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CNET editors' review
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CNET editors' rating:
stars
Very good
Detailed editors' rating
- Reviewed on: 09/30/2004
- Released on: 08/01/2002
The Series II drives are slightly smaller than the average external drive, measuring a little more than 8.25 inches long, 5.5 inches wide, and about 1.5 inches thick. The attractive pewter-and-silver case sheds heat fairly well and keeps the unit cool. The entire package--AC adapter and all--weighs a little more than 3 pounds. Befitting their budget spot in Western Digital's product line, Series II drives offer a minimal number of external features: power and activity lights on the front, with the AC, USB 2.0, and Kensington-lock ports on the back. There's no power switch, so you'll need an uninterruptible power supply or a power strip to avoid constantly pulling the plug.
Our hands-on experience with an 80GB Series II drive showed it to be a good if not spectacular performer. The drive read a 400MB folder of small to medium-size files in 40 seconds and a 1.987GB image file in 83 seconds--10.5MB per second and 23.9MB per second, respectively. By comparison, a Western Digital 250MB Media Center drive performed the same tasks at 12MB per second and 26.1MB per second, while a Maxtor 160GB OneTouch drive managed 11.35MB per second and 31.5MB per second. Slower than the competition or not, Series II drives offer enough performance for the average user.
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