Its a very durable product for sure. I've had mine for a very long time now. It gets the job done in terms of space and I love that password software that comes with this brand's line of external harddrives. My only complaint is the size..yes its not a portable hard drive...but that doesnt mean it cant be smaller.

hickoryham

USA

I got this during Black Friday 2012 and it has become one of my best buys. I had read about people who purchased it and it breaking down but it hasn't for me. It may be because I do not have it plugged in all the time. I just use it for extra storage of pictures and files that need to be backed up. It is a desktop hard drive so that means that it needs a power source. That is the only downside to owning a desktop hard drive compared to a portable hard drive. It was made to lay horizontally but I keep it vertical to save space. There is no power switch. All you have to do is plug it in for it to work. It's about the size of an average hardcover book. My one advice with regard to the hard drive would be to not keep it plugged into a power source and your computer at the same time all the time. Like all electronics it does get hot and the gears will stall on you and to keep it in a dry cool place.

cl0vergirl

Corona, CA

The transfer rate is so quick and easy. Set up was really easy. A plug and play device. Works great with my Mac. Holds all of my files nicely. I feel safe and secure using it. I just may buy another with a larger hard drive. But for now this one works great as a back up and storage device.

karmsava

USA

This is my second Western Digital External Hard drive, the previous one served me well for over 6 years. This one I hope will last even longer sine i don't plan on keeping it plugged in constantly like I did for the other one. This one is also much much larger and will not get full anytime soon. The unit is small and compact, attractive enough to keep out on your desk but small enough that you can tuck it away if you like. It is very easy to set up and start using, just plug it in to the power outlet and to your computer with the USB 2.0 cord included. Use it to store your old files you don't access much, store all your precious family photo's, and backup all your important data. This unit has room for them all!

zfadinglifez

Philadelphia, PA

This is what you need for your files. It's big, cheap, fast, and reasonably reliable. I got it in a nice deal and absolutely glad that I didn't miss it. It's actually about 931GB for me, but I'm satisfied with this external storage. It requires extra power supply, as most other big external hard drives. I never really test the transfer speed, but it appears to be pretty fast to me, much much faster than my tiny USB drives, at least. It's quite simple to transfer several GB's stuff, and I never encountered any problem using it so far. And it really impressed me with its durability. One day I stumbled over the power line and drag my WD hard drive down to the ground, but when I pick it up, it still works perfectly until now. (I don't recommend trying this out!) I know this just a single case, might be pure chance, but I'm really glad I didn't lose my data. One thing I realised later is that 1TB is not as big as it seems. If you think you will need a lot of space and don't want your desk to be occupied by a lot of external hard drives in the future, you may want to consider a 2TB one.

zenyc

San Francisco, CA

I was worried my playstation 3 had so little hard drive space of 160 GB. I figured since movies these days are about 4GB and blu-rays are even larger my hard drive space will be filled in no time. So I figured I might as well buy an external hard drive and connect it to my playstation 3 so my movies can be accessed through there while my game installs are on the playstation 3 hard drive. The amount of space a 1TB hard drive can handle is amazing. I have loaded so many movies on it and i have barely used 50%. I am thinking of getting another one for my computer. These things are quiet and fast. They're absolutely great for storing videos, music, and movies for media servers. They're also not too heavy so you can bring it around anywhere you want.

waverlyplacewizard

Strasburg, CO

On Black Friday I decided I needed an external harddrive soon since my internal harddrive that I have installed on my computer was on it's last legs. The version I purchased on that day was the 2TB one and honestly they possess the exact same features except for the storage capacity. Installation for this harddrive was nothing short of a breeze. It is a plug-and-play harddrive so that was pretty much the installation process. It has been 7 months since I have owned this hard drive and let's say I only filled less than 5% of it's storage capacity. Something tells me I should have opted out for a smaller version but unfortunately for me I purchased this at a great discount. With that said, I am more than satisfied with my purchase. Western Digital is a brand that creates awesome products and this was no exception!

ntrisKKT

San Diego, CA

The Western Digital Elements 1TB USB 2.0 External Hard Drive is a real pleasure to have. My laptop's 250gb hard drive filled up relatively quickly and after doing some researching this hard drive fit the bill of what I was looking for. It's extremely quiet, which was a major concern of mine, in fact I can't hardly tell when it's on or off (it comes on automatically so no worries there) and it doesn't have a lot of extra frills, thrills and bells and whistles that I probably wouldn't know what to do with and instead would just be a hassle to work around, but instead is a nice, basic and plain external hard drive. Some of the other pros of this hard drive is that it isn't covered in extra lights- there is one in the back which I covered up with black electrical tape and that's it. Too many of these computer accessories try to have their own flashy appeal and by the time you buy a few of them your desk looks like the dang Starship Enterprise! Also the fact that it's flat is a plus as well. I've read where people say that they've dropped external hard drives which stand on end and that was the end of that. The Western Digital Elements External Hard Drive sits flat on your desk so there's not much danger of it tipping over.

beanier

Lincoln, AR

WD has been able to provide me with one of the most storage capability hard drive out there. it is a very slim portable cool looking external hard drive. i was in need and dying to get a new hard drive because i had tapped out my last seagate product and so i saw this one on sale and with all the reviews i got from this site i decided to give it a try and i am very happy i did. i was so satisfied by this hard drive which by the way was nothing of what i had expected that i had to just buy two of them instead of the one i needed. it is a very fast, durable, high quality and tremendous processing system that it should be named hard drive of the year. i have been able to use this external hard drive on both a mac and pc back and fourth with no problem what so ever. the only con that this does have is the usb cable that tends to get very loose after two times of use, so if you make a sudden movement and happen to move the hard drive it will disconnect and reconnect. but this hard drive is a major plus for WD !

Winky8

Miami, FL

I've had this external hard drive for over two years now, and it has never failed me. I use it to back up everything on my computers, and haven't had a need to back up the external hard drive itself yet. It's solid and silent; there's no annoying buzzing or humming noise while you're using it. The only time it makes a peep is when you first start it up, it whirls and clicks a bit like any piece of technology. It hooks up to the USB portion of your computer, and I've used it with both PCs and Macs without a problem. I've never removed it without ejection on a Mac, but do it often on the PC and it doesn't harm it at all. The amount of storage is fantastic, and it's the only hard drive that I own and use or even need. The only downside is that this thing is large. Compared to the external hard drives that are out today, this thing is unwieldy and definitely not something you can travel with. 

anoniimous

Baltimore, MD