Those of you who own the Western Digital My Books , do you recommend the premium or essential?  Also, what size did you purchase?

Thank you.

I have 500 gig essentials.  Whatever you do....don't depend on them 100%.  All drives fail eventually.

I don't know.  Mine is only 80gigs, and for as cheap as they are now, I too should get a second one, and not keep it here.

I have two of the 500 GB beasties.  My recommendation is to buy whichever is cheapest, and throw away the included software, if any.  My drives came with EMC Retrospect, which did unnatural acts to my system.

Dave

I have a 250GB and have loads of pics on it and it is still only half full.

Make your own.  Buy a WD internal hard drive and an Addonics USB hard drive case.

I bought one just recently. My wedding album designs are huge files. I was filling up my computer on active designs alone. So far I really like it. I got the 250gb. I'm sure I will wish I had gotten the next size up later, but this is good for now. This brand was recommended to me.

I don't recommend pre-made external drives at all due to heat failures. The "books" you're referencing have no internal fan, and are covered with insulating plastic for appearance sake.

I no longer buy external drives, even though I'm in love with the concept of removeable storage. I buy fan-cooled external cases from TigerDirect.com and purchase off-the-shelf drives and put them together, easy as pie. The fan ensures the drives are cool and it takes no mechanical ability to do this.

 

RVsForFun:

I don't recommend pre-made external drives at all due to heat failures. The "books" you're referencing have no internal fan, and are covered with insulating plastic for appearance sake.

I no longer buy external drives, even though I'm in love with the concept of removeable storage. I buy fan-cooled external cases from TigerDirect.com and purchase off-the-shelf drives and put them together, easy as pie. The fan ensures the drives are cool and it takes no mechanical ability to do this.

 

I have a 250GB WD external hard drive and it is on almost all the time.  It never feels hot or even warm for that matter.  I had heard that before that they aren't kept cool because of no internal fan, but like I said, mine has never even felt warm on any surface of the "book".

I have the 250 gb book drive.  I've had no problems with it being warm or anything.  I love it!

The reason your WD hard drive doesn't feel hot is because it isn't cooling properly - the plastic book-like exterior is an insulator. Hard disks generate heat as they spin...if you feel no heat leaving the "book", it's remaining inside the device. It's just a matter of time... 

I have a 250GB WD external hard drive and it is on almost all the time.  It never feels hot or even warm for that matter.  I had heard that before that they aren't kept cool because of no internal fan, but like I said, mine has never even felt warm on any surface of the "book".

RVsForFun -

Is there a case at TigerDirect that you recommend?  I've been planning to go that route, but didn't really think about getting a case with a fan... I guess I thought one with good heat sinks would be okay.  So, if you have one that you've had luck with... I'd like to check it out.

 Thanks!
 

Yeah, I'd second that... actual reccomendations would be very helpful... Could you give us a basic price range for assembly of your units, etc...?

 

Also, I have a possible off topic question here...  I have heard some people say that it's actually better for a hard drive to be left on continually as it runs a higher risk of breaking when it stops and starts it's spinning process... Is this true?  We have 2 external hard drives, and we usually only turn them on to back up files but most of the time they're not running.  Does that put us at a higher risk of error? 

Recently purchased 2 - 500 gig that uses the eSATAS (almost 6 times faster) or 2.0 usb interface on sale at best buy for 139.00 and for that price you can't beat it.

http://www.buy.com/prod/western-digital-my-book-essential-500gb-usb-2-0-external-hard-drive/q/loc/101/202418917.html

link above it 132.95 but I have never used these guys before and it is only 2.0 usb

I'll give the link, but in case it doesn't work, go to TigerDirect.com and click on the left navigation bar under "Hard Drive Enclosures", then "3.5-inch Enclosures", then "PATA/EIDE". The brand I use is an Ultra 3.5" Mini Portable USB/Firewire External Drive Enclosure. It has both firewire and USB connections, very handy. Through the end of June 2007 it has a $20 rebate, only costing $20 (net with rebate).

To that $20 you buy the hard drive YOU want, any size. It's not SATA but modern ATA drives are darn fast and you're limited to the firewire/USB transfer speeds anyway so not having an SATA drive is OK.

Here's the link, hope it works...: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=31389&sku=ULT31310

above

Seagate / Barracuda 7200.10 / 500GB / 7200 / 16MB / ATA-100 / EIDE / OEM / Hard Drive with Ultra Mini Portable USB 2.0 / Firewire External Hard Drive Enclosure

169 -20 rebate making it 149.00

 

Thanks!  I'll check it out!

I have not read all the posts.

I would recommend the Addonics external hard drive case (don't have model number with me right now). You can buy many for less than $30 but I bought mine for over $50 to $60.  It has a fan on the rear of the hard drive and the case is made of what seems to be a really good quality thick aluminum.  It feels durable.  What ever case you purchase, make sure you get one made of ALUMINUM, not plastic.   The downside of making your own is that you do not have shock protection.  But I highly recommend making your own because you have more options on what hard drives you can purchase.  For example, a certain internal hard drive may have better specifications than an external hard drive like the "books", so you can purchase an internal and then buy a case for it.