Western Digital 2TB My Book Mirror Edition External Hard Drive
- No Longer Available
The 2TB My Book Mirror Edition External Hard Drive from Western Digital is a high-capacity external hard drive with an interface that allows it to be connected via USB 2.0.
The drive is housed in an elegant design that can at first glance be mistaken for that of a hardbound book. This makes the drive an excellent choice for anyone who would like to have a unique and classy drive to use for external data storage. The drive features built-in power-saving, has no environmental contaminants, and ships in recyclable packaging, making it as friendly to the environment as it is to your data.
The drive enclosure comes configured as a RAID 1, which mirrors data between the two disks contained within. It is an excellent choice for anyone who would like to add storage to their computer without sacrificing aesthetics.
- 2TB Capacity
- 2TB of capacity allows for storage of approximately 150 hours of uncompressed DV digital video, the equivalent of 425 4.7GB DVD video discs or up to 500,000 MP3 files.
- RAID 0/1 Modes
- The array comes configured as a RAID 1, which mirrors data between the two physical disks contained within the enclosure. This creates a realtime backup your data. Because of this, only half of the drive's 2TB is available. It can be reconfigured as a RAID 0, which delivers full capacity, but lacks any sort of data protection. This gives you extreme flexibility in how you configure your array, ensuring that it meets your specific needs.
- GreenPower Drives
- The array is designed to use WD GreenPower drives. These drives use less energy and create less heat than traditional desktop hard drives. The enclosure is able to use a passive cooling system because of this, which results in quiet operation. Please note that if you need to upgrade or replace a drive in the user-serviceable enclosure, you must use a WD GreenPower drive.
- Hot-Swappable
- The drive is hot-swappable and plug-and-play so there is no need to turn off your computer while connecting or disconnecting it.
| Performance | |
|---|---|
| Capacity | 2TB |
| Interface | 1x mini-B USB 2.0 |
| Drive Speed | 7200rpm |
| Buffer | Not Specified by Manufacturer |
| Average Seek Time | Not Specified by Manufacturer |
| Sustained Data Transfer Rate | Not Specified by Manufacturer |
| Drivers | |
|---|---|
| Supported | Not Required |
| Included | Not Required |
| System Requirements | |
|---|---|
| Mac |
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.4.11+, 10.5.2+
1
Please Note:Drive is formatted NTFS; must be reformatted as HFS+ for use with Mac close |
| Windows | Operating System: Windows 2000, XP, Vista, 7 |
| Hardware | USB 2.0 port |
| General | |
|---|---|
| Mounting | Desktop |
| Power Requirements | AC: 100-240VAC, 47-63Hz |
| Environmental Requirements |
Operating Temperature: 41-95°F (5-35°C) Storage Temperature: -4-149°F (-20-65°C) |
| Dimensions (WxHxD) | 3.9 x 6.5 x 6.1" (9.8 x 16.6 x 15.4cm) |
| Weight | 5.2 lb (2.6kg) |
REVIEW SNAPSHOT®
by PowerReviews(based on 69 reviews)
Ratings Distribution
100%
of respondents would recommend this to a friend.
Pros
- Easy to use (52)
- Easy to setup (51)
- Large capacity / good size (50)
- Quiet (49)
- Attractive (42)
Cons
- Slow (4)
- No power switch (3)
Best Uses
- Back-up (55)
- Additional storage (47)
- Photo storage (45)
- Video (24)
- File transfer (13)
- Reviewer Profile:
- Power user (39), Casual user (22), Heavy duty user (5)
- Primary use:
- Personal (45), Business (24)
Most Liked Positive Review
secure at last
With raid 1 hard drives set up in my computer and now a raid 1 external back up system backing up all my drives both internal and external, I finally feel that I have suficient...Read complete review
With raid 1 hard drives set up in my computer and now a raid 1 external back up system backing up all my drives both internal and external, I finally feel that I have suficient redundancy to secure my documents and photographic work. From reviews that I had read, I knew to be careful with the software/trialware blur. At first I thought that I was going to have to pay for the WD Anywhere Backup. That wasn't the case. You'll find the product key on one of the instruction sheets that comes with the Drive. Still it was a bit of a hassle but not a deal breaker by any means. USB 2 isn't the fastest way to go but this kind of secrity at this price is not available anywhere else. The key to success with the WD My Book Mirror ed is patience. Allow it the time it needs to do it's work. I had ~ 280 GB to back up and it took about 5 hours. The biggest chunk of that was on another external USB drive so that probably contributed to the time. You do have to use WD's drives to replace any drive that fails but I can live with that. I intend to buy a spare replacement drive just so I don't have to have any down time while waiting for a drive in the event of a failure. The WD My Book has been in [...] for 20 days and I am very please with it so far. It does it's work quietly and automatically without being intrusive.
