Lay flat

Peter1 · April 10, 2010, 6:22pm

If laying tMy Book Essentials 1T flat will not affect the drive negativly I would like to do so to avoid knocking it over.

Can this be done safely?

Bill_S · April 11, 2010, 6:10am

NO, it can’t. It needs to be stood up on end. Otherwise, it won’t properly vent the heat from the drive. Leaving the drive on it’s side could cause heat failure.

Peter1 · April 11, 2010, 3:16pm

My Book Essentials has vents on the top, botom and back but the sides you would lay it on are solid plastic.

The air flow would not be affected in any way I can see as no vents or slots are blocked laying on the side.

.Are you sure you are referring to My Book Essentials?

Bill_S · April 12, 2010, 11:29pm

Yes I am. Heat rises, so it would collect inside the drive casing without being able to effectively ventilate. After a while you would have heat failure.

Peter1 · April 13, 2010, 2:42pm

Please see the reply I received from W.D. Tech.which indicates it can be run on its side if precautions are first taken. I would not do so and do not entirely depend upon the advice from them.

As you see the respnses are in reverse order which I copied and pasted.

Cosumers should be told this when thay purchase the My Book.

Customer (Peter )04/12/2010 10:48 AM
Consumers should be told it can be laid on its side but that it must be disconnected when doing so.
Response (Tahimi)04/11/2010 01:50 PM
Dear Peter,

Thank you for contacting Western Digital Customer Service and Support. My name is Tahimi

I apologize for the confusion, the My Book is designed to be stand up on a vertical position however you are able to lay the drive on the side, but you need to make sure that the drive is not running and is turned off at the moment of changing the position on the hard drive.

I hope that we have met your expectations today and that you are satisfied with our service. If you have any further questions, please reply to this email and we will be happy to assist you further.

Sincerely,
Tahimi
Western Digital Service and Support
http://support.wdc.com

Bill_S · April 13, 2010, 6:44pm

That’s your answer then. If the drive is turned off, you can lay it on it’s side all day. If the drive is on, it needs to be stood up, so it can properly vent any heat it generates.

Peter1 · April 14, 2010, 2:48pm

I apologize for being so thick about the interpretation of their response.

I thought it could be run on its side as long as it was off when moved.

I do now understand it must be run verically and that is what their transmission stated and implied.

The only thing that makes sme feel better is that my wife read it the same way as I did. But then again, she burns the supper.

Vertical it is and thank you.

DBelton · April 17, 2010, 10:20pm

it meant for you not to move the drive to lay it flat while it was plugged in and running.

the drive can be layed flat and then turned on with no problems, in fact, mine runs cooler laying on its side since the air vents on 3 sides are unobstructed as opposed to only 2 sides if it is sitting upright.

Peter1 · April 18, 2010, 3:46pm

Hello

I have gotten conflicting opinions .

I initially saw it the way you do. I still do.

The tech I reached had extremely poor English and the reply was of no use.

I guess we will each do as we wish and time will tell.

I no longer have the MY Book Essentials 1T as the second replacement had an issue with the SmartWare.

I am getting a My Book Home 2T w/o Smartware after negotiating.

The SmartWare was not a good idea, imho. I use Acronis and “image” with one and use Macrium for the other machine.

Regards

DBelton · April 21, 2010, 9:34pm

I wish I could have found one without the smartware. I purchased 2 of the 2TB mybook essentials, and the smartware is not removable if you use the original enclosure/controller. What I ended up doing was pulling the drives out of the enclosures and putting them in some older WD mybook enclosure that the drives had died in. By doing that, I was able completely wipe the drives and get rid of the smartware ■■■■.

Just a side note. I pulled one drive out, put in the old enclosure, wiped and reformatted the drive and it got rid of the smartware. I put it back in the new enclosure, and it put the smartware back on the drive.

Peter1 · April 21, 2010, 10:39pm

You did remarkably well

I called tech and they walked me though removing the SmartWare. I wish I could have recalled the steps for you.

I went through my notes with no luck. I did not feel like plwing my way through to be rid of it…

If you go to wdc.com and look around you will likely find out how to remove the SmartWare if you have no warranty.

I’d call them anyway to remove it as they know they have made a problem and will likely help you.

You sound like you have rid yourself of it.

Imaging to a drive with no othr software in the drive(plug n’ play)is much better than backing up. When it is time to recover you will get disassembled packets when you backup…

I got a WD My Book Home 2T with no SmartWare in it. I use Acronis to i mage and this way I can retrieve a single file or recover the snapshot.

I use Macrium for my laptop - it is free and if uncompressed you can still retrieve single file if necessary.

I had to format to change the FAT to NTFS as they come thru ready for Mac.

Also had trouble with connectivity so ran disk check to verify the integrity of the phases. had to replace a defective usb cord also.

I have a firewire cable and am getting a firewire ready pc soon.

I have had my share of woes with Wd.

Good luck