WD My Book vs Elements Desktop???

[Marlene]

anyone know the difference between a Western Digital My Bood Essential and the Western Digital Elements Desktop? from what I can see, the My Book needs an AC adapter and doesn't turn on and off with the 'puter. I looked at reviews on both and I would rather hear from my peeps here what you think as it's hard to tell from reading them.
thanks

 

[MikePro]

i LOVE my elements 1TB, for carrying around as my portable harddrive and i LOVE my 1 TB and 2 TB desktop hard drives as my dedicated backups.
only real difference is speed, and price.... as the ones that require power cables are much faster and inexpensive.
Although it sure is nice not having to keep track of a power cable for the portable drive and the fact that its like 1/3 of the size also has its merits.

 

[Marlene]

so the one that has the adapter is faster than the one that works off the computer? thanks for th info, it sounds like any of them would be a good choice.

 

[jiarby]

I have always called external enclosures "hard drive coffins" because they overheat the drives.

The best drive enclosure I have used is made by rosewill.. it has an 80mm cooling fan blowing right on the hdd and lots of mesh to facilitate airflow.

The key to long life is to not leave them plugged in 24/7.

If you are buying now, get an eSata, or USB 3.0 MUCH FASTER

 

[Marlene]

thanks