Luminous Landscape Forum
Equipment & Techniques => Computers & Peripherals => Topic started by: DarkPenguin on April 24, 2008, 01:34:55 pm
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Looking at a 2TB Western Digital My Book to toss on my machine. Probably a firewire or usb version.
Anyone have any opinions?
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No direct experience, but all of the big box stores seem to have them on sale at least once a month.
You have to cross check prices both before and after the "rebates".
Jay
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I have a 500gig "Premium" Mybook. Sometimes it thinks it is a dryer and just starts spinning, and spinning, and...
I know nothing is accessing the drive, but the blue light is going round and round and the platter is spinning. I've caught it doing this overnight and the case was HOT. The only way to stop it is to shut the computer down.
I don't know what that is about, but luckily it doesn't happen often. Otherwise, it is quiet and problem-free.
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I have a 1TB and a 750 gig Mybook and (I'm no geek) they seem to work fine, but they take almost 60 seconds to mount..
(USB)
They are cheap.
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I have a 500gig "Premium" Mybook. Sometimes it thinks it is a dryer and just starts spinning, and spinning, and...
I know nothing is accessing the drive, but the blue light is going round and round and the platter is spinning. I've caught it doing this overnight and the case was HOT. The only way to stop it is to shut the computer down.
I don't know what that is about, but luckily it doesn't happen often. Otherwise, it is quiet and problem-free.
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=191692\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]
Virus scan or scheduled maintenance?
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I have a 1TB and a 750 gig Mybook and (I'm no geek) they seem to work fine, but they take almost 60 seconds to mount..
(USB)
They are cheap.
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=191705\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]
A 2TB 2 disk model can be had for something like $440. Would be nice to get rid of the sea of usb disks I have laying around.
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Virus scan or scheduled maintenance?
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=191720\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]
No. I've actually shut everything down when it happened, including processes, and the drive kept on spinning. There was no reason for it that I could see.
This problem occurred something like 6 times over a two year period, so it was rare.
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I've got one (300 GB), which I use to back up photo work files.
Seems to work okay but is SLOW (USB2). One thing I don't care for is that you have to install its software to get full functionality.
Going forward I am putting SATA drives in fan-ventilated enclosures for my off-computer backups.
Paul
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No. I've actually shut everything down when it happened, including processes, and the drive kept on spinning. There was no reason for it that I could see.
This problem occurred something like 6 times over a two year period, so it was rare.
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=191740\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]
I wonder if they automagically do raid or disk maintenance...
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I got a 1TB WD My Book for $215 two weeks ago. Seems to work.
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When my Toshiba laptop is on and has no activity for 10 minutes, the system defrag utility starts automatically and works until it's done or I interrupt it. You could check Task Manager processes to see what's checking the external drive.
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When my Toshiba laptop is on and has no activity for 10 minutes, the system defrag utility starts automatically and works until it's done or I interrupt it. You could check Task Manager processes to see what's checking the external drive.
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=192055\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]
I use Magical Defrag 2, but am sure it was not running. I checked the running processes, and it wasn't there. This is probably an anomaly with my system.
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Looking at a 2TB Western Digital My Book to toss on my machine. Probably a firewire or usb version.
Anyone have any opinions?
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=191643\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]
My first thought is that it's 2 drives made into one big drive. Not good, twice the chance of losing your data.
Seems to work okay but is SLOW (USB2). One thing I don't care for is that you have to install its software to get full functionality.
I simply plugged mine in and they worked. Maybe you are used one of those complex, fiddly Apple machines!
Not yet tried my My Books with my Mac, to see if there is an issue.
Going forward I am putting SATA drives in fan-ventilated enclosures for my off-computer backups.[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=191979\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]
I'm trying that at present. My first attempt with a 4 bay Icybox eSata drive was a complete failure, very noisy and wouldn't even recognize drives. Sent back.
Second attempt is with 4 separate enclosures with the Highpoint Raid card and no joy. It recognised the first one I tested and then refused to initialize the next 3 even though it knows they are there. Grr! Not only that the card had no Mac software on disc, only Windows, which is a bit crap, so without an internet connection, you'd be stuffed.
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My first thought is that it's 2 drives made into one big drive. Not good, twice the chance of losing your data.
It is but one can run it in raid 1 mode. So it ends up as 1TB. Provided it doesn't mistake which drive went bad it would give me two copies.
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I've got one (300 GB), which I use to back up photo work files.
Seems to work okay but is SLOW (USB2).
Apple seems to have an issue with USB2 support. I have a Sony laptop and a Macbook, and the Macbook takes about twice as long to copy files from a thumb drive as the Sony.
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I have 2 MyBook 500G drives. One drive is 1 year old and the other about 6 months. Both on e-SATA. No problems at all.