VS
Most Liked Negative Review
Easy installation, problematic backup
I purchased this drive to serve as a mirror backup of my computer and full library of images for my photography business. It was very easy to install, as far as plug and play,...Read complete review
I purchased this drive to serve as a mirror backup of my computer and full library of images for my photography business. It was very easy to install, as far as plug and play, but I did have to reformat to mirror RAID as it was not originally formatted as advertised. My one complaint was that the backup software for automatic mirroring of your system is not already functioning as the advertisement leads you to believe. I needed to purchase additional "rights" and download the code in order to make this feature work and it was not clear anywhere in the directions or description of the product that this would be the case. I basically figured it out by clicking and jumping back and forth to websites. I am still not entirely sure I needed to spend that additional money, but was left in a bind when the system prompted me to do so or otherwise it wouldn't continue. I wish I had known this on the front end. Otherwise, I am pleased with the product and now that it is formatted and I have the additional software to run the automatic backup, it's a breeze and working well. One final note, I wish I could actually look at the mirror drive to see actual visual confirmation that items are in fact being mirrored there. Right now, I guess I have to go on faith?
REVIEWS
Reviewed by 69 customers
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Displaying reviews 1-20
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Pros
- Attractive Design
- Easy To Setup
- Easy to use
- High Capacity
- Quiet
Cons
- Software is difficult
Best Uses
- Additional Storage
- Backup
- File Transfer
Comments about Western Digital 2TB My Book Mirror Edition External Hard Drive:
This is a great external hard drive that has a nice backup feature that most others don't have. You can't beat it for the price.
- Primary use:
- Personal
Pros
- Easy To Setup
- Easy to use
- Quiet
Cons
Best Uses
- Additional Storage
- Photo Storage
Comments about Western Digital 2TB My Book Mirror Edition External Hard Drive:
Used to back up photos...simple to set up & use.
- Primary use:
- Personal
Pros
- Attractive Design
- Easy to use
- High Capacity
- Quiet
Cons
Best Uses
- Backup
- Photo Storage
Comments about Western Digital 2TB My Book Mirror Edition External Hard Drive:
I purchased this drive to serve as a mirror backup of my computer and full library of images for my photography business. It was very easy to install, as far as plug and play, but I did have to reformat to mirror RAID as it was not originally formatted as advertised. My one complaint was that the backup software for automatic mirroring of your system is not already functioning as the advertisement leads you to believe. I needed to purchase additional "rights" and download the code in order to make this feature work and it was not clear anywhere in the directions or description of the product that this would be the case. I basically figured it out by clicking and jumping back and forth to websites. I am still not entirely sure I needed to spend that additional money, but was left in a bind when the system prompted me to do so or otherwise it wouldn't continue. I wish I had known this on the front end. Otherwise, I am pleased with the product and now that it is formatted and I have the additional software to run the automatic backup, it's a breeze and working well. One final note, I wish I could actually look at the mirror drive to see actual visual confirmation that items are in fact being mirrored there. Right now, I guess I have to go on faith?
- Primary use:
- Business
Pros
- cheap
- Easy To Setup
- Easy to use
Cons
- Interface not perfect
Best Uses
- Backup
Comments about Western Digital 2TB My Book Mirror Edition External Hard Drive:
backup RIAD 1 at low cost.
easy to swap drives.
