Cameras & Camcorders

[greencanary]

What does USB 3 mean? And now, I am curious, I bought a WD My Book Essential external hard drive. It says on the box USB 3.0 + USB 2.0 on the box, can I use it with my computer? I know that I have been asking about the video cam, but you got me thinking about the USB 3 thing.

[xl]

USB 3 means your USB will work faster. Instead of 16 or 30 minutes to transfer a full card, it can be done in 5 to 10 minutes. For most, they won't notice a difference, for others, every minute counts.

Yes the external hard drive will work on your computer, just slower.

[greencanary]

Do I need to use/install the smartware? What does it do? And using this My book, for both my laptop and desk top computer, is there anything special that I need to do?

[xl]

I don't own either of these products....

• in general, plugging anything in to your USB ports means there's device specific software that needs to be transferred and initialized, let it complete this.  It may take a few minutes
• which