Western Digital MyBook Pro Liverpool
We were thoroughly impressed with Western Digital's MyBook Essential when we reviewed it. The Pro version eschews the black case for a more Mac-like silver one, adds a FireWire 400 and two FireWire 800 ports, and has one unique feature: a capacity gauge.
Bluecat Computer Services Ltd
0151 2568515
0151 2568515
25 Graylands Rd
Liverpool
Liverpool
Computer Home Help
07837 930073
07837 930073
83 Oak Leigh
Liverpool
Liverpool
AS Electronics?
0151 933 8400
0151 933 8400
109 Mariners Way
Bootle
Bootle
T C Links Ltd
0151 2638514
0151 2638514
43 Prescot Road, Fairfield
Liverpool
Liverpool
Red Ten Computers Ltd
0151 2431510
0151 2431510
70 Pall Mall
Liverpool
Liverpool
Crescent TV?
0151 523 9090?
0151 523 9090?
7 The Crescent
Bootle
Bootle
Mersey Technology
0151 2201920
0151 2201920
8 Hilberry Av
Liverpool
Liverpool
AS Electronics
0151 933 8400
0151 933 8400
109 Mariners Way
Bootle
Bootle
Computafix Solutions Ltd
0800 0778470
0800 0778470
Richmond Row
Liverpool
Liverpool
Apple Retail Store
0151 472 2600
0151 472 2600
Unit 95, Paradise Street (West)
Liverpool
Liverpool
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Western Digital MyBook Pro
We were thoroughly impressed with Western Digital's MyBook Essential when we reviewed it. The Pro version eschews the black case for a more Mac-like silver one, adds a FireWire 400 and two FireWire 800 ports, and has one unique feature: a capacity gauge.
The capacity gauge is a circular LED that sits inside the status LED. It acts as a digital dial: the light works its way around the circle as the drive fills up. It would be easy to dismiss it as a gimmick, but it's a neat way to establish how much room is left on the disk. If you use the drive as a backup device, perhaps for several machines, you don't even need to plug the drive into a Mac to find out what space is available: just power it up.
The drive comes in two capacities - 250GB and 500GB - and runs at 7200rpm. As with the Essential, the MyBook Pro powers up when you start up your Mac and powers off when you shut it down, so you don't need to switch it on and off independently.
Inside the box, as well as the drive and a power adaptor, there are USB 2, FireWire 400 and FireWire 800 cables, and a copy of EMC's ageing but worthy Retrospect Express backup software.
The two FireWire 800 ports mean that if you connect it to a G5 tower or MacBook Pro 17in, you can daisychain drives and have them sitting next to each other.
Where the MyBook Essential was clearly aimed at users who needed additional storage for backup and archiving, the Pro version, with its FireWire 800 ports, is geared towards creatives who need to shuttle data backwards and forwards at speed for tasks such as video editing and use as a Photoshop scratch disk. It does its job admirably here, and while those with a need for the absolute maximum performance will still be better served with a Raid 0 setup, most users will find the MyBook Pro fast enough.
The available interfaces and reasonable price together with its neat design should put this drive near the top of anyone's external-storage shopping list.
The available interfaces and reasonable price together with its neat design should put this drive near the top of anyone's external-storage shopping list
The capacity gauge is a circular LED that sits inside the status LED. It acts as a digital dial: the light works its way around the circle as the drive fills up. It would be easy to dismiss it as a gimmick, but it's a neat way to establish how much room is left on the disk. If you use the drive as a backup device, perhaps for several machines, you don't even need to plug the drive into a Mac to find out what space is available: just power it up.
The drive comes in two capacities - 250GB and 500GB - and runs at 7200rpm. As with the Essential, the MyBook Pro powers up when you start up your Mac and powers off when you shut it down, so you don't need to switch it on and off independently.
Inside the box, as well as the drive and a power adaptor, there are USB 2, FireWire 400 and FireWire 800 cables, and a copy of EMC's ageing but worthy Retrospect Express backup software.
The two FireWire 800 ports mean that if you connect it to a G5 tower or MacBook Pro 17in, you can daisychain drives and have them sitting next to each other.
Where the MyBook Essential was clearly aimed at users who needed additional storage for backup and archiving, the Pro version, with its FireWire 800 ports, is geared towards creatives who need to shuttle data backwards and forwards at speed for tasks such as video editing and use as a Photoshop scratch disk. It does its job admirably here, and while those with a need for the absolute maximum performance will still be better served with a Raid 0 setup, most users will find the MyBook Pro fast enough.
The available interfaces and reasonable price together with its neat design should put this drive near the top of anyone's external-storage shopping list.
Author: Kenny Hemphill
