Right-o, start of my second proper review, of something actually worth buying...
Like everyone at some point in life, i felt a bit crampt, my computer's hard drive was overflowing with useless junk, and i had nowhere to put anything new, so as i use a iMac, the only storage solution for me, without resorting to radical measures, was to delve into the external storage market.
i had a quick browse around, and being a uni student, money is of up most importance to me, so being a sterio-typical uni student, i actually chose the cheapest.
i picked the WD elements 2Tb EHD.
i wasn't overly keen on this, i am not WD's biggest fan, from past experience samsung tend to be quiet and hitachi tend to be reliable, maxtor tend to be cheap, and seagate and WD tend to die premature deaths.
however, as stated before, money was an issue, and i figured WD deserved a fresh chance to prove themselves.
so, lets have a look at the package that arrived:
rather a standard affair in the box department, nice, clean modern lines, plenty of information in plenty of languages (although if i was going to be picky, id say it would be nice if it was all in English, and they produced a different box for a different country, as England has different plugs from the rest of the world anyway)
a pleasant surprise, for the cheapest i could find, i expected it to come in a bland, and boring box, but no, they haven't completely skimped on the packaging, good start from WD.
...time to open up the box and see how well it is packed:
again, rather neat and tidy, and well thought out, every item has its place, and the box is (in my opinion) sufficiently protected to survive a typical trip through the post or courier service.
so lets do away with the box and see what we're left with:
not included in the image is a small instruction book, basically explaining how to plug it in, in multiple languages, and that if being used with a mac, it needs reformatting...
lovely, simple, great for the n00b, useless for the expert, but handy to include anyway.
so lets get rid of the other stuff and have a look at it
it is a rather clean and smart looking little thing, nice rounded corners, with smooth plastic edges and rough plastic top and base
the WD logo quite subtle, but at the same time quite apparatus on the top of the device.
quick look at the under side of it, for no particular reason, but these should be stackable if that is your intention, nice soft rubber feat, and rough plastic top of another drive should hold together nicely, although just to be safe, id not recommend more than a 3 tier stack, in case of vibrations or heat.
so there we have it
time to test
im not one to take screen shots of boring programs that measure speeds ...its a USB 2 device, it is limited irrelevant of the drive in it, to USB 2 standards.
the drive though is utterly silent, ...even at load, it only makes a very quiet humm noise, no clicks, no grinding, like my laCie EHD, it is rather nice, maybe i judged WD too quickly, but after 5 drives, and 5 that died on me, i had kind of made my opinion.
however, this drive, for their external drive range anyway, has changed my mind
i will also add, another reviewer from another site, said a downside to this drive was that it didn't come with any bit locker software, or encryption software, i say good, i don't want that rubbish on my drive, it takes up valuable space i can fill with clutter.
so, to conclude:
The good
Nice looking
Cheapest
Well built
Decent quality box
Silence! finally!
The 'alrite'
multiple languages
No E-SATA
The bad
nothing really
any questions, comments, etc all welcomed
Like everyone at some point in life, i felt a bit crampt, my computer's hard drive was overflowing with useless junk, and i had nowhere to put anything new, so as i use a iMac, the only storage solution for me, without resorting to radical measures, was to delve into the external storage market.
i had a quick browse around, and being a uni student, money is of up most importance to me, so being a sterio-typical uni student, i actually chose the cheapest.
i picked the WD elements 2Tb EHD.
i wasn't overly keen on this, i am not WD's biggest fan, from past experience samsung tend to be quiet and hitachi tend to be reliable, maxtor tend to be cheap, and seagate and WD tend to die premature deaths.
however, as stated before, money was an issue, and i figured WD deserved a fresh chance to prove themselves.
so, lets have a look at the package that arrived:
rather a standard affair in the box department, nice, clean modern lines, plenty of information in plenty of languages (although if i was going to be picky, id say it would be nice if it was all in English, and they produced a different box for a different country, as England has different plugs from the rest of the world anyway)
a pleasant surprise, for the cheapest i could find, i expected it to come in a bland, and boring box, but no, they haven't completely skimped on the packaging, good start from WD.
...time to open up the box and see how well it is packed:
again, rather neat and tidy, and well thought out, every item has its place, and the box is (in my opinion) sufficiently protected to survive a typical trip through the post or courier service.
so lets do away with the box and see what we're left with:
not included in the image is a small instruction book, basically explaining how to plug it in, in multiple languages, and that if being used with a mac, it needs reformatting...
lovely, simple, great for the n00b, useless for the expert, but handy to include anyway.
so lets get rid of the other stuff and have a look at it
it is a rather clean and smart looking little thing, nice rounded corners, with smooth plastic edges and rough plastic top and base
the WD logo quite subtle, but at the same time quite apparatus on the top of the device.
quick look at the under side of it, for no particular reason, but these should be stackable if that is your intention, nice soft rubber feat, and rough plastic top of another drive should hold together nicely, although just to be safe, id not recommend more than a 3 tier stack, in case of vibrations or heat.
so there we have it
time to test
im not one to take screen shots of boring programs that measure speeds ...its a USB 2 device, it is limited irrelevant of the drive in it, to USB 2 standards.
the drive though is utterly silent, ...even at load, it only makes a very quiet humm noise, no clicks, no grinding, like my laCie EHD, it is rather nice, maybe i judged WD too quickly, but after 5 drives, and 5 that died on me, i had kind of made my opinion.
however, this drive, for their external drive range anyway, has changed my mind
i will also add, another reviewer from another site, said a downside to this drive was that it didn't come with any bit locker software, or encryption software, i say good, i don't want that rubbish on my drive, it takes up valuable space i can fill with clutter.
so, to conclude:
The good
Nice looking
Cheapest
Well built
Decent quality box
Silence! finally!
The 'alrite'
multiple languages
No E-SATA
The bad
nothing really
any questions, comments, etc all welcomed
