http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/18/wds-my-book-mirror-edition-simplifies-redundant-storage/ Engadget Comments for http://www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/18/wds-my-book-mirror-edition-simplifies-redundant-storage/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/18/wds-my-book-mirror-edition-simplifies-redundant-storage/Jun 18th 2008 10:42AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/18/wds-my-book-mirror-edition-simplifies-redundant-storage/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/18/wds-my-book-mirror-edition-simplifies-redundant-storage/
Did you mean 'udder,' or 'otter'? I'll let you figure out which makes more sense -- both produce milk.]]>Jun 18th 2008 10:43AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/18/wds-my-book-mirror-edition-simplifies-redundant-storage/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/18/wds-my-book-mirror-edition-simplifies-redundant-storage/Jun 18th 2008 11:06AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/18/wds-my-book-mirror-edition-simplifies-redundant-storage/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/18/wds-my-book-mirror-edition-simplifies-redundant-storage/Jun 18th 2008 11:45AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/18/wds-my-book-mirror-edition-simplifies-redundant-storage/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/18/wds-my-book-mirror-edition-simplifies-redundant-storage/
I can see it now: Joe Consumer comes home from Best Buy, and is infuritated that his shiny new porn drive only has half the storage it advertised, and promptly returns to the store to chew out some return counter drone that has no clue.

I really hope you mark the packaging right, for your sake, WD...]]>Jun 18th 2008 10:47AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/18/wds-my-book-mirror-edition-simplifies-redundant-storage/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/18/wds-my-book-mirror-edition-simplifies-redundant-storage/
But if you look on Westerns site at the drive it's about as clear as mud.]]>Jun 18th 2008 11:02AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/18/wds-my-book-mirror-edition-simplifies-redundant-storage/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/18/wds-my-book-mirror-edition-simplifies-redundant-storage/
Also, something we both overlooked...the biggest single drive is 1TB, so 2TB redundant would require a RAID5 of 3 1TB drives...]]>Jun 18th 2008 11:20AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/18/wds-my-book-mirror-edition-simplifies-redundant-storage/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/18/wds-my-book-mirror-edition-simplifies-redundant-storage/
@BuddyBoy,
I think you're thinking of fat32, not USB. USB isn't a filesystem. Fat32 has a volume limit of 8TB]]>Jun 18th 2008 11:22AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/18/wds-my-book-mirror-edition-simplifies-redundant-storage/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/18/wds-my-book-mirror-edition-simplifies-redundant-storage/
This was given as the same reason our dual firewire and eSata enclosure stopped working via firewire when we upgraded our drives.

It's not common knowledge but trust me there is a limit.]]>Jun 18th 2008 11:41AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/18/wds-my-book-mirror-edition-simplifies-redundant-storage/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/18/wds-my-book-mirror-edition-simplifies-redundant-storage/Jun 18th 2008 11:56AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/18/wds-my-book-mirror-edition-simplifies-redundant-storage/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/18/wds-my-book-mirror-edition-simplifies-redundant-storage/for PATA and (e)SATA, the limit is 144 PB
for SCSI, the limit is 8 ZB
USB (Mass Storage Class) and Firewire (Serial Bus Protocol 2) are limited by the underlying physical interface to the drives, as they each can use atleast 64bits of address.

]]>Jun 18th 2008 12:23PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/18/wds-my-book-mirror-edition-simplifies-redundant-storage/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/18/wds-my-book-mirror-edition-simplifies-redundant-storage/
If its a firmware issue then why do modern enclosures such as the Drobo only support 2TB volume limits? It doesn't make sense to advertise that your enclosure can handle five 1TB drives but write firmware to limit the volumes to 2TB.

I'm not saying your wrong, just I find it hard to believe that all enclosure manufacturers purposely limit their products through badly written firmware.]]>Jun 18th 2008 1:11PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/18/wds-my-book-mirror-edition-simplifies-redundant-storage/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/18/wds-my-book-mirror-edition-simplifies-redundant-storage/
And happy, they will get pissed off because they are stupid and don't read the fine print. I've seen people pissed that their 80GB hard drive only has 74GB of free space, despite the little * next to it with the disclaimer.]]>Jun 18th 2008 2:17PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/18/wds-my-book-mirror-edition-simplifies-redundant-storage/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/18/wds-my-book-mirror-edition-simplifies-redundant-storage/
An MBR partition has a limit of 2TB and since 99% of windows users simply use the defaults when setting up a new volume, they see this limit.

A GPT (GUID Partition Table) can currently be up to 18 exabytes in size.

personally i use GPT partitions on my home network as i wish ot have voumes larger than 2TB (a raid 0 of four 759GB or 1TB drives is common on my network).

