WD My Book Essential Edition (250 Gigs) and USB

[BRH]

Can anyone tell me whether the WD My Book Essential Edition external
hard drive will work on a system with USB 1.1? The specs for the drive
just mention USB 2.0, but AFAIK all USB 2.0 products are
backwards-compatible to USB 1.1. right?

If it does work with USB 1.1, I realize that it will be on the slow
side, but I'm wondering whether anyone here might have used it with USB
1.1 and give me some feedback on how it performs under 1.1.

Unfortunately, my desktop system only supports USB 1.1 (5 yr old
motherboard). I don't think that a PCI-based USB 2.0 port card would
work with it, would it?

Thanks!

 

[Paul Rubin]

Can anyone tell me whether the WD My Book Essential Edition external
hard drive will work on a system with USB 1.1?

It should.

The specs for the
drive just mention USB 2.0, but AFAIK all USB 2.0 products are
backwards-compatible to USB 1.1. right?
Supposedly.

If it does work with USB 1.1, I realize that it will be on the slow
side, but I'm wondering whether anyone here might have used it with
USB 1.1 and give me some feedback on how it performs under 1.1.
Slowly.

Unfortunately, my desktop system only supports USB 1.1 (5 yr old
motherboard). I don't think that a PCI-based USB 2.0 port card would
work with it, would it?

It should, and those cards are cheap. It's what I'd suggest.

 

[Rod Speed]

Can anyone tell me whether the WD My Book Essential Edition external hard drive will work on a
system with USB 1.1? The specs for the drive just mention USB 2.0, but AFAIK all USB 2.0 products
are backwards-compatible to USB 1.1. right?

They should be, but there are exceptions, relatively rare tho.

If it does work with USB 1.1, I realize that it will be on the slow side,

Thats a big understatement with a hard drive.

but I'm wondering whether anyone here might have used it with
USB 1.1 and give me some feedback on how it performs under 1.1.

Unfortunately, my desktop system only supports USB 1.1 (5 yr old motherboard). I don't think that
a PCI-based USB 2.0 port card would work with it, would it?

A PCI USB2 card should work fine and I have added them to
much older systems than yours. They dont cost much either.

 

[Arno Wagner]

Can anyone tell me whether the WD My Book Essential Edition external
hard drive will work on a system with USB 1.1? The specs for the drive
just mention USB 2.0, but AFAIK all USB 2.0 products are
backwards-compatible to USB 1.1. right?

They are required to in the sense that they also implement
USB 1.1. The problem is that the drivers are different. So
you can well have a working USB 2.0 system that does not
work for USB 1.1.

If it does work with USB 1.1, I realize that it will be on the slow
side, but I'm wondering whether anyone here might have used it with USB
1.1 and give me some feedback on how it performs under 1.1.

Unfortunately, my desktop system only supports USB 1.1 (5 yr old
motherboard). I don't think that a PCI-based USB 2.0 port card would
work with it, would it?

If it has PCI slots, then yes, such a card should work.

Arno