WD brings external hard drive biz to book

Hardback-shaped disk

By Tony Smith, 14th March 2006

Hard drive maker Western Digital clearly hopes to appeal to more literate computer users with its latest external hard disk: between 160GB and 500GB of back-up space and media storage capacity dubbed My Book that "sits naturally on desktops and bookshelves", according to the company.

Western Digital My Book HDD

WD is offering two versions of My Book. There's a Premium Edition that incorporates a USB 2.0 port and a pair of Firewire 400 connectors. Don't want to pay for the Firewire ports? Then the USB-only Essential Edition's for you. You won't get the Premium-only back-up software, though.

Apart from the interconnects, the only other difference between the two versions is the colour of the big backlit power button on the front: the Premium model's is blue, the Essential Edition's is Xbox green to go with both drives' charcoal black 16.8 x 13.9 x 5.6cm casing.

Both units incorporate 7,200rpm drives with 16MB of cache memory. Alas, the disc specs mean the units aren't bus-powered, so with the need to hook the units up to an AC adaptor, My Books will probably spend more time sitting next to computers than up on the shelf between Milton and Nietzsche.

WD didn't say how much the various My Books will cost, but the Premium Edition ranges from $180 to $350, while the Essential Edition will set you back $150 to $330. Capacities on offer are 160, 250, 320, 400 and 500GB. Not all are available now, but they should all be shipping by the end of the month, WD's website indicated. ®

Western Digital My Book HDD