[MW Forums]

WD's newest My Book storage device has four interfaces and capacities up to 1 terabyte. more

[mDa]

Is it in an aluminum enclosure, or cheap plastic like the MyBook Pro?
If it is the former, and I'm purchasing it ASAP.
I need a huge storage bank for Time Machine when Leopard arrives, and this one just looks superb and gorgeus.

[leicaman]

So did anyone tell them Time Machine was coming? Did they bother to make their backup software better?

[OM_user]

Quote:

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So did anyone tell them Time Machine was coming? Did they bother to make their backup software better?

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Huh? That seems largely irrelevant. I think Western Digital, and most other HD manufacturers are probably giddy with glee over the coming of Time Machine. They're going to be selling a lot of hard drives after Leopard hits. I doubt they care much whether you use one of their drives with their own home grown software or with Time Machine. I'd be willing to bet they make way more money on the sale of the drive than anything they bundle with it.

[sandbag1]

I wonder if it will work with PPC Macs? I had to bring back a 500gb My Book when I couldn't make a bootable backup for my PPC iMac. I searched WD FAQ's and found THIS.
"Problem:
The WD My Book Premium II or Pro II hard drive will not function as a boot drive when connected by FireWire (1394a and 1394b) to PPC based Apple computer. The WD My Book Premium II and Pro II will boot under Intel based Apple computers when the Operating System is installed from installation disks.
Cause:
This is caused because the Apple ROM code and Open Boot architecture check for the first SCSI LUN to boot from. The WD My Book Premium II and Pro II architectural design uses the first SCSI LUN as the "communication" port to talk with the firmware of the drive.
Resolution:
There is currently no resolution to this issue."

[HouseSold]

As much as I like WD, I bought an external case with eSata, 1394a, 1394b and USB 2.0 for $99 and a Seagate 500gb Sata drive for $99 and never looked back. Sata drives slide in, in case I want several as back ups. Formatted drive for OSX.
Case here (its gorgeous in black anodized): http://www.cooldrive...00andusb21.html
Sata drive here: http://www.bestbuy.c...d=1172880157783
Data flies at 1394b or eSata speeds; unbelievable price/performance ratio.
This company has more cases to choose from than anyone I've ever encountered.

[MacHed]

Western Digital drives are junk. I bought the My Book Premium with USB 2 and FireWire 400 ports to use as a backup. I brought the drive home and plugged it in via FireWire and nothing. The drive wouldn't mount. I tried the second port and still nothing so I connected it with the USB and bingo the drive mounts. I prefer FireWire so thinking that this may have been a bad egg that got through I exchanged it. The second one worked with the FireWire connection and I dismissed the incident as a fluke. I then went to daisy chain the rest of my FireWire drives and none of them mounted. I then disconnected the My Book and re-connected it using the second FireWire port and it wouldn't mount. I switched back to the previous port and it worked. Since I need to daisy chain my drives together I returned the My Book for a refund. Two drives in a row were bad and after researching it a bit on the internet it seems to be a common problem. Most people that use these drives hook them up to PC's via USB and never use the FireWire ports. Western Digital is aware of the problems with the FireWire support for these drives but chose to ignore it since a small fraction of consumers who buy these drives actually use the FireWire port. If more people actually used the FireWire ports then I believe there would be enough complaints to merit a news story on the problem. I am NEVER again buying a WD external drive and I advise anyone that asks me to steer clear of WD. I recommend the OWC Mercury Elite drives or like the poster above, buying a case and a Seagate (5 year warranty) drive and assembling your own.

[bwanderson]

Quote:

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I wonder if it will work with PPC Macs? I had to bring back a 500gb My Book when I couldn't make a bootable backup for my PPC iMac. I searched WD FAQ's and found THIS.
"Problem:
The WD My Book Premium II or Pro II hard drive will not function as a boot drive when connected by FireWire (1394a and 1394b) to PPC based Apple computer. The WD My Book Premium II and Pro II will boot under Intel based Apple computers when the Operating System is installed from installation disks.
Cause:
This is caused because the Apple ROM code and Open Boot architecture check for the first SCSI LUN to boot from. The WD My Book Premium II and Pro II architectural design uses the first SCSI LUN as the "communication" port to talk with the firmware of the drive.
Resolution:
There is currently no resolution to this issue."

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I suppose it's POSSIBLE that what they're saying is true, but it sounds like a load of horse pucky to me. Any firewire drive should be bootable on a PPC Mac as long as it's formatted correctly. Intel Macs need a GUID-formatted drive to boot from. PPC Macs need an Apple Partition Map formatted drive to boot. You can find this by opening the Disk Utility and selecting the logical volume (not the partition) and clicking "Partition" and then "Options". There will be three options - GUID, Apple Partition Map and Master Boot Record (for booting Windows/DOS). Choose Apple Partition Map and repartition the drive however you like. Mind you, I don't have one of these drives to test this on, and I'm not about to spend that kind of dosh on one, so if it doesn't work, it's not my fault.
Honestly though I'm with HouseSold...just buy an enclosure and a hard drive separately. You'll probably save money, plus it'll be much easier to swap out drives if (when) your drive eventually dies.