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Western Digital boosts entire MyBook Studio line with USB 3.0, adds 4TB model to the mix
After bumping its Thunderbolt and regular MyBook line with a couple of extra terabytes, Western Digital turned its attention to its shiny MyBook Studio offerings to kick those up a notch too. WD's family of premium aluminum-clad drives finally gets USB 3.0 across the line, along with a new top-of-the-pack 4TB capacity model. All the Studio drives feature WD Security, seamless integration with Time Machine and a 3-year limited warranty. Pricing for the 1TB, 2TB, 3TB and 4TB drives are $159.99, $189.99, $239.99 and $299.99 respectively. Western Digital says they'll continue to offer older USB 2.0 and FireWire 800 models, just in case you're still struggling along with a storage-starved relic from the past.
Western Digital's 3 TB MyBook Studio perfect for pre-Lion backups
Are you about to upgrade your Mac to OS X Lion? One recommendation from the TUAW staff is that you do a complete backup of your Snow Leopard installation before you start. With many Mac internal drives nearing the 1 to 2 TB range in size, how do you back up the drive and still have a hard disk that's big enough for Time Machine to use? Easy -- take a look at Western Digital's new 3 TB MyBook Studio (US$249.99 MSRP). I had a chance to put one of these drives through the paces here at the crowded TUAW lab (which also doubles as the TUAW TV Live studio) and found it to be an attractive, quiet, and relatively fast high-capacity disk drive. Design As with many of Western Digital's recent mass storage solutions, the MyBook Studio drive uses an aluminum case that matches nicely with Apple's current design meme. The drive has two FireWire 800 and one USB 2.0 connector on the back, and comes with FireWire 800, USB 2.0, and FireWire 400 to 800 cables. It's pre-formatted for use with Mac systems, so the drive is truly plug-and-play. The enclosure is 6.5" high, 5.3" deep, and 1.9" wide, featuring a pair of clear silicone feet on the bottom to make sure that drive vibration isn't transferred to a desk. There's no power switch on the drive -- once you've plugged it into power and a live I/O port on your Mac, it starts up quietly. A single tiny white LED on the front is all that tells you that the disk is up and running, which is a welcome change from the busy front panels on previous WD drives. Drive operation is rather quiet, except when the drive spins up after sitting for a bit with nothing to do. At that point, it makes a light "clunk" that is barely noticeable. That had a slight effect on write speeds, but that's quite common with the WD Caviar Green SATA drive used inside the MyBook Studio. To reduce energy use, the drive goes to an idle mode when not actively reading or writing data. During the spin-up, throughput is reduced (see graphs below). If the drive isn't in use, it powers down after a while and goes into a "sleep" mode. The LED blinks while in this mode, as an indication that it is saving power. It takes approximately 10 seconds for the drive to wake up from sleep mode, which could be an annoyance if you're in a hurry to grab a file that's stored on it. One thing I didn't like about the MyBook Studio is that the company is using a fat, generic AC adapter that ended up covering two sockets on my multiple outlet power cord. I'm used to Apple's slender adapters and cords that only take one spot on the cord, and wish accessory manufacturers would take the hint. As usual, the company fills up about 500 MB of space with home-grown utilities that you'll probably just want to delete. For Mac users who want to make a bootable clone of their machine prior to a Lion upgrade, we recommend either SuperDuper! (US$27.95) or the shareware Carbon Copy Cloner. To make those daily backups? Just use Time Machine. Benchmark Beginning with this review, TUAW is using a standard industry benchmark to compare the I/O capabilities of disks and arrays. The benchmark uses the AJA System Test, which simulates reading and writing video. We used was the Disk Read/Write test, also known as the DiskWhackTest, set at a video frame size of 720 x 486 8-bit and a file size of 128 MB. The test results are compared to the internal SATA drive of the test iMac and a DroboPro connected to the iMac via FireWire 800. Compared to the DroboPro, the MyBook Studio looks like a complete speedster. Of course, the DroboPro is an 8-drive RAID array and not a single massive drive, but this does show that for high-throughput requirements the MyBook Studio Drive might be a contender. With a USB 2.0 connection the average write speed was 30.4 MB/Sec and read speed was 35.2 MB/sec. If you have a FireWire 800 port on your Mac, use it. For speed, though at a price, you'll probably want to start looking at Thunderbolt-equipped Macs and external drives. Those drives will be available later this summer from a handful of vendors. Conclusion For Mac users looking for a relatively inexpensive external backup drive with FireWire 800 connectivity plenty of space, the Western Digital MyBook Studio 3 TB is just the ticket. If you only have USB 2.0 or just need a slow and steady backup drive, there are many other less expensive external drives. For example, Western Digital's WD Elements 3 TB USB-only drive can be purchased through Amazon for about $150; a tremendous bargain. I like Western Digital's attention to the Mac market, and this drive is a perfect example of the meld of form and function that Mac users love.
Western Digital's My Book Studio jumps to 3TB, dons Mac-approved brushed aluminum garb
Hard to say how long WD's going to keep its My Book line a-churnin', but when you've got a good thing going.... The outfit has just announced a gently refreshed version of its My Book Studio, now available in capacities reaching 3TB and sporting a flashy new exterior that should blend right into your Mac Pro + Cinema Display setup. Much like the G-Force drives of yesteryear, these new models are equipped with a brushed aluminum casing and rely on Western Digital's Caviar Green HDDs to handle the ints and outs. You'll also find FireWire 800, FireWire 400 and USB 2.0 interfaces, meaning that Thunderbolt aficionados should probably be turning their nose up right about now. The new guys are available at "select retailers and distributors" as we speak, with pricing set at $149.99 (1TB), $199.99 (2TB) and $249.99 (3TB).
Western Digital announces Mac-friendly My Book Studio LX drives
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.
WD unveils new My Books with e-paper, while My Passport shrinks even further
Good news for hardcore portable storage buffs: looks like Western Digital is taking a hint from Verbatim and putting an e-paper display on its My Book Elite and My Book Studio portable hard drives, offering the device's label and free space up-front, perfect for those of us juggling multiple portable storage devices. In addition, both offer WD SmartWare, 256-bit hardware-based encryption, and are available in capacities ranging from 500GB to 2TB. My Book Studio (formatted for Mac and sportin' a FireWire 800 interface) ranges from $149.99 to $299.99 depending on size, while My Book Elite (with a USB 2.0 interface and NTFS formatting) will run you anywhere from $169.99 to $279.99.If what you're looking for however, is the company's "smallest drive to date," check out My Passport Elite. Featuring a USB dock, illuminated capacity gauge, a secure "drive lock" indicator, and that 256-bit hardware-based encryption, this bad boy is sports up to 640GB storage (which will run you $169.99). This one is available in one of three "metallic" colors -- Metallic Red, Metallic Blue, or Charcoal Metallic. Sadly, the company hasn't yet teamed up with MusicSkins for a Metallica skin -- but our fingers are crossed.Read - My Book StudioRead - My Book EliteRead - My Passport Elite
