# COSTCO-500G MYBOOK External Hardrive



## Silver Back (May 30, 2005)

The Western Digtal external MYBOOK drive, both USB and Firewire 400, is down to $199 from $249. I don't know if it will drop further but it seems like a good deal to me.


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## HowEver (Jan 11, 2005)

.


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## TheBat (Feb 11, 2005)

Here is the link at Costco.ca 1. 500GB, 1 terrabyte

It's probably cheaper in store.


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## artoo (Apr 17, 2006)

Be wary of these, I was browsing at the Apple Store Eaton's Centre the other day and I saw two people bring them back. Apparently there is a known issue with the enclosure, it looks cheaply made. Just something to consider.


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## TheBat (Feb 11, 2005)

Costco possibly has the best return policy of any store. If you need one, buy one. If it breaks down, Costco will more than likely give you your money back.

However they will NOT be able to get your data back!


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## artoo (Apr 17, 2006)

I don't doubt the drives themselves are sound, as WD is a fairly reputable company. Just be aware that opening the drive to retrieve your data (by breaking the enclosure's seal) will no doubt void your warranty / chances of being able to return it.


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## satchmo (May 26, 2005)

My friend picked up a couple of these last week. 

He's having a bit of problem running the backup software. Apparently one must reformat it as a Mac drive as it comes with Windows software preloaded.

It's a bit on the large size, but the dual firewire/usb ports are a bonus. One year warranty is not so hot but thats the same with most external drives i.e. LaCie.


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## HowEver (Jan 11, 2005)

satchmo said:


> My friend picked up a couple of these last week.
> 
> He's having a bit of problem running the backup software. Apparently one must reformat it as a Mac drive as it comes with Windows software preloaded.
> 
> It's a bit on the large size, but the dual firewire/usb ports are a bonus. One year warranty is not so hot but thats the same with most external drives i.e. LaCie.


Forget the bundled backup software. Reformat the drive, completely, and backup using SuperDuper. It's free or there's an upgrade for a small fee.


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## RideOn (Apr 10, 2003)

I bought the 1TB model (500x2) a few weeks ago. Liked the FW800 feature. Seems to be working great. This model also has a thermostatically controlled cooling fan. The instore price was $20 cheaper than the online price.


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## Carl (Jun 7, 2003)

Mine is the MyBook Premium 500G with FW800. It has a 3 year warranty, not a 1 year.
It has software that makes the front glow differently depending on the amount of data on the drive.
I chose this drive because it will actually shutdown and power off when I put my system to sleep. FW800 is very fast as well.


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## dwp (Aug 12, 2003)

I was at Costco yesterday... $199 in store. Back-up software works like a charm once you've reformatted the drive as a mac volume.

Warranty is a bit skimpy, but Apple sells the very same enclosure with the 250 gig at their store for around the same price so what heck.

If you already have an external case, Canada Computers has the Seagate 320 gig for less than $100.

MacDoc also has some good deals on externals if you're concerned about compatability. And if you have a problem the good Doctor is always there, I mean here!


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## MacDoc (Nov 3, 2001)

Yeah we just beat up our supplier on a bunch of Seagates so can offer the 500 gig with 3 year warranty 16 meg cache and Oxford 911 chipset for $229 - big drop.

Our TB Array also drops to $499.


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## sands989 (May 3, 2007)

I have a couple questions if you guys can help? 
Question 1? if I buy a 500G unit now and hook up to air port extreme. can I purchase another 500G(if i need) down the road and hook both up to air port extreme.
Question 2? can you hook up an external hard drive to airport express through the usb port.


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## bhil (Oct 30, 2004)

Carl said:


> Mine is the MyBook Premium 500G with FW800. It has a 3 year warranty, not a 1 year.
> It has software that makes the front glow differently depending on the amount of data on the drive.
> I chose this drive because it will actually shutdown and power off when I put my system to sleep. FW800 is very fast as well.


Interesting, I was at Costco last night to by a drive. I bought the MyBook Premium 500GB but it only has FW400 and a 1 year warranty, but the front still glows differently based on the amount of data in the drive. The 1TB Premium however, had FW800 and a 3 year warranty.


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## HowEver (Jan 11, 2005)

sands989 said:


> I have a couple questions if you guys can help?
> Question 1? if I buy a 500G unit now and hook up to air port extreme. can I purchase another 500G(if i need) down the road and hook both up to air port extreme.
> Question 2? can you hook up an external hard drive to airport express through the usb port.


You can chain the external hard drives using FireWire, not sure about USB2, or if the Airport Extreme hookup is by USB2, whether you can then chain via FireWire.

You cannot hook up an external hard drive to the Airport Express. The USB2 port is for a printer only, and it will print only (i.e., not scan or use other printer features), otherwise you need to manually hook it up.


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## Deep Blue (Sep 16, 2005)

It's rather ugly! For looks I appreciate Acomdata HD's. That said, I should really buy an enclosure and do it the match and swap way...


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## TheBat (Feb 11, 2005)

Deep Blue said:


> I should really buy an enclosure and do it the match and swap way...


You mean buy 1 enclosure, and more than 1 HD, that you will swap as required?


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## twolf3232 (Jan 26, 2006)

sands989 said:


> Question 2? can you hook up an external hard drive to airport express through the usb port.


That's an intriguing question. I'd be really curious to know the answer to that one. Maybe I could split the USB port on my express and have one go to the printer, and one to a hard drive (if this is possible).