- Primary use:
- Business
Pros
- Attractive Design
- Easy To Setup
- Easy to use
- High Capacity
- Quiet
Cons
Best Uses
- Additional Storage
- Backup
Comments about Western Digital 2TB My Book Mirror Edition External Hard Drive:
Installation was easy. The drive was formatted as
RAID 0 instead of RAID 1 as advertixed, however conversion was easily accomplished. Drive is working fine, but I've only had it a coouple weeks.
- Primary use:
- Personal
Pros
- Attractive Design
- Easy To Setup
- Easy to use
- High Capacity
- Portable
- Quiet
Cons
Best Uses
- Additional Storage
- Backup
- Photo Storage
- Video
Comments about Western Digital 2TB My Book Mirror Edition External Hard Drive:
This is the second drive(s) of this kind I bought now. The first one I have been using for 2 years now. I hope these will never fail, however should this happened I would be able to use the unaffected drive (one of the two) to restore the data. In theory this is going to work, time will show. Anyway this is much more convenient than doing the regular back ups manually, or by a software.
- Primary use:
- Personal
Pros
- Attractive Design
- Easy To Setup
- Easy to use
- Portable
- Quiet
Cons
Best Uses
- Additional Storage
- Backup
- File Transfer
- Photo Storage
Comments about Western Digital 2TB My Book Mirror Edition External Hard Drive:
had to return the one i got and get another one since the first one was giving me errors all over the place!
Make sure you check it first before you put your precious data in it.
- Primary use:
- Business
Pros
- Attractive Design
- Compact
- Easy To Setup
- Easy to use
- High Capacity
- Quiet
Cons
Best Uses
Comments about Western Digital 2TB My Book Mirror Edition External Hard Drive:
i couldnt ask for anything more this thing is a dream
- Primary use:
- Personal
Pros
- Attractive Design
- Easy To Setup
- Easy to use
- High Capacity
- Portable
- Quiet
Cons
- None
Best Uses
- Additional Storage
- Backup
- Photo Storage
Comments about Western Digital 2TB My Book Mirror Edition External Hard Drive:
I use the drive for backup, especially of photos (in huge numbers) and documents. It is easy to use, large capacity, and--so far--reliable.
- Primary use:
- Personal
Pros
- Easy To Setup
- Easy to use
- High Capacity
Cons
Best Uses
- Additional Storage
- Backup
- Photo Storage
- Video
Comments about Western Digital 2TB My Book Mirror Edition External Hard Drive:
Third one Ive purchased. Note that the last two did not come setup as Raid1. I had to load the WD software application, but after you do that it is fairly simple to reconfigure the drive to Raid1. The Mirror is 2 physical drives, so as a Raid1 you have an automatic copy of your data on the separate drives, but only half the storage space (1 TB).
You can also keep it as Raid0, without the mirror, and have 2 TB.
Store all of my video on these.
- Primary use:
- Business
Pros
- Compact
- Easy To Setup
- Easy to use
- High Capacity
- Quiet
Cons
Best Uses
- Backup
Comments about Western Digital 2TB My Book Mirror Edition External Hard Drive:
plug play
formatted for RAID0, not RAID1 as expected.
works as per spec
a bit slow on read and write time in RAID1, but that is as expected.
- Primary use:
- Business
Pros
- Easy To Setup
- Easy to use
- High Capacity
Cons
Best Uses
- Additional Storage
- Backup
Comments about Western Digital 2TB My Book Mirror Edition External Hard Drive:
I am using this as a backup in a business that requires availability so the RAID mirroring is a key feature along with the capacity. Set-up is no-brainer and the unit is working as planned.
- Primary use:
- Business
Pros
- Attractive Design
- Easy To Setup
- Easy to use
- High Capacity
- Quiet
Cons
Best Uses
- Additional Storage
- Backup
- File Transfer
- Photo Storage
- Video
Comments about Western Digital 2TB My Book Mirror Edition External Hard Drive:
This book is used for file storage. It helps my computer keep working at a fast pace.
