Western Digital WDH1CS5000N 500GB MyBook Home Edition External Hard Drive
|  | $143.23Availability: 2332 In Stock
Condition: NewSKU: WDH1CS5000N
UPC: 718037121208
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| Product Description| General | | Device Type | Hard drive - external | | Width | 2.1 in | | Depth | 5.4 in | | Height | 6.5 in | | Weight | 2.6 lbs | | Localization | Canada, Latin America, United States | | Hard Drive | | Capacity | 500 GB | | Interface Type | IEEE 1394 (FireWire) / Hi-Speed USB / eSATA-300 | | Buffer Size | 16 MB | | Performance | | Interface Transfer Rate | 400 Mbps (FireWire)/480 Mbps (Hi-Speed USB)/3.0 Gbps (eSATA) | | Expansion / Connectivity | | Interfaces | 1 x Hi-Speed USB - mini-USB Type B
2 x IEEE 1394 (FireWire) - 6 pin FireWire
1 x eSATA-300 - 7 pin external Serial ATA | | Miscellaneous | | Cables Included | 1 x USB cable
1 x IEEE 1394 cable | | Compliant Standards | EPA Energy Star, RoHS | | Package Type | Retail | | Power | | Power Source | Included AC adapter | | Power Device | Power adapter | | Voltage Required | AC 120/230 V ( 50 - 60 Hz ) | | Software / System Requirements | | Software Included | Google Software Pack, Memeo AutoBackup | | OS Required | Microsoft Windows 2000, Microsoft Windows XP, Microsoft Windows Vista, Apple MacOS X 10.4.8 or later | | Manufacturer Warranty | | Service & Support | 3 years warranty | | Service & Support Details | Limited warranty - 3 years | | Environmental Parameters | | Min Operating Temperature | 41 °F | | Max Operating Temperature | 95 °F |
Customer ReviewsReviewed on 2008-07-14  
Included Software is Garbage
I purchased this at a local big electronics box mart for $119. I purchased it for the fact that it had Firewire (my computer only has USB 1.1 and Firewire) and because it was larger than the two hard drives in my computer, combined.
Installation was easy enough. Really poor four-step drawing to walk me through, but brain dead easy... plug in power, plug in cable (both firewire and USB cables included), install software.
It wasn't until I started poking around on their site that I came across a big warning saying I didn't need to buy a copy of the backup software because the license key is "sticked in the collateral" - took me forever to find that sticker. It also wanted to install some trial programs and some Google things like Picasa and Toolbar.
But, the software kept failing on me, saying that the storage medium was full after about 50 GB, even though right there on the same screen it was saying 412 GB left. (The included Mac and PC software take up some space and it calculates out at less than 500 GB in that normal fuzzy math computer companies use.)
So, after looking at the software's website, it was promoting that it could now backup up to 50,000 files, like they were proud of that. After several failed attempts, I looked, and sure enough, it had backed up 53,000 files.
I finally gave up and went and purchased a piece of backup software from another company. (I needed to buy new Antivirus software anyway and it came with a backup. But it was half the cost of the drive again.) It is also much, much faster.
As to the drive failing on people, I'm hoping to extend the life of mine. I only plan to plug it into the computer about once a month to do an incremental backup. The rest of the time I'll keep it securely stored at my office in case anything happens to my home computer or home. If it does die on me, I'll come back and revise my review.
Bottom line: Inexpensive, neat looking case -- cool Knight-Rider-like light, enclosed PC software is poor (and slow) and it tries to install other stuff besides the backup software. I think it's going to do the job and they wouldn't stay in business if every drive they manufactured failed. |  | Reviewed on 2008-07-10
I just want to write and let the world know what kind of company this is. I have owned 3 Western digital (WD) hard drives. All 3
I just want to write and let the world know what kind of company this is. I have owned 3 Western digital (WD) hard drives. All 3 have not lasted longer then 2 years, the most recent has only lasted 1 yr.. 4 months. But the kicker of this situation is the external hard drive WD make have a warranty of 1 year. but the internal Hard drives that are inside the units have a 3-5 year warranty. So I called WD because the hard drive inside the case went bad. So this is how the call went.
The phone rang, and I got contacted to someone over sea's and could barely speak english. I told him my problem and he said sorry it's out of warranty and there is nothing he could do. So i said the hard drive inside the unit has a 3 year warranty. he said well you bought the external hard drive so you only get a 1 year warranty. I was going no where with him so I asked to speak to a manager.
Mind you it's bad enough I lost all my info, but now I couldn't get a replacement. so the manager comes on and says there is nothing he can do. I said to him because I buy the complete package the WD makes I get punished. and if i went out and bought a internal hard drive and put it in a case i'd get a 3-5 year warranty? he responded back, yea. I said dont you think this is a little unfair? and he said sorry. So then trying to be slick I said ok so what if I take the Hard drive out will i get the 3-5 year warranty? he said no you'll void the warranty because they marry the case and the hard drive as 1 unit so they know the hard drive came out of it. But his way of solving the situation he said is they offer a service to recover the data, I asked how much does that cost. he said about $3k. I asked to talk to his manager and he sad it would take 48 hours for them to call me back. (still waiting)
Long story short, if you are interested in buying a western digital I recommend buying a internal hard drive and putting it in a case which are very cheap. Just search external hard drive case, and tons will pop up. by doing this you'll get a real warranty.
I hope this helps others from getting screwed. Good luck | | Reviewed on 2008-07-07
works great
this product works great! we bought this as a secondary back-up to another 500 GB drive. with 2 backup drives and 3 year warranties i am not worried about losing any digital pics! | | Reviewed on 2008-07-01
The worst drive!
I have only had this drive for a year. My issues are it never mounts when it's suppose too. I have to keep restarting it to mount and it has died twice on me after a crash. Now I am trying to recover my files on it and not sure I will be able too. I am trying DiskWarrior to recover. DO NOT BUY THIS DRIVE...IT'S A PIECE OF JUNK! I should of stuck with LaCie because that drive has been through everything including crashes and has never failed me. | | Reviewed on 2008-06-30
Mine died just after warrantee expired, too! Wassup with that?
I have a different model, the My Book Essential, but it died just about a month after the warrantee expired, too! I see that there are a couple of other reviewers who lost theirs just after the end of the warrantee period. What's going on, Western Digital?? These are nice drives, and they are not too expensive to purchase, but factor in possibly losing your data (happened twice to me, before the drive finally gave up for good) and also having to replace it at your expense. | |
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