Western Digital My Book World Edition Gigabit Ethernet Shared Storage (Single Drive)

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Customer reviews

review by: date: 2008-11-28 rating:
Kit's OK, WD support is poor, mac users forget it
This is the first WD network product I've purchased. It's reasonably OK to set up on a PC, but mac users beware. I asked WD how to access it via a mac on a mixed PC / mac network, and, after a delay of 4 days was told "the drive should work if you configure it properly, unfortunately we designed the drive the network drive for Windows only, we do not provide support for Mac configuration"

So if you can DIY, you should be OK. But don't ask WD for support

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review by: date: 2008-11-15 rating:
Not the fastest....
Bascially I bought this to hang more Network Attached Storage off my router at home.

THE 80GB Ximeta drive I already have requires proprietary software and drivers as does this Western Digital MyBook out-of-the-box.

However a little sniffing around on the internet show that this drive can be configured as a stand alone FTP server using the Linux install that is already controlling the drive.

A great piece of kit if you are looking for access via any device capable of running an FTP client. (PC, iPod Touch etc.)

Very happy with my own home FTP server.

Knowledge of Linux and SSH required to unlock the real power of this little box.

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review by: smokey date: 2008-10-25 rating:
Well it works for me!
In contrast to many reviewers mine has worked consistently well since I purchased it about 1 month ago. I use it to store my video projects and scanned documents (saves on having a filing cabinet with loads of paper). I love the fact that I am able to access it through MioNet whilst I am away from home, and it appears as just another drive on my computer - brilliant. The file sharing facility works really well too, and I have been able to use the remote desk top feature to back up files across the internet to My Book.

Unlike other reviewers I have not tried to back up a whole drive onto it, but for the purposes that I bought it for it has worked perfectly, and the MioNet software is very neat.

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review by: Silva Bokis date: 2008-09-07 rating:
BEWARE - Does not give gigabit speeds
The MyBook World Edition boasts:
"Gigabit Ethernet Connection - High-performance 1000/100/10 compatible Ethernet connection"

Well, it may have a gigabit ethernet connection but due to the slow processor and low memory of the embedded linux controller you will only get 4 to 6 MB/s transfer speeds rather than the 20+ MB/s you could reasonably expect.

I initially thought I was seeing these slow speeds because the MyBook World was attached to the network via the hub on my braoadband router rather than a switch - however, added a couple of the excellent Netgear GS605 5-Port Gigabit Ethernet Unmanaged Switch to my network - a 15 minute job that vasty improved network performance for everything apart from the MyBook World which still chugged along at 4.8MB/s. Some research on the Net confirmed that this is the best performance I am going to get from this device.

So why 3 stars and not 1 star? Basically, the MyBook World is much cheaper than any other form of network attached storage I could find. I wanted it for backups and, after the initial sloooow back up of all files on a PC, the incremental backups are acceptably fast as only new/changed files are transferred.

So it does what I want it to - but much slower than the product description implies.


review by: date: 2008-09-04 rating:
Western Digital ..... What have you done ..... !!
There was a time when I would whole heartedly, and without reservation recommend Western Digital products, especially their drives. Well, NOT ANY MORE.
Before purchasing I read all the reviews here, and foolishly, I thought that they were either over critical or written by numpty's. Now, I feel like a total doughnut, (apologies to all) and that any positive (Greater than one star) review is probably written by a WD employee.
Top marks to Amazon not only on their speedy delivery, but also their quick replacement of the first drive I received.
The bearing on this was so noisy it actually drowned out the screams and shouting of my three children fighting. (Maybe Mothercare should sell these ?)
Que sera, sera I thought, and eagerly awaited the replacement. I plugged it into my router and fired it up. No noise, all ok so far. The link lights on the back of the MyBook don't work, but hey, I pressed on and updated the firmware. With heart in mouth and 20 cigs later the update completed and all seemed well.
Now, to install the included s/w.
To cut a long story short, DON'T BOTHER.
If you wish to access this drive remotely, setup up a VPN connection through your router if you can. MioNet is absolute pants. Stay away; you've been warned. What was WD thinking when they included this !
As for the Backup s/w this was just so unstable/unreliable for any peace of mind, I would suggest that £140 can buy a lot of blank DVD-R's.
"Not to worry", I said to my wife after 30 minutes of profound swearing, I'll use the Shared Storage Manager web Interface and use the MyBook just as a central storage for all to access.
Break out the swear box again !!!
The limitations of this are to the point of ridiculous. I was unable to even add two of my children's names as users, due to not being between 5 & 20 characters long. This also applied to creating shares with folder names including spaces. Aaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh !!!
I, like others have emailed WD numerous times, and have yet to receive a reply one month later. Thx for your concern and customer care WD.
Now, I have since dismantled this expensive paper weight and stuck the drive in an "ICY BOX", wiped the partitions and reformatted the whole thing NTFS. All is well :o)
So, the best advice I can give is STAY AWAY.
The Limitations of this unit are too great to list, and the supplied s/w is shameful at best.
DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY OR YOUR TIME...

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