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WD® My Book® Essential™ 3TB External Hard Drive-USB 3.0

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WD® My Book® Essential™ 3TB External Hard Drive-USB 3.0

Item: 912287 Model: WDBACW0030HBK

Dual USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 compatibility
Up to 3x faster transfer rates with USB 3.0
Protecting your data with automatic, continuous backup

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Delivery policy content URLSaveSee more detailsAdditional OffersFree Item IncludedInstant SavingsRebateURLFREE SHIPPINGClick here for Printable CouponvalueQty.Choose your ItemstrueCLEARANCE ITEM: Eco FeeView largerNextAdd to CartreviewsPreviousIn Stock OnlinePrice after rebateFREE Shipping to storeEnvironmental fee notice:DetailsstarsAvailable In Store OnlySee Price in-CartOrders containing this item are not eligible for Gift cards or certain other methods of payment."My Software Downloads"NowCollapseGet StartedPrint this pageLearn MoreItem/sbdpas/img/ico/Select another component belowItem qualifies entire order for free deliveryselectedPrice after savingsInk and tonerComing SoonBeforeWasView Full DetailsExpected Delivery:Online OnlySee Details/sbd/content/help/using/delivery_policy_popup.htmlSoftware Download/sbd/content/help/environmental_fee_popup.htmlFinal PriceAdd to FavoritesNote: Shortly after purchase you will be able to access your Software Downloads in the section of your staples.com® account. It's easy and secure!/sbd/cre/marketing/technology-research-centers/software/software-downloads.html#z_faqInstant CouponPrice beforePriceModelItem can be shipped only to a retail store location. RebateBuy More Save MoreprintView videoCheck in Store AvailabilityAs low asRegFREEProvincial recycling or deposit fees may be applicable upon checkout.PromotionsAvailable In-Store OnlyCurrently Out of Stock.Total SavingsBefore continuing, please select an item Dual USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 compatibilityUp to 3x faster transfer rates with USB 3.0Protecting your data with automatic, continuous backupSelect an ItemDual USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 compatibilityUp to 3x faster transfer rates with USB 3.0Protecting your data with automatic, continuous backupWD® My Book® Essential™ External Hard Drives-USB 3.0http://s7d5.scene7.com/is/image/Staples/s0395715_sc7?$std$http://s7d5.scene7.com/is/image/Staples/s0395715_sc7?$thb$http://www.staples.com/sbd/img/res/ic/ic016-windows.gifhttp://www.staples.com/sbd/img/res/ic/ic016-mac.gifhttp://s7d5.scene7.com/is/image/Staples/s0395715/WD-My-Book-Essential-External-Hard-Drives-USB-30/product_SS1054667WD® My Book® Essential™ External Hard Drives-USB 3.04.5244 Dual USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 compatibilityUp to 3x faster transfer rates with USB 3.0Protecting your data with automatic, continuous backupEach1TBDual USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 compatibilityUp to 3x faster transfer rates with USB 3.0Protecting your data with automatic, continuous backupWD® My Book® Essential™ 1TB External Hard Drive-USB 3.0http://s7d5.scene7.com/is/image/Staples/s0395715_sc7?$std$http://s7d5.scene7.com/is/image/Staples/s0395715_sc7?$thb$http://www.staples.com/sbd/img/res/ic/ic016-windows.gifhttp://www.staples.com/sbd/img/res/ic/ic016-mac.gifhttp://s7d5.scene7.com/is/image/Staples/s0395715/WD-My-Book-Essential-1TB-External-Hard-Drive-USB-30/product_901973WD® My Book® Essential™ 1TB External Hard Drive-USB 3.04.5107 Dual USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 compatibilityUp to 3x faster transfer rates with USB 3.0Protecting your data with automatic, continuous backupEach2TBDual USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 compatibilityUp to 3x faster transfer rates with USB 3.0Protecting your data with automatic, continuous backupWD® My Book® Essential™ 2TB External Hard Drive-USB 3.0http://s7d5.scene7.com/is/image/Staples/s0395715_sc7?$std$http://s7d5.scene7.com/is/image/Staples/s0395715_sc7?$thb$http://www.staples.com/sbd/img/res/ic/ic016-windows.gifhttp://www.staples.com/sbd/img/res/ic/ic016-mac.gifhttp://s7d5.scene7.com/is/image/Staples/s0395715/WD-My-Book-Essential-2TB-External-Hard-Drive-USB-30/product_906287WD® My Book® Essential™ 2TB External Hard Drive-USB 3.04.5244 Dual USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 compatibilityUp to 3x faster transfer rates with USB 3.0Protecting your data with automatic, continuous backupEach3TBDual USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 compatibilityUp to 3x faster transfer rates with USB 3.0Protecting your data with automatic, continuous backupWD® My Book® Essential™ 3TB External Hard Drive-USB 3.0http://s7d5.scene7.com/is/image/Staples/s0395715_sc7?$std$http://s7d5.scene7.com/is/image/Staples/s0395715_sc7?$thb$http://www.staples.com/sbd/img/res/ic/ic016-windows.gifhttp://www.staples.com/sbd/img/res/ic/ic016-mac.gifhttp://s7d5.scene7.com/is/image/Staples/s0395715/WD-My-Book-Essential-3TB-External-Hard-Drive-USB-30/product_912287WD® My Book® Essential™ 3TB External Hard Drive-USB 3.04.0143

