Western Digital 250GB USB 2.0 Firewire External Hard Drive - WDXB2500JBRNN
250 GB - 7200 rpm - External - 1 Pack - Retail

I own 6 Ext HDs - Iomega crashed, this one stopped working (still need to confirm if it's an actual crash) but the other 4 Cavalry drives works GREAT. Getting ready to buy a 5th one, needed as a wedding photographer.
 
Was this review helpful?    

This is one external hard drive that you can actually turn off. It has a front power button that will turn it off. Unlike most other external drives, this one will stay off until you want it on. When it's on, it's almost silent. The USB 2.0 transfer rate is quite good - about 1/2 gig per minute. No heat problems, just gets slightly warm to the touch when it's on for an extended session. I've had other external drives, but after I tried this one, I ordered 2 more. I think these are becoming difficult to find.
 
Was this review helpful?    

It would have been better if I didn't have to replace it after a year. It was great until the year was up. I lost all my data that was in it. I don't recommend buying it.
 
Was this review helpful?    

The drive itself seems solid but I haven't used it too often yet. Pretty quiet but not dead silent; has a slight humming sound when working. The included Retropect Express is a great value but more complicated and extensive than what I need. The major complaint I have is against Western Digital, if you're a Mac user and call them for support, they don't know much about the Mac system and will give you useless answers.
 
Was this review helpful?    

Excellent piece of hardware so far. I purchased this back in September and have had no problems. Hookup was fast. It is quiet when running. I didn't install the software that came with it as I use it in a drag-and-drop enviro only. I don't like to install software if I don't have too. I also have a Maxtor 300gig EHD - the Western Digital is much quieter. I would buy it again...and probably will. ~~ Hooked up to a Toshiba Tecra M2 notebook running WinXP Pro.
 
Was this review helpful?    

Great drive, easy to set up, works fine. A little bit on the larger size compared to my Iomega Ext HD which means not as portable. Overall a good drive for the money for home use.
 
Was this review helpful?    

I bought this when it was on sale for $100. I worked out of the box with my Mac and PC, no need for drivers. I haven't used the backup software. It's quiet enough and vibrates a bit but putting a cloth under its stand fixed that. It spins itself down when not being accessed even if it's still mounted in the file system which is good for power savings if you're going to leave it on all the time.
 
Was this review helpful?    

After Hurricane Katrina, I will not take a chance of loosing files again. An External HD is a backup safe location. I have two flooded hard drives from Hurricane Katrina. Many Many files lost. I can not even recall all the files I had on those two hard drives. This Western Digital HD is a winner and simplified solution to any major lost of primary Hard Drive.
 
Was this review helpful?    

I already own one WD backup hard drive. I purchased the second device for my wife's computer. I appreciate the automatic backup function but really appreciate the one button push ability when I'm in a hurry and want to start the backup without waiting for the automatic. Excellent product and Buy.com got it to me in good shape, quickly.
 
Was this review helpful?    

I was not exactly sure about the firewire. I'm not all that savvy on some of the new stuff. All I had to do was load the software and plug it in my USB port. It was that easy.
 
Was this review helpful?    

I bought the unit to use as an offline backup device for my laptop that I could keep for recovery purposes as well as "near-line" storage to access and edit photos. I immediately removed the factory supplied partitions and configured four NTFS partitions; 1) To periodically backup the 60 GB Thinkpad laptop using the Thinkpad backup utility, 2)To do full NTBackups prior to installing patches or applications. 3) To do a scheduled weekly incremental NTBackup or a daily if needed, and 4) to save select documents and files for a scheduled backup to DVD-R media or for quick reload to the laptop's drive. It works nicely with all those options. I did not use the supplied backup software. Using the Administrative tools in XP Pro, I observed that I can can create either NTFS or FAT partitions on the drive with no problems. The USB port on the front is handy for plugging in a USB card reader to transfer files form my camera directly to the backup drive. It operates quietly and fairly quick. A full NTBackup of the laptop took about 90 minutes for 40+ GB with 150K + files. The laptop's drive is a 4500RPM drive, so may account for the time.
 
Was this review helpful?    

