WD unveils My Book Essential and My Book for Mac drives with new WD SmartWare software

The new My Passport drives are more than 20% smaller than the previous generation My Passport.

According to research firm Parks Associates, the average U.S. broadband household currently has over 120 gigabytes (GB) of digital media and files, which is expected to grow to over 1 terabyte (TB) of data by 2013. The accelerating shift from physical media (such as photo negatives, CDs and DVDs) to digital media (such as digital photos, videos and downloads) means that consumers' real lives and digital lives are increasingly overlapping.

"Keeping an extra copy of your digital life used to be a painstaking, manual task undertaken only by the most expert and diligent of users. WD's new My Book Essential and My Book for Mac external hard drives, powered by WD SmartWare, have finally made it easy enough so that anyone can do it. WD's new drives combine massive storage capacity, visual backup, and hardware encryption, so consumers can now actually see their digital life, safe in one place,"

said Saif Khwaja Sales Director, Western Digital, Middle East & Africa.

When the My Book Essential drive is plugged in for the first time, the simple and intuitive first backup process launches automatically. The real-time visual interface of WD SmartWare software gives users a reassuring view of their backup as it happens. After the first backup, users' files are backed up automatically every time they change or add a file.

WD SmartWare software works on Windows PCs and Mac computers. WD My Book Essential hard drives are designed for Windows-based PCs while WD My Book for Mac drives are formatted for Mac computers and are compatible with Apple TimeMachine, Apple's integrated backup solution.

Main new features and improvements of the WD SmartWare and WD My Book Essential:

WD SmartWare Software

• WD SmartWare software features:

- Visual backup displays that show content in categories and shows the progress of backup;
- Automatic, continuous data backup will instantly make a second copy whenever you add or change a file;
- Retrieve valuable data to its original location whether it's lost data or the file has been overwritten;
- Customizable data backup that allows user to set drive security, run diagnostics, manage the power settings, and more from the WD SmartWare control center.

My Book Essential

• The new WD My Book Essential and My Book for Mac drives with WD SmartWare software feature:

- Smaller, sleeker, more streamlined design and elegant book-like shape that takes up minimal space;
- 256-bit hardware encryption and password protection for peace of mind knowing that data is protected from unauthorized access;
- Illuminated capacity gauge lets user see at a glance how much space is available on the drive;
- USB 2.0 interface - for convenience and compatibility among multiple computers;
- WD GreenPower Technology lowers internal drive power consumption by up to 30 percent, a sleep mode reduces power during idle times, and a power-saving feature turns the drive on and off with your computer;
- Planet-friendly packaging derived from recycled materials to minimize waste;
- Ready to plug-and-play with Windows PCs;
- 2-year limited warranty.

The new My Book Essential drives are offered in capacities of 500 GB, 1 TB, 1.5 TB and 2 TB. My Book Essential drives are available now at select retailers and online at shopwd.com.