Reviews for WD 250 GB External Hard Drive - 1 Pack - Retail

A Very Functional 250gb of Extra Space

Strengths: Simple set up; pre-formatted; dual USB 2.0 & Firewire 1394 interface; backup software; one button backup.

Weakness: Only a 1 year warranty.

I needed added space, and already had two large hard drives in my computer. The answer was a still larger external hard drive accessed thru USB 2.0. This Western Digital drive fit the bill perfectly.

With 250gb of space (less after formatting), its got enough space to store my media files as well as the huge backup files I create of hard disk partitions containing my boot partion and data partions. For the moment, I have another 50gb left over!

Installation was a snap. Just plug in an AC plug, and a USB 2.0 cord, turn it on, and in a moment my PC recognized the disk and I had full access to it. The disk comes preformatted for a single FAT32 partition; I reformatted it as NTFS, and assigned a fixed drive letter, without a problem.

The drive operates at USB 2.0 (or Firewire) speeds. That may be slower than an internal EIDE drive, but I haven't notice any slowness with my needs. I transfer very large files, often 20gb at a time, and the transfers complete in a reasonable time.

This drive comes with a "special edition" of Dantes Backup Retrospect. As such, its likely less powerful than a full version of this or other backup software. Still, it can be programmed to execute specific backup routines with the push of either of two small buttons on the front of the drive enclosure. Hit one button, and your entire system can be backed up to the external drive.

If you have a larger safety deposit box, the entire drive can be safely stored off-site with backup drive images -- a very safe & fast way to do backups.

All in all, I was quite happy with the functionality of this drive to supplement by crowded PC system. Add to that that the price (and price per gigabyte of storage) was the lowest among the 200-300gb drives, and this is a great value.

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GREAT External Hard Drive for First-Time Users

Strengths: Easy to use--works perfectly out of the box. Easy to access power controls on the front, built-in USB hub. Great vertical slimline design with the included stands.

Weakness: I ended up exchanging the first one I bought because it was missing the power cord, but that was probably an isolated incident.

I was looking for a large external hard drive, and I was left with two options: buy an external enclosure along with an internal hard drive and build my own, or buy a retail model. I was happy that I chose the latter option. It's simply not worth the trouble to build your own external hard drive when the pre-built retail models are so affordable already. This hard drive is SO EASY TO USE. I use it specifically for backing up important files, so the external design is ideal for me. I turn it on and it's recognized by my computer. After I copy the files, I can just turn it off to prevent wear on the hard drive. PERFECT fit for my needs.

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Western Digital 250GB External Hard Drive

Strengths: Extremely fast and very good software

I bought this hard drive to make frequent scheduled backups of my system and it works like a gem. Never crashed and always taken perfect backups. Will recommend others to buy as well.

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Western Digital External 250G Drive

Strengths: Great drive at a good price especially with rebate offer.

Weakness: External drive box a little large. Needs external power adapter. Would have been more portable if was powered through USB port.

Overall excellent drive at affordable price. Easy installation. Large backup capacity for most of your audio and video files. Fast file transfer with firewire port. Fprm factor a little large.

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Good enough for back ups

Strengths: Neat looks. Works well. additonal USB slot in front. firewire.

Weakness: Loose power cord. firewire does not always work

Its a neat unit that works well. I used windows backup to back up my drive and it works great. the bundled software will also do the back up and for a good measure store it in 600mb file chunks. but i prefer windows backup over this.

The power cord pin into the HD socket slips out too easily. I was not able to get firewire work on my notebook which hasa 4pin socket as opposed to 6pin on the drive. a 6pin to 4 pin cord did not work well. maybe it works with a 6pin to 6pin socket?

The buttons in front are very easy to use and overall aesthetics are great.

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WD 250 GB External Hard Drive - 1 Pack - Retail

Strengths: Lightening fast in writing or accessing information. The Dual Option backup is a great feature, as is the availability of power switches up front. Front access to full time powered USB II is great

Weakness: None that I have seen

This is my third purchase of a Western Digital External Drive, and by far the best features compared to a year and two years ago. I do extensive graphics and need the ability to work on one of several systems in my work space. This really fits the bill, plus allows me quick access and downloads of External Flash Drives.

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WD 250 GB External Hard Drive - 1 Pack - Retail

Strengths: silent, sleek, doesn't get too hot, fast with firewire, back-up software

Weakness: slower than expected with usb 2.0

this is one of the best deals out there for a 250 gb hard drive if you get it with a rebate. paid $210 after rebate. cheaper than seagate and maxtor. quiet and fast. one button back-up software is a plus.

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WD 250 GB External Hard Drive - 1 Pack - Retail

Strengths: Price, data access speed, data storage capacity, ease of installation

Weakness: None so far.

The Western Digital Dual-option WDXB2500JBRNN is a great item for anyone interested in big storage capability with easy installation. I received a $30 rebate from Newegg.com which made it even more attractive. This unit installed very easily on Windows Xp Professional Operating system with Service Pack 2. I hooked it up with both the firewire and USB 2.0 connections ( both of which are supplied by Western Digital ). I will use this unit primarily for storing digital photographs. The large data capacity and fast access times are a joy to work with. The on-off switch on the front of unit is very handy. I've always had very good luck with Western Digital Hard Drives and so far this unit is no exception. Highly recommended!

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nice external hard drive

Strengths: Support both Firwire and USB ports. Easy set up, inexpensive price, flexible placement

Weakness: You can move the two racks when you put the hard drive vertically, but they are too loose. The color is not what I like.

If your PC does have a Firewire connection, this one is a best buy for data backup. I used to have two IOMEGA USB/network 250 GB external hard drive (cost me $300/ea). I backup my data every two days, the IOMEGA is too slow, although it is USB 2.0 bus. It gives me a lot of traffic, and I can not do anything when it backups files automatically. I bought this WDX from BUY.COM, it works much better than IOMEGA in the past week. Very easy for installation, software/hardware friendly. The firewire does it job much fast than USB.

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Excellent purchase

Strengths: Noiseless, no heat to worry about.

Weakness: The included software isn't very friendly if you are those users that don't go for the "custom settings". The Power cord out of the drive unplugs easily (no big deal if you are not moving around).

Excellent buy. If you don't mind the formatting prior using it (if your HDD is not FAT32) and backing up manually what you need, to avoid trying to understand the included software "English", go for it. After 2 weeks the Drive has performed just as expected (no heat, no noise and no missing stored data).

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Bad service

Strengths: none

Weakness: quality

Drive was bad right out of the box, WD service bites!! Its been 15 days since the 5 day turn around they advertise, and still no drive!! WD drives are generally good, but their service sucks!!!

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WD 250 GB External Hard Drive - 1 Pack - Retail

Strengths: fast and reliable

Weakness: have had to reformat

this product seems to be reliable , i have purchased three of these item for friends and family members ans the overall products seem to be satisfactory, except for the problem of the reformatting of this hard drive

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