How do I Use the Western Digital My Book Mass Storage Device?

Using an external hard drive to protect and back up important files is always a good practice. The Western Digital My Book can also be convenient as a way to add virtually unlimited extra storage to your computer without having to open the chassis. The Western Digital My Book series of external hard drives come in several versions, including the "Essential Edition", "Premium Edition", "Pro Edition", "Studio Edition", and "World Edition". These external hard drives differ in their capacity, speed, and features, but all of them follow the same basic usage principles.

Things You'll Need

• Western Digital My Book AC adapter
• USB 2.0 cable
• Open USB 2.0 port on computer

Instructions

1. Plug in the AC adapter to the Western Digital My Book, and then into an AC wall outlet. The My Book will automatically power on and spin up.

2. Plug in one end of the USB 2.0 cable to your My Book and the other end to a free USB 2.0 port on your computer. Windows will automatically recognize that an external hard drive has been connected, and Western Digital's drive utilities will be automatically installed.

3. Click "Exit" once the installation of the drive utilities has finished. Click on your "Start" menu, followed by "Computer". Your Western Digital My Book should be visible under the "Hard Disk Drives" category in the "Computer" window.

4. Select the files that you wish to store on your My Book, and simply drag and drop them onto the "My Book" icon in the "Computer". Your files are now stored on the My Book external hard drive. To retrieve or modify files that you placed on the drive, you can always access the drive by going to "Start", "Computer", and then the "My Book" icon.

Tips & Warnings

• Several Western Digital external hard drives have an automatic backup feature, including the "My Book Essential", "My Book Elite", "My Book Premium", "My Book Mirror", and "My Book Pro" editions. This software is automatically installed during the initial setup process. To launch the backup feature, press the physical "Automatic Backup" button on the case of the external hard drive and follow the on-screen prompts. The "My Book Elements Desktop" and the "My Book 3.0" do not have this feature.

References

• Western Digital: My Book Essential Edition User Manual
• Western Digital: My Book World Edition User Manual
• Western Digital: My Book Essential Quick Install Guide