Fast access, respond very well to energy management commands from system (Windos XP).
Allan
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One system restore later and the godforsaken WD software is off of my PC. This is good as it means that I can use my PC again.
Here's a tip. Don't install the WD software.
I don't think I needed to install it. I'm pretty sure the Mybook World Edition works fine without it. You just can't get to it from anywhere on the planet.
So far it is pretty slow but considering where it is on the network I'm a little surprised it works at all. Going to move it to gig e switch along with my main PC.
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Well, my 500 gig My Book Premium just crapped out on me. That's when I discovered that my online daily back wasn't working properly, even though it happily reported it was.
First, I tried switching from USB to Firewire, and it worked! But not for long, and I couldn't get the last 3 weeks worth of files off.
Next, I tore the My Book to pieces (literally) to get at the hard drive inside, and installed it in a standard $30 enclosure. Once I hooked that up, I was able to get a bunch more files off before the I/O errors started up again. Eventually, I was reduced to turning it on, copy a single file, turning it off, turning it on and waiting for several minutes, copying another single file... I got all but 9 files back.
Someone tried to tell me that a unit like a My Book (or other dedicated external drive) would be faster than sticking a standard drive inside a standard enclosure. Not sure why that would be so, but I won't be buying any more "disposable" external drives like the My Book.
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I had a very bad experience with a WD MyBook, which I blogged about here: http://realworldworkflow.com/blog/?p=171 (http://realworldworkflow.com/blog/?p=171)
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I have a 500gig "Premium" Mybook. Sometimes it thinks it is a dryer and just starts spinning, and spinning, and...
I know nothing is accessing the drive, but the blue light is going round and round and the platter is spinning. I've caught it doing this overnight and the case was HOT. The only way to stop it is to shut the computer down.
I don't know what that is about, but luckily it doesn't happen often. Otherwise, it is quiet and problem-free.
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=191692\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]
same experience.....and i will not buy another one as thi si a royal pain in the --- when you want to shut it off or safely remove hardware and find that you can't do either.
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I got the NAS version. Seems fine but it is extremely slow. About the same speed, actually, as my linksys NAS that I retired when I bought the WD. Going to get a buffalo tech next.
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I hav a few of them and one crapped out on me recently. What a PITFA!! It wouldnt mount to disk and utilities wouldnt fix it so I ended up buying Data Rescue 2 and recovered all the files but... it renames them so I have tons of files with no preview and arbitrary filenames which pretty much makes them useless. Like anything you get what you pay for. I've previously had success using lacie portables as well as Maxtors. All firewire
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I have a 500gig "Premium" Mybook. Sometimes it thinks it is a dryer and just starts spinning, and spinning, and...
I know nothing is accessing the drive, but the blue light is going round and round and the platter is spinning. I've caught it doing this overnight and the case was HOT. The only way to stop it is to shut the computer down.
Ditto with mine. I can't wait to replace it with my esata Burly 4 bay enclosure.
Frankly, I think cheap USB drives are the bain of pro-photogs. They only seem to provide a false sense of security as backup for a cheap price. Its the modern equivalent of storing your photos in a shoebox in a musty, dank old basement instead of archival storage boxes in a climate controlled space.
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You know, I had 3 my books with the stupid circular light and they all died on me, I replaced them with 2 of the new type, don't know which model it is exactly, they have a long thin line type light on the front and so far so good. I also have 2 Maxtor one touch 4 plus drives too and have 3 backups of everything.
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Well that's just spiffy. Where were you people when I started this thread?
I guess I'll move "Replace MyBook and relegate it to backup status." to the top of the list.
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I've bought one Mybook, studio II edition firewire version, yesterday.
2X1TB in RAID1= 1TB drive
pros:
speed (altough not very scientifically tested)
35-40MB/sec for FW800 on a Macpro Quad
20MB/sec for FW400 on a MacBook (not Pro)
about 14MB/sec for LAN (via airport router's USB port).
very quiet, indeed. not too hot, also.
nice loking from the outside.
cons:
very poor construction quality (inside). flimsy.
despite claiming that is "user serviceable" it is very awkward to open and change disks.
btw you can only use wd "green power" models.
better don't think about replacing drives but in case of troubles.
the LED panel signals might look from Startrek but it puzzles me like some thing from "the 5th Element".
Just dunno what the hell it want to tell me, despite I've RTFM a couple of times.
hth
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My exp:
I bought a MyBook Premium Edition II. running with a Dell Dimension 9150 2gb ram, Xp Home.
Raid 1 configured with WD software. 2 Tb's= 1Tb.
I bought a Lacie firewire 800 to connect it. Despite the computer could detect the connection, never could read the files in MB. So, It's connected now by USB2.
