Western Digital gets NASty with My Book World Edition HDDs

Western Digital is at it again with its My Book lineup of HDDs, but rather than bumping the storage capacity from the already roomy (albeit bulky) 1TB Pro II Edition, WD is adding an Ethernet port for remote access ability. The My Book World Edition II sports a shiny white finish and touts 1TB of storage, RAID 1 capability, a USB 2.0 port for stringing on more external drives, and the obligatory gigabit Ethernet jack to boot. Additionally, this device pays a bit more attention to detail by offering up a "unique capacity gauge LED that allows users to discern at a glance remaining storage space," but the real story is its ability to be accessed from any internet connection as a standalone device. Essentially becoming a NAS drive at heart via the included Anywhere Access software, this Book also includes Data OnHand software which makes the drive active in Windows Explorer regardless of your location, and boasts the ability to let friends and family access / upload files without having to actually be near the drive. Notably, the My Book World Edition II is deemed "user-serviceable," and should be available by the week's end for $499, but if you're interested in the half-sized 500GB My Book World Edition, you can snag it for just $279.

[Via Yahoo, thanks Steve]

[Randy @ Feb 21st 2007 12:12PM]

I've been looking for a cheap NAS head that would allow me to supply my own HD's While this is pretty nice, I think I can do better than 499 and I really don't want to roll my own Linux box...

[Chris @ Feb 21st 2007 12:22PM]

This seems like a nice little unit for the money. My mind still boggles at getting a TB for under 500.

[Fabrice @ Feb 21st 2007 12:29PM]

is that morse code on the back ? ;-)

[Kevin @ Feb 21st 2007 3:08PM]

The morse code says: PERSONAL RELIABLE INNOVATIVE SIMPLE INNOVATIVE PERSONAL DESIGN RELIABLE INNOVATIVE DESIGN PERSONAL DESIGN SIMPLE INNOVATIVE SIMPLE RELIABLE DESIGN

[Barry @ Feb 21st 2007 12:30PM]

What's with the morse code grill on the back. Can anyone read this? And in which direction do you read it?

[Zeb @ Feb 21st 2007 12:39PM]

You totally ripped that off from an old MAXIMUMPC article called "Lets get NASty.

Still funny though, just thought i would point that out.

[MrSlinky @ Feb 21st 2007 12:52PM]

Kinda funny, but the grill on the back is Morse code letters. Just a bunch of jibberish but I kind of a novel idea of using something from way back on a new product.

[Gordy @ Feb 21st 2007 1:07PM]

The code reads 'I'm filled with crappy drives with crappier 1 year warranties'. The next part is harder to discern, but I think it reads 'buy Seagates ASAP'.

[plaka999 @ Feb 21st 2007 1:14PM]

boo-yah, right on

[KYDS3K @ Feb 21st 2007 1:17PM]

I would like to make sexytime with that drive.

[LiQuiD_FuSioN @ Feb 21st 2007 1:33PM]

"but if you're interested in the half-sized 500GB My Book World Edition, you can snag it for just $279."

This really grinds my gears!

I paid around $400 for the 500GB MyBook last year.. and now it's only #279?!

God damn, now I can get the 1TB MyBook.. something I've been wanting for a long time now for only $499, that's a pretty sweet deal! I guess hardrive space is getting cheaper and cheaper these days.

[Matt @ May 19th 2007 6:16PM]

I saw this item on Costco.com for only $349.99. Hard Drive prices are dropping prices at an exponential rate!

[mike @ Jun 1st 2007 3:19AM]

is there any way i cna use this thing with a crossover cable and no network router/hub? i am in the navy and just bought one here in dubai, didnt realize the USB port on the back of it was absolutely useless, anyone know anything that can help me out, wanted this storage space while i am deployed and now it seems i dropped 500 bucks for a brick for six months.

[mike @ Jun 1st 2007 3:19AM]

does anyone know a way i can get this damn thing to act like a regular external hard drive. it was my mistake for buying this POS without completely understanding what is needed for it. i figured the USB hook up would be used to just plug and play this thing. on top of the fact i cannot register my software with my computer right now, (i am deployed) it looks like i have a really good paper weight for the next six months, any kind of software that will enable the use of this thing with a crossover cable would be a godsend right now.

[LiQuiD_FuSioN @ Jun 4th 2007 3:00AM]

Hey Mike, I saw your post, but for some reason Engadget isn't letting me click "Reply". So, I hope you get to see this message.

The MyBooks, as far as I know, doesn't require any software to install on your computer. It's basically "Plug & Play" meaning all you have to do is plug it in your computer and it will install itself.

What OS is your computer, anyway? Are you running Windows XP? Windows Vista? A Mac, perhaps? You don't give much information about your computer, so all I can do is guess.

If it's Windows Vista (the newly released operating system), then it may or may not be compatible with your external hardrive.

As you asked earlier, you don't need a network or hub to hook up any external hardrive. It's just a nifty feature if you're into networking files with other computers around a small work area. Hope this helps, just give me another reply.

