Product Reviews

The Studio Edition II is the latest offshoot of the My Book range, different from its predecessors by virtue of having two disks in a Raid array. We tested the 2TB version, though a 1TB model is also available. Out of the box it's configured as a Raid 0 array that appears as a 1.82TB volume in the Finder.

The included software allows it to be reconfigured as a Raid 1 volume, which mirrors the data on both disks for peace of mind, halving the capacity in the process.

The drive has a mini USB 2 port and two FireWire 800 ports, along with an eSata port that's surplus for most Mac owners. A FireWire 400 to 800 cable is included for low-end Macs such as the current Mac mini and MacBook.

Western Digital's management software adds a subtle icon to the menu bar, where it unassumingly sits. If the Raid status becomes anything less than healthy, the icon will flash or change colour to draw attention to all sorts of problems. Strangely, the icon appeared only when using a FireWire connection, which will leave USB 2 and eSata users uninformed of any trouble - far from ideal as they'll have to periodically connect using FireWire to check for problems.

This risks data loss in the interim, as the menu lists free capacity, temperature and, crucially, a link to the WD Raid Manager, where the status of both disks is listed.

This application should be the first port of call when the drive is used for the first time. It allows you to choose the Raid mode, erasing the drive in the process. Admirably, Western Digital's software detects whether you're running on an Intel or PowerPC Mac and changes the partition map accordingly - to GUID on the

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former and Apple Partition Map on the latter. It's irrelevant if you're only going to store documents, but essential if you might boot your system from the drive. The software also offers the option of formatting the drive as a journalled HFS+ volume or as Fat32, which is handy for ferrying back and forth between Macs and PCs.

Western Digital has made the disks replaceable without sacrificing the synonymous, smooth book-like design. It's an essential feature for rebuilding Raid 1 arrays, and it has been done in such a way that it takes a few minutes at most, without the need for a screwdriver.

Opening the case requires a firm press on a specific point on the top side to release a latch. It took us a few attempts to get the knack of exactly where to press, but it was a doddle once we'd worked this out. Inside, a small handle unscrews the coverplate, and carefully pulling on a plastic tab removes a disk from its slot. Predictably, Western Digital's Caviar GP drive assemblies must be used as replacements. The menubar icon keeps you informed of progress as the drive rebuilds and tests Raid 1 arrays.

Over FireWire 400 and USB 2, our benchmarks showed little difference in performance whether configured as a Raid 0 or Raid 1 array. Raid 0's speed benefits only became apparent when we moved up to FireWire 800. Here it shone against Raid 1, delivering an extra 10MB/sec in our sequential write test and about 19MB/sec for the random write test.

Mac Pro owners with an eSata expansion card can look forward to a significant speed boost from Raid 0. The gain was about 26MB/sec, turning in a healthy transfer rate of 107MB/sec in our sequential write test and 66MB/sec in the random write test.

The drive's performance on slower interfaces is nothing spectacular - even a little underwhelming. The drive is best used over FireWire 800 or, if you're lucky enough to have a Mac Pro, over eSata. The price is competitive and the lack of JBod, found on some close competitors, is of little consequence. It's mostly high-end performance seekers that get the most benefit from the Studio Edition II, though the combination of Raid 1 support, price and capacity are appealing for those with lots of documents that they can't afford to lose.