Bought this from Buy.com cheap! I use with the firewire interface. Transfers quite fast considering the interface limitations. I did not use any of the provided software as I only use it as extra mass storage. Great way to archive vidoes or store inmportant data during OS reinstall. XP asks to install drivers, but I instructed to "never ask". It sees it as WD combo hard disk. Quiet too considering it's outside the PC case.
 
Was this review helpful?    

The space is as advertised, performance is great, installation took 1 minute. I like the fact that there is a built-in USB hub in it, which is on even if the hard drive itself is turned off. only 1 usb port in front (I would have prefered both of them in front). Would have prefered if the AC-DC transformer was inside the enclosure, that way if I go to another computer, I would not have to carry the power supply with me, just the HDD box.
 
Was this review helpful?    

In this price category there is no better performance. This drive also has a USB connection to provide a link to an additional drive or flash drive. (Great benefit).
 
Was this review helpful?    

I have been extremely happy with the Great Western 250GB external disk drive. It was very easy to set up, it does automatic daily backups of my hard drive, and it provides a lot of peace-of-mind to know I have reliable backups of my system.
 
Was this review helpful?    

Not much to say except it's been working just fine. I also didn't install the backup software since others seemed to think it was lacking, but I may do it later. I just plugged it in and let Windows XP find it, and I was off an running. Relatively quiet and problem free. I'm glad I bought it.
 
Was this review helpful?    

This is an excellent piece of hardware. My only disappointment is in the USB2 funcitionality. When I try plugging in a USB2 flash drive, it is not recognized or mounted. I contacted WD tech support with regard to this issue, but so far, there has been no solution offered. For the price, the size and function of the drive itself, this is an excellent deal.
 
Was this review helpful?    

Excellent performance, good speed and works great. Windows XP Professional provides best support if connected via 1394 Firewire port for sharing on a network. When using the USB port connectivity for that single machine is fine. However if shared on a network, the drive directories cannot be recognized by othe XP machines on the network.
 
Was this review helpful?    

Nice and Quiet. Has Backup software that will burn to DVD. Awesome.
 
Was this review helpful?    

this was my first purchase with Buy.com so far have to say im satisfied, quick delivery and the product as promised..i would recommend the product and buy.com..
 
Was this review helpful?    

good condition, fast delivery and competitive price. I highly recommend buy.com !!!
 
Was this review helpful?    

This drive was easy to install on my mac, works great, the price was right. I have just been dragging an dropping my files onto it-- then easily was able to retrieve them at a friends house-- so it works great.
 
Was this review helpful?    

I have just recently purchased this item and its so easy to use, very quiet and works great !!! This is a great value for the money and its loaded with every feature that I need. I would advise anyone that needed an external hard drive to buy this one.
 
Was this review helpful?    

Very easy install. Plug it in and its done. Extremely quiet. I'm using this drive plugged directly into the PC's USB port with another 250GB external drive daisey chained to the additional USB port on the WD. Both drives work well. Data transfer to either of the external drives is as fast as the internal drives. I use both the external drives for large Music and Video files.
 
Was this review helpful?    

I use this with my PowerBook G4. I purchased this on a whim for I really needed the extra memory for video production. I can use this harddrive for capturing and editing on Final Cut Pro which has immensly improved my ability to edit and store more footage. I still have the fear that it might lose all my data but thats because I've never used an external hardrive before. When I purchased this it was 99 dollars and the best deal for the amount of memory. I'd recommend this product and buy.com for I've had no problems at all and it arrived on my doorstep.
 
Was this review helpful?    

I now have 3 of these (200, 250, 250 gb) stacked on my desktop. Very good pricing, very quiet, pretty fast in my book. Highly recommend! www.cheflifeonline.com
 
Was this review helpful?    

bought the USB 2.0 laCie 250GB & a Western Digital firewire/USB2.0 250GB HD (I already have 3 of these)> ran a test with both drives empty & the G5 2.5 Dual doing nothing but writing to the HD, one at a time- Western Digital (on firewire) copied a 14GB file in 13.5 minutes; the LaCie in 37 minutes; I'm sticking with the WD's; also, you can daisy-chain the WD's, not the LaCie USB 2.0; I like these drives, they stack well, run cool, no noise, & pretty fast
 
Was this review helpful?    