[jdap @ Feb 21st 2007 1:42PM]

Now I can charge clients an even 1.grand to install "remote offsite storage/backup". Question is--do I buy them 1TB & make 5 hundy or the 500GB & pocket the extra two-twenty?

[alex @ Feb 21st 2007 1:44PM]

I've read the reviews for the one without the Ethernet port and basically it's like having a jet engine on your desk. The fans are that loud.

[James @ Feb 21st 2007 1:55PM]

Thank you for using "HDD"! I'm so tired of people using "HD". I always think they are talking about high definition, not hard disk drives.

[Ben H. @ Feb 21st 2007 1:59PM]

If only I can hook this up to my Wii and rip games onto it. I'd never run out of room for games. Well, almost.

[Ken @ Feb 21st 2007 2:00PM]

Apple's new Airport Extreme Wireless 'N' router allows you to plug in ANY USB hard drive (add a USB hub for multiple HDs) and use it as a NAS. You can access it for your LAN and the internet. type in your modem's IP address and a username & password you give the hard drives and your in. It works for printers too.

For $179 plug in a USB drive you have lying around and get a wireless N router too.

[fd @ Feb 21st 2007 2:04PM]

$409 for a triple interface (w gigabit ethernet NAS! ) drive. Woohoo. My fast ethernet NAS boxes & USB2 drives will be going out the door pretty shortly.

[Erwos @ Feb 21st 2007 2:53PM]

What's with the Airport Extreme crowd constantly preaching that AE is somehow a serious NAS solution? The AE can't do RAID, only has 10/100 ethernet, and is dog-slow for read/writes (to the tune of 6mbytes/s, wired)

This product is pretty reasonably priced for what it does, assuming it's not a terrible performer.

[Greg Schultz @ Feb 21st 2007 3:03PM]

A small caution. Based on my experience, MyBook (at least my 500gb Premium)isn't quite ready to "make nice" with Vista. Driver problem no doubt. WD says "we're working on it". My drive is on a Firewire connection. During sleep mode, Vista loses touch with the drive, which isn't any longer listed in My Computer on wake-up. Re-plugging fixes the problem, but it's pretty annoying. I previously had the unit on XP, with no connection problem. I have nothing but praise for the drive itself. Quiet,fast and looks good sitting out.

[jiva @ Feb 21st 2007 4:32PM]

What? This drive only supports Windows???
What happened to Mac and Linux support? :(

[Charly @ Feb 21st 2007 4:55PM]

My Book Essencial 500 gb was only trouble, it fail and i lost a lot of valuable information, so beware, of this product.

[v_dogg @ Feb 21st 2007 5:21PM]

wow so they slapped 2 500 gig hd's in a case, big whoop

[jeremy @ Feb 21st 2007 5:39PM]

> What? This drive only supports Windows???
> What happened to Mac and Linux support? :(

Where did you find that? I've been scouring their site looking for *any* system requirements, and have found none. Not that I expect better from WD...

[Heiko Schröder @ Feb 23rd 2007 2:20AM]

Reading the full installation guide shows also a web based setup programm. I think there would be the need of a win pc for the first setup and then it shoulb be possible to change settings using any webbrowser.
Connecting to the drive should be no matter of operating system since it works over ethernet

[patrick @ Feb 21st 2007 5:57PM]

I got a 500gb My Book for Christmas and it was only $200 and it was fire-wire and USB 2.0. I don't think I would need 1tb any time soon if I do I will just get another 500gb one for the $200 or less by the time I fill mine up. Still it is a nice considering how much hard drives ware a year or two ago.

[John @ Feb 21st 2007 6:23PM]

If someone gets it to work with a mac - I'm sold. Offsite access is a huge plus as well.

Just gathering data on hard drives until either BDR or HDDVD are ubiquitous enough to start laying things off to disc...

[John Smith @ Mar 11th 2007 11:41PM]

I got the machine working with a Mac. Unfortunately it uses only the SMB protocol.

I wonder why they so underprogrammed the machine. It has great potential. It has an ARM9 based chip and 32MB of ram. The firmware is linux, and so there is potential to improve it by hacking.

Anyone got ideas on how to get the source? WD still had not put it up yet.

[BD @ Feb 21st 2007 6:39PM]

The morse code *actually* says:

AAIEFP
RAOSRI
EBITNBT
NBOAE
EMISFNE
EERFNAM

Then it repeats:

AAIEFP
RAOSRI
EBITNBT
NBOAE
EMISFNE

Not inlucing what is above the main "body" (which would be "E EE N S")

[telepheedian @ Feb 22nd 2007 6:37PM]

Don't buy this. Have had incredibly bad problems with our 1TB mybook premium, everything from insane noise to customer support that won't service the product, to lost data. I ended up ripping the drives out and chucking the wrecked enclosure in the river.

[Heiko Schröder @ Feb 23rd 2007 2:09AM]

System Requirements
Available 10/100/1000Base-T Ethernet connection (network adapter, router, switch, or hub port)
Broadband Internet connection
500 MB of available local hard drive space
512 MB RAM
Pentium III class, 500 MHz or newer
Windows® 2000/XP Home/Pro
Web browser (Internet Explorer 6.0 or later, Mozilla Firefox 1.0.3 or later)
CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive

There is no comment if WINDOWS is only neede to set up the thing, because conecting to a netbased disk should be possible for any operating system ?!

