Western Digital announces Mac-friendly My Book Studio LX drives
By Laura June 
posted June 8th 2010 3:51PM
posted June 8th 2010 3:51PM
Western Digital just busted out some new external drives for all you Apple lovers out there. The My Book Studio LX drives (which are in brushed aluminum cases to complement your MacBook, we suppose) boast FireWire 800 and USB 2.0 and WD, are Mac compatible and come in 1TB and 2TB models. If you're really dying to get your hands on one, you can right now -- it'll run you $199 for the 1TB and $299 for the 2TB model. Full press release is below.
New WD(R) My Book(R) Studio(TM) LX Drive Combines Speed and Intuitive Functionality in a Sleek Aluminum Enclosure
Mac(R) Users and Creative Professionals Can Upgrade Storage with Custom Labeling, High Performance and Full Metal Sleekness
LAKE FOREST, Calif., June 8 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- WD® (NYSE: WDC), the world's leader in external storage solutions, today introduced its new high performance My Book® Studio™ LX external hard drive, which offers a high-speed FireWire 800 interface and features a sleek new, cool-to-the-touch aluminum case that complements any iMac®, G5 or MacBook Pro®. The award-winning, book-like design, with its customizable, always-on digital e-label, allows creative professionals to easily archive and find photos and videos from different projects and time periods, even when the drives are unplugged.
Key features include a FireWire 800 interface to give users the speed they need for demanding tasks like photo and video editing and graphic design, as well as a customizable e-label that enables users to easily personalize their media collection and identify critical information about the drive, such as the contents and remaining capacity, without having to boot up their computer and plug in the drive. The My Book Studio LX drives also support USB 2.0, so users have maximum flexibility in allocating their FireWire and USB ports or plugging the drive into a variety of computers.
My Book Studio LX drives offer automatic, continuous backup through WD SmartWare software and also sync seamlessly with Apple Time Machine software, so consumers can choose the backup method that suits their needs. And the 256-bit hardware-based encryption, typically only found on much more expensive drive systems, provides a high level of data security along with password protection that acts as a virtual padlock to keep users' data safe. Available now at select retailers and the WD online store (shopwd.com), the new My Book Studio LX drives are formatted for Mac® and come in capacities of 1 TB and 2 TB.
"When choosing the right hard drive, creative professionals look for high-quality materials, maximum speed and visual appeal to complement their creative toolkit. The My Book Studio LX drives offer high-speed FireWire 800 performance and a design that will look right at home next to their G5 or MacBook Pro computer," said Dale Pistilli, vice president of marketing for WD's branded products group. "With the customizable e-label, My Book Studio LX drives help videographers, photographers and graphic designers create, organize and locate their clients' valuable content, no matter how many drives are in their studio."
The new My Book Studio LX drives come equipped with WD SmartWare software, an optional application that provides automatic and continuous backup, control of the e-label display, password and other settings. The real-time visual interface of WD SmartWare software gives users a reassuring view of their backup as it happens. After the first backup, users' files are backed up automatically every time they change or add a file.
My Book Studio LX External Drive
The new My Book Studio LX drive features:
* New, contemporary aluminum casing that remains cool to the touch and matches the aesthetics of Mac computers;
* High-performance FireWire 800 interface to access data at top speeds and USB 2.0 interface for maximum flexibility;
* Smart display with a customizable e-label that reminds users of what is stored on the drive, available capacity and security status at-a-glance, even when the drive is unplugged;
* Plug-and-play ready for Mac users and compatible with Apple Time Machine;
* WD SmartWare visual backup software, 256-bit hardware-based encryption and password protection to give users peace of mind knowing that data is protected from unauthorized access;
* WD GreenPower Technology™, lowers internal drive power consumption by up to 30 percent. WD GreenPower Technology also includes a sleep mode that reduces power during idle times, and a power-saving feature turns the drive on and off with your computer;
* Planet-friendly packaging derived from recycled materials to minimize waste; and,
* HFS + Journaled formatting and are compatible with Mac OS X Tiger®, Leopard® and Snow Leopard®.
Price and Availability
The new My Book Studio LX drives are offered in capacities of 1 TB and 2 TB and have a 3-year limited warranty. My Book Studio LX drives are available now at select retailers and online at shopwd.com. MSRP ranges from $199.99 to $269.99 USD depending on the model.
About WD
WD, one of the storage industry's pioneers and long-time leaders, provides products and services for people and organizations that collect, manage and use digital information. The company designs and produces reliable, high-performance hard drives and solid state drives that keep users' data accessible and secure from loss. Its advanced technologies are configured into applications for client and enterprise computing, embedded systems and consumer electronics, as well as its own consumer storage and media products.
