******** do not purchase a wd hdd ***********

            I purchased a WD 500gb My Book External Harddrive approximately 2 years ago. It worked perfectly for about a year, then it started making a loud whinning noise. This noise was not constant, and would go away as fast as it started. The drive still worked fine, with the noise, on my Dell Desktop PC with Windows XP…  I recently purchased a HP Desktop and Laptop, running Windows 7.  I installed the drive on the desktop…  The WD Harddrive worked for about 3 months then it stopped… Windows 7 could not recognize this drive… It would disappear and appear by itself… I tried it on both of  my  computers running Windows 7, and had the same problem…

            I was very nervous because I had some important data saved on this drive. So, I re-installed it on my Dell running XP and it’s working fine…( except for the occassional noise) I’m in the process now of transfering my data to discs.  I’m now in the market for another external harddrive, and you can bet it won’t be Western Digital.

          Western Digital’s HDDs   “DOES NOT WORK PROPERLY WITH WINDOWS 7 or VISTA”   Do not waste your money… If you are able, return it and buy another brand… You’ll be glad you did!     In addition, their customer service is worthless.

I’ve used only WD’s for more than 20 years now and have never had issues like the ones you are describing. The reason I stay with them is due to the reliability of their drives. That being said i’m sorry you had such trouble with your drives running on 7. You do know that Windows 7 was not yet released 2 years ago? Any hard drive made back than will most likely work, but since it wasn’t out I can bet it’s not listed on the box as a compatible OS.

        I want to retract my previous comments about Western Digital …  Apparently Western Digital is an outstanding company… When they got wind of my problems, they were more than willing to assist me.  Although my warranty had expired, they still assisted me in getting a new drive that was compatible with Windows 7.  The customer service personnel contacted me numeous times to ensure my problem was resolved…   The new drive I received is fantastic. I am very happy with it and Western Digital.    This is truely a fine company.  I am again a Western Digital customer and will continue purchasing their products because of the great customer service they provide.