Storage

As indicated by its name, the casing of Western Digital's My Book series of external hard disk drives is shaped like a book, with cooling vent slots in the area that would contain the 'pages'. The covers have a smooth, matte finish that resists fingermarking and scratching. Along the 'spine' of the drive is an LED strip that lights up as data is transferred to the drive.

The light also flicks back and forth when the drive is active (e.g. during automatic backing-up in the background). The light itself is subdued and unlikely to distract users who place the drive on their desktop. A Capacity Gauge allows you to track available storage space on the My Book drive when transferring files via USB or Firewire. However it requires a driver (supplied) to be installed on each system to which the drive is connected.

My Book drives take up very little desk space and are easily swapped between computers.

We received the 500GB model to review, but it's also available in 320GB, 750GB and 1TB capacities. A key feature of these drives is the choice of interfaces they provide: USB 2.0, FireWire and eSATA. Both USB and FireWire cables are provided but you must supply your own eSATA cable if your computer supports this faster interface. As with WD's My Passport Elite drive, My Book drives come with minimal printed instructions for installing the drive. However, a 10-page User Guide is pre-loaded on the drive and provides most of the information new users require.

My Book drives are compatible with all recent Windows and Macintosh operating systems. The 500GB drive is preformatted as a single FAT32 partition with a maximum individual file size of 4GB but users can partition it, if required.  (Partitions larger than 32GB are not supported in Windows 2000/XP/Vista.)

One additional feature not provided on the My Passport drive is a Kensington Security Slot, which provides anti-theft protection for the drive when a locking Kensington security cable (sold separately) is attached. Kensington locks are used to prevent opportunistic theft in situations where devices may be vulnerable, such as busy offices, libraries and conference rooms. Most laptop computers have Kensington lock slots.
The rear view of the drive showing the coolign vents and interface ports.

The drive ships with a similar Memeo software bundle to the My Passport Elite drive, although MioNet is not included and Memeo AutoSync is only provided as a 30-day trial.  The software is adequate for making simple, automatic backups but you will probably require a more sophisticated application if you want to customise your backup system.

Installing the My Book drive is straightforward; you simply connect it to the mains power using the supplied adaptor. (Check the box contents before purchase because the adaptor supplied with our review unit was a Type A plug that is used in Japan and North America. We had to run our tests using an adaptor plug.)

Software installation is wazard-based and straightforward.

Once power is connected you simply plug the relevant cable into your PC. Most modern computers will recognise the device and take you straight to the software installation. This launches automatically with an opening splash screen that lets you choose which applications you wish to install. The next step is to decide which files to backup.

WD Anywhere makes this easy by letting you choose from a 'Smart Items' menu covering documents, photos, music, movies and presentations. You can also navigate through your C-drive and select a particular folder to backup. The wizard then allows you to select a backup destination and create a folder for the backups. Once this is done, backing up begins.

WD Anywhere's backup interface provides a file and folder tally to track backups.

If you allow automatic backup to run in the background a pop-up reminder will appear periodically.

If you decide to allow automatic backing-up to run in the background, the software will continuously check working folders and backup files as they are created or changed. This is good insurance against computer crashes and other disasters. The Memeo software also provides automatic synchronisation of data between computers containing the same files and folders.

The Memeo Autosynch interface.

My Book drives have a SmartPower function that automatically switches power off and on when the computer is powered up and down to prolong their life. They also have a function that puts the drive into standby mode after 10 minutes of inactivity then 'wakes' it automatically when it's required again. A Safe Shutdown function prevents the drive from being powered down until all backup data has been written. SmartPower and Safe Shutdown are only available in USB or FireWire mode.

Performance
In our tests, the software performed to our expectations and the drive operated almost silently throughout our tests. The My Book drive itself was rather slow. It took just over three minutes to load the application software and roughly 40 minutes to transfer 1.3GB of documents from a Windows PC with a Pentium D 3.00GHz chip and 3.25GB of RAM using the USB cable plus WD Anywhere Backup.

WD supports My Book drives with a three-year warranty. The internal disk drive is designed to remain in the same position while it's switched on and you risk damaging it if you move it while it's powered-up.

Type: External hard disk drive
Capacity: 500GB
Rotational speed: 5400 RPM
Interface: Triple interface: eSATA, FireWire,  USB 2.0 Mini-B port
Data transfer rate: Up to 3Gb/sec (eSATA), 400mbits/sec (FireWire), 480Mbits/sec (USB 2.0)
Power supply: via AC adaptor
Dimensions: 166 x 137 x 54 mm
Weight:  1,150 grams