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Product Details

Product Details

Western Digital External Drive with USB 3.0 Connectivity - Stream movies and Internet video to your HD TV

Put your digital life on the sleek, high capacity My Book® Essential™ external hard drive. With WD quality and USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 connectivity, this drive is designed for today with tomorrow in mind. Visual backup software and password protection with hardware encryption ensure your data is protected. Lightweight and easy to carry, this drive is ideal for fast storage to go.

Dual USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 compatibility
Up to 3x faster transfer rates with USB 3.0
Protecting your data with automatic, continuous backup
Password protection and hardware encryption
Dimensions 6.5"L x 5.3"W x 1.9"H (2.6lbs)
2-year limited warranty

Free up precious space on your hard drive with the My Book external storage drive by Western Digital. One TB of storage space provides ample room for your reports, presentations, and more. You can also conveniently stream media that's on the drive through your television. Thanks to the USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 connections, you'll have no trouble using the My Book drive with your existing devices and with any upgrades you acquire in the future. Fast data transfers and high-level encryption guarantee a rich streaming experience while keeping your files secure at all times.

Compact Design
At less than 3 lbs, the My Book Essential external drive's lightweight, compact body makes it a practical option for portable storag. With an included USB cable and plug-and-play software, this user-friendly drive is ready for use in minutes when paired with compatible operating systems. The drive has a sleek, upright design that takes up minimal space, making it easy to store on shelves and media desks.

High-Speed Data Transfer
Enjoy versatility with this hard drive's USB 2.0 and 3.0 capabilities. Depending on your computer, USB 3.0 can let it simultaneously read and write data up to three times faster than the 2.0 standard. Compatibility with both standards ensures that you can connect the external drive to a wide range of older and updated devices, allowing you to avoid costly upgrades.

Automatic Data Backup
Run the Western Digital SmartWare application once, and it automatically creates a backup of your files each time you add or alter data. It also lets you view virtual reports of file scans and backups, use diagnostics tools, and customize power settings. The built-in restore feature allows you to access mistakenly deleted files, so you'll never have to worry about losing important data.

Secure Storage
Avoid unauthorized access with secure encryption settings that protect private data. You can adjust security settings to fit your needs and add password protection for extra defense.

Compatibility

Windows XP, Windows Vista, & Windows 7 (formatted NTFS)
Mac OS X Leopard, Snow Leopard (Requires reformatting)

What's in the Box:

External hard driveWD SmartWare software
USB cable
Quick Install Guide

REVIEW SNAPSHOT®

by PowerReviews

Western DigitalWD� My Book� Essential� 3TB External Hard Drive-USB 3.0

4.2

(based on 143 reviews)

88%

of respondents would recommend this to a friend.

Pros

Large capacity / good size (79)
Easy to set up (76)
Easy to use (76)
Quiet (66)
Compact (61)

Cons

Slow (13)
No power switch (10)
Unreliable (10)
Heavy / bulky (9)
Difficult to use (3)

Best Uses

Additional storage (72)
Back-up (71)
Photo storage (47)
Video (42)
File transfer (37)

- Reviewer Profile:
- Power user (52), Casual user (43), Midrange shopper (23), Budget shopper (17), High-end shopper (6)
- Primary use:
- Personal (109), Business (32)
- Computer Platform:
- PC (81), Mac (11), Other (3)
- Was this a gift?:
- No (4)

Most Helpful Positive Review

3TB Super Fast USB 3.0 for Great Price!

