Version: 2008
  • On GameSpot: So-called 'Halo killer' gets 23 to life
advertisementCreate a FREE Stunning Website
advertisement

Western Digital MyBook Premium Edition 500GB External Hard Drive
Reviewed by
Dong Van Ngo
on 06/15/2006
overview front side back

See all products in the My Book Premium Edition series
See all Western Digital Corp. products

Price:

$279.99

Compare prices:

Amazon.com Marketplace $279.99

Compare prices from 1 store

  • Quick specs
  • Hard drive size: 500 GB
  • Interface type: IEEE 1394 (FireWire) / Hi-Speed USB
  • Buffer size: 16 MB
  • See full specifications

Add to my list Product summary

The good: The MyBook Premium edition is compact, employs an innovative design, has an external capacity gauge, comes with backup software, and is a speedy data reader.

The bad: The MyBook Premium edition is slow to write data, over both USB 2.0 and FireWire 400.

The bottom line: If write speed isn't a top priority, the Western Digital MyBook is a good deal at around $300 for a 500GB drive. It'll look good on your desk or bookshelf, too.

Read full review
See all prices

Compare this external hard drive to:

CNET editors' review

  • CNET editors' rating: 3.5 stars Very good
    Detailed editors' rating
      Setup and ease of use : 8.0
      Features and security : 8.0
      Performance : 5.0
      Service and support : 7.0
      Overall score: 7.0 (3.5 stars)
  • Reviewed by:
    Dong Van Ngo
  • Edited by:
    Felisa Yang
  • Reviewed on: 06/15/2006
  • Released on: 03/08/2006
The Western Digital MyBook Premium Edition external hard drive is physically portable but still humongous in terms of capacity. The 500GB unit we tested offered the most mixed performance of any external hard drive we've tested. Though we love its design, capacity, and small size, we were a little disappointed with its overall performance. Direct competitors in this space include the Maxtor OneTouch III Basic (500GB), the Seagate Pushbutton Backup Drive (400GB), and the Iomega External Hard Drive (400GB). All these drives cost about the same, though the Iomega also offers FireWire 800 connections. All have backup software, as well. The Seagate drive was a slow performer, while the Iomega was speedy when transferring over FireWire but slow over USB 2.0.

  • Drive type: external hard disk drive
  • Available capacities: 160GB; 250GB; 320GB; 400GB; 500GB--all drives have a 7,200rpm hard disk drive
  • Capacity of test unit: 500GB
  • Cache: 16MB for the 400GB and 500GB drives; 8MB for the rest
  • Dimension: 6.8 x 5.6 x 2.2 (HLD in inches); 2.6 pounds
  • Notable design features: backup button; book-like design
  • Connection options: FireWire 400, USB 2.0
  • OSs supported: Windows 98 SE/Me/2000/XP or, Mac OS X 10.2.8+
  • Software included: EMC Retrospect Express Backup and System Recovery Software (on drive)
  • Additional features: capacity gauge: the backup button features an LED that indicates how much space is available on your drive; the drive turns itself off when not in use
  • Service/support: one-year warranty; toll-free phone support: 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. from Monday through Thursday, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Friday, and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. CT on Saturday; e-mail support via an online form; Web site has a searchable knowledge base, FAQs, downloadable drivers, and software.

On CNET Labs' test bench, the 500GB MyBook was very sluggish when writing, via both FireWire 400 and USB 2.0 connections. The drive took almost 36 minutes to write our 10GB test folder, about three times slower than other hard drives with the same specs. On the other hand, in the read test, the MyBook drive took slightly less than 10 minutes to get the job done, which was the fastest among all of the external hard drives we've tested.

The Western Digital MyBook comes in a very sleek design that is shaped like a medium-size book and weighs about the same. It features a button in front that activates the bundled Retrospect backup software. The coolest thing about the MyBook drive is that the button has a round, blue LED ring around it that indicates the amount of space available on the hard drive.

Most helpful user reviews

Submit your review

Log in or create an account to submit your review for:

Western Digital MyBook Premium Edition 500GB External Hard Drive

 ORLog in with your Facebook account
1. Rate this product:
(Mouse over the stars to rate this product and click to set your rating.)
2. One-line summary:(Summarize your review in one line. 10 characters minimum; required.)
0 of 55 characters
3. Pros:(Tell us what you like about this product. 10 characters minimum; required.)
0 of 250 characters
4. Cons:(Tell us what you don't like about this product. 10 characters minimum; required.)
0 of 250 characters
Bottom-line summary:(Explain to us in detail why you like or dislike the product, focusing your comments on the product's features and functionality, and your experience using the product. This field is optional.)
0 of 5000 characters

The posting of advertisements, profanity, or personal attacks are prohibited.
Click here to review our site terms of use.

Submit

Compare prices for Western Digital MyBook Premium Edition 500GB External Hard Drive

Price: $279.99
Amazon.com Marketplace $279.99
Compare prices from 1 store
advertisement

Recent user reviews

Submit your review

Log in or create an account to submit your review for:

Western Digital MyBook Premium Edition 500GB External Hard Drive

 ORLog in with your Facebook account
1. Rate this product:
(Mouse over the stars to rate this product and click to set your rating.)
2. One-line summary:(Summarize your review in one line. 10 characters minimum; required.)
0 of 55 characters
3. Pros:(Tell us what you like about this product. 10 characters minimum; required.)
0 of 250 characters
4. Cons:(Tell us what you don't like about this product. 10 characters minimum; required.)
0 of 250 characters
Bottom-line summary:(Explain to us in detail why you like or dislike the product, focusing your comments on the product's features and functionality, and your experience using the product. This field is optional.)
0 of 5000 characters

The posting of advertisements, profanity, or personal attacks are prohibited.
Click here to review our site terms of use.

Submit

Special sponsor stores

advertisement

Reviews from around the WebPowered by alaTest

  • alaTest.com

    Summary: alaTest collected and analyzed 99 reviews of My Book Premium Edition WDG1C5000 from international magazines and websites and compared these to 85389 reviews for other Hard Drives. Experts rate this product 65/100 and users 73/100. The amount of rated reviews for this product is too low to calculate a reliable alaScore™.

    Read full review

  • goodgearguide.com.au

    Editors' rating: 70

    Summary: Its cost per gigabyte of $1.26 is competitive for a large external drive, so if you need that many gigs, the My Book is worth considering.

    Read full review

Western Digital MyBook Premium Edition 500GB External Hard Drive

Explore more on cnet

More on this product

review

user reviews

specifications

compare

shop

Before you buy
Editors' top storage
See all hard-drive reviews
See all burner reviews
More on hard drives & burners
Storage forum
Reviews & advice
Site map
Editorial policies
Meet the editors
How we test
Forums
Internet speed test
Popular topics
Apple iPhone
Apple iPod
Cell phones
Dell
GPS
LCD TV
CNET sites
CNET Site map
CNET TV
Downloads
News
Reviews
Shopper.com
More information
Newsletters
CNET Mobile
Customer Help Center
RSS
CNET Widgets
About CNET
sponsored