Want huge storage? Western Digital (http://www.wd.com) provides it with its My Book Studio Edition II dual-drive storage system, which has a massive 6 terabytes (TB) of storage. The manufacturer's suggested retail price is US$549.99, which is a reasonable price tag, especially considering it comes with a five-year warranty.
What's more, the WD drive doesn't consume nearly as much desktop space as you might think. The new capacity provides users 33% more storage than the previous capacity, while maintaining the same footprint.
Once a 6TB solution would have been considered solely a business product. Now, however, with so many of us storing digital songs, videos, photos and more, the My Studio Edition II fits in perfectly with the "digital lifestyle." In fact, I now use it both as my primary Time Machine back-up and as a place to store my Handbrake-converted DVD-to-digital-video files.
The WD solution is also extremely flexible. It comes with eSATA, FireWire 800, FireWire 400 and USB 2.0 connectivity. A nice touch: the included cables have little icon stickers to let you know what plug they connect to (FireWire 800, FireWire 400, USB 2.0 or eSATA).
Sure, Thunderbolt support would be nice, but the FW800 connection works just fine with my iMac. Also, it's user serviceable, meaning you can open the enclosure and replace the drive inside, if needed.
There are RAID-supported configurations for those that need such options. Additionally, the My Book Studio is "green" thanks to WD's GreenPower Technology that consumes approximately one-third less power than standard dual-drive external storage systems.
Another advantage is that it runs quietly. Thanks to its convection cooling architecture and power-saving mode, it's designed without a fan. It sits on my desktop behind my iMac, and I never hear a peep out of the My Book Studio Edition II.
It also comes with automatic and continuous backup software. If you don't want to use said software, you don't have to. The WD drive is plug and play compatible with a Mac right out of the box. Just connect it, and you're good to go.
My Book Studio Edition II dual-drive storage systems are available now at WD's online store (http:www.wdstore.com). If you're a business, I can't recommend the drive highly enough. If you're a home user and think you don't need such a high capacity drive, you may be right. For now.
But within 12 months, I'll bet you change your mind.
Rating: 10 out of 10
-- Dennis Sellers