I've found out shortly, that when I was working (PS) on files in Mybook, after sometime, the computer/WD-MB ceased to comunicate. I had to save my processed file to my desktop, restart the pc in order to re-establish comunication. Then save file to the Raid disks.
Very shortly, after this, I realized that when comunication was absent, the WD-MB would indefinetely be on even after the pc was turned off. Hot, hot, hot!
I realized this arrangement was flimsy and unreliable. I decided, to use the WD-MB as a remote storage unit. That is, never hooked up, until I'm finished with a folder and I'm ready to save it to the Raid array.
I first finish connection from Windows tool bar. Then I unplugged the usb. Finally I disconect power. Otherwise, there's something still on. (Remanent heat)
To connect it, I reverse this procedure. I hope I'm doing things safely (I'm no geek) Opinions anyone?
This way, the WD-MB stays cool and not spinning (of course, its shut off). I hope this way, I'll get my money worth at least for a few years of service as a remote raid storage unit .
I emailed a few times a few questions to WD. They take forever to answer, but apparently they always do. However, they answers seems to lack commitment and seem like being generated by software, not people(imho).
Would I buy WD again? Certainly not.
My 2 centavos.
Eduardo
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I just bought the myBook Studio II 2TB triple interface. I have it set up as a RAID 1 on a MACPro using serial 800. What a DOG. The funny thing is that I can hear the drives clicking away when I'm not even doing anything with the files on the drive. Then after about 10 minutes, the fan kicks on and is clearly the loudest thing on my system. For doing video work, it's unacceptable to even have it turned on (ie. noise).
1) How do I test the r/w speed to know if I have a lemon?
2) Is the fan supposed to run all the time even if it's not being used?
3) Is it supposed to emit irregular clicking sounds like it's working on something?
I'm not so sure I'm happy with my purchase...
Dave
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Funny thing is I've heard from so many people that the WD drives are the best and they wouldn't touch lacie or maxtor, which I have had loads of with no problems. what do you people think of Lacie and maxtor, I'm very happy with mine.
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I don't know who's drives lacie uses. (They do not make the actual hard drive. They package someone elses drive in their enclosures.) Actually, I'm not sure about Maxtor, either. When I was at Seagate they bought maxtor so I'm not sure who is designing the drives these days.
I've had drives by every brand fail. So I'm not all that concerned. (The big issue is packaging. If they get bounced around too much they really do fail early.)
As to external drives, some designs are better than others. The key thing with external drives is cooling. If it doesn't look like the drive can dissipate heat then you might have some issues. A lot of the really quiet (read: no fans) drives have short lives if put into heavy usage.
That's the thing with the WD drive. I don't think its cooling is very good. It makes up for that by being loud.
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Function follows form
My Mybook unit has 2 ventilation grills. One on top and one down. Extremely dumb design. The grill down is so close to the supporting surface (desk) that practically no air could get in from there. The one on top is fantastic for recollecting dust. I have mine on top of 2 small rods of wood to raise it half an inch.
Regards
Eduardo
I don't know who's drives lacie uses. (They do not make the actual hard drive. They package someone elses drive in their enclosures.) Actually, I'm not sure about Maxtor, either. When I was at Seagate they bought maxtor so I'm not sure who is designing the drives these days.
I've had drives by every brand fail. So I'm not all that concerned. (The big issue is packaging. If they get bounced around too much they really do fail early.)
As to external drives, some designs are better than others. The key thing with external drives is cooling. If it doesn't look like the drive can dissipate heat then you might have some issues. A lot of the really quiet (read: no fans) drives have short lives if put into heavy usage.
That's the thing with the WD drive. I don't think its cooling is very good. It makes up for that by being loud.
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=214758\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]
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As to external drives, some designs are better than others. The key thing with external drives is cooling. If it doesn't look like the drive can dissipate heat then you might have some issues. A lot of the really quiet (read: no fans) drives have short lives if put into heavy usage.
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=214758\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]
I have to laugh at this (with you, DP, not at you). If you look at the user reviews on Amazon for various hard drives, you'll see many people trashing the MyBook drives for failing, and other people trashing different drives because they are "too loud."
So if it has a fan, it's bad because it's loud, and if it's quiet, it's bad because it fails. So the drive manufacturers can't win. Funny.
I've had almost every brand of hard drive fail. I have several MyBook drives, and they seem to be working reasonably well, but I would highly recommend the Firewire interface if you are using it with a Mac. Much faster and more reliable than USB 2.0. They key with a MyBook drive (or any other external) is to realize that it will fail eventually, and thus shouldn't be your only backup -- or worse, your only primary storage.
