Western Digital My Book™ Essential Edition 2.0 (1000 GB) 1 TB USB Hard Drive

The MyBook, made by the leading manufacturer of external hard drives Western Digital, is a compact warehouse. It's not exactly 500 GB, as it really holds around 485, but that's more than enough for me.

Personally, I would rate external hard drives on a few categories: Durability, Searching Speed, Price, Connectivity, and Portability.

Durability: The MyBook is long-lasting. I have had mine for over 3 years now, and it still works the same way it did when I first got it. I have not experienced any loss of files or crashes at all, and there are backup functions on the hard drive to save your files. I think durability is one of the most important factors for hard drives since they contain so much, and the MyBook aces this test. The Mybook doesn't have a fan to cool it down, but it does have a vented shell to let heat out. Mine does not get very hot, although it can get warm sometimes, so I'm not worried about it overheating. However, one setback is this edition does not come with EMC Dantz Retrospect software, which backs up your files. I haven't run into any problems, but my files aren't extremely precious so it's not as important to me. I'm sure there are is backup software for download somewhere anyways.
8.5/10

Searching Speed: The MyBook has a 7,200 RPM drive, so searching speeds should be faster than a normal (5,400 RPM) hard drive. And they are, by a lot. Sometimes when I transfer files from my old computer, it lags when I get to the computer's drive, but once I'm in the MyBook, it's very quick to browse for your files, even if you have large DVD folders that are over 5 GB. For those of you who have Windows Vista, it's even easier to locate your exact file with the search bar tool. Also, as fast as this drive is, it's whisper-quiet.
10/10

Price: I purchased the MyBook on sale a few years ago, and it was a little less than $200. Now the prices have gone down due to terabyte hard drives, but the MyBook is well worth the money. Price goes with durability and as long as my files are safe, I'm happy to pay for it. The MyBook can be bought for less than $150 now. That's over 3 GBs per dollar that are very dependable.
9/10

Connectivity: The connectivity of this hard drive is not as versatile, as it only has a USB 2.0 port (4 pin USB Type B). A USB 2.0 port is incredibly fast and fine with PCs (transfer rate of about half a GB per second), so I have no problem with it. However, it does not support Firewire nor can it share files in a network. However, this will also work with an Apple OS. The Premium edition is better for more types of connectivity or networking. If you're just buying this to hold some music and movies, then it won't be a problem.
8.5/10

Portability: 2.2 inches tall/thick, 5.6 in by 6.7 in.
Weight: 2.9 lbs. I think this is a reasonably portable hard drive - not something you can carry around in your pocket, but fits fine in your bag, and it's pretty light.
7.5/10

The hard drive comes with a USB 2.0 cable as well as an AC adapter for power. I would rate this hard drive overall around 8.5/10. If you don't consider Firewire options and networking important, this hard drive will be fine for you and endure storing your files for years.