Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 7 x 4.9 x 1.4 inches ; 2.2 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B002QEBMB4
• Item model number: WDBAAU0010HBK-NESN
• View Full Product Details

Being a photographer keeping my images safe is my top priority but because I often shoot in a RAW format it means that my images take up a lot of space.  My current computer system is probably around 5 years old so unfortunately I am stuck with a computer with a 125 GB hard disk drive.  This hard drive would be more than ample for everyday use but I often shoot around 8GB of photos each and every shoot I do and when you take into account I shoot between 3-5 shows a week then my small hard drive becomes a problem.

For this reason I had to get an external hard disk drive.  I took a while to research some and came across a few that I liked. There were some hard drives that were really thin and would be excellent on the move as they were so small, however these hard drives had a little more memory than my current hard drive, these weren’t going to last me long.

The hard drive that I decided to go with was the western digital elements 1TB drive.  The reason for my choice was that the storage space was massive and the hard drive was well priced.  My initial purchase was from eBay but the seller sent me out a Spanish version for some reason, so I sent it back and purchased the drive from amazon.com where it was the same price.

The Review

The Western Digital elements hard disk drive is much smaller than I expected, it’s roughly the size of a small book and weighs around the same.  One of the best features I found with this hard drive is the noise of it, it makes next to none and I constantly check to see if its plugged in. the silent noise levels is a great advantage of having this hard drive as I have tested some in the past that are extremely noisy which becomes a big annoyance when you have to live with the thing.

The power LED is located at the back of the hard disk drive which is another excellent feature of this external hard drive.  If you look around you chances are that there are flashing lights where ever you look, when it comes to televisions or computers these lights stay on even when you’re not using the device, this becomes annoying when you are trying to do something else and not use your computer.  The LED on the back of the external hard drive means that we constantly don’t have a red blinking light in our face.

The drive connects to your computer via USB 2.0, which gives you a constant high transfer speed.  I often transfer large files to my hard drive and get a transfer speed between 30MBps and 37MBps which is extremely fast for USB 2.0.

The device is plug and play which means that you just connect the hard drive up to your computer and it’s ready to go, there is no need for any software installation which I found very useful.

The Western Digital Elements hard disk drive is an excellent external hard drive and since writing this review I have purchased the 2TB model which has allowed me to store even more of my images.  If you’re looking for a hard disk drive which is reliable, affordable and easy to use while having tons of room for storage I highly recommend the western digital elements hard disk drive.

The Item is currently on sale at 50% of the RRP at Amazon.com

Customer Reviews

Gaurav kumar says:

I wanted something simple as most hard drives these days come with their annoying built in software which cannot be deleted (like WD Essential Edition). This is a hassle free drive and is not bundled with any of the extra software which is exactly what I wanted. You simply plug it in and it works. It can easily be formatted to work with macs as well. I’ve been using WD hard drives for years and I own several models of the “essential” and “passport” editions. They are very reliable.

This elements hard drive has a sleek and sexy, minimalist design. It is well built overall and constructed of durable plastic. There is a slot for the USB cable, a slot for the power adapter and a tiny circular white light which blinks when it is in use (the light is not overwhelming as some hard drives can be). All three of these features are on one side/face of the hard drive (as shown in the picture), so if you have this plugged in and it is facing away from you, you won’t see the light at all. This doesn’t bother me but it may be a turn off for some people.

When in operation, it is very smooth and quiet compared to other WD hard drives I own. This may be due to the fact that it is closed entirely and there are no holes for ventilation as in other WD models. But this doesn’t bother me because I just use this as a backup and don’t need it on all of the time.

Karan Madan Says:

This is a great external hard drive for expanding your digital storage capacity. I was in need for added storage and wanted to go for the 2TB WD Elements External Hard Drive. I wasn’t really happy with the prices I was seeing for the 2TB hard drive, and that is when I decided to check up on the 1.5TB drives. WOW! I was amazed at the price Amazon was offering these drives and I got two of them. Yes, two! (My work requires that kind of storage space)
I got 3TB worth of storage for the price of a 2TB External hard drive!

That said, let us talk about the performance of these drives -

1) Build and form factor – Nice sleek looking enclosures. All black, the sides are fingerprint magnets with a glossy finish. The top and bottom panels have a matte finish. Looks matter to me, even if it just an external drive. The microUSB and AC sockets are closely spaced with a small white indicator light besides them. All in all very compact, sleek, and aesthetically pleasing device.
2) Performance – I am getting constantly good speeds on these drives. Reads at 30MB/s and writes at about 24MB/s, which is good and fast enough for my needs.

As always, users have to be careful with all hard drives, internal or external. I am handling my drives with the utmost care. I don’t want to lose any important data.

Finally, this drive is a complete value for money purchase. I say go for it if you are out looking for a large capacity external hard drive.

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