WD Offers Up New Book Like Hard Drives

The My Book series of external hard drives is designed to have a more user friendly look and feel as it sits on a user's desk.

Hard drive maker Western Digital yesterday rolled out a stylish line of external FireWire 400 and USB 2.0 hard drives designed to stand vertically on desktops and bookshelves. The new My Book series is available in prices ranging from $179.99 to $349.99.

The My Book hard drive series, said Western Digital, has what the company describes as a “unique, iconic-book shaped enclosure”. The drives, which comes in a basic USB 2.0 version as well as a “premium” USB 2.0/FireWire 400 option, is designed to self install after being connected a computer with no necessary CDs or separate software to install. Features include storage capacities ranging in size from 160GB to 500GB, a lighted on/off button, quiet operation, shock protection, included desktop, photo and search engine management software and automatic powering on or off depending upon the attached computer’s power status.

The “premium” edition also adds an external storage capacity gauge.

“The My Book family is the next generation in external storage,” said Jim Welsh, general manager of WD’s Branded Products Group, in a statement. “Consumers of digital media today are a much broader set of the population than in the past, and they want external storage that is easy to use and has an appealing design. With My Book, WD merges these attributes with the quality and reliability that our customers worldwide have come to expect.”