 |
Western Digital Elements Portable WDBAAR3200ABK 320 GB
by Mildew82
On its most basic level a hard drive consists of several non-metallic platters coated with a thin metallic layer operated by a motorised spindle. The data is read / written by heads that float above these platters on a tiny film of air detecting and decoding based upon changes in the magnetisation. So, despite being encased in solid ... plastic, knocks to external hard drives can be quite serious if the heads hit the platters or the power gets cut off and causes fluctuations in the magnetisation - think a stylus on a record player and the damage that can cause to the record if it jumps (for all those people born before 1990).
Most of my experiences have been with desktop external hard drives - heavy, clunky and certainly not the most convenient for general usage and physical storage. The hard drive I use at work falls into this category, and although it does hold up to 1 terabyte of data (mind boggling amounts) I do find it's size a little cumbersome. I need to have a mains socket and my tower (located on the floor) in close proximity in order to use it which often leaves it either precariously perched on top of my computer's tower or on the floor next to it. One is perfect for knocking it off and the other is perfect for kicking it, neither good for the health of the hard drive.
I prefer to use online storage at home for important stuff, but I have a lot of photos and films that take up far too much memory to make the online storage a completely viable option so I prefer to hold them on my own external drive to free up my internal drive as much as possible. Wanting to avoid the previously stipulated issues with larger desktop drives I opted for a portable drive in the form of the WD Elements WDBAAR3200ABK.
==What's in the box?==
Well, as soon as you have parted with your hard earned cash you will be the proud owner of 1). a sleek, black 320GB external portable hard drive, 2). a USB 2.0 interface cable, 3). a yellow document littered with numbers to call if you want to be frustrated for hours seeking technical support and 4). a white document with a helpful diagram displaying with foolproof cunning how to plug in your hard drive to your computer, more technical support numbers, some blurb about compliance regulations and your warranty information - all excitingly in about 10 different languages and all requiring a magnifying glass to read (unless you enjoy eye strain).
Technical Information
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+ Weight: 200g (5 times lighter than the desktop model)
+ Dimensions (WxDxH): 7.8 cm x 12.6 cm x 1.5 cm (4.91 times smaller in volume than the desktop model)
+ Memory: 320GB
+ Data Transfer Rate: 480 Mb/s (max) - measured in megabits per second
==My Experiences==
Upon being plugged in this portable drive was recognised immediately and after a few seconds of necessary software installation to access this new device (which happened automatically) it was good to go.
===Memory like a sieve===
The first thing I noticed is that the memory capacity is only 298GB and not the advertised 320GB.
1 Gigabyte = 1024 Megabytes = 1,048,576 Kilobytes = 1,073,741,824 bytes.
This hard drive has 320,071,880,704 bytes (298.09 GB to be exact) available which is perhaps how they rounded it up to 320GB - naughty naughty. Still, 298GB is enough memory for me so I wasn't that bothered, it is just a bit misleading so something to watch out for if memory is an issue.
===Putting the Crash Test Dummy through the ringer===
The biggest differences between portable hard drives and external hard drives are chiefly the physical size and power methods. To significantly reduce the size of the portable drive by almost 5 times manufacturers generally remove much of the protective casing as well as the cooling fan. Well, in the case of this particular model the casing is noticeably depleted (compared to my work one) but it still feels relatively sturdy, and despite my best efforts I have been unable to ascertain whether this model actually has a fan or not to keep it cool - but I suspect not judging by how quiet it is.
So I've taken it upon myself to test the performance of this hard drive by using my own personal methods:
Test 1: It's getting hot in here
************************
Without a fan such devices as hard drives are in grave danger of overheating which can result in data loss. Follow this simple rule: if you can't touch it without shrieking in pain then your data is in danger. Advice to help protect your device is to regularly check the temperature, do not cover with some kind of insulating material and to turn it off when not in use. So for my first experiment I left the device unsupervised and plugged in on my quilt for over an hour. Risky, but I did it so you don't have to!
Results: Firstly my room was not on fire which was a welcome bonus. Secondly, there was barely any perceptible change at all in the temperature of this device, so I would be quietly confident in stating this device is not prone to overheating so can be safely used for a considerable amount of time (supervised of course).
Test 2: Bang bang! You're dead!
**************************
Less protection means more chance of data corruption in the event of the hard drive being dropped, kicked, crushed by a falling bookcase etc. Now I didn't really fancy attacking my drive with a baseball bat to test its durability so the next best thing I could come up with is to test how good it is at avoiding these situations in the first place.