However before you run out and do this, you should be aware that many older os's do not support gpt partitions and thus they shouldn't necessarily be used.

this is why most network storage devices have the 2TB limit.
They use MBR tables for maximum interoperability.
]]>Jun 18th 2008 3:09PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/18/wds-my-book-mirror-edition-simplifies-redundant-storage/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/18/wds-my-book-mirror-edition-simplifies-redundant-storage/
So, really, this is just one 1TB drive. Ignore the mirror, you'll need it later.]]>Jun 18th 2008 10:57AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/18/wds-my-book-mirror-edition-simplifies-redundant-storage/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/18/wds-my-book-mirror-edition-simplifies-redundant-storage/


Dear 175 gigs of music,

I hardly knew you.


Heartbroken,
Jonathan]]>Jun 18th 2008 11:34AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/18/wds-my-book-mirror-edition-simplifies-redundant-storage/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/18/wds-my-book-mirror-edition-simplifies-redundant-storage/.>]]>Jun 18th 2008 12:08PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/18/wds-my-book-mirror-edition-simplifies-redundant-storage/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/18/wds-my-book-mirror-edition-simplifies-redundant-storage/Jun 18th 2008 3:34PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/18/wds-my-book-mirror-edition-simplifies-redundant-storage/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/18/wds-my-book-mirror-edition-simplifies-redundant-storage/Jun 18th 2008 10:55AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/18/wds-my-book-mirror-edition-simplifies-redundant-storage/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/18/wds-my-book-mirror-edition-simplifies-redundant-storage/Jun 20th 2008 12:36AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/18/wds-my-book-mirror-edition-simplifies-redundant-storage/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/18/wds-my-book-mirror-edition-simplifies-redundant-storage/
$89.99 for 320GB. No other store in the are had that much storage for that price. Considering I'm just using it to back up files, I really don't need much more than that.]]>Jun 18th 2008 10:56AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/18/wds-my-book-mirror-edition-simplifies-redundant-storage/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/18/wds-my-book-mirror-edition-simplifies-redundant-storage/
Spend the extra money for any other brand (Seagate is recommended), please, and save yourself the trouble.]]>Jun 18th 2008 11:41AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/18/wds-my-book-mirror-edition-simplifies-redundant-storage/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/18/wds-my-book-mirror-edition-simplifies-redundant-storage/
I still say go Seagate.]]>Jun 18th 2008 3:33PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/18/wds-my-book-mirror-edition-simplifies-redundant-storage/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/18/wds-my-book-mirror-edition-simplifies-redundant-storage/Jun 18th 2008 11:04AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/18/wds-my-book-mirror-edition-simplifies-redundant-storage/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/18/wds-my-book-mirror-edition-simplifies-redundant-storage/http://wdc.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=466

