Pros: This WD 1TB Elements is a most excellent drive. It powers down correctly after 10 minutes of inactivity. It's quiet. And it has no extraneous software that you are forced to load. A simple, basic drive, that's what you pay for, that's what you get. It also has no gloss finish (except for the sides) to get scuffed up. Gloss finished electronics look pretty bad after a while. Not so here. Nice!

Cons: The cable assembly could be better. Other than that, nothing really. I'll let you know if something goes wrong with it.

Overall Review: I'd probably buy more of these when I need them. But for now, you can't go wrong here.

Pros: I've had this disk now for nearly 2 years. It's quiet and vibration free. It also doesn't come with bloatware - no excess & confusing software. Just basic storage. Plugged it in and it just worked. It's been filled and emptied several times and currently serves as a media disk. I like it enough that I'll be picking up another one shortly. Especially now that the price is somewhat reasonable again. It does not come with a hi-gloss finish. Instead it has a flat/matte texture. This is great because you don't feel guilty about marring a pristine finish. And scuffs & scratches don't stand out on a matte finish as much as they would on a gloss finish. It also doesn't have the stupid blue lights which were all the rage for a good number of years beginning in the early 2000's. I recently checked S.M.A.R.T. values on my disk and found them to be within spec. Nice.

Cons: Not many, it's just USB 2.0, so don't expect high-speed performance. Maybe newer models do 3.0. And of course the universal complaint of flimsy connector is never ending. Though mine hasn't gone bad yet. A word of caution to buyers though, I have several other Elements series which like to power down after 10 seconds. While great for power savings and whatnot, the constant spin-up delay and pauses in drag-n-drop operations are beyond annoying. So if you get one that does that, exchange it as a defective product as it's not practically usable. Either that, or delegate it to holding backup images. You can also use software to tickle the disk and keep it active. But that's not an elegant workaround.

Overall Review: Simplicity & reliability in an ever increasingly complex world is a good thing. This disk is simple. This is a good thing.