Western Digital My Book Studio II - 4TB (2 x 2 TB) USB 2.0/FireWire 400/FireWire 800/eSATA Desktop External Hard WDH2Q40000N

From Western Digital
	Price: $549.99
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Features - Performance for creative pros; Quad interface - Formatted for Mac; RAID 1/0 - 33% power reduction Product Description WD's My Book Studio Edition II dual-drive, quad-interface external storage system for Mac offers optimum performance for creative professionals. Lightning-fast FireWire 800 or eSATA interfaces combined with RAID 0 (striping) yields the speed you need for fast, smooth video and audio editing, rendering complex 3D objects or special effects, and saving huge blocks of data in record time. Set the system to RAID 1 (mirroring) for the peace of mind in knowing that if one drive in this two-drive system ever fails, the system continues to run and your data is safe. Includes automatic data backup software, user-serviceability, a 5-year limited warranty, and works with Apple's Time Machine. Customer Reviews Expanded Back-up Date: 2008-11-29 | Rating: 5 With the ever increasing size of my digital photo library I needed to increase the size of my back-up drive. I use this unit with a Mac and set to a RAID 1 configuration for mirrored storage. RAID 1 knocks down the usable area to 931 MB. It seems to work with Apple's Time Machine back-up program and OS 10.5. I did reformat from my Mac as I have always found I have to do for external drives. After about a month, everything seems good. A Great Product by WD Date: 2009-11-12 | Rating: 5 BOTTOM LINE UP FRONT: PROS- -Exactly as advertised by Western Digital -Drive/RAID Management Software is very easy to use & works well in OS X -Works very well with AirPort Extreme Base Station -Excellent as an AirDisk for Time Machine (follow process listed elsewhere in reputable Mac Forums) -Includes FireWire 800/800, FireWire 800/400, and USB A/Mini-A Cables (the FireWire Cables alone are a big plus for new Mac Owners) CONS- -Included WD Anywhere Backup is a waste of time - does not do full system backups EXCRUCIATING DETAIL: I purchased this drive to run it from an AirPort Extreme Base Station (AEBS) as a self-mirroring Network Attached Storage (NAS) volume in a mixed-platform environment (WinXP and OS X). MAC EXPERIENCE: Initial set-up was a snap by connecting the drive to a MacBook Pro via Firewire 800 and using the included drive/RAID management software to configure it to be a RAID 1 HFS+ volume. After following the processes to set this drive up as a Time Machine target, it has performed flawlessly. PLEASE NOTE: Using any drive as a Time Machine target via an AEBS IS NOT SUPPORTED BY APPLE. WinXP EXPERIENCE: This drive was made available to my Windows Platforms via an AEBS. Mounting this volume was handled automatically by AirPort Base Station Agent. PLEASE NOTE: If using this drive on an AEBS in a Windows Environment, the AirPort Base Station Agent translates HFS+ File System into FAT32 in real time. For most new applications, this will not be an issue BUT some legacy software will either hang or post an error if writing a file larger than the 4GB limit in the FAT32 specification (this happened to me with Ghost v9), but I was able to establish a workaround. OVERALL: This drive has performed HOURS of continuous READ/WRITE without any of the disconnect/dismount problems reported by other users (please see my note in the paragraph above as to my theory on why that happens). The Power Save mode is mostly transparent although there will be a minor delay as it restores itself. This is my third WD "MyBook" purchase, all of which have been dependable workhorses. Excellent drive for use with time machine on apple OSX Date: 2008-06-19 | Rating: 5 I bought this drive to serve as a backup disk for my iMac. Its working great, and the large capacity allows for "longer" range of backup.. I can go back over amonth and restore files long lost. Cheap, reliable storage for Time Machine Date: 2008-08-12 | Rating: 5 Using this drive with RAID level 1 and Time Machine is an easy way to get backup storage you can trust for the Mac. I prepared by downloading the latest driver from Western Digital and installing it instead of the driver on the CD. I turned off Time Machine so it wouldn't prompt me to use the drive the first time I plugged it in. When the drive arrived, I followed the instructions on the quick start card to change the drive to RAID level 1. (This uses the second drive for redundant storage. If a drive fails, you just pull it out and replace it, without losing data.) Then I turned on Time Machine and clicked Change Disk. The WD drives in the enclosure are WD5000AAVS "Caviar Green" drives. The rotation speed varies depending on a number of factors, mostly to save power. That's why the data sheet doesn't specify 5400 or 7200 rpm. I tested the heat issue by copying files for an hour and then opening the enclosure. The drives were almost too hot to touch. However, I don't think this is an issue in practice, since the drives don't normally need to run for such an extended period. I would rather have them quiet--and redundant. Mac Mini Music Server eSata Modification Date: 2009-06-16 | Rating: 5 I was a little apprehensive about buying this external hard drive because of the issues staying connected via Firewire. Well it does drop offline on occasion with Firewire or USB. (However I find this is normal with all USB/Firewire hard drive I have owned). I use my 2009 Mac Mini strictly as a music server and hooking up to eSata proved to be as reliable as my internal Super Talent Ultradrive SSD drive I added. To add eSata to the Mac Mini I removed the internal ROM drive an added a special Sata to eSata chassis cable. (Buy them at CPU Stuff dot com, item SKU: ESATABKTM8I)The sata end of the cable has to be secured with a dab of silicone as the internal ROM drive uses a Slim Sata connection. (I now use and external USB Blue Ray drive) I then used a Dremmal Cutting Wheel to cut out the area where the Kennsington Lock was. Next I modified the plastic chassis mount end of the eSata adapter cable to fit in this new hole. The Mac Mini case comes apart easily with a pizza cutter, forget the putty knives other people suggest. When you put the Mini back together the top of the case pinches the modifed eSata connection and holds it securely. Nice! Hooking up the My Book Studio Edition RAID 1 with eSata is the only way to get a totally reliable and fast hard drive connection for secure music storage. To bad Mac doesn't offer this connection standard on their computers. You need to buy your own eSata cable as it is not included with the Studio Edition. My Mac Mini Music Server works awesome.