I couldn't pass this one up for such a low price at Staples. I am a astrophysicist and use the drive in relation to my work. I have had the 1TB My Book for ...Read complete review

I couldn't pass this one up for such a low price at Staples. I am a astrophysicist and use the drive in relation to my work. I have had the 1TB My Book for about 5 years and have never had a problem with it (got it at Staples too). In fact it once fell 3 feet to the floor in the middle of doing a backup and behaved as if nothing happened - went to the end of the backup without even a hiccup! That was part of the reason I decided to get this new 3TB version. If it's as well made as its predecessor (which is still going strong), I can look forward to many years of use. BTW, I use the drive with both Windows and Linux based computers. It's compatible with both USB 2.0 and USB 3.0, so it works great with slower older computers while giving quicker backups of newer computers of higher internal storage capacity. Just one thing: if you use it with Windows Vista, Windows 7 or later, you must reformat it with the factory default formatting using the supplied software. If you do that, you won't be able to use it with Windows XP machines after you reformat it. But that is true of ALL drives greater than 2.5 TB. I'm keeping the old 1TB drive for use with my oldest XP machines.

Most Helpful Negative Review

Good hardware - terrible software

The hardware appears to be working properly. The software is in one word terrible! After loading the initial version things appeared to be working properly, but I succumbed to the request to upgrade the software. During this process by the way they attempt to lead you into purchasing things you don't need. After the upgrade the system failed. It would not back up anything. After a 40 minute discussion with the tech, we uninstalled everything and reinstalled. Now it works partially. That is it backed up if I selected individual files and folders but not if I tried to do a complete backup of my documents - the default option. After the backup of My Documents and several other folders the Retrieve function will NOT show me the files and folders in the My Documents folder although it does show the drop down file listing for other folders. All the files are on the external drive and I can just go there and follow the file tree to the file I am interested in and copy it back to my internal drive. So I have a work around, but cannot use their software to do it! Positive: It does appear to back up a file as soon as it is saved which is the main option I wanted and used to select this external drive.

WD response? Boilerplate garbage about upgrading a lot of other software on my computer. How can that explain that it opens some folders but not others.

The frustration in trying to start up such a routine device was far too much. I do not recommend this product.

Reviewed by 143 customers

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Displaying reviews 1-5

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6/13/2013

4.0

Big Storage at affordable price

By Serious Photographer

from Grosse Pointe, MI

About Me Power user

Pros

High Capacity

Cons

Slow

Best Uses

Backup
Photo Storage

Comments about Western Digital WD� My Book� Essential� 3TB External Hard Drive-USB 3.0:

I've used the drive for one month. So far so good. It replaced a 1.5 TB that recently failed. I hope to get 4-5 years out of this drive. I suggest you also consider another drive as a backup. I'm using with USB 2.0. Speed is probably faster with USB 3.0

Comment on this review(earn points)

6/13/2013

5.0

worth the extra money

By bigbdan1

from Tucson, AZ

About Me Casual user

Pros

Attractive Design
Compact
Easy To Set Up
Easy to use
Great Phone Support
High Capacity
Portable
Quiet

Cons

Difficult To Use

Best Uses

Additional Storage
Backup
File Transfer
Photo Storage
Run Larg Programs From
Video

Comments about Western Digital WD� My Book� Essential� 3TB External Hard Drive-USB 3.0:

I was a bit confused, but the phone support was fantastic.

Comment on this review(earn points)

6/13/2013

5.0

Great External Drive

By BLT

from Mystic, CT

About Me Casual user

Pros

Attractive Design
Compact
Easy To Set Up
Easy to use
High Capacity
Portable
Quiet

Cons

Best Uses

Additional Storage
Backup
File Transfer
Photo Storage

Comments about Western Digital WD� My Book� Essential� 3TB External Hard Drive-USB 3.0:

This isn't my first Western Digital External Hard Drive. All have been reliable and easy to use, which is why I keep buying them.

Comment on this review(earn points)

6/8/2013

4.0

Good and Affordale

By David H.

from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

About Me Casual user

Pros

Attractive Design
Compact
High Capacity
Quiet

Cons

Difficult To Use
Slow

Best Uses

Backup

Comments about Western Digital WD� My Book� Essential� 3TB External Hard Drive-USB 3.0:

This is a good product at an affordable price but it is not very user-friendly. Since I have installed the device on my computer it slows things down considerably when it is performing a backup. I figured out a way to make it stop indexing which has helped with things but it hasn't solved the problem.