I’m having the same exact problem with my WD My Book 3.0 2TB, it freezes my desktop when plugged in, nothing related to the HDDs. Fortunately I figured out that if I turn the computer on with it plugged in everything works just fine. WD Support didn’t reply to the second time I wrote them about this.
I should mention that I tried the HDD on 3 different computers and only on my desktop it freezes, on my laptop and my other, older and weaker desktop it worked without the driver being installed! 
I’m running XP SP3, but maybe my solution works for you too, you never know! 