WD was founded in 1970. The company's storage products are marketed to leading OEMs, systems manufacturers, selected resellers and retailers under the Western Digital® and WD brand names. Visit the Investor section of the company's website (www.westerndigital.com) to access a variety of financial and investor information.
This press release contains forward-looking statements, including statements relating to expected growth in digital libraries, consumer demands for access to personal media, and the market for connected consumer electronics devices. These forward-looking statements are based on current management expectations, and actual results may differ materially as a result of several factors, including business conditions generally and other risks and uncertainties listed in WD's recent SEC filings, including its form 10-Q for the third fiscal quarter of 2010. WD undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements to reflect new information or events or for any other reason.
Western Digital, WD, WD logo and My Book are registered trademarks; Studio, WD GreenPower Technology, and WD SmartWare are trademarks of Western Digital Technologies, Inc. Other marks may be mentioned herein that belong to other companies. All other brand and product names mentioned herein are the property of their respective companies. One terabyte (TB) = one trillion bytes. Total accessible capacity varies depending on operating environment.
Thanks, but I'll stick to my RAID 5 array.
But I must say, that looks much better than the typical black plastic ones WD makes.
@liquidkernel Yeah too bad it's still huge in comparison to other external HD's out there. WD really needs to stop putting so much extra plastic on their stuff damn. I hate the design of these and the stupid activity lights too that they have that just does that glow fade WTF is that. No thanks I'll take a Fantom drive any day over WD they got WD inside anyhow.
@liquidkernel
"Mac Friendly" is such a crock of shit. Macs can use any drives from any source. I have a 42TB RAID 6 array connected to our Mac server at work.
@Jack Seriously!
WD are so crap, they build nice drives then curse it with god awful software (SmartWare) and hike the price
cool, won't get one for my MBP but cool.
Which hard drive isn't Mac-friendly? Maybe it should be labeled "Mac User Friendly"? ZING!
@s2m0 BUMP!
derrr, what is format? lol
@s2m0
Oh, for goodness sake. It's labeled as being for the Mac because it incorporates a Firewire 800 interface, which is pretty much useless for most PC users. I'm seriously considering getting one since I'm looking for a 1TB+ drive for my iMac and this thing, as well as having Firewire 800, also appears to have a passthrough connector so that I can daisy chain my other Firewire 800 drive. I wonder when it is going to hit the streets...
Honestly, people get their knickers in a twist over the smallest things...
Huh? I have been using these with my Macs for years now. Never had a problem.
I've yet to connect an external harddrive to a mac that doesn't work with it. You might have to reformat it but it still works. Unless that bad boy is physically damaged or is encrypted with some crazy encryption that hides even the interface.
Firewire, FTW!
@Sal Governale
Damned straight! It was probably the software that was the problem but I was honestly stunned how long it took my PC at work to backup about 25GB of data a USB2 drive (around 6 hours, I think) when compared to backing up 180GB via Time Machine and a Firewire 800 drive (around 2 hours).
@Kelmon I'll stick to eSata. And eSata-carrying externals that cost half what these cost.
Gotta love the marketing in this one: "Mac-friendly" HDDs. LOL what *won't* Apple users pay a premium for? Next: Mac-friendly bottled water.
@LANjackal
I like how you make the assumption that all Mac users are stupid. Must be nice to go through life living in complete ignorant bliss, huh?
@Jack You know as well as I that all external HDDs are Mac friendly, as long as the ports match, the only requirement is formatting to HFS+. WD terming these drives as "Mac Friendly" is simply a marketing gimmick to trick the more clueless of the Mac user population into paying extra for them.
@LANjackal
Most regular folks wouldn't know the first thing about using Disk Utility to reformat to FAT32 seeing as most externals mostly come NTFS formatted. All they notice is that they can't copy anything to that NTFS formatted drive that the salesguy at BestBuy said works on any computer.
There is not that much of a gimmick here. These HD's are most likely already Mac HFS formatted, though that 10 second process doesn't give them the right to charge so much more for them though..
@merovingian As the saying goes: "fools and their money are easily parted" ...
@LANjackal
Er, no. I think it is pretty clear that WD sees the following as being "Mac-specific":
* Pre-formatted to HFS+
* Firewire 800 ports
* Aluminum casing to match most Mac designs
I think its a little disingenuous to suggest that normal PC hard drives are exactly the same, not least because most are USB 2 only. While I fully appreciate that reformatting a drive from NTFS to HFS+ isn't the hardest task in the world, not having to do so is appreciated and I can understand that many users would not know how to do this. Just think what the situation would be like in the reverse. Do you really think that your average PC user would know how to format an HFS+ drive to NTFS?
I don't need a stupid LCD display on the front to tell me how much space I have used.
