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Western Digital My Book Essential 500GB External USB 2.0 Hard Drive
 
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Western Digital My Book Essential 500GB External USB 2.0 Hard Drive

by Western Digital
3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (389 customer reviews)
Price: £51.99
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In stock.
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There is a newer model of this item:
Western Digital My Book Essential Edition 500GB USB 2.0 External Hard Drive Western Digital My Book Essential Edition 500GB USB 2.0 External Hard Drive 3.3 out of 5 stars (82)
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In stock.
What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?
Western Digital My Book Essential 500GB External USB 2.0 Hard Drive
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Frequently Bought Together

Customers buy this with Kensington PocketHUB Mini USB 2.0 - Hub - 4 ports - USB - external by Kensington £6.00

Western Digital My Book Essential 500GB External USB 2.0 Hard Drive + Kensington PocketHUB Mini USB 2.0 - Hub - 4 ports - USB - external
Price For Both: £57.99

These items are dispatched from and sold by different sellers. Show details

Product Specifications
Brand:Western Digital
Mfr Part Number:WDH1U5000E
Hard Drive Size:500 GB
Hard Drive Interface:USB 2.0
Hard Disk Rotational Speed:7200
Buffer Size:16 MB

Technical Details

  • Easy to set up, easy to use- just plug it in and it's ready to use
  • USB 2.0 interface - A simple connection that offers convenience and compatibility
  • Fits right in - Takes no more space than a paperback book
  • Smart and energy efficient - Turns itself on and off with your computer
  • Works with both Windows 2000/XP/Vista and Mac OS X 10.4.8 or later
›  See more technical details

Product details

  • Product Dimensions: 13.7 x 5.4 x 16.5 cm ; 1.2 Kg
  • Boxed-product Weight: 1.6 Kg
  • Item model number: WDH1U5000E
  • ASIN: B000WP0NM8
  • Date first available at Amazon.co.uk: 1 Feb 2004
  • Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (389 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 673 in Computers & Accessories (See Top 100 in Computers & Accessories)
    #47 in  Computers & Accessories > External Devices & Data Storage > External Hard Drives

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Western Digital My Book Essential 500GB External USB 2.0 Hard Drive
51.99
£51.99
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Product Description

Manufacturer's Description

Are you running out of hard drive capacity? Do you need to archive some important digital documents, photos, or music? This elegant external hard drive, reminiscent of a book, is the perfect solution. It takes no more space than a paperback book. Collect two or more and they nest neatly together like volumes on a shelf.

Easy to set up, easy to use - Installation is a snap because you don't really install this drive, you just plug it in and it's ready to use.
USB 2.0 interface - A simple connection that offers convenience and compatibility among multiple computers.
Fits right in - Takes no more space than a paperback book. Collect two or more and they nest neatly together like volumes on a shelf.
Smart and energy efficient - Turns itself on and off with your computer.
PC and Mac compatible - Works with both Windows® 2000/XP/Vista and Mac® OS X 10.4.8 or later
Ideal for

  • Instant storage
  • Easy to use
  • USB 2.0
  • Saving and organizing your digital photo collection

System Requirements

  • Available USB port
  • Windows® 2000/XP/Vista®
  • Mac® OS X 10.4.8 or later

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Customer Reviews

389 Reviews
5 star:
 (185)
4 star:
 (91)
3 star:
 (15)
2 star:
 (18)
1 star:
 (80)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.7 out of 5 stars (389 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
73 of 73 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A very nice piece of kit, 12 May 2008
By Hemzy "MuzoMark" (Norfolk, UK) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Western Digital My Book Essential 500GB External USB 2.0 Hard Drive (Electronics)
I spent a lot of time reading reviews from various sites about different makes and models of external HDD. In the end I took the plunge and went for the Western Digital 500GB model. I have to say it has been simplicity itself to get it up and running. I took the previous reviewer's advice and didn't bother with the software packages. I did use the PDF manual and found the links to the support site useful, especially when it came to looking for instructions on how to reformat the drive into NTFS; it comes pre-formatted in FAT32. The drive powers up with my PC and closes down when I log-off, it is very quiet and if it wasn't for the two LEDs on the from I wouldn't know it was operating. I'm a very happy bunny.
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58 of 58 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Great product! Just ignore the technical stuff!, 14 Jan 2008
By S. Hollingsworth "Steevy" (Cheshire, England) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Western Digital My Book Essential 500GB External USB 2.0 Hard Drive (Electronics)
I'll make this as short as possible because this does just what it says on the tin! Stores whatever you like! The price is right and the size of it can't be described as minimal. Basically if you need extra hard drive space I would recommend it as it looks good, is relatively compact and is simple to use. It tranfers quickly too, I managed to put 80gb of stuff on it in less than an hour. The reason I only give it 4 stars is due to the software you get on it which it prompts you to install. DON'T! They're only trial versions from some random company and they don't talk in plain english, so unless you wanna buy the full version ignore the software on it. But, I love it and I'm glad I got it!
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252 of 255 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent. Quiet, compact and reliable. Plus - a tip for Mac users., 10 July 2008
By JackJack (Glasgow, UK) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Western Digital My Book Essential 500GB External USB 2.0 Hard Drive (Electronics)
This is the third My Book drive I have bought. I have been very pleased with all of them, and am still using the (smaller capacity) one that I bought 3 years ago!

