I use a Western Digital MyBook 500gb external usb drive.

The drives are great, quiet enough and have a sensible cost/per gb ratio.

Modern Hard disks have something called S.M.A.R.T or Self-Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology this tells you when you have or are likely to have a problem with a hard disk. You can download Western Digital software based tool thats reports S.M.A.R.T’s status.

One of my drives failed on

Raw Read Error Rate
MultiZone Error Rate

Its still under warranty so I am returning it for a new one.

You have two choices 1) send them your device and they will send you another device within 60 days.

or

2) You can use the priority service by which they ship you a new unit and you have 30 days to return the faulty device.
You have to give them your payment details so if your returned product is lost in the post you will be charged the full cost of a new device.

So I chose the priority service. I successfully recovered the data from the failing drive and now just have to pay for its tracked delivery to Western Digital in Germany.

So far so good. I hope my failing MyBook is not a bad omen, because so far I have really liked these devices.

Please leave a comment if you have had a bad experience with these drives or Western Digital’s RMA procedure.

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