The drive runs great, just had to plug it in. The USB hub is a nice plus with the front-facing port. I had a problem getting Retrospect Express running on Mac OS X 10.4, as the version in the box is not compatible. It wouldn't even launch, even though it said it was installed properly. A quick trip to the mfg web site for the latest version took care of that, but that seemed like something that should have happened with installation. Otherwise a great buy for the cost!
 
Was this review helpful?    

Very easy to use out of the box. Connected the USB to a WinXP laptop and I was ready to go. Only issue was the first one I got didn't work. Returning it was a little bit of a hassle getting the RMA, but the Buy.com customer service folks were all kind, courteous, and helpful and I finally got it done. On sale, the drive was a bargain.
 
Was this review helpful?    

The capacity and price of this product are definite positives; however, the product itself and the accompanying backup software could be improved. One flaw in the product is the power cord; it has a tendency to disconnect very easily. (This is apparently quite common with WD drives, and it is a fairly basic problem that needs fixing in all of their products.) As for the Retrospect backup software, the version that came with the product was incompatible with my operating system. A free download from the Web site is offered, but its ease of use is lacking. Frankly, I have yet to complete a successful backup with Retrospect. But it's still early days....
 
Was this review helpful?    

So far so good! I've only had this a week but I'm very pleased. It was just what I was looking for to back up my photos, music, and home made DVD's. It's very quiet and having the option of using the USB or firewire, is a plus. I also like the fact that it's an additonal hub, so I can hook up more peripherals if I choose to. It's a little larger than the external LaCie drive I have, but not by much. Overall, it's I think it's a good product for a good price.
 
Was this review helpful?    

Buy.com got it to me on time. The drive worked right out of the box. Windows recognized it, even without installing anything from the accompanying CD. It works with USB 1.1 as well as the USB 2.0 now used on all machines. I was surprised at how quiet it is, too. <P> The backup software on the accompanying CD is okay. It takes a little care going through it, but once you become comfortable with it, it works fine. <P>
 
Was this review helpful?    

Over all this drive is worth every penny. I got it for a bit less than it is up for now. Pros: USB and Firewire, relatively good speed, cost per MB, known name brand. Cons: quite noisy compared to my Samsung 160GB drives. A bit clunky compared to Lacie drives I have used. Works great for a back up drive for me!
 
Was this review helpful?    

For someone looking for a streamlined backup system for a home computer, this is a good drive. We were just looking for a cheap, dependable empty drive for adding to our backup system at the office. We had to do a lot of work to strip off all the software that comes with the drive, but now it works great with our systems... at an excellent price.
 
Was this review helpful?    

this drive is incredibly simple to use. within 5 minutes i had it up and running, and backing up my computer. it works like a charm, and very quietly. it's nice to have the usb and fire wire option for connections.
 
Was this review helpful?    

I've always been a fan of Western Digital drives. I make a living with my computer and I count on my Western Digital Drives to be there when I need them. When I saw a 250 gig external Hard drive offered at a great price with a USB hub and free shipping, I had no choice but to buy. The package came FedEx within a week. I plugged it in and backed up my whole C: drive overnight. Installation took about two minutes.
 
Was this review helpful?    

I got the hard drive a couple of weeks back and I am pretty happy with it, is noiseless and has been pretty fast. Tested the performance over USB and seems pretty good. Good buy
 
Was this review helpful?    

I bought one because I saw it on sale and was looking for a good External HD to use for backing up my data that I had amased on dvds. This one was perfect! Works great and is very quiet. It was so good I bought a second one. I highly recommend it!
 
Was this review helpful?    

I found it EASY to use this Hard Drive!!! I mean the most difficult task was running the power & USB cables for this external hard drive. My desk is loaded and up against a wall and already has numerous cables. In spite of the desk top being loaded, I still found space for the drive under the rear of my CRT monitor. Then I put in the enclosed CD, loaded the software and connected the cable to the new drive and was downloading movies & TV shows right away!!!
 
