Western Digital My Book Essential Edition 1.5TB USB 2.0 External Hard Drive

My Book Essential – smart backup and storage

Our best-selling My Book external drive is an elegant, high-capacity storage solution for all the chapters of your digital life. Our latest edition now features visual, easy-to-use, automatic, continuous backup software and drive lock security protection, giving you beauty, brains and simplicity together in a simple to use drive.

Powered directly from the USB port on your computer, no separate power supply is needed, though an optional cable is available for the few computers that limit power from the USB port. Featuring a USB 2.0 interface for maximum flexibility the My Book Essential drive is also designed to save energy - WD GreenPower Technology lowers internal drive power consumption by up to 30%, a sleep mode reduces power during idle times and a power-saving feature turns the drive on and off with your computer.

Smaller, sleeker, more streamlined design

WD is an expert in digital storage, and we've now made these award-winning drives even smaller, sleeker, and more elegant. As always, this book-like shape takes up minimal space on your desk and allows two or more My Book drives to nestle neatly together like volumes on a shelf. It also features WD SmartWare software that acts as a visual control centre for all your data, plus password protection security, 256-bit hardware-based encryption and an illuminated capacity gauge to see at a glance how much space is available on your drive.

Elegant design with password protection and WD Smartware software. View larger.

WD SmartWare - see your life safe in one place

Protect your data automatically and relax in the knowledge that your data is secure. Automatic, continuous backup will instantly make a second copy whenever you add or change a file. Visual backup displays your content in categories and shows the progress of your backup, letting you see your backup as it happens.

Lost files can be brought back effortlessly with the WD SmartWare software, allowing you to retrieve your valuable data to its original location whether you've lost all your data or just overwritten an important file. What's more, you can customise your backup, set your drive's security, run diagnostics, manage the power settings and more from the WD SmartWare control centre, as well as gaining peace of mind knowing that your data is protected from unauthorised access or theft with password protection and 256-bit hardware-based encryption.

WD SmartWare's visual control centre lets you backup, retrieve and secure your files. View larger.

Backup software you'll really use – five great reasons to love it

1. It's easy

Data backup can be a chore, but it's your family photos, your movies, your music - your life - and it's important to protect it. So we made WD SmartWare extra easy because we really want you to use it.

2. You can see your life safe in one place

See your content displayed in easy to understand categories like movies and photos. Watch the progress of your backup as it happens with the instant- feedback colour bars - now you can truly be sure that all your stuff is backed up. A unique visual interface lets you see the drives connected to your computer, and WD SmartWare will automatically scan your computer and find all of your personal files, including e-mail.

Content category gauges show how much information you have to be backed up in each category, and you can even mouse over a category to see a file count. Clicking 'Run Backup' will automatically start WD SmartWare backing up your files, with the category gauges changing colour during the process to show you the backup as it happens. When finished, you'll see a status screen and information about your backup. You only have to do this once - after the first backup your files will be backed up automatically every time you change or add a file.

3. It's always on the job

WD SmartWare is always watching your computer, so when you change a file and save it, create new files, add new pictures, movies, or songs, WD SmartWare will instantly back them up.

4. You can bring back lost files effortlessly

If you ever accidentally delete an important file, or need to get an earlier version of a file, you can find and retrieve it in seconds with this easy- to-use interface. You can restore files and folders by categories (such as photos, music and video), find a lost file with the search function or go back in time to retrieve an older version of a file.

5. You're in control

WD SmartWare software is also a control centre for your external drives. From it you can customise your backup, set drive security, run diagnostics, manage the power settings and more.

WD SmartWare update

We've been shipping our new My Book and My Passport drives with WD SmartWare software for a few months now. During that time we've been listening to our customers. As a result of the feedback, we've developed some improvements to the software. You can now hide the Virtual CD (VCD) if you wish, or exit WD SmartWare from the Windows system tray. If you prefer not to use WD SmartWare at all then we have enhanced the ability to opt-out.

WD has also increased the retention force specification on all our Micro USB cables and we are offering free replacement cables to consumers that have reported an issue via customer service.

More products

For the same great functionality with additional storage capacity, check out the My Book Essential 2TB. Alternatively, for additional benefits including a custom e-label display, you might want to take a look at the My Book Elite range from Western Digital.