As I wrote on a different thread this morning, I've been buying externals from OWC lately. Not the cheapest, but they seem well-built.
www.macsales.com
Good luck, and keep plenty of backups. Make a written backup plan and follow it.
--Ken
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I think my My Book World is going to go away soon. It claims life is good but it is running unusably slowly. I'm pretty sure a drive in it is on its last legs.
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The My Book's seem to be really good or really bad. I bought two at the beginning of this year and the first died within 2 weeks of usage. Wouldn't mount at all, causing me a huge amount of hassle. Thankfully found some really good data recovery software which recovered all but literally one or two photos from 750gb of data.
The second drive has been great so far. Completely silent and mounts instantly.
Incidentally the first drive was USB only while the reliable (so far) one is firewire.
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My 500 Gig Western Digital Studio Edition works as Time Machine Backup for my MacBook Pro connected by firewire 800.
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I dont think it makes sense to talk about which brand is best as they all do good and bad drives, rather you must talk about which drive specifically, I've had Lacie drives go down but never ever had a lacie rugged drive go down and cant find a single person online that has either, there's been failure's for the computer to see them when they are brand new but I can't find a single instance of them actually going down.
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I think it really is a question of "You get what you pay for". Cheap external drives are prone to early failure, mainly because of the interface chipset mentioned earlier in this thread. I have a LaCie Rugged Drive that seems stable, although I've had problems with LaCie before. G-Tech drives have a very good reputation although my 4 way corrupts data when I use eSata, don't know whether it's the drive or the computer. The best external drives I've ever had were the ones I put together myself, an Icecube enclosure (no longer available I think), or Icybox, and a decent drive. It's important to get an enclosure with the Oxford chipset.
The other thing to bear in mind is that statements like, "This drive has a Mean Time Between Failure (MBF) of 200,000 hours" is just marketing. IBM, when they manufactured possibly the best drives ever, even stated that drives can not be relyed on for more than one and a half years.
In that case hardware based RAID, levels 5 or 6, is the best way to go, but these arrays are big, heavy, expensive and not at all easily transportable. I would say a couple of small Lacie Rugged drives or similar, mirrored, would be the best solution on the road.
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I've had a lot of different drives (since 2000). I had 2 go wonky on me, replaced them, then the replacement had issues--none of us are still sure what is happening--it corrupts whole folders and individual image files but is being replaced with warranty. Luckily, I back up on a large drive that I keep elsewhere--plus any current (last year) are also on a dedicated internal drive. I would never trust just one drive. I replaced the last faulty drive with the easily available WD My Book with the long thin light--so far so good. If I was totally paranoid LOL--I'd back up to a third drive, but I'm not going that route.
Diane
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I go through about half a dozen external drives per year. None of them last notably longer than the warranty, and as often as not, they don’t last through the warranty.
After reading one of the comments above, I disassembled a 2 year old (failed) LaCie 1 TB drive and it has WD drives inside. I've had others apart and they contained Maxtor and Seagate drives. Like most other vendors, they use whatever gives them the value for a production run.
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I personally hate WD externals - noisy and slow ugh
I love Freecom and G-Tech; all my Freecom drives have lasted me aaages.
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Saw a WD 2TB external yesterday for $220. I forget where, i will have to look around.
WD is not very clear on ther web or in packaging what the different levels - Essential, etc. include. Mostly software variation as far as I can see?
Bought my wife a WD extrernal for backup on her eMac. Simple setup works well for what she needs.
I just buy internal drives and shove them in a DiamondMax external adapter with eSata. It is $50 at Best Buy, on sale at $35, but $20 after rebates recently.
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Looks like a dead drive. PITA but I decided that it wasn't a reliable device pretty early on (based on this thread) so it shouldn't be a huge issue.
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FWIW, I just bought an Intel NAS Server with capacity for 4 drives, 1 TB or 1.5 TB, Celeron processor, 512meg of ram.
With 2, 1TB, Hitachi disk drives it was $265 after rebate at newegg.com Supposed to be a pretty decent box for NAS and other use. Can't find it right now.
Just bought a gigabit router to go with it too.
Thee is also another SANS box for $205 with a WD Caviar Black 1TB.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDet...st=Combo.241314 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.241314)
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It appears to be out of warranty. So I ripped the good disk from it and stuffed it into my PC. Then I wrote an obscene email to WD that I eventually deleted. Fuck em. I'll just share things from this PC. Everything is backed up to Mozy Home (and less often to some USB drives) so it isn't a huge deal.
In other news while ransacking the house for a SATA cable I found my long lost Beatles 1 CD. (Which, btw, doesn't include Strawberry Fields or Revolution. wtf?) So there's that.
I swear to god this machine with 4 drives, a silly loud video card, 2 giant case fans and the stock intel hsf makes less noise than the My Book World.