Reasons to recommend this drive:
- Quiet
The external power supply and well-ventilated design means that this drive can stay cool without a fan.
- Reliable
I have never had a problem with any of the 3 My Books that I have bought over the past 3 years.
- Small
The drives take up very little space on a bookshelf, and the external power supply is tiny.
- Stylish
I'd much rather have this thing on my desk than a bulky horizontal case. If you're going to use a drive every day, might as well have it look good!

Essential tip for Mac users:

- THIS DRIVE IS PARTITIONED FOR WINDOWS. Please excuse the capitals, but this is important and it isn't in the manual. If you want to use this disk with a Mac, the first thing you should do is repartition it.

Go to Disk Utility, click on the My Book disk, and select the "partition" tab. Create at least one partition (don't just leave it at "current"). Then click "options" and select "GUID partition table" if you have an Intel Mac, or "Apple Partition table" if you have a PPC mac. Finally, click "Apply". Then reformat the drive in HSF Extended + Journaling format.

Why bother doing this? The default MS-DOS parititioning will work, but it will be slower and you are more likely to run into errors. I honestly believe that failure to repartition the drive is the main reason that people have reported problems with using this drive on a Mac.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic external
I have had this external for about 3-4 years now and it has never ever failed me. Transferring of files is fast (enough) given it is USB. Read more
Published 2 days ago by Visser

5.0 out of 5 stars 2yrs 6months and Counting....
I've had this product for 2yrs and 6months. It has not failed or had any errors. It is the only external hard drive I've owned so I can not compare it. Read more
Published 17 days ago by Mr Midas

4.0 out of 5 stars Xbox 360 movie storage
I read some of the other reviews, and decided to have a go with this one. It works perfectly for my needs. Read more
Published 21 days ago by Chaos Fruitbat

4.0 out of 5 stars Good External Hard Drive for the Average User
I bought this about 6 months ago and am still using it today. It gets extremely high usage as I use it to store and stream all my music, films, and series. Read more
Published 23 days ago by jeremyoshindle

4.0 out of 5 stars Failed but replaced
What can I say, it's an external hard drive & it does what it needs to. Mine failed within the first year so I contacted WD directly & they replaced it with an upgraded model... Read more
Published 1 month ago by J. Burns

2.0 out of 5 stars not that good...
THe product worked well for about 8months....but once it jus fell from a very short height n have now stopped working..!!
Published 3 months ago by Devrishi Arora

5.0 out of 5 stars Perfect for Apple 'Time Machine'
I'm sure this drive works well for other purposes, but I bought it to work with the 'time machine' application on my iMac. It's works brilliantly. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Prof. Svatopluk

5.0 out of 5 stars Compact, secure and stylish
Having had this external drive for nearly a year I thought it was time to share my thoughts on it in light of the negative reviews about its newer incarnation which has been... Read more
Published 5 months ago by JG

5.0 out of 5 stars Very reliable
I am aware that these hard-drives are notorious for failure, but I can say my hard-drive has lasted me nearly 2 years without one problem at-all! Read more
Published 6 months ago by Andrew Atkinson

4.0 out of 5 stars Good, but......
This is the second drive I have bought from Western Digital, the first was a little passport - which I LOVE. This was really for use for backing up my back ups. Read more
Published 6 months ago by D. Clarke

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