They have another drive like this with eSATA (+ Firewire & USB)
http://wdc.com/en/products/products.asp?driveid=410]]>Jun 18th 2008 11:11AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/18/wds-my-book-mirror-edition-simplifies-redundant-storage/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/18/wds-my-book-mirror-edition-simplifies-redundant-storage/http://www.westerndigital.com/en/products/products.asp?driveid=410]]>Jun 18th 2008 11:13AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/18/wds-my-book-mirror-edition-simplifies-redundant-storage/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/18/wds-my-book-mirror-edition-simplifies-redundant-storage/you beat me :)]]>Jun 18th 2008 11:20AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/18/wds-my-book-mirror-edition-simplifies-redundant-storage/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/18/wds-my-book-mirror-edition-simplifies-redundant-storage/Jun 18th 2008 11:22AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/18/wds-my-book-mirror-edition-simplifies-redundant-storage/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/18/wds-my-book-mirror-edition-simplifies-redundant-storage/You are so right!
JBOD makes sense, not RAID 0.]]>Jun 18th 2008 2:23PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/18/wds-my-book-mirror-edition-simplifies-redundant-storage/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/18/wds-my-book-mirror-edition-simplifies-redundant-storage/http://www.westerndigital.com/en/products/products.asp?driveid=465]]>Jun 18th 2008 11:08AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/18/wds-my-book-mirror-edition-simplifies-redundant-storage/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/18/wds-my-book-mirror-edition-simplifies-redundant-storage/Jun 18th 2008 11:10AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/18/wds-my-book-mirror-edition-simplifies-redundant-storage/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/18/wds-my-book-mirror-edition-simplifies-redundant-storage/Oh and if it keeps the drives cool that's better too of course.
I don't quite get dual drive 'portable' drives though, how portable is that really? And as was said why they don't use eSATA.? if you want to sell a fancy RAID setup then also add eSATA, it's cheap, especially for WD one assumes, since they already paid any rights for SATA connectivity.
]]>Jun 18th 2008 11:28AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/18/wds-my-book-mirror-edition-simplifies-redundant-storage/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/18/wds-my-book-mirror-edition-simplifies-redundant-storage/Jun 18th 2008 11:24AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/18/wds-my-book-mirror-edition-simplifies-redundant-storage/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/18/wds-my-book-mirror-edition-simplifies-redundant-storage/http://www.westerndigital.com/en/products/products.asp?driveid=410) can be setup in a raid 1.]]>Jun 18th 2008 11:31AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/18/wds-my-book-mirror-edition-simplifies-redundant-storage/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/18/wds-my-book-mirror-edition-simplifies-redundant-storage/
Moral of the story, don't buy WD, spend the extra couple bucks for Seagate (my personal recomendation, they are excellent across the board), or pretty much any other brand!]]>Jun 18th 2008 11:38AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/18/wds-my-book-mirror-edition-simplifies-redundant-storage/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/18/wds-my-book-mirror-edition-simplifies-redundant-storage/
Thinking about it I think drive makers can't keep it consistent enough for any length of time to be able to make a solid recommendation. ]]>Jun 18th 2008 12:46PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/18/wds-my-book-mirror-edition-simplifies-redundant-storage/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/18/wds-my-book-mirror-edition-simplifies-redundant-storage/
I don't know how much my experience speaks of WD in general, but it just seems very unlikely that two different drives, purchased years apart, manufactured years apart, would have the same peculiar corruption problem. Along with the whining problem that one of the drives has. The fact is that the price difference from one drive to the next doesn't amount to much, and yet WD is consistently the cheapest manufacturer around. I can't imagine my problems and WD's cheapness are a coincidence. And Seagate, in particular, has a better warranty and a great reputation. I would just spend the extra couple bucks.]]>Jun 18th 2008 1:28PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/18/wds-my-book-mirror-edition-simplifies-redundant-storage/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/18/wds-my-book-mirror-edition-simplifies-redundant-storage/
you drop stuff, it breaks!]]>Jun 18th 2008 2:35PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/18/wds-my-book-mirror-edition-simplifies-redundant-storage/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/18/wds-my-book-mirror-edition-simplifies-redundant-storage/
And that doesn't explain the problem with the other two drives, purchased years apart.]]>Jun 18th 2008 7:39PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/18/wds-my-book-mirror-edition-simplifies-redundant-storage/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/18/wds-my-book-mirror-edition-simplifies-redundant-storage/]]>Jun 18th 2008 9:14PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/18/wds-my-book-mirror-edition-simplifies-redundant-storage/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/18/wds-my-book-mirror-edition-simplifies-redundant-storage/
Seagate is definitely the overall recomendation, though. As a bonus, their external drives are quieter than WD as well.]]>Jun 19th 2008 1:42AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/18/wds-my-book-mirror-edition-simplifies-redundant-storage/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/18/wds-my-book-mirror-edition-simplifies-redundant-storage/Jun 18th 2008 11:56AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/18/wds-my-book-mirror-edition-simplifies-redundant-storage/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/18/wds-my-book-mirror-edition-simplifies-redundant-storage/Jun 18th 2008 1:57PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/18/wds-my-book-mirror-edition-simplifies-redundant-storage/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/18/wds-my-book-mirror-edition-simplifies-redundant-storage/
What's the point of putting your backup in the same case? That's sort of like storing your extra set of car keys on the same ring as your normal set of car keys...

This configuration only protects you from the failure of the drive. But if you drop the damn case you loose it all (unless you an cut the drives out, and if you've ever tried to get into a My Book case you know what a PITA it is).

]]>Jun 18th 2008 12:15PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/18/wds-my-book-mirror-edition-simplifies-redundant-storage/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/18/wds-my-book-mirror-edition-simplifies-redundant-storage/
Western Digital's own firmware wipes out a fair number of these drives and their could really care less about the damage and thousands of dollars of costs its customers have to bear just because they installed the firmware "upgrade" suggested on Western Digital's own website. Be afraid, be very afraid, Stay away, stay far, far away from Western Digital's MyBook.]]>Jun 18th 2008 12:22PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/18/wds-my-book-mirror-edition-simplifies-redundant-storage/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/18/wds-my-book-mirror-edition-simplifies-redundant-storage/However when you buy something from a known brand I agree that you expect them to try to protect their reputation and use their engineers and expertise to make sure your data is safe, and if they don't.. well that's just sad and lousy PR, and exposes them to lawsuits since big names have big money.
]]>Jun 18th 2008 9:19PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/18/wds-my-book-mirror-edition-simplifies-redundant-storage/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/18/wds-my-book-mirror-edition-simplifies-redundant-storage/
P.S. Shouldnt have given out your email.

http://spamyourenemies.com/

]]>Jun 18th 2008 12:32PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/18/wds-my-book-mirror-edition-simplifies-redundant-storage/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/18/wds-my-book-mirror-edition-simplifies-redundant-storage/
If its a firmware issue then why do modern enclosures such as the Drobo only support 2TB volume limits? It doesn't make sense to advertise that your enclosure can handle five 1TB drives but write firmware to limit the volumes to 2TB. ]]>Jun 18th 2008 12:38PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/18/wds-my-book-mirror-edition-simplifies-redundant-storage/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/18/wds-my-book-mirror-edition-simplifies-redundant-storage/Jun 18th 2008 1:02PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/18/wds-my-book-mirror-edition-simplifies-redundant-storage/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/18/wds-my-book-mirror-edition-simplifies-redundant-storage/Jun 18th 2008 1:14PM