Sweet..I was waiting for a Mac-friendly external drive. What's next? Mac-friendly printer paper!?
@codename6 id use the same sarcasm, except my toshiba external drive is worthless with time machine b/c toshiba has installed sleep software that can only be disabled with windows.
Show me some Mac-hostile drives.
Otherwise – nice FireWire drives!
...it IS Mac/User friendly. Check out the Apple premium for so-so specs!
@PandaLand
Mac's work with any external hard drives.
To mac users seriously interested in this: It's called formatting.
@ashwinkn
...I didn't suggest this wasn't Mac compatible. I was suggesting it was Mac friendly due to the warm fuzzy Mac kids get for paying more.
Uh, aren't all external hard drives Mac compatible with enough formatting? I have a 1TB MyBook from WD that works fine as a Time Machine backup. Forgive me if this is a stupid question.
@Calijoefornia
No. All drives are compatible with Macs. Companies like WD just try to make more money by preformatting their drives as HFS+ and then selling it as "Mac Friendly". And it's not just them, Newegg does it too, and Amazon, and others.
@Calijoefornia nope, to fix the sleep issue on toshiba drives you need a windows machine: "Note: Mac users will need to convert the Drive on a Windows PC"
@Calijoefornia
Firewire 800
Seriously, why can't people see this? The normal "PC" My Book Studio drives are USB 2 only. Are you reading the specification?
I just bought the previous My Book Studio 2TB model a couple of weeks ago for $199... It looks like this is the same thing but with aluminum. For $100 more. :-/
Go easy folks. There are really people who don't know how to format a drive. Just get over it.
This is the fastest option for users on new iMacs. FW800 beats USB to the ground.
@kuskus
yet eSATA kicks the shit out of firewire 800 and now so does USB3.0
in fact, those are the only two externally used common interfaces that have more bandwidth than a drive can saturate.....
yet again, a fanboi touts old slow technology.
@TheRealMikeyG
re: "yet again, a fanboi touts old slow technology"
I don't think kuskus said anything about eSATA or USB 3.0. Why are you attacking him for saying something completely true? The newest iMacs do not have eSATA or USB 3.0 ports, so drives that use those connections are not pertinent choices here.
Have they stepped up to a 5 year warranty yet? If not, I'll stick with Seagate.
WHERE THE HELL IS USB 3.0???
i was thinking about buying studio edition few years back...when i saw it was plastic, i was disappointed. i guess aluminum casing is a nice touch, but my plastic wd works great with my mac and its not "mac-friendly"
@ddddd Are you sure your commenting the right post?
I have the old MyBook (plastic) I got it a while ago. I used to use it for my PC, but then I formatted it on my Mac and now use it for TM Backups. So far I haven't had any problems.
This sounds like WD trying to get more money for the same product.
What makes this Mac-friendly? Because they look similar to Macs?
While I admit that I bought my external to match my computer, I certainly didn't think that I needed one that matched to work.
@pohatu771
OK, this is seriously the last time I post this and I hope that this has been enough:
* Pre-formatted to HFS+
* Firewire 800
The normal My Book Studio drives (and most other external drives on the market) are formatted for NTFS and saddled with USB 2.
99$ gets you the same 1TB space, same HDD, same design, just no firewire and its made of plastic. Talk about wasting money.
@spacemoose
Hahahaha
As far as I'm concerned, double the performance from Firewire 800 is worth the extra cost. That said, you can likely find the older generation My Book Studio Mac drives for less and they would also have Firewire 800.
I have an older 500gb Mybook hooked up to Macbook Pro, has problems with waking up after in sleep.
I was wondering your advice on a OWC Mercury Elite-AL Pro mini http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/EliteALmini/eSATA_FW800_FW400_USB
SmartWare is the biggest pile 'o junk. I want to uninstall it.
WD, why are you marketing backup software, when Time Machine is built-in and does it SO much better and seamlessly?
I'm disappointed the first generation of My Book Studio drives weren't aluminum. I bought one thinking they were, and the aluminum covered plastic is scratched to heck and looks pretty ugly now.
Jokes aside, the truth is, not everyone knows how to format a harddrive. This isn't a Mac thing, this is true on both sides of the fence. There are also many Windows users that do not know how to format a drive either. WD is both catering to and taking advantage of those that do not know how to format a drive. In fact, I'd say that there are more people that don't know how to reformat a drive than do. We have to realize that not everyone is an avid computer user that reads Engadget every day. The people that need this drive are the people that aren't reading this article.
For people who are going Mac friendly LOL. Do know that they call it that because of the firewire 800 port. The Windows counter-parts do not have such option.
Is it worth an extra 100 bucks? No. But Firewire was, is and forever will be mostly a proprietary Mac transfer protocol. So, for the record they didn't slap on the name for no reason