Wirecutter

The 4 TB My Book is reliable, fast, and cheaper than the competition.

An external USB hard drive is the fastest and most cost-effective way to back up your files at home.

TechGearLab

If you're seeking a backup for your desktop that'll update automatically, the Western Digital My Book should be on your radar. It features consistent read and write speeds, a performance feature you'll be hard-pressed to find in the external hard drive world. Optimal rates were measured at 192 MB per second on Windows. Actual speed tests averaged 150 MB second, the fastest HDD speeds in this review. Moreover, these speeds stayed pretty consistent across all file sizes and didn't slow down with larger files. Another remarkable finding is that it has some drop resistance despite its large and seemingly fragile design. We dropped it &#40;cringing the whole time&#41; on both carpeted and hard surfaces from waist height, and it survived. This impressed us because it's not rated to withstand these tests.
This drive is not meant for travel. It's heavy, scratches easily, and requires an additional power source to use, so it's best when it lives attached to a desktop, stationary in your home office. Although we didn't test water resistance &#40;it's not rated to deal with water&#41;, we suspect it wouldn't survive because the case has many ventilation holes that lead directly to the hard drive inside. However, if you want automatic backups, it's the one we recommend.
Read more: Western Digital My Book review

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