Western Digital My Book World Edition Review

by Jerry Jackson

The Western Digital My Book World Edition is a high performance network storage solution wrapped inside an attractive casing that allows you to share files with multiple computers over the internet or a home network. This compact file sharing solution lets you backup all your computers and works seamlessly with iTunes and Xbox 360 so that everyone in your family has access to music, photos, and videos that are important to you. Notebook users can also benefit by keeping important files on a networked drive at home, so a stolen laptop doesn't result in stolen data. Let's take a closer look.

Build and Design
The Western Digital My Book World Edition looks quite similar to the rest of the "My Book" family of external Storage drives and is extremely compact for a network attached storage (NAS) enclosure that contains either 1TB or 2TB worth of desktop hard drives. Full specifications include:

• Height: 6.81 inches
• Length: 5.78 inches
• Width: 2.28 inches
• Weight: 2.41 pounds
• Connectivity: Ethernet (10/100/1000 Mb/s transfer rates), USB 2.0 expansion
• Package Contents:
  • Network hard drive
  • Ethernet cable
  • AC adapter
  • Software CD
  • Quick Install Guide
• MSRP: $229.99 for 1TB, $449.99 for 2TB

The enclosure exterior is made of all white plastics and features a white LED status indicator on the front.  The enclosure is very sleek and stylish with a minimalistic design and a subtle Western Digital "WD" logo on the sides. The top, bottom and back of the enclosure feature a perforated surface designed to help air flow inside and keep the hard drive cool. The only thing to see on the bottom of the My Book World Edition is a small sticker containing the product information, such as the serial number, model number, and country of manufacture.

To get to the point, this is one of the best looking NAS solutions we've seen. It's simple, functional, and attractive ... unless you hate glossy white plastic and the pulsing white LED. We usually don't care how a NAS enclosure looks since most owners will connect the thing to a home network and then stick it behind a router or hide it in a closet. However, the My Book World Edition looks nice enough that you might be willing to leave it sitting out on your desk without feeling embarrassed when company comes over.

The only thing I don't love about the enclosure design (the same thing I dislike about the other "My Book" enclosures) is the security lock slot is "hidden" on the back among the vent holes. An IT manager (or a security-conscious family member) might find it frustrating when they try to connect a security cable to the enclosure and can't find the lock slot.

Setup and Features
We could say the My Book World Edition is remarkably simple to setup and use, but that honestly makes it sound more complicated than it is. The World Edition is about as close as you can get to a "plug-and-play" NAS. Simply connect the World Edition to your network router, insert the included software CD, click "Map Network Drive" and that's it! You can start using the World Edition in a matter of seconds. Yes, more complex activities, such as scheduling backups, configuring iTunes or adjusting security settings takes more time, but this is the simplest way to create network attached storage we have ever seen.

One nice feature on the World Edition that isn't found on all NAS enclosures is a USB port for storage expansion. This USB port can't connect directly to a computer, but it allows you to connect an external USB storage drive to the World Edition in case you need to add more storage to your network.