Western Digital My Book Premium 500GB USB/FW 400 Ext Hard Drive
Step up to efficient back-ups
The very first thing that got my eye when considering to purchase the WD is that I'd no longer need to make back-ups on disc.  Now I don't!.  The book does the job of over a 100 DVDs and all your data is in one attractive looking book shaped storage unit.  I use windows xp which acknowledges immediately when another piece of hardware is detected. Once XP sees the unit plugged up be it firewire or usb, it tells you and ask if you want to install the WD software which is on the WD itself.   You don't have to unless you really what to see the extra bells and whistle.  If you don't install the software the WD appears like a new drive seen from your windows explorer folder.  You can create a new folder as easy as you would in XP... then either drag or copy your valuable data to your new folder in the WD... I plan on getting a couple more.  It is a sturdy compact piece of machinery that the average person would mistake for a book.  In fact I keep my on my bookshelf with my books.  So for me if you're running XP this is the way to go.  The only way I could see this product getting better is that they'd increase the hard drive size.  But for now the 500 GB is excellent for my needs.  Good job Western Digital! I think you've found your strength!