Western Digital My Book Essential 3TB (WDBACW0030HBK) USB 3.0 External Storage Review

The Sorcerer · 03-07-2011, 03:37 PM

Western Digital sends us a large chunk of storage meat to evaluate.

A 4x 750GB platter based Western Digital MyBook Essential 3TB with USB 3.0 and 3 years of warranty in India.

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This is a media sample I received for testing purposes so don't be confused with the 2 year warranty period mentioned on the carton. As far as Asia-Pacific is concerned, its 3 years warranty period.

Specs, Packaging and First Impressions

The drive comes with a Usable space of 2.72TB preformatted in a single partition.

WD usually goes all-out carton packaging from all sides when it comes to My Book drives. The packaging is straightforward however its best if styrofoam/pre-formed cardboard packaging is used to properly secure the drive, especially a mechanical storage of a massive storage space (and premium).

My Book comes in the usual Glossy/Fingerprint Magnet shell with the base rear and top ventilated. The drive doesn't have any fans or any heat dissipation "system". The base comes with a couple of rubberized stands. The rear comes with a Power Button, a Super-speed port for your USB 3.0 cable provided with the drive, an A/C power port and a Kensington lock.

This external storage drive comes with WD30EZRS drive.

Western Digital started off by putting up Rotational speed as "IntelliPower" rather than the actual RPM. WD30EZRS is a green edition drive and Green Editions are known to have RPM of 5400RPM minimum. Green Edition drives are not just made primarily to be energy saving drives, but meant to be cooler and with massive amount of storage space (and massive storage space per platter) primarily meant for secondary storage. Lower RPMs usually impact on Random access times. All the more reason Green Edition drives are better off being used as secondary storage- both internally and Externally.

Coupled with a SuperSpeed USB 3.0 connector, there should little or insignificant difference between the MyEssential and the Standard SATAII drive (unless the controller on the SATA-to-USB 3.0 converter has certain issues of its own).

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Note: We had 2 of these to evaluate. The first one however reached the temps of upto 55 degrees celicus after 12 Power on Hours in an non-aircondition room with 31~32 Degrees Celius. The second drive was as cool as 33~34 in the same room temperature. The second drive had a power count hours of 6 when I received it so I kept her on for 12-14 hours more. The temperatures within favourable temperature.

Sample #1 after 12 hours of Power Count Hours

Sample #2 after 12+ hours of Power Count Hours

I wasn't really too sure why the first sample's temperature increased for just being powered up without any workload on it for 12 hours (WD Smartware was not installed as well). As far as performance goes, both drives are pretty much similar. The second sample didn't cross 44 degrees on load with 32C room temps after doing series of benchmarks and data transfers.

Test Setup and Benchmarks

I'd like to thank Gigabyte, Kingston and Western Digital Providing the resources for test bench setup that is used to evaluate other hardware.

Transfer Tests

The transfer tests gives an impression that its pretty much balanced. The Seagate GoFlex Slim is a single platter 320gig 7200RPM drive. For a drive that does atleast 5400RPM with 4X 750GB platters, that's pretty decent.
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AS SSD

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CrystalDisk Benchmark

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ATTO Benchmark

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HD Tune Pro Benchmark

AS SSD and CrystalDisk is where the drive shines the most, with a pretty decent Access time. This is a very quick drive for a 5400RPM drive to say the least.

Conclusion
Here's my concern: If your 3TB drive is used as your secondary storage rather than as a backup source and once filled the drive will have a huge chunk of data. A lot of people might be skeptical using a single large drive (even as a backup) especially when it contains a lot of irreplaceable data. There are times for any unfortunate reason a drive could one day stop working. Sure, 3 years warranty backs you up as far as the hardware is concerned, but who is backing you up if the irreplaceable data is gone? There's no fool-proof answer for this, is there?

Makes more sense as a backup drive. Even if any external source has the misfortune of not working one fine day, atleast you can RMA your drive and use the replacement to backup your main storage drive(s) again.

The drive came with the same utility as on Western Digital My Passport Essential (WDBACY5000ABK) 500GB USB 3.0 External Storage that I've reviewed earlier. The utility backs up only the media data and not the system data (Your operating system and your installed software). The format utility comes with XP compatibility mode as well, just do that you know.

Drives in U.S. comes with 2 years warranty, whereas U.K./India drives come with 3 years warranty period. With the lowest online retail price of Rs. 10,000-Rs. 11,000/-, those who need a 3TB solution would consider this drive.