- Primary use:
- Business
Pros
- Functional and Safe
- High Capacity
- Quiet
Cons
- Difficult setup
- Not for average users
Best Uses
- Additional Storage
- Backup
- Photo Storage
Comments about Western Digital 2TB My Book Mirror Edition External Hard Drive:
Mirrored drives are the best for data protection. WD's implementation is ideal, however, falls short in a few key areas. When I first plugged in the drive, the software attempts to autorun but doesn't run correctly, the buttons are blank, and the text reads "undefined" and I could not proceed; however, a WD icon appeared in the system tray. So I click that and nothing happens, being a tech guy of course I right click and then navigated to the RAID Manager. Once in, I attempted to switch it from RAID 0 which is the default to RAID 1, however that failed because it could not "safely remove device" -- so I safely removed in manually and attempted again, it just read the same message back. So, I restarted, and attempted again, however, because of its previous failings, the MBR had to be rebuilt or "initialized" via the Logical Disk Manager in Administrative Tools. How is a normal user supposed to figure all this out?
I got it working fine in the end -- but there's no way anybody I work with could have figured it out, or my parents...
- Primary use:
- Business
Pros
- RAID 1 mirror option
Cons
- Minor setup inconvenience
Best Uses
Comments about Western Digital 2TB My Book Mirror Edition External Hard Drive:
I purchased this as a replacement for an earlier 1TB My Book external drive I've used for storing my photo files, that's now full.
The automated setup utility didn't work on my system (Windows Vista), but I had no problem loading the necessary individual utilities and drivers manually and getting it to work. I don't like the fact that it ships set up for RAID 0, which actually increases the risk of data loss in case of disk failure. But it's easy to reconfigure as RAID 1, which is what I wanted.
The case is slightly smaller and more cheaply made than that of the two older 1TB My Book drives I have, but seems sturdy enough. On the plus side, so far this drive seems to be running cooler and more quietly than the older ones.
- Primary use:
- Personal
Pros
- Attractive Design
- Easy To Setup
- Easy to use
- High Capacity
- Portable
- Quiet
Cons
Best Uses
- Additional Storage
- Backup
- Music Storage
Comments about Western Digital 2TB My Book Mirror Edition External Hard Drive:
I have bought two of these with both being setup Raid 1, which, essentially, affords me 1TB of space with triplicate copies (i.e. 4TB total). I use it for my massive iTunes music collection and have found there to be little to no lag with the music begin accessed from the external drive. Great product all around! :)
- Primary use:
- Personal
Pros
- Attractive Design
- High Capacity
- Quiet
Cons
Best Uses
- Backup
- Photo Storage
Comments about Western Digital 2TB My Book Mirror Edition External Hard Drive:
I bought this unit as a backup drive for my photo files. I had some problems installing the drive on my computer which has Vista home premium OS. The service support unit solved the problem. It works fine.
- Primary use:
- Personal
Pros
- Attractive Design
- Compact
- Easy To Setup
- Easy to use
- High Capacity
- Quiet
Cons
Best Uses
- Additional Storage
- Backup
- File Transfer
- Photo Storage
- Video
Comments about Western Digital 2TB My Book Mirror Edition External Hard Drive:
Quick easy set up and peace of mind knowing that everthing is backed up twice!
- Primary use:
- Personal
Pros
- Easy To Setup
- Easy to use
Cons
Best Uses
- Backup
- Photo Storage
- Video
Comments about Western Digital 2TB My Book Mirror Edition External Hard Drive:
This is a great hard drive. It is awesome that it automatically backs up your data and when a hard drive fails you can put a second in it the case and it will back up the first harddrive onto the second one.
It was supposed to come preset to raid 1 (to mirror the data) but it came set at raid 0 (stripped). Fortionatly the drive installs its drivers and you can easily reformat it to raid 1. One other problem was that the software disk that came with it didn't have any words in the program, it just said undefined whereever there was supposed to be text. Fortionatly, the software isn't what i bought the hard drive for.
Overall the harddrive is excelent.
- Primary use:
- Personal
Pros
- Attractive Design
- High Capacity
- Quiet
Cons
Best Uses
Comments about Western Digital 2TB My Book Mirror Edition External Hard Drive:
Seem to work fine. Even though it was supposed to have arrived with RAID 1 configured, it really was setup as RAID O so I needed to reconfigure it.
- Primary use:
- Business
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