WD WDH1NC10000N 1TB My Book World Edition Network Hard Drive

Pros: Outlook and Cool Light

Cons: 1. FTP server not really recognized by any of my Network WebCam. 2. Need subscribe to a 3rd party company for internet access. 3. No HTTP support in accessing file unless subscribing to certain service. 4. Lack of instruction for Mac Leonard and Windows 7 users.

Other Thoughts: Please make a clear statement that 3rd party subscription is required for accessing via internet. Otherwise, it totally misleads people to buy this product. Although FTP is allowed to do over the internet, HTTP is more predominant in the cyber-community and the statement needs to be clear. Plus, HTTP is chosen over FTP because most school and office network banned FTP and therefore HTTP is more more more predominant.

Pros: Works great for a multi-platform network; supports a number of different transfer protocols to ensure compatibility with Windows, Mac and Linux/Unix. Secure remote access over the Internet available using Mionet, which comes free with the NAS.

Once you discover the secret username (wd_backup) and password (backup) for Time Machine, it works flawlessly as a Time Machine backup destination. The best part is that you don't have to format it as a MacOS (HFS+) drive; the firmware tricks OS X into thinking that it's a native Mac drive. This means you don't have to create any partitions; your Time Machine backups, iTunes library, shared and private files all use the same 1TB of space--no resizing of partitions is needed as you fill the drive.

You can also create private stores on the drive, that require a username and password to access. Features are easy to access and setup through a web interface. If your storage needs grow, more space can be added through a USB port on the unit.

Cons: As shipped, the iTunes server functionality did not work properly; songs were not discovered in the "Shared Music" folder even though it was set to refresh and discover new songs every 30 minutes. This was fixed in a firmware update from WD; now the songs refresh properly and are populated in iTunes. I have not tried using the media server function with any other programs, such as Windows Media Player.

Other Thoughts: Overall, a good deal for home and semi-professional use; I use it for Time Machine backups, as a central iTunes library, and as a fileserver for fetching various installers and whatnot for computers that I work on. the only thing I'm not sure about, is if the drive is user-replacable, should it ever die or need upgrading. My guess is that all the Unix files are probably on the drive, so if it goes the NAS is probably rendered useless. However, some *nix hacking could probably get any number of different firmware packages on there.

Pros: It did DHCP an IP address and accepted a static address and could be seen on my Windows network from Server 2003. These are probably just fine for storing home network files. I did not try them in that environment.

Cons: Wont join Microsoft Network with Active Directory of 32 or more users which makes it useless on my network. You apparently cant use complex passwords either. Linux embedded OS apparently had domain issues with Win Server 2003. This particular drive only supported with Server 2003.

Additional Search: "Failed to join domain! [ERROR:Join ADS
failed]" I wasn't the only one with this problem.

Other Thoughts: Read the Support Forums at WD before buying this drive. I thought I did my homework but alas, the lesson cost me $13 in return shipping and about $35 in restocking fees. It was probably wishful thinking on my part to get corporate level network storage on these drives. If that's what you're needing, try the Lacie Ethernet storage with Win XP embedded. I've used a 2TB Rack Mounted LaCie drive for 4 years with no issues. I purchased LACIE 301496U 8TB Ethernet Disk Network Storage after sending the MyBooks back.

Manufacturer Response:

We apologize for any inconvenience, and appreciate your feedback. The My Book World drive was designed for home networking and is not supported with Active Directory services. If you continue to have troubles, please go to this link http://support.wdc.com/rs/, copy and paste the URL of this review where indicated and provide the requested information and our technical support team will be happy to assist you further. Alternatively, you can contact us at 1 (800) 275-4932. You may also contact us via our support website http://support.wdc.com. Western Digital also has its own forums, WD Community. In the future, you may also want to consider posting your issues to our WD Community where you can interact with other WD customers. www.community.wdc.com.

Pros: Great NAS at a great price. Can setup different users for different access controls. Can use as file share and DLNA.

Cons: Web interface is slow but still usable.

Other Thoughts: Very quiet. Nice addition to desktop. Might be nice if the white light were smaller and not so blinding in the dark.

Pros: Great price, expandable by adding another HD via USB, Ethernet interface.

Cons: Kinda slow, but this is a a home NAS not storage for a business

Other Thoughts: Like other reviewers, it tended to disappear when my router rebooted. A static IP tied to the MAC address fixed that problem. The WD software is a little tricky, but it works. The "real" manual is on the installation CD and answered all of my questions. This is on a home networking backing up 4 PCs. No regrets.

