External Drive Problems

[WhereBob]

I have a Western Digital My Book 500G external hard drive. This is the 2nd one which replaced the 1st one under warranty after 6 mopnths due to it throwing errors and eventually was not recognized by my PC. Now the replacement one is doing the same thing, again after 6 months of use.
My question is are all externals this unreliable or is it just my WD My Book?

I don't want to waste anymore time and money on another if these things don't last.

Should I go with an internal and are they more reliable? I mainly just store/backup pictures and videos.

Thanks

 

[darroll]

Mine works fine. Had it for years.
Back up your stuff and try formatting it again.
Darroll

 

[WhereBob]

Mine works fine. Had it for years.
Back up your stuff and try formatting it again.
Darroll

I did that with the last one with no luck and they ended up having to replace it for me. I'll try again the this one but not hopeful. Just wondering if I should bother getting another replacement or going a different route.

Is yours a Western Digital my book 500G ?

Thanks

 

[Atomic Rooster]

My son has a friend who had the very same problem with a WD My Book 500GB. The drive just up and died. He gave the drive to us and I was was going to test it in my computer, but it wouldn't even boot with the drive attached to any of the SATA ports.

 

[WhereBob]

Mine works fine. Had it for years.
Back up your stuff and try formatting it again.
Darroll

It doesn't even show up in the device manager so I can't do anything with it.

I am debating if its replaced to even bother with the new one? It's a lot of files to upload to it from numerous CD's


So to ask the question again, are these things all this unreliable or is it just the WD 500G's Are internal's better more reliable?

Thanks

 

[setishock]

I doubt seriously if it's the drive. The likelyhood of 2 drives crapping out is pretty low. I would lean more toward the built in controller giving out.
When you sent it back and got the replacement did they replace it from WD or the place you bought it? Did you check the serial numbers before you sent it out?

My Antec usb enclosure with a Samsung drive worked just fine.

 

[WhereBob]

I doubt seriously if it's the drive. The likelyhood of 2 drives crapping out is pretty low. I would lean more toward the built in controller giving out.
When you sent it back and got the replacement did they replace it from WD or the place you bought it? Did you check the serial numbers before you sent it out?

Thanks for the reply, I just read through 46 reviews of this product on cnet reviews ........ wow this thing is a piece of crap. Quite a few user reviews that say the exact same thing that I am experiencing. Average rating after 46 reviews is 2 out of 5 with a lot rating it at 1/2 a star. A few are on their third WD 500G drive (warranty replacements) and the 3rd one to has failed as well.

Read for yourself and beware of these drives
http://reviews.cnet.com/hard-drives/western-digital-my-book/500G

 

[setishock]

Well it just goes to show you need to do your homework before you buy.

 

[WhereBob]

Well it just goes to show you need to do your homework before you buy.

And the funny thing is I usually do. Figures one of the few times I didn't it smacks me in the face. Live and learn, this lesson cost me $250.

 

[setishock]

Ouch!