Western Digital 500 GB My Book Essential 2.0 USB 2.0 External Hard Drive WDH1U5000N
Normal Price:$169.99
Our Price:$97.99
Availability:Usually ships in 1-2 business days
... For more information or Buy from Amazon.com ...
Manufacturer: Western Digital
Model: WDH1U5000N
Binding: Personal Computers
Publisher: Western Digital
Label: Western Digital
Special Features: nv:Capacity (GB)^500|Interface^USB 2.0|Spindle Speed (RPM)^7200|Buffer Memory^16MB|Average Seek (msec)^<8.9|Track-to-Track Seek Time (typical read, ms)^2.0|Data Transfer Rate on USB 2.0^Up to 480 Mb/sec|Temperature, Operating (°C)^5 to 35|Temperature, Nonoperating (°C)^-40 to 65
Features for Western Digital 500 GB My Book Essential 2.0 USB 2.0 External Hard Drive WDH1U5000N:
- Includes - External hard drive, USB cable, AC adapter and Quick Install Guide
- Smart and energy efficient - Turns itself on and off with your computer
- Saving and organizing your digital photo collection
- USB 2.0 Serial Bus Transfer Rate - 480 Mbits/s
- System Requirements - Available USB port, Windows 2000, XP, Vista, Mac OS X 10.4.8 or later
Small Picture
Medium Picture
Customer Reviews
Great product for price 
2008-08-16
this is a bare bones hard drive that works great. just plug in and start using. no bells, no whistles, this is for the do it urself back-it-upper. love it. even talked family in to buying one and they love it as well.
Worst product ever 
2008-08-15
As many reviewers are already commenting, this product is the worst I've bought in my life. 2 My book, one of 250GB and another of 500 GB failed in just a year in the same way as explained by most of the reviewers (from one day to another any computer is capable of recognize de drive)... The sad thing, is that aside of the useless warranty, you will surely loose ALL your data.... so is MORE THAN "BAD LUCK" as customer support people said to me..
PLEASE DO NOT BUY THIS PRODUCTS, NOT ANY "MY BOOK" hardrive, YOU WILL REGRET IT AND DON'T SAY WE DIDN'T TELL YOU...
Well, at least it still works... 
2008-08-12
I bought my WD drive (320 GB) without reading any of the reviews. There are many reviews saying that it dies after a year. I don't know, I guess I'll wait and see since I've only had mine about three or four months.
My main gripe is the way this damn thing works. It takes extremely long to put all your data on it, it comes with Autosync, which it INSISTS on opening automatically each time I turn on my computer, slowing my laptop down to a crawl. The instructions are virtually non-existant. Need help with something? Too bad. Figure it out yourself.
I was so frustrated that I've already bought a new external HD (because I don't trust this one and it drives me crazy) and the new Toshiba that I bought worked so much more smoothly. No software starts up when I turn on my laptop, no slowing it down and the program it comes with (NTI Shadow) is easy to use and contains detailed PDF instructions.
I give it two stars because it still works.
Bought the 320 GByte version of this model line 
2008-08-10
I purchased the 320 gigabyte version of this model line from a national office supplies store. For what I paid for it, I thought it was a good deal, to act as a backup for files, and not as an everyday drive. If the
files are very important, I burn them to a CD/DVD. I prefer Western Digital drives to their competition, since none of my WD drives have failed. I can't say the same for the likes of Maxtor, etc.
It's a HDD, it works. 2008-08-09
Not much to say because it is an external HDD. It works.
Plug it into my PC USB port and it turns on when it senses power on the USB port and turns itself off when there is no power on the USB port. There is no manual power switch.
On par with other external HDD's with respect to speed and noise.
No real positives, but no real negatives. Like I said, it's an external USB HDD. It works like it should.
Trying to figure it out! 2008-08-08
This elegant external hard drive, reminiscent of a book, is the perfect storage solution. It takes no more space than a paperback book. Collect two or more and they nest neatly together like volumes on a shelf. Installation is a snap because you don't really install this drive, you just plug it in and it's ready to use. A USB 2.0 simple connection offers convenience and compatibility among multiple computers. Dimensions - Height 6.5 x Length 5.4 x Width 2.1 Weight - 2.5 Pounds
A huge necessity. 2008-08-08
Having built quite the collection of programs and software on my allready full 200GB Hard Drive, the next step would be to purchase more storage. The My Book External Hard Drive did just that, and because of how simplistic it is, my furture purchases are gauranted for Western Digital.
Only a one year warranty!!! 2008-08-07
Do you see any warranty information on this drive? There's a reason for that.....it's only 1 year. I found out the hard way when mine died after 15 months. Seagate has 5 year warranties on their externals. Don't take the chance with a company that won't back it's product.
Thank You 2008-08-03
Loved the product, and was very easy to install and start using right away
Western Digital 500 GB My Book Essential 2.0 - USB 2.0 External Hard Drive WDH1U5000N 
2008-08-01
I bought this hard drive from Amazon. The power adapter was defective and the drive stopped working after about a month. Since Western Digital didn't have a mechanism to replace ONLY the adapter, the whole unit had to be replaced. The second one has been working fine ever since.
Western Digital 500 GB My Book Essential 2.0 - USB 2.0 External Hard Drive WDH1U5000N