[Matt @ Mar 3rd 2007 11:06PM]

Just picked this up. Connected to a home LAN with Macs and PCs with relative ease. Both the Macs and the PCs can access the NAS. The unit is very noisy constantly to the degree that it cannot be ignored. I would compare the noise level to a dish washer. The unit includes Mio-Net, which is of no use to me, but interesting software.

I was going to buy the Airport Extreme and connect a NAS via Firewire 800. This seemed a more economical solution. Although the price is right, beware the noise from the unit.

[dropadrop @ Mar 5th 2007 11:30AM]

Did you get the 1TB version?

[NesuD @ Mar 5th 2007 8:35PM]

Something interesting, Western digital seems to be saying that this drive only comes with a 1 year warranty, but the dicumentation in the box clearly specifies a 3 year warranty. At least in the one I just purchased it says that.

[onenationunderdog @ Mar 8th 2007 10:40PM]

ugh western digital's 'anywhere access' feature is total b.s.
1.) you must install wd software, and connect to medion servers for each and every share
2.) you CANNOT share many popular media formats!!!! mp3, aac, avi, wma, wmv, mpeg, mov....
http://wdc.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wdc.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=1495

[Klay @ Mar 9th 2007 9:02PM]

This product is simply a waste of your money. Period.

It's claim to fame is that it ahs 1000BaseT (Gigabit) Ethernet connection to it, but the troughput is SO bad that it's hard to believe that Western Digital is actually selling this product.

In a comparison between backing up my workstation to the MyBook Wolrd Edition II and another computer on my network, the MyBook too 3 and 1/2 times LONGER to backup the same about of data.

It took 80 mintues (1 hour and 20 minutes) to backup 78GB (Gigabytes) to my other computer, verses 270 minutes (4 1/2 hours) to the MyBook.

The documentions is horrible and completely lacks any concrete information on how the drive it used. (The only thing it says is that you MUST install their software, but you don't actually need it unless you want your files available on the web.)

Lastly, this little device is LOUDER than TWO FILE SERVERS IN THE SAME ROOM WITH IT!

It's noisey as heck.

Frankly, I just can't understand how Western Digial could put of such a poor product.

It looks good. That's it.

[John Smith @ Mar 11th 2007 11:40PM]

I bought the 1TB edition to work with a Mac. It works using SMB/CIFS, but I wish it had alternatives.

I have looked into its details and its very interesting. It runs on an ARM9E based chip, has 32Megs Ram. The drives are have 16MB caches and are SATA 300. I am not sure if the interface itself runs at 300. I look forward to recompiling the firmware and making something useful out of it. The webserver which runs on it is Lighttpd.

[Jakeman19 @ Sep 4th 2007 2:30PM]

John or anyone else, I'm having problems connecting this drive on my PowerMac G5, yet with my MacBook it works just fine. Any ideas? I've post on Apple forum and Western Digital with no help so far.

[dropadrop @ Mar 12th 2007 4:38AM]

The transfer speed mentioned does not surprise me, it's about average for current NAS devices. I don't think it's smart to expect very much more, especially from a device which is 30% cheaper then any of it's competition (at least here).

Anyone get one of the smaller (one disk) versions? How noisy are they?

[Don Beeler Jr @ Mar 20th 2007 6:18AM]

I need to free up space on my laptop so it will "work" so i ordered the 1TB drive from WD direct. Bad idea. I paid for 2 day and they shipped it ground, they charge more but i thought i may get better service, after reading the docs online they look lame. When i get it i hope it works and i forget about the trouble it was to deal with WD. Just in case has anyone seen a real product like this they would recommend?

[Steve Trefethen @ May 7th 2007 2:57AM]

Here's my unfortunate experience with the 1TB MyBook Pro Edition II:

http://www.stevetrefethen.com/blog/WesternDigitalMyBookProEditionII1TBSecondTryGoesUpInSmoke.aspx

According to a comment to this blog post WD shipped with defective Firewire cables though I haven't verified that with WD. That said WD did offer to replace my Firewire port:

http://www.stevetrefethen.com/blog/WesternDigitalCustomerServiceReachesOutRegardingMyMyBookProEditionIIExperience.aspx

[John @ May 7th 2007 3:25AM]

John Smith - The Source code is available on the WD site http://support.wdc.com/download/index.asp?cxml=n&pid=31&swid=64

I'd be happy to test out any hacks you do. I'm not sure how to communicate with the device as it rejects FTP, SSH and Telenet?

Does anyone else have problems with the device freezing up? I originally thought it was going into sleep mode when not in use. But I was listening to an mp3 I had stored on the device and it froze up halfway through the song. The only way to get it back online is to re-boot - a real PITA!

The MioNet software sucks

[Fuad @ Jun 13th 2007 1:35AM]

You need dhcp server to provide ip for mybook world and ther http to that ip for control panel with default password and name. it has default share /public and in abcence of dhcp maybe has some 192.168.0.1 sort of ip.