 360 and it'll work!

Pros: USB 2.0 means portability. Slim for storage.

Cons: Got hot after some use. Another data transfer method besides USB 2.0 could mean higher data transfer rates.

Pros: Small, sturdy case. Rubber end caps protect drive from minor bumps. Reliable so far. Quiet.

Cons: Runs warm (but not hot) because of fanless case. External power supply. Laptop-based drives are smaller & lighter.

Other Thoughts: This is a large capacity drive that's fairly portable, and faster & more sturdy than a 2.5" based drive. This fit the bill nicely I have other drives that are noisier and need to be power cycled after a few days, but this has been fine. The fanless design is a plus for me, though the drive runs warm (not hot) when used a lot. Overall, a good little drive. Firewire would be nice since I have a Mac, but I didn't want to pay extra for it.

Pros: Compact, good drive, small power supply (friendly neighbor on power strip)

Cons: Died after 4 months.

Other Thoughts: WD support was OK... I RMA'd it. I think it was misplaced because it took 3 weeks for it to enter the system in RMA status. They were receptive to emails.

Pros: No light in the front that distracts me while I slam nerds on the internet while I download the 18th Rambo movie in HD. You might be saying to yourself, "But there are only 3 movies!" to which I say, "Who cares? I have room for the versions too extreme for the average person...in HD"
No eSata you say? Who cares most of you won't use it; I don't.
No firewire you say? Only condescending hipsters use a IEEE 1394 interface.
This thing is as stable as a tank and as rugged as one too sporting tactical features as a aluminum case reinforced with rubber siding.
As quiet as a Marine sniper and as fast as the enemies running away in sheer terror after their latte sipping leader got dropped.

Cons: When moving a bunch of small files the hard drive is only as fast as a enemy crawling away in fear after their latte sipping leader got dropped and...*ahem* there is no on/off switch.

Pros: They are 1 TB, Plain Black with no frills and have a fairly small footprint. I bought 2 for movies, videos and music. Should keep me going all year.

Cons: The rear connections are JUNK on both. The only light is in the back of the drive, I am finding this to be more of a con now that the drive looses connection now and again and I can't see the activity light. They do get warm when transfering huge amounts of data. I guess they get to cool down when the loose connection - You must babyset these drives.

Other Thoughts: All in all, I have had them almost a week. I wouldn't buy them again until they are revised a little. As a matter of fact, I may send these back for a different drive altogether. Just not happy.

Pros: Large space, cheap price.

Cons: I think the one i got may go bad quick, opened up and was already pre-opened and i got the mess of it. At first did not power on from surge protector then used wall socket. Weird, you know? Then the hard drive was quiet the first day and after format to NTFS which took 12+ hours, this thing starts making clicking noises and transfer rates are slow at 20+mbps.

Other Thoughts: I think I received a bad egg. But fast shipping as always and newegg is always great. Hope this hard drive does not poop on me, I do not want to lose my data. Time will tell.

Pros: Hefty. Small profile

Cons: My MacOS 10.4.11 G4 would neither recognize nor format this drive. Yes I tried multiple partitions. Yes I set GUID. Nada. WD wants to blame Apple. Apple KB isn't much help.

Other Thoughts: Will RMA if I can find the packing materials.

Pros: Nice matte finish and rubber "thingies" for keeping it secure and also to absorb shock from falls as I imagine.

Cons: The DC plug in the back of the enclosure doesn't fit snug enough for me. Sometimes needs to be adjusted for it to power on.

Other Thoughts: I hear its only has a 5400 RPM HDD inside

Pros: Great HDD works right out the box no problems so far!

Cons: None

Pros: win xp and ubuntu both recognized the disk without effort. i had the drive plugged in and accepting backup data in 3 minutes, including the time to get it out of the packaging.

Cons: none

Other Thoughts: the housing does not include any kind of indicator light, but i have no problem with that.

Pros: No initial setup (a given, I suppose). Very simply operation. Large capacity. Good performance.

Cons: None yet.

Other Thoughts: I used this HDD to back up my PS3 data, in addtion to the music videos that I have on my main machine. It worked flawlessly for both. Also, this was my first time working with an external HDD, but overall I would have to say that my experience so far has been pretty good. As far as shopping and shipping with Newegg... top notch as always. Hope this helps.

Pros: I got this as a gift about 6 weeks ago and it has worked flawlessly ever since.

Cons: None.

Other Thoughts: Does this thing really have an exhaust fan? I have read other reviews that tells me it does but, I have yet to hear or "feel" any type of fan running, nor any heat coming out of the vents. I went to WD's homepage looking for an answer...but did not find one. Help, anyone?

Pros: I like the color black, so it's a plus.

Goes perfect on my desk, looks rather stylish. I also like the design.

Cons: None really.

Other Thoughts: Just wish it was smaller, but hay can't beat the price for a nice Tera.

Pros: Worked as expected. I'm thinking about buying a couple more.

Cons: None

Other Thoughts: Remember to format to NTFS.

Pros: The price for 1TB size and convenience of external hard drive is amazing, and mine doesn't have any bad sectors or anything. :D I've had no problems with Western Digital in the past and I will continue to buy from them.

Cons: It's a little bit noisy with clicking when being read or written to I suppose, but its not such a big deal for me as its simply for back up.

Only has a USB2.0 connection(kinda slow but not unbearable), which I was aware of before I bought it.

Other Thoughts: It's too slow for use as an Operating System hard drive in my opinion, but I suppose its possible, if you don't mind USB2.0 interface speeds.

*This drive needs to be formatted from FAT32 to NTFS in order to add files larger than something like 4GBs or so to it, which can quickly and easily be changed with a good partition software. I used a little resourcefulness ;) and got Partition Magic and it worked almost instantaneously, but I am sure there are some free ones out there that can do the job just as well.*

I've read about peoples drives dying on them, but that hasn't been the case for me, at least as of yet. I'm thinking about getting another one, just so I have a fall back mechanism in the case one drive goes out.

In conclusion, I am extremely pleased with this drive and for 99$ its definitely worth it!

Pros: None

Cons: Died after 2 hours.

Other Thoughts: Just kidding.

Pros: Easy to install very durable I must say when I 1st received this product I accidentally dropped it soon as I took it out of the case it hit my kitchen table and then hit a chair before it landed on the floor. I picked it up ran up to my computer to pray that it worked after that and have had no problems with it knock on wood. Also what an easy install if your new to computers basically this is for you plug and play device very nice.

Cons: The fact that I dropped it, but I'm a dummy but product held up.

Pros: Hefty, solid construction. Nice rubberized ends ensure it won't slip and slide. Stays cool even after hours of use.

Cons: Initially WinXP didn't want to assign a drive letter to it, so had to manually do so by right-clicking My Computer icon, going to Manage, and then Disk Manager.

Pros: No issue with the install. Win XP Pro and Home recognized it right away. It's quiet and has not given me any issues. It just works.

Cons: One nit - it came formatted in FAT32. I noticed that when I was trying to back up a large file and received a . Once I reformatted it to NTFS, no issues. Luckily, I had other storage for the files while I reformatted. I decided not to take an egg away for this.

Other Thoughts: I use this as my primary backup drive with no issues. I also use it connected to a laptop with no HD space left to do video encoding. Have never had an issue with it. Also, if you like bright lights to let you know your HD is working, this is not for you. There is only a dim, internal blue light.

Pros: Good price
Lots of storage
Great as a backup drive. I don't use it daily so it has not died on me or given me any trouble

Cons: No power button.
Power connector is loose & does not work sometimes if you push it all the way in, so you then have to move the power connector around a bit till you see the light come on, which can't be good in the long run