WD Elements 2TB Desktop External Hard Drive

Pros: Very reliable drive. Backs up my home sever twice a day with out any problems. USB 3.0 makes the backup job so much faster.

Cons: None

Other Thoughts: This drive is backing up my WHS 2011 server.

Pros: Affordable. Decent speed.

Cons: Like many others, it has started showing bad blocks just out of warranty.

Other Thoughts: Probably do best to avoid unless you dont care about the data going on the drive.

Pros: It's a nice paperweight

Cons: Absolutely nothing out of this drive. The little light blinks a few times when I plug it in, but nothing I do makes it show up in device manager. The computer doesn't even know it exists.

Other Thoughts: Admittedly, the box it came in was dented as if it had been thrown around the truck. It's possible this was shipping damage. Returning for a replacement, let's see if the second one gets treated the same way.

Pros: I use it to backup all my pictures, family videos, movies and store my junk and I still have 1tb+ to spare. Maybe the 1tb version would have sufficed for me but the piece of mind knowing I have space justifies the extra cost. I also have used it to backup important files when I moved from a mechanical HD to a SSD. I didn't have to wait and burn countless blank CDs or do thousands of little Sophie choices on which files to keep/delete; just copied/pasted to external hard drive and then copied/pasted to SSD after a fresh install of Windows 7.

Cons: adapter

Pros: - Large storage solution
- Great as a network storage solution
- Lasted for a year and some change
- Black and stylish looking

Cons: Died on me not too long ago, while it worked it worked great, but began noticing intermittent connections to it from various computers, assumed it was my router it was connected too. But disconnected it from the router and connected to one of my PC's and found I can't access anything on it either. A little disappointed with it, guess I need to look for another storage network storage solution.

Pros: Large amount of storage , great as secondary drive to a SSD for user data

Cons: NONE WD Drives ROCK!!

Other Thoughts: Stick with Western Digital! Forget the rest!

Pros: After my new one was replaced with a refurbished one, it's been working fine. Still lost all my files within 3 months of purchase.

Cons: Unreliable. They seem to replace your NEW, failed drive with a refurbished one. Would you accept that with a new car?

Other Thoughts: Completely failed on me after 3 months or so, they replaced with a refurbished unit. That' doesn't seem fair to me, although the refurbished one has only crapped out once with heavy use for over a year now. I use it daily with heavy use for transferring and backing up thousands of photos. Recovery process is only 30% effective, so I only trust backing up to two different devices at once.

Pros: Got this over a year ago for auxiliary storage / backups. Works well. I've never had any issues.

Cons: None

Pros: Used to have reliability 2nd only to Samsung's (IMO).

Cons: Not anymore. It's a shame Samsung got out of the HDD business. Now the alternatives these days are just a roll of the dice. Bought 6 of these for backups and was about 70% done copying the 3rd when it died before even finishing (lost a day's work). Now the rest and replacement RMA (that cost me $12 to ship back = not as good of a deal anymore,even less so if I have to RMA another) have me worried. Apparently if you want 3x more reliability (3-5 year warranties) you have to pay 3x more for an enterprise version. Not sure but thinking they run fewer QA tests on the cheaper ones to cut down manufacturing costs. If you actually value your time/data seems buying SSD's for $600 per TB is getting to be the only option.

Manufacturer Response:

We appreciate your feedback and apologize for any inconvenience you may have experienced with the WD Elements, as this is not the typical experience with the product. It is unfortunate you received a drive that stopped working so soon after it was delivered. Let us assure you, every single drive undergoes the exact same rigorous testing procedure and must be in good working condition before it leaves our warehouse. We recommend replacing the cable and/or connecting the drive to a different computer to check if the issues persist. As another troubleshooting step, run either our WINDLG diagnostics software or Macs built-in Disk Utility to check your drives health. How to test a drive for problems using Data Lifeguard Diagnostics for Windows
http://wdc.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/940
We do stand behind our warranty for the duration of the provided warranty period and will gladly replace you in-warranty device for you directly.
http://wdc.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/8
We would appreciate the opportunity to further assist you, and resolve any further concerns you may have with the device and/or your experience. You may contact us at 1 (800) 275-4932, or via our support website at: http://support.wdc.com/rs/. Please indicate within the online case creation or with the first support agent you speak with, that you are responding to a Newegg review, so we route you and your information to the correct team members.

Pros: It's black and elegant, so that it looks unobtrusive when sitting in the garbage bin.

Cons: Absolutely unreliable. It was intermittent from an early date, which I thought was a computer rather than drive issue, but it eventually failed totally just outside warranty. There's a bug in this model which causes it to become unstable and impossible to dismount or even format. Check the WD forums.

Other Thoughts: This is the second WD drive debacle I've had. A few years ago, they were the brand to buy. Now they are not. Try anyone else.

Manufacturer Response:

We appreciate your feedback and apologize for any inconvenience you may have experienced with the WD Elements, as this is not the typical experience with the product. We are very sorry to hear that your drive malfunctioned in such a short time frame. Please note that there are many variables that can result in a failed drive, such as power outages, accidental physical damage, and internal component failure, just to name a few. We stand behind our warranty for the duration of the products provided warranty period, and as such, we are here to support our products regardless of the circumstances. We would like to resolve this particular issue for you and provide a positive resolution to your experience. You may contact us at 1 (800) 275-4932, or via our support website at: http://support.wdc.com/rs/. Please indicate within the online case creation or with the first support agent you speak with, that you are responding to a Newegg review, so we route you and your information to the correct team members.