WD Elements SE Portable 2.5" 4 TB (WDBJRT0040BBK)

A few years back I bought three of this model's predecessor, the HGST Touro Mobile 1TB, which is a Western Digital brand (although made by Hitachi it seems), and they are still going very well. I needed a fourth external USB 1TB drive, so I bought one of these WD Elements SE's. It soon died and had to be sent back. It was quickly replaced by PB Tech (thank you, guys), and although its replacement does work, its transfer-rate is only about half that of the older HGST drives so backups take twice as long. The HGST's run at about 21MB/sec; the WD Elements starts at about 15MB/sec and steadily slows to about 9MB/sec. The backup software is the same, the USB port being used is the same, but the transfer rate is slower and gets even slower as the backup proceeds. That is ... MoreA few years back I bought three of this model's predecessor, the HGST Touro Mobile 1TB, which is a Western Digital brand (although made by Hitachi it seems), and they are still going very well. I needed a fourth external USB 1TB drive, so I bought one of these WD Elements SE's. It soon died and had to be sent back. It was quickly replaced by PB Tech (thank you, guys), and although its replacement does work, its transfer-rate is only about half that of the older HGST drives so backups take twice as long. The HGST's run at about 21MB/sec; the WD Elements starts at about 15MB/sec and steadily slows to about 9MB/sec. The backup software is the same, the USB port being used is the same, but the transfer rate is slower and gets even slower as the backup proceeds. That is weird--and no amount of defragging of the source or reformatting of the destination has any effect. Therefore this drive cannot be recommended. I chose WD in its HGST guise because the staffer at PB Tech said WD is more reliable than Seagate, but I am inclined to choose Seagate next time. I would be keen to test a Seagate if it did not mean shelling out $$$s...

These name brand external drives are bad news. Why? Because most of them incorporate the USB port and drive electronics in the same circuit board. And why is this bad? Because if the any of the electroincs become defective or dies ALL is lost. No way to recover data - well there is but $$$. IFIXIT site is full of people having problems with these proprietary external drives. The wiser choice is to buy the two componenrts seperately. If the drive enclosure electronics die, for what ever reason, you just take the drive out and put it in another one or a computer and data is all safe. Also, the drive can later be easily upgraded to a larger capacity and/or SSD. A good chice is the ADATA ED600 - no scews, etc for fast change-over.. IFIXIT site is full of people having ... MoreThese name brand external drives are bad news. Why? Because most of them incorporate the USB port and drive electronics in the same circuit board. And why is this bad? Because if the any of the electroincs become defective or dies ALL is lost. No way to recover data - well there is but $$$. IFIXIT site is full of people having problems with these proprietary external drives. The wiser choice is to buy the two componenrts seperately. If the drive enclosure electronics die, for what ever reason, you just take the drive out and put it in another one or a computer and data is all safe. Also, the drive can later be easily upgraded to a larger capacity and/or SSD. A good chice is the ADATA ED600 - no scews, etc for fast change-over.. IFIXIT site is full of people having problems with these proprietary external drives. Over 7 years I have never personally nor seen any one on the IFIXIT site have a problem with the separate enclosure and drive

Backup Drive for my backup Drive.

I bought this drive to replace an identical one that failed within three years and was used only as a backup for my photographs less than a dozen times. I've had three WD drives fail me (out of 16) over the last 10 years. All my drives are from JB HiFi. Fortunately I kept a 'backup of the backup' using another WD Elements drive. Let's hope this new one can do its job. *Note that the average life expectancy of any hard drive is 3 years (with some lasting much longer than this). All drives will eventually fail at some point, regardless of brand. So in that respect, I suppose my drive functioned as expected. Always make sure you have TWO copies of your data in case a drive fails.

Great External Storage for HDHomerun OTA DVR

I added it to my HDHomerun FLEX 4K to record over-the-air TV - plugged it directly into a USB port on the unit and formatted it - worked perfectly! This one correctly shows free space; since it worked so conveniently when I plugged it into the HDHomeRun unit (which needs a minimum 500GB drive to work correctly) I am confident I have enough space on the drive. Price was right too. Don't waste time with off-brand cheaper 1TB drives and sticks - I got one prior to this one that was really a 64gb stick with some circuitry stuff on it to make it read like a 1TB drive when plugged into a computer.

