Western Digital My Book Studio Edition II review: Western Digital My Book Studio Edition II

With up to 6TB of storage and support for both RAID 0 and RAID 1, the My Book Studio Edition II is the largest dual-bay external hard drive to date, in terms of storage space. It comes with multiple types of peripheral connections and allows users to replace its internal hard drives easily, as long as they use PowerGreen hard drives made by Western Digital. Unfortunately, the drive doesn't support USB 3.0 and takes a long time to be recognized by a computer or to come out of sleep mode.

7.2

Western Digital My Book Studio Edition II

$150 at Amazon

The Good

The <b>My Book Studio Edition II</b> offers up to 6TB of storage, features RAID 0 and RAID 1, and supports USB 2.0, FireWire (400/800), and eSATA connections. The drive is fast and affordable.

The Bad

The My Book Studio Edition II doesn't support USB 3.0 and internal hard drives made by other vendors. It runs hot, seems buggy at times, and doesn't come with an eSATA cable.

The Bottom Line

The My Book Studio Edition II makes a decent direct-attached storage solution for those who need to extend a computer's storage space or want a large backup drive. The drive's rather buggy firmware might turn many users away, however.

To make up for this, it offers fast performance and comes with a price tag that won't break the bank at just around $500 for 6TB (or $270 for 4TB and $180 for 2TB). If you're looking for a large and easy-to-use external hard drive for your desktop computer, especially a Mac, the My Book Studio Edition II is worth consideration.

Design and features