Pros: Its on the network

Meaning my entire network sees it (at home), to include my all my computers, ps3, iphone, droidx, etc); it does not rely on your file server to be up and running as the NAS plugs directly into your switch/router.

Cons: Its on the network.

Meaning its not as fast as a USB HDD connected to your computer (usb2.0=~28MB/s; on my 100Mbs network i get consistent 5--7MB/s write speed (*cries* - i work with multi gb files). I have the 1gb myworld book;, wanted to toss in another WD 2TB HDD... wont work... not exactly plug and play, while some would take away an egg, I bought the drive as a NAS device, not a HDD enclosure.

Other Thoughts: The USB connection is for other devices to plug into it; not for it to plug to your computer... so dont think you can connect it to your computer like any other USB HDD; from the manual: "I/O ports • USB 2.0 port (for USB device expansion". There are some NAS/1394/USB HDD enclosures in Newegg... and you can put any drive into those... and not limited to today's WD HDD capacities... If I couldve done it again, I would've bought one as Im not too happy with sticking with this same capacity drive (im sure its just a jumper or something I need to short, but why bother when there are enclosures out there that already do this?). PS. These drives are a little pricey, a 1TB SATA drive+NAS Enclosure <<< this... and I can upgrade the drive!

Pros: It has a NIC allowing you to rathole it somewhere away from your primary computer locations so the data you backup to it may survive if a fire takes out your computer location without toasting the whole building.

Cons: It only passes traffic at about 11Mbits even though it has a gigabit capable NIC. Why? The processor is not very hefty.

Other Thoughts: Some have complained it disappears off their network. I have mine on a static IP address and connect via IP. It has never gone missing for me. DHCP can contribute to a 'missing' sometimes symptom if a device doesn't reregister itself with DNS often enough.
I use this thing for backup so it doesn't have to be like lightning. It is exactly what I paid for and you can even drop a USB hub off this thing and dangle a huge amount of additional USB drives off it. (You need to format them as EXT3 first cause it is running a unix flavor of OS and won't otherwise see them).
It is half the price more than two years later. I have no regrets having bought it knowing it was slow beforehand.
It may have issues with lots of network sessions/users. I can't say since I run mine wide open with no restrictions since I only use it to backup.
If you want more speed and more concurrent user sessions. You can spend more money.
Now you don't have to hate this one because you know the truth.

Pros: Simple setup, low price NAS option. Fast enough for home use, couldn't say how well it would hold up to multiple simultaneous sessions.

Cons: As mentioned in the title of the review, it just doesn't stay on the network. Multiple times per week I must pull the power to restart it and make it available again. Browsing various forums I find that this is a common problem and there is no solution. Support calls to WD have been useless. NOT a suitable solution for anything I can think of - you'd get more reliable backup history with a DAS solution.

Other Thoughts: If you really need NAS, look elsewhere.

Manufacturer Response:

We apologize for any inconvenience you are currently experiencing with our product, as this is not typical behavior of the device. We recommend disabling any/all Antivirus and/or firewall software within your computer, connecting the device to a router directly, and trying to access the device from multiple computers. We would like to further assist you in resolving any issue you are having with our product. If you would like to contact us for further support, please visit: http://support.wdc.com/rs/ Copy and paste the URL of this review where indicated and provide the requested information and one of our technical support staff will be contacting you regarding this issue.
You may also contact us at 1 (800) 275-4932, or via our support website at:
http://support.wdc.com
In the future, you may also want to consider posting your issues to our WD Community where you can interact with other WD customers. www.community.wdc.com

Pros: Bottom line: 4.5 stars: On gigabit ethernet, which I have, it is very fast. It's big (1 TB), and it is power efficient. works great! supports CIFS, NFS, FTP, and has a console you can login to (it runs some form of embeded linux). It is fast, especially if you have a gigabit ethernet router and PC.

Cons: However, their PC software is lame. Don't install any of it and just use the admin web interface the thing has. The non-file server parts of it were very cheaply tacked on.

Other Thoughts: The iTunes thing is the uPNP media server which is like CQ. it works but its very clumsy. You can brick it if you're not careful. It streams to iTunes, XBox'es, windows Media, and anything else that supports uPNP. I've never done anything useful with the downloader feature.

Pros: Great price. i got this drive on sale for 102. it is a great drive for that price. have no issue with hd video. i do want to say let you know that i have a gigabit ethernet router and mother board to boot.

Cons: on 100Mb/s pc it does upload vary slowly.