Great little portable hard drive at a great price

Compact and stylish; so easy to use; plenty of space to store copies of all my important documents and treasured photos; great price. Has given me peace of mind knowing all of my files are backed up safely now. Would recommend this product from Harvey Norman to anyone looking for a portable/backup device.

I'm extremely happy

I make YouTube videos and kept all of my videos on my laptop hard drive, and my poor laptop kept begging for relief. I really didn't want to store my videos on OneDrive or anything else that was free.I went to the store, and my mind was blown when I saw this portable hard drive, something I wanted but didn't even know exist. I went home, calculated if the 1TB would be enough (it was), and then I returned to the store and bought it.It was simple to download my videos (it took some time because I had a lot), but after all of the videos were uploaded, I had only used about 20%.My videos are backed up and are safe in my safe.I'm extremely happy.

Networked backup solution

I recently upgraded to a newer Apple Extreme router, replacing an old Time Capsule router. I know - both are obsolete - but I don't need the speed and I have owned both for multiple years. However, I did need more networked storage for our 2 computers and this little 3 TB drive was just what I needed. Connecting it to the Apple Extreme was easy - USB powered meant no extra AC needed. I was able to quickly format it in Apple's Airport software. Time Machine started backing up to it almost immediately. I would buy it again.

The light comes on, nobody at home

I plugged the brand new 4TB in to my new Dell lap top. The white light on the WD came on, a beep was made by the computer. So far so good. But that was it. The hard drive does not show up on the lap top. I plugged my other WD 2 tb unit in and it worked instantly as expected. I plugged the new 4TB unit into my old lap top, with same results as on the new lap top: Light on, beep, but absolutely nothing else and the old lap top cannot “see” the 4 tb. The frustrating thing is that I’d thrown the packaging away. I’d unboxed the unit, put it on the shelf, disposed of the packaging and gone out of town for a week before ever attempting to use it. Silly me. Harvey Norman wants returns in original packaging. Still, the unit should have worked. I’ve had good results from WD ... MoreI plugged the brand new 4TB in to my new Dell lap top. The white light on the WD came on, a beep was made by the computer. So far so good. But that was it. The hard drive does not show up on the lap top. I plugged my other WD 2 tb unit in and it worked instantly as expected. I plugged the new 4TB unit into my old lap top, with same results as on the new lap top: Light on, beep, but absolutely nothing else and the old lap top cannot “see” the 4 tb. The frustrating thing is that I’d thrown the packaging away. I’d unboxed the unit, put it on the shelf, disposed of the packaging and gone out of town for a week before ever attempting to use it. Silly me. Harvey Norman wants returns in original packaging. Still, the unit should have worked. I’ve had good results from WD til now. Time to try a different brand, but Keep The Packaging for returns.

This drive is cheap for a reason!

Mine failed after some 100-200 hours of combined occasional backup service; only a clicking noise and could not be recognised by Windows. Trying different USB ports, cables, computer etc made no difference. Do NOT use this WD 2.5" drive as your sole backup for important data! (luckily I didn't) Having said that though, I should add that I have found WD's 3.5" HDD range (both SATA-connected as well as their desktop drives that internally use 3.5" HDD's) to be extremely reliable; one WD 3.5" internal drive is still going strong after 5+ years!

Yes, it's Mac-compatible!

The WD Elements SE works perfectly with Macs, but you will have to reformat the hard drive first. Instructions: Plug it into your Mac’s USB port. When it mounts on the desktop it will be read-only (Windows NTFS format). Launch the Disk Utility app, highlight the Elements disk in the left pane, select the “Erase” tab, choose either “Mac OS Extended (Journaled)” (this is the Mac’s native format) or “ExFAT” (this is a cross-platform format compatible with Macs/PCs/home theatre equipment/game consoles/etc), click on the “Erase…” button, and in a few seconds your Elements hard drive will be ready to use. Black Magic Speed Test reports read/write speeds between 105-118MB/s on my Mac.