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Western Digital My Book Studio 3TB review

Our Rating :
Price when reviewed : £162
inc VAT

Plenty of storage, but the old USB interface is slow and cheaper USB3 disks are available

Specifications

3TB hard disk, USB2, FireWire 800, 135x48x165mm

http://www.ebuyer.com

If you have yet to upgrade to USB3, or you’re working from a laptop or Mac that can’t be upgraded, FireWire 800 is still the fastest way to access your files. Western Digital’s My Book Studio has both FireWire 800 and USB to provide extra compatibility, so you should always be able to access your files even on an older PC.

Western Digital My Book Studio 3TB

The silver brushed metal design is clearly aimed at Apple Mac owners, but Windows users will still appreciate WD’s SmartWare backup utility. It’s able to monitor your entire hard disk, specific folders or even file type categories, so only your important files are saved. The interface is very easy to navigate and incremental backups mean that after the initial scan it will only refresh the files you change, rather than the entire backup image.

Western Digital My Book Studio 3TB

Performance when testing using USB shows the limitations of this interface. Large file writes of 28.3MB/s and reads of 17.4MB/s are about what you should expect, as are 15MB/s small file writes and 27.1MB/s reads. However, if you have a USB3 or Thunderbolt equipped PC, these will feel quite pedestrian.

The My Book Studio now sits in an uncomfortable middle ground, targeting Mac users that have yet to upgrade to either a USB3 or Thunderbolt equipped system. Unless FireWire 800 is a must-have, the cheaper Seagate Backup Plus desktop 3TB is a better buy and it’s got USB3 for when you upgrade your computer.

Basic Specifications

Rating ***

Storage

Hard disk Western Digital WD30EZRX-00MMMB0
Capacity 3TB
Formatted capacity 2.72TB
Price per gigabyte £0.05
Disk size 3.5in
Interface USB2, FireWire 800
Power connector External
Spindle speed 7200rpm
Cache 16MB
Seek time 8.9ms
Weight 1.2kg
Size 135x48x165mm
Power consumption idle 0W
Power consumption active 7W

Buying Information

Backup software included WD SmartWare
Price £162
Warranty three years RTB
Supplier http://www.ebuyer.com
Details www.wdc.com

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