My Passport and Seagate’s Backup Plus both completed the same task in 18 and 19 seconds respectively. Western Digital’s My Book managed it in 13 seconds, which is much better than the competition. In another test, we timed the transfer of a 2GB folder between the drive and the desktop. My Book managed a read speed of 190.6 Mb/s and a write speed of 189.5 Mb/s, which is more than above average.
It still can’t reach the blazing fast read/write of a portable SSD like Samsung’s T5 which has speeds close to the 500 Mb/s mark, but it’s still very impressive for a hard-drive that doesn’t compromise on storage space. At almost 200 MB/s, the My Book distances itself from the My Passport and Seagate’s Backup Plus, which operate around the 130 Mb/s range. Using CrystalDiskMark, the My Book managed a read speed of 190.6 MB/s and a write speed of 189.5 MB/s, which is above average. Luckily, the results of our testing were very impressive. Performance: Huge storage capacity, solid read/writeĮasily one of the major benefits of the My Book is it’s massive 8TB storage capacity, but that’s worthless unless it runs at a decent speed. The friendly user interface is more intuitive than other bare-bones devices which rely on the File Explorer alone.Ī final note, the My Book is compatible with Apple’s Time Machine system and has 256-bit AES hardware encryption built in if you feel the need to secure your files with a password. After that, you’re free to use it like any other hard disk drive. These include Creative Cloud, WD Backup, Plex, and Norton Antivirus.
This lets you import files from cloud storage and social media, and will sync all of your content.įrom here, you can set a password for the device and download a suite of apps as part of the Western Digital software package.
Launch the Install Discovery app held on the storage device itself. Once it's warmed up, you’ll find it in your File Explorer. Once you’ve finished unboxing the My Book, plug it in via the USB-A port on your PC, and a nearby plug point. Lifewire / Jordan Oloman Setup Process: Included software and encryption
Fortunately, a USB-C cable is under $10 at most online outlets, so it’s a relatively inexpensive fix if you do need to upgrade the connectivity capability of the My Book. It’s not totally out of the question for other devices either, as Samsung’s T5 portable SSD provides both a USB-A and C cables. Plenty of modern equipment is starting to switch towards USB-C, like Apple’s iPad and MacBook products. It’s a standard cable that will let you connect to a whole host of devices, but with the advent of USB-C, it would have been nice to see one of these in the box too. You get a USB-A 3.0 cable included in the box, but that’s about it. When in use, emits a hum and some vibrations, but the sound shouldn’t be loud enough to bother you as long as you keep it upright.Īside from the 12V plug socket port on the back of the device needed to power it, there is but one lone connector, a micro-B output port. Tethering the use of your storage to a plug socket makes it difficult to use when you’re out on the go in public, so this is certainly a better fit for consumers who want a storage device that is home-bound. This is due to the fact that it needs an external power source to function and is fairly heavy. To make matters worse, the new My Book has a more expensive suggested retail price starting at $130 for 3TB all the way up to $300 for 8TB (the 3TB and 8TB capacities of the Seagate Backup Plus Hub can currently be had for just $100 and $230, respectively.) It's safe to say, however, that the street price of the My Book will likely be lower.Weighing in at three pounds, the 8TB My Book is heavier than most external hard drives, and will weigh down your backpack.Īs you can imagine, this means it's not really suited for the traveling creator, unless you’re just commuting between work and home.
It's not the fastest, however, trailing behind the recently reviewed Seagate Backup Plus Hub by more than 10MBps. I tested the 8TB version of the drive and via USB 3.0 and it did well, with the sustained copy speed averaging some 170MBps (that's more than 50 percent faster than the My Passport). And like all desktop external hard drive, the My Book require an external power adapter to work. The My Book doesn't have extra USB ports to work as a USB hub, a cool feature first introduced by the Seagate Backup Plus Hub. This means it won't work with computers that only have a USB-C port, like the Macbook. Instead it uses the old Micro-USB 3.0 port and includes a foot-long connection cable. Notes: Longer bars mean better performance