This honkin’ big external hard drive is now available in a 4TB, 7200-rpm version. It works seamlessly with Mac OS X’s Time Machine back-up feature. However, I highly recommend it for storing all those ripped DVDs, hours of homemade videos and other data that won’t fit on your Mac’s built-in drive.
With Apple’s infatuation with fast-but-space-limited solid state drives and the lack of optical drives on most new Macs, there’s never been a greater need for an external drive with lots of room. (And, no, I don’t trust having all my data backed up to “the cloud.”) What’s more, the 4TB My Book Studio is perfect for videographers, photographers, video editors and other graphic professionals.
The WD product is as Mac friendly as a hard drive gets. Formatted for our favorite computing platform, this drive is plug-and-play ready for Mac OS X users (though it also works with PCs). What’s more, the design features a brushed aluminum casing to match the appearance of a Mac and serves to keep the drive cool while in use.
The aluminum exterior, combined with its WD Caviar Green drives, eliminates the need for an internal fan to extend the life of the drive. It also means the drive runs very quietly.
What’s more, you can use WD Security to set password protection and hardware encryption and protect your files from unauthorized use or access.
My Book Studio comes with a dual USB 2.0 and USB 3.0. If you need Firewire connectivity, that’s a downer. What about Thunderbolt? For most of us USB 3.0 is plenty fast enough — and Thunderbolt connectivity would have added to the price.
WD’s My Book Studio works out of the box with Mac OS X 10.5 or later and is available on the WD store (http://www.wdstore.com) and at select retailers and distributors. The manufacturer’s suggested retail price for the 4TB My Book Studio is US$299.99.
If you need plenty of digital storage space — and you know you do — 300 bucks is a good price to pay for a fast, spacious, external hard drive.
ADR rating: 10 out of 10
URL: www.wdc.com/en/
Since it has USB 3.0, you might as well get the less costly PC version.