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## Atroz (Aug 7, 2005)

twolf3232 said:


> That's an intriguing question. I'd be really curious to know the answer to that one. Maybe I could split the USB port on my express and have one go to the printer, and one to a hard drive (if this is possible).


It was already answered. You can NOT hook up a drive to the Express. Only the new Wireless N extreme.


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## jicon (Jan 12, 2005)

sands989 said:


> I have a couple questions if you guys can help?
> Question 1? if I buy a 500G unit now and hook up to air port extreme. can I purchase another 500G(if i need) down the road and hook both up to air port extreme.
> [/COLOR] through the usb port.


You can hook several external drives to the Airport Extreme via USB2. The "secret" is ensuring that you also purchase a USB2 hub to plug several of the drives in.

Look around on forums concerning speed though. I've heard a fair number of complaints that the "Airdisk" is rather slow. I also believe security is all or nothing. I don't believe it is possible to secure a particular folder on the drive(s).


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## Deep Blue (Sep 16, 2005)

TheBat said:


> You mean buy 1 enclosure, and more than 1 HD, that you will swap as required?


Kind of...I'd just swap out the old drive (every five years or so) as it dies and replace it with a new one. A little more friendly on the wallet and the environment that way.


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## sands989 (May 3, 2007)

sands989 said:


> I have a couple questions if you guys can help?
> Question 1? if I buy a 500G unit now and hook up to air port extreme. can I purchase another 500G(if i need) down the road and hook both up to air port extreme.
> Question 2? can you hook up an external hard drive to airport express through the usb port.


thank you for the help on my 2 questions, now I have a problem.

I now have air port extreme with a 320G Lacie external hard drive connected through the usb on the airport extreme.The reason for this setup, is so I can access my stuff from my MBP and my HP desk top.I read about the formating and since I had 320G of space I did 2 partitions in fat32, which you should to be able to read with mac os x and windows.and one more partition in os mac to use to save stuff just for my mac book.now the problem when I connect to my home network on my MBP I can only see the mac os x partition.when I connect to the network with my hp desk top I can see both fat32 partitions and the mac os x partition.When I connect the Lacie external hard directly to my MBP I can see both fat32 partitions and the mac os x partition.I tried to just save everything in the mac os partition but my windows xp does not like doing that, it is really slow and tends to freeze up,when I save to the fat32 it goes quick and easy.I want to save everything on my hp desk top in fat32 and be able to access from my MBP. I am thinking this might be a problem with airport? or did I do something wrong? please help


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## sands989 (May 3, 2007)

sands989 said:


> thank you for the help on my 2 questions, now I have a problem.
> 
> I now have air port extreme with a 320G Lacie external hard drive connected through the usb on the airport extreme.The reason for this setup, is so I can access my stuff from my MBP and my HP desk top.I read about the formating and since I had 320G of space I did 2 partitions in fat32, which you should to be able to read with mac os x and windows.and one more partition in os mac to use to save stuff just for my mac book.now the problem when I connect to my home network on my MBP I can only see the mac os x partition.when I connect to the network with my hp desk top I can see both fat32 partitions and the mac os x partition.When I connect the Lacie external hard directly to my MBP I can see both fat32 partitions and the mac os x partition.I tried to just save everything in the mac os partition but my windows xp does not like doing that, it is really slow and tends to freeze up,when I save to the fat32 it goes quick and easy.I want to save everything on my hp desk top in fat32 and be able to access from my MBP. I am thinking this might be a problem with airport? or did I do something wrong? please help


eh ehmac.


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## sands989 (May 3, 2007)

sands989 said:


> thank you for the help on my 2 questions, now I have a problem.
> 
> I now have air port extreme with a 320G Lacie external hard drive connected through the usb on the airport extreme.The reason for this setup, is so I can access my stuff from my MBP and my HP desk top.I read about the formating and since I had 320G of space I did 2 partitions in fat32, which you should to be able to read with mac os x and windows.and one more partition in os mac to use to save stuff just for my mac book.now the problem when I connect to my home network on my MBP I can only see the mac os x partition.when I connect to the network with my hp desk top I can see both fat32 partitions and the mac os x partition.When I connect the Lacie external hard directly to my MBP I can see both fat32 partitions and the mac os x partition.I tried to just save everything in the mac os partition but my windows xp does not like doing that, it is really slow and tends to freeze up,when I save to the fat32 it goes quick and easy.I want to save everything on my hp desk top in fat32 and be able to access from my MBP. I am thinking this might be a problem with airport? or did I do something wrong? please help


can anyone help me......ehmac please dont leave me hanging


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## fyrefly (Apr 16, 2005)

Okay, this took two minutes of searching, which you probably could have done yourself. (Also, familiarize yourself with Apple - Support - AirPort for future issues).

AirPort Extreme (802.11n): USB storage device supported formats and protocols



apple.com/support said:


> The AirPort Extreme (802.11n) supports USB storage devices that are formatted as Mac OS Extended (HFS-plus), FAT16, or FAT32.





apple.com/support said:


> The AirPort Extreme (802.11n) works with disks *that have a single partition* and are not software RAID volumes (no more than one volume per physical disk). If the disk is a self-contained RAID that presents itself to a computer as a single volume requiring no software support, then it is supported.


That's your problem. Reformat the whole thing as Fat32 and it should work for Windows and Mac.


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