💾 WD My Book Essential 1.5 TB USB 2.0 Desktop External Hard Drive - Reliable Storage Solution Review

BAD: Cheapest electronics I've ever laid hands on. Taking this thing is like taking a piece of tofu. If the outer plastic was thinner, my fingers would go through. As another person commented, I had to "snap" the back panel when removing it from the box (the box itself was undamaged). When I plug in the DC connector I can feel the board on the other side moving. Finally, I have no idea why, but they now use a mini USB connector, which doesn't hold the cable as securely as a standard "B" size…

The latest update to the My Book Essential range is an example of how a previously good product can be ruined. Previous versions were WD drives in a book that looked like an external USB drive enclosure, with additional software preinstalled on the drive that can be uninstalled if you don't need it. I ordered the 1.5TB version expecting a larger version of this simple and useful product. The current My Book Essential line now blocks all access to the partition table on the hard drive, you…

3/5 stars as I love the design and it would look perfect on a bookshelf but considering the cable is about 3ft long - who has the length/space to leave it on a bookshelf and still plug it into a computer? Also, USB 2.0 is pretty slow, taking about 45 minutes to back up to TimeMachine with my Macbook Pro 100GB.

I liked the capacity but found it difficult to set up and use. It recovers your files and can rescue you in case of system crash.

This is my replacement for my dead Seagate FreeAgent Desk 1.5TB, Seagate is the worst HD I've ever tested, I had a WD 500GB and wanted try the seagate because of the price i never change my mind, worst decision ever, do you want a durable hard drive? Buy Western Digital or Maxtor.

If WD stopped storing its software on a hard drive and forced it to boot, that hard drive would get a much higher rating. Users really want a drive that looks like another hard drive in their system and NOT clunky software that slows down your computer and causes behavior that a user might not want in their computer. I already have a backup mode and only need disk space, not WD's sw. Once you follow WD's workarounds to wipe the software and reformat the drive (what a waste of time) it works…