The small part of the back panel that isn’t a vent sports a USB3.0 port, the power connector port and a power switch. As a result, the case stays cool to the touch. The entire top and bottom edge, as well as most of the back edge, is actually a vent. The left, right sides and curved front “spine” of the My Book are formed by a seamless solid piece of plastic.
A welcome feature of the enclosure is generous ventilation. It can be set vertically or horizontally, but the presence of rubber feet only along the bottom edge suggests that vertical is the preferred orientation. This edition is encased a glossy jet-black plastic enclosure. It shares the now-familiar stylized book shape that gives the line its name. The exterior of the WD My Book Essential hasn’t changed significantly since the line was first introduced.
WESTERN DIGITAL MY PASSPORT 4TB FORMAT WINDOWS SOFTWARE
After a straightforward initial setup and backup session, the software will run in the background and create incremental backups transparently and with adjustable levels of version control. It ships formatted as NTFS and includes WD SmartWare backup software for Windows 7 and Windows 8 pre-installed. Like its predecessors in the Essentials line, the My Book is marketed primarily as a backup storage device. The top model features a single 4TB drive and a USB3.0 interface to help speed up the process of filling it up. Western Digital has taken a “more is better” approach with its latest iteration of the WD My Book Essential HDD.