Was this review helpful?    

Price was great, received quickly, simple to hook-up, my xp machine "saw" the drive immediatly, I loaded the back-up softwear and am getting familiar with it now - first glance, it's no more complicated than other back-up software, and may be quite a bit simpler. No brainer.
 
Was this review helpful?    

This was a true plug and play experience, very easy setup. As a bonus, this works great with the new Intel Duo Macs with Windows installed, since it is instantly recognized by either operating system at startup. Exceptional value.
 
Was this review helpful?    

This is my first external hard drive, a product I've been considering for a long time, but now I NEED one, because my computer is acting like it's about to die. The drive worked great with the Dantz software - just push a button, and it backs up. Couldn't be easier!
 
Was this review helpful?    

This drive was easy to connect and convert to NTSF format (for more flexibility in backups.) I find the drive fast and have connected it with both the firewire and USB interfaces. The USB hub is a nice plus. I take a lot of photographs and the extra storage has allowed me to put all my photos back on-line. I am glad I bought two. I also have two network drives and find that they do not always work right, hanging on the network, and they are much slower. Also, I have not had a western digital drive failure though I own and have owned several.
 
Was this review helpful?    

Although this drive is a bit bigger than some others, its versatility makes up for that. If you use the USB 2.0 cable (included) to connect to your PC, the drive acts as a hub offering 2 more USB 2.0 ports AND 2 Firewire ports. And if you use its Firewire cable (also included) to connect to the PC you still have one more Firewire port plus 2 USB 2.0 ports. It is quiet in use and doesn't seem to get too hot. Also it can be turned off without having to go through the "safely remove hardware" routine which is a plus. However, when it first fires up it shows up with just a 32GB(?) FAT32 partition so you can only transfer files <4GB in size. As I am running WinXP and I need it to store video files larger than this, I reformatted it as NTFS and now everything works fine. I guess they did this so that it would work with earlier versions of Windows, but finding out how to reformat it needed a bit of a hunt in Windows help. If you need more USB ports (and who doesn't?) get this drive.
 
Was this review helpful?    

So far so good. The only problem with this drive is the power cable. It is not a very good connection and comes out VERY easy. I have this drive in my "computer closet" and I have to always check it to make sure the cable is still in. Transfer speeds are great. I have it hooked in to my server and accessed via my home network to my HTPC and I get a delay when I first start up shows for the first 3-5 seconds and after that I can't tell the show is stored on a remote HDD.
 
Was this review helpful?    

I actually got this external for a great price, on sale, and it was worth every penny. Plug-and-play, fast response, easy compatibility, convenient design (flat to stack or legs to stand upright).
 
Was this review helpful?    

I think this is good deal to utilize your important datas and your movies. I have purachsed this product 1 week ago...and this is working fine with me. But sometimes it bugs me a lot with the irritating sound of fan. When it runs it automatically stops and starts the fan...although every thing apart from that is perfect. I think 250 gigs in 100$ is a good one. It comes with two extra USB wires which will be useful for your desktop. Go for it!
 
Was this review helpful?    

Not a techno geek, just a business owner looking to back up a server. This worked great right out of the box. Just plug and copy.
 
Was this review helpful?    

I purchased this device to help with storage on the main PC in my home. I found the setup easy and the transfering file quick and painless.
 
Was this review helpful?    

the HDs themselves are a good buy, but the firewire cables that can with it are really cheap and barely even stay put. I was forced to use the USB cables instead because the firewire cables were so loose it didn't even recognize I had a HD plugged in... so if you're going to buy this make sure you go pick up some higher quality firewire cables...
 
Was this review helpful?    

It is a true plug and play device. Have the choice of Firewire and USB 2.0 is great. The addition of having essentially a USB hub built right in makes it very convinience and handy. The only gripe that I have was turning the unti off. With the blue light on the front still on and/or flashing, you don't know if the drive is off and safe to turn off. I would recommend the drive to anyone who is looking for a great value for an external hard drive. The option for using the one touch backup is a plus.
 
Was this review helpful?    

email > Old Emails > Business

Computers > Shop by Brand > Western Digital > Dual-Option Backup