Editorial Review
Package Includes: WDG1U5000 MyBook, USB cable, AC adapter with power cord, Quick Install Guide
The Western Digital WDG1U5000 MyBook is a small, simple, elegant and very easy to use portable memory tool. Just plug it in, and you've got plenty of room to back up and save your valuable data, music, photos, and movies. Plug it into your computer's USB 2.0 port and start saving -- it's all about simplicity. The 500GB hard drive will store either 142,000 digital photos, 38 hours of Digital Video (DV), 60 hours of HD or 200 hours of DVD quality video. It can also hold up to 125,000 songs in MP3 format, or 12,000 songs in uncompressed CD quality. Serial Transfer Rate(USB 2.0) - 480 Mbits/s (Max) Read Seek Time - 8.9 ms Track-To-Track Seek Time - 2.0 ms (average) Operating Systems - Windows 98SE/Me/2000/XP or Mac OS X 10.2.8 (or higher) Requires available USB port Physical Dimensions(HxLxW) - 6.71 x 5.6 x 2.25 (170 x 141 x 57.2 mm) Weight - 2.90 lbs. (1.32 kg)
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Customer Reviews
Never Fails to Fail 
2008-09-25
All these drives seem to eventually fail. For the money I saved no I have to pay for data recovery.
Solid Performer 
2008-09-21
Although the drive access is loud, this drive is a solid performer. As such, I have made this the standard external hard drive in my house. I will purchase several more for archive purposes.
Works great until it dies 2008-09-10
I have two of the 750 gB versions. All of the sudden accessing my files is extremely slow. In a panic I transfered my files off the first one and thought I was safe. Now my 2nd one is doing the same thing.
Fails to function 2008-09-07
Western Digital's 500 GB external HD fails to function now. We've had it for about two years. It has been used on XP and Vista machines. As of two weeks ago, the WD 500 is not recognized on any of the machines.
We're read about work-arounds, but they don't work. We've checked WD's website for new drivers or patches. Nothing is available. Worse yet, Western Digital doesn't even reply when they were contacted.
I know we won't buy any Western Digital product in the future. I suggest that you avoid buying this 500GB Ext. HD. Save your money.
In a way, the failed WD Drive was a blessing! It was hurtful to know that they didn't care about their product and their customer's needs. But, that pain lead us to Carbonite.com where we do backups (no size limitations) for $50/year. Yeah... far less than an external HD!
Drive quit working after a year! 2008-09-01
I'm highly disappointed with the performance of this drive. Its not even a year old in use and it seems to have failed on me. I did hear about excellent reviews when i bought this drive, but this practically fails to live up to its reputation. WD should claim better responsibility for such mechanical hazards than just giving their customers $15 off for the next purchase of $150. I would NEVER buy another WD drive after this bitter and sorrowful experience of possibly losing all my data.
I don't think i can recommend this brand or drive to any of my tech savvy friends as well. WD needs to also consider compensating for data recovery which is a roaring business these days, thanks to WD drives that quit on people. I wish we never depended on machines so much.
I didn't hope this would have lasted even 5 years, but it quit working just after 1 year is unacceptable. Please do check out reviews on other online site (which i verified) before making a final decision to go with WD.
Data loss 2008-08-31
Package Includes: WDG1U5000 MyBook, USB cable, AC adapter with power cord, Quick Install Guide
The Western Digital WDG1U5000 MyBook is a small, simple, elegant and very easy to use portable memory tool. Just plug it in, and you've got plenty of room to back up and save your valuable data, music, photos, and movies. Plug it into your computer's USB 2.0 port and start saving -- it's all about simplicity. The 500GB hard drive will store either 142,000 digital photos, 38 hours of Digital Video (DV), 60 hours of HD or 200 hours of DVD quality video. It can also hold up to 125,000 songs in MP3 format, or 12,000 songs in uncompressed CD quality. Serial Transfer Rate(USB 2.0) - 480 Mbits/s (Max) Read Seek Time - 8.9 ms Track-To-Track Seek Time - 2.0 ms (average) Operating Systems - Windows 98SE/Me/2000/XP or Mac OS X 10.2.8 (or higher) Requires available USB port Physical Dimensions(HxLxW) - 6.71 x 5.6 x 2.25 (170 x 141 x 57.2 mm) Weight - 2.90 lbs. (1.32 kg)
Worst hard drive ever 2008-08-30
It does not deserve any star at the rating. I had two Mybook 500 GB essential, 1 died after a year and 2 months, sent to Ontrack Data Recovery, could not retreive anything at all. The other drive just gave up on me 3 days ago, the drive was about 10 months old, I've called and emailed Western Digital for support, I have not hear anything from them for the past 2 days, their customer support is a nightmare. I need my data back badly.
BTW, The drive has only 1 year warranty. I just don't trust all these external drive now aday, they don't last very long, I just use these drive for temp storage, then back them up to DVD instead.
I will never never never ever ever ever buy WD drive again.
what a garbage product! 2008-08-28
I had two ebooks fail on me for two different locations. Both stopped being recognized after a year. The WD diagnostics comes up with "too many bad sectors". I have trused this "back-up" and put everything I have. I am sick to my stomach that I need to figure out a way to retrieve all the data. This product is a total garbage.
1 year and 4 months later = Fail 2008-08-22
This drive worked great for me for a full year and 4 months. I had it networked to my airport extreme for wireless downloads/backups/movie viewing. Died on me last night.
Fortunately, I had most of the critical data and mp3 purchases backed up on my computers, but this event has really challenged my view on external drives. If this type of failure is common, then I really have no desire for a 1TB drive or higher... at least not until solid state becomes an affordable reality.
Six months still running perfectly 2008-08-17
I bought this back on Feb 22 for only $124 brand new right here (Just went to check the records to make sure.)
I've read many of the one and five star reviews and I have to agree with the five stars. This drive has been running quietly, cooly and fast enough for me. It's almost full now so I came back to see if I can get another one and received sticker shock! $350! OUCH.
If you can find it for between one and two hundred bucks then go for it. I'm looking now at a 1TB cause I filled this thing up too quickly.
