This is a great drive if you don't mind a lot of noise and vibration, or if you can keep it far away from your desk. It turned out to be unusable for me, it vibrated my whole desk all day and was quite noisy. I've been spoiled by a completely silent computer since Apple Silicon, I guess I can't use spinning drives any more.
Response from Western DigitalBy SM OLS, March 14, 2022
Hello,
We're sorry to hear your user experience with the WD My Book Desktop Hard Drive and appreciate your time for providing this review.
Best practice is to run diagnostics with WD Drive Utilities when a drive does not perform as expected or is behaving abnormally. We recommend avoiding USB hubs for external hard drives and therefore connect the drive directly to a USB 3.0 port on the computer. We have placed a few helpful links below providing more information for your convenience.
"Setting up and using WD Security and WD Drive Utilities": https://support-en.wd.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/13880
"Windows or macOS Cannot Find My Drive": https://support-en.wd.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/12455
"Why is my hard disk drive making noise" https://support-en.wd.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/16588/kw/noise
If the test is unfortunately inconclusive and you just purchased the drive then you should be able to return it to the place of purchase. However, if you are past their return policy, you can create an RMA through WD and replace the drive under warranty if necessary.
"How to get an RMA to replace a defective product, or obtain a power supply or USB cable for a WD product": https://support-en.wd.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/10336
All our products must pass our stringent quality standards before leaving our factory to be free from defects in materials and craftsmanship. We stand behind our products throughout the device's factory warranty period. We would appreciate the opportunity to assist you further. You can contact us by phone below and provide your details.
Need Help? Please see our "'Contact Us" page for information.
Purchased this. Unpacked and followed all the directions to the "T". Device is DOA out of the b ok. Will not power up. Cannot do a thing with it. Had to go to the local store to bail myself. Called customer servce, on hold for 33 minutes before I just hung up. Never aga ok n!!!
Response from Western DigitalBy SM OLS, March 15, 2022
Hello,
We're sorry to hear your user experience with the WD My Book Desktop Hard Drive and appreciate your time for providing this review.
There can a few causes due to which the drive has behaving abnormally. Such causes include the faulty USB port of the drive or the computer, faulty USB cable of the drive or the drive itself may not be getting enough power to spin up and register on the computer to show up. Unsafe ejection of the drive during any read or write operation can also result in the corruption of the drive's partition.
Best practice is to run diagnostics with WD Drive Utilities when a drive does not perform as expected or is behaving abnormally. We recommend avoiding USB hubs for external hard drives and therefore connect the drive directly to a USB 3.0 port on the computer. We have placed a few helpful links below providing more information for your convenience.
"Setting up and using WD Security and WD Drive Utilities": https://support-en.wd.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/13880
"Windows or macOS Cannot Find My Drive": https://support-en.wd.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/12455
If the test is unfortunately inconclusive and you just purchased the drive then you should be able to return it to the place of purchase. However, if you are past their return policy, you can create an RMA through WD and replace the drive under warranty if necessary.
"How to get an RMA to replace a defective product, or obtain a power supply or USB cable for a WD product": https://support-en.wd.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/10336
All our products must pass our stringent quality standards before leaving our factory to be free from defects in materials and craftsmanship. We stand behind our products throughout the device's factory warranty period. We would appreciate the opportunity to assist you further. You can contact us by phone below and provide your details.
Need Help? Please see our "'Contact Us" page for information.
Even with a Mac, a plug and play. Works flawlessly. Second WD drive I have bought. Only reason why I bought it is the first one is older than Moses, and started not working reliably, and it is not supported by WD any longer. I am confident this one too will last a long time with faithful service.
Slow... Less then 12T by 1fill terabyte. No light show you that it is on or off.
Response from Western DigitalBy SM OLS, March 15, 2022
Hello,
We regret to learn that your WD My Book Desktop External Hard drive is not performing as expected. Slow performance can be caused due to several factors like computer configuration, multiple applications running on the computer while trying to access or backup the data, fragmented disk which may also result in slow computer disk read capability, the total amount of data on a disk and the relative size of each file, encrypted backup or scanning of each file by anti-virus installed in the computer or USB port of the computer with which the drive is connected etc.
Stopping applications and software that use CPU and memory, keeping all the files in a single directory instead spreading them in multiple directories, connecting the drive directly to the USB 3.0 port of the computer and avoiding the USB hub while using the drive, etc. are the recommended steps to enhance the performance of the drive.
As a troubleshooting step, please ensure that the Hard Drive is connected directly on the USB 3.0 port of the computer and the files which you are attempting to copy are not in use by any other program of the computer.
Furthermore, you can also refer to the link suggested below and check for the Theoretical USB Interface Speeds to find out the theoretical speed given by different USB port types.
"Theoretical USB Interface Speeds": https://support-en.wd.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/5043
"Drive displays a smaller capacity than the indicated size on the drive label" https://support-en.wd.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/16656/kw/drive%20smaller%20capacity
All our products must pass our stringent quality standards before leaving our factory to be free from defects in materials and craftsmanship. We stand behind our products throughout the device's factory warranty period. Please contact us via the phone to ensure an overall good experience with Western Digital. We'd be happy to help.
Need Help? Please see our "'Contact Us" page for information.
Needed to upgrade to the newer version and the My Book was the choice and it worked perfectly right out of the box. Did have to set the unit on a cushion since the drive movement echoed enough to be noticeable.
This is loud - not sure I can keep something so loud in my office
Response from Western DigitalBy SM OLS, March 15, 2022
Hello,
We're sorry to hear about your user experience with the WD My Book Desktop Hard Drive and appreciate your time for providing this review.
Best practice is to run diagnostics with WD Drive Utilities when a drive does not perform as expected or is behaving abnormally. We recommend avoiding USB hubs for external hard drives and therefore connect the drive directly to a USB 3.0 port on the computer. We have placed a few helpful links below providing more information for your convenience.
"Setting up and using WD Security and WD Drive Utilities": https://support-en.wd.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/13880
"Windows or macOS Cannot Find My Drive": https://support-en.wd.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/12455
"Why is my hard disk drive making noise" https://support-en.wd.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/16588/kw/noise
If the test is unfortunately inconclusive and you just purchased the drive then you should be able to return it to the place of purchase. However, if you are past their return policy, you can create an RMA through WD and replace the drive under warranty if necessary.
"How to get an RMA to replace a defective product, or obtain a power supply or USB cable for a WD product":https://support-en.wd.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/10336
All our products must pass our stringent quality standards before leaving our factory to be free from defects in materials and craftsmanship. We stand behind our products throughout the device's factory warranty period. You can contact us directly via phone to address any questions or concerns to ensure a good overall user experience.
Need Help? Please see our "'Contact Us" page for information.