Pros: UPDATE April 2023: All four WD MyBooks & Passports we've purchased for small business are still going strong after 2.5 to 6 years. ONE Passport drive (the small ones powered by USB only) had an access issue during Year 3, but we were able to run disk cleanup, and it was fine after that. Annoyances with 'safely remove' on all WD external drives continue, but it's not a deal breaker. Will continue to buy/use these traditional hard drives until SSD prices drop to a reasonable level. We never consider WD encryption as totally 'unbreakable,' but it's good enough for most consumers. ++ Quiet enough that we don't notice it 98% of the time. We keep it on a rubber-bottom mousepad, which helps with any minor vibration noise. ++ Speeds are adequate to good (USB 3.0) but not blazing fast. ++ Included software allows some customization (drive sleep time, etc). ++ Has encryption built-in, but you do NOT have to use it unless you want to. ++ Plug and play for most Windows PCs. ++ 3 year limited warranty, which is about as good as you can get in a consumer hard drive.

Cons: The usual false advertising (minus 0.3 stars): -- As with all hard drives, the advertised space is deceiving; expect to get about 10% less than advertised, due to trickery in the way companies versus Windows defines a byte. Minor hitches (minus 0.3 stars): -- The WD software sometimes wants far more Net access than needed, and is aggressive in trying to update its various sub programs. I suggest only install the WD security stuff, unless you also really need the rest. We do NOT use the online stuff. -- The drive OFTEN refuses to "safely remove" on demand, even though _nothing_ is accessing the drive. (This is a VERY common problem, as you will see if you search the Net for 'WD drive will not safely remove'). We have to use a variety of tricks to finally get it to cooperate. The culprit is often an anti-virus program, a WD service running unnecessarily, or Windows explorer.exe service itself. Sometimes you just have to shut the PC down. -- There needs to be a command or a 1-click way to RE-encrypt the drive, rather than simply removing it via "safely remove" (if/when that works), or shutting down the PC and hoping the WD drive automatially re-encrypts.

Overall Review: Yes, I would recommend if you need lots of storage space AND optional encryption that works quickly, and can live with the minor issues above. If you don't need encryption, consider a WD _Elements_ drive or a competitor brand instead. This is my 3rd external WD "My Book" drive. So far none have failed. Do be aware there is a "desktop" size drive in the enclosure, and it uses a 3.0 USB connection to your computer PLUS a power cord that must be plugged in (average size block plug, wide enough that it may cover 2 slots on a power strip). FYI: There is continued debate as to how unbreakable the on-board WD encryption really is, or if it's possible to do professional data retrieval if the drive or controller board physically crashes. I leave it to you to do your research on this. I always assume any encryption can be broken (eventually), and you should keep at least 2 or 3 copies of important data on separate devices/cloud. The WD software will install 1 or more new WD services in Windows. I find that setting these services to "manual" instead of "Automatic" works fine. I don't need the services to run 24/7, but you might.

Pros: Using both 2 TB and a 3 TB versions, no problems at all after ~ 1 year. Works with no installations needed for Vista or 7. Goes to sleep if not in use (could be a pro or a con!) Reliablity so far: 5 stars Features/design: 3 stars Overall: about 4 stars

Cons: Goes to sleep unless you use a program such as "No Sleep HD" (free) to keep it awake. Not an issue for me as I use it only for manual backups. (no stars deducted, as sleep saves power and might be considered a positive by some). Odd USB connector is not my favorite for durability, so I leave it plugged into the drive all the time. (no deduction) No on/off switch. I simply "remove" using Windows "safely remove" before flipping off the power strip the drive is plugged into. (-0.25 stars) Not quite as fast as advertised, but that's not unusual with claimed USB 2 and 3 speeds. No obvious way to open the outer case opten without some damage. This is dumb. (-0.5 stars)