So, this second experiment consisted of recreating my dangerous work scenarios to see what happened. The main problem with the desktop drive was the excess of wires which got tangled up with my rogue feet and thus caused the toppling of the hard drive. Combating this by placing it on the floor then put the device in kicking range on account of it having to be near a mains power source (if you use a laptop or have your PC set up on a desk this problem is probably non-existent anyway).
Results: With this portable device there is only one very short USB cable which means the drive never strays far from the computer at all and is not dependent on mains electricity so can be placed out of kicking range. Therefore the small size and lack of excessive wires to get caught on means it is easy to keep this hard drive out of harm's way for everyone except your consummate klutz. But do take real care when actually transporting the device e.g. avoid earthquake zones and such the like since it is clearly a lot easier to break than a desktop version.
Test 3: Run like the wind
********************
I wanted to put the claims of "data transfer rates of 480 Mb/s (max)" to the test.
Results: Uploading a folder of 1.34GB took 90 seconds to upload. This was a rate of approximately 116 Mb/s. So only about a quarter as fast as specified by the manufacturers, but for me certainly an acceptable speed nonetheless as I've had similar amounts take many minutes on other devices before.
==Overall==
My overall experience with using this device is a fairly pleasing one. Once plugged in it is available for use within a couple of seconds offering you an array of options to view the drive, speed up your system or select other software to run based upon whatever files may be saved on the drive. There is a small LED on the front of the device which stays lit when the device is properly plugged in and flashes when the device is in use so you can easily check the status of the device. The LED is surprisingly bright so I would avoid staring directly into it.
Another issue I have with my work external drive is that if I haven't used it for a while it takes a good 10 seconds sometimes before it comes back to life and suffers from intermittent pausing which is frustrating. I'd imagine this is part of the WD GreenPower technology that that model incorporates which has an idle mode to save on power. With this portable device there is no such technology required as the portable drive is powered from the computer and from my experience this drive has so far always run smoothly with no interruptions. I've been able to play films straight from this device with absolutely no disruptions to the image or sound, and I've had absolutely no issues opening files or writing to the drive - it feels exactly the same as using my computer's internal hard drive so no complaints.
So, to sum up the things that I really like about this drive are the fact it is small and therefore easy to store and it will fit easily in a laptop case (but not so small that I'm every in danger of misplacing it like countless memory sticks), it doesn't require a mains power supply which can be more convenient as it can be used anywhere you want, it has fewer wires so I'm less likely to get them tangled up and it is definitely very affordable at the price I paid of £34.97 from Tesco Direct (which works out at 11p per GB or 12p for a 298GB device).
The obvious downside is that it is potentially much easier to break than the sturdier desktop model due to the severely reduced amount of protective casing and probably a lot easier to corrupt the data even with just little knocks so a lot more care needs to be taken with this portable model. Also, with these portable models it does actually work out more expensive per GB than with the desktop model - for example you can buy a 1TB (1024GB) desktop model from Tesco Direct for £55.97 which works out at about 5.5p per GB which is clearly a much more cost effective purchase.
So, if you're looking for a cheap, easy to use, reliable external hard drive and don't like the desktop models, which whilst being better protected have many inconveniences with their physical size and power methods, then I can recommend this WD Elements portable 320GB external hard drive as a good alternative (you can choose other capacities between 250GB - 1TB for the same design).
Read the complete review |
 |
Western Digital Elements SE Portable WDBABV0010BBK 1 TB
by brinkk
I use this at work as my external hard drive, and also a place to put my coffee mug. First of all i want to talk about the ease of use because its not just a case of plugging into your pc and that's it.
You need to turn it on, then let your pc recognize it, and if you don't have any idea what you are doing, you will need to ... run a wizard for help.
Its 1TB which equals 1000GB. It gets hot very quickly though, and i would not recommend touching the bottom of it after it has been on for more than 20 minutes.
Mine now has 325GB used and works perfectly. Takes a little time to transfer files to it, and then back again but this is expected with an external hard drive of any memory.
I need to transport this around along with my laptop so it cant be big and bulky, or even too heavy, and this is none of those things.
It is perfect for carrying around, and you can buy bags for these, with straps. I however just store it under my desk in a drawer when I'm not using it.
It can crash and has done before. You need to click "remove hard drive safely" as the balloon in the bottom right corner of the screen, or your data can become corrupt and wiped.
This is also in the manual. Click "stop device" to safely remove it. This can be annoying and a hassle, especially if you forget.
I would recommend this to anyone who needs extra space, but if you don't need 1TB look at the smaller range of external hard drives.
Read the complete review |
