Western Digital MyBook 3 1TB

There aren’t many certainties in life, but there’s a reassuring consistency to Western Digital’s MyBook drives. Through the years they’ve all shared the same basic boxy design. It isn’t a bad look, either: the understated curved corners and slatted top add just the right amount of interest, and the slightly squat profile makes it harder to knock over than some rivals.

It’s a basic design, though: at the front of the drive a white pin-prick LED acts as an indicator for both power and drive activity, and at the back you’ll find a power button, a Kensington lock slot and a mini-USB connector.
So much for the externals; how does it perform? The answer is rather well.

Even in our taxing small-file tests it was comfortably above the group average, and nearly two-and-a-half times faster than a USB 2 drive. In our large-file read test it managed a very impressive 120MB/sec, sharing first place with its 2TB cousin. For the record, that’s 9% faster than average for a desktop USB 3 drive, and a solid 50% faster than the average portable drive.

The price is a slight disappointment. An overall cost of 24.3 cents/GB isn’t outrageous, but $226 is more than you’ll pay for any other 1TB drive this month, and you don’t get any bundled freebies either. Any of the 2TB models would offer better value, presuming you have a use for the extra space.

All the same, if you’re seeking something that looks neither as plasticky as the Buffalo DriveStation nor as quirky as the Freecom XS 3, the 1TB MyBook 3 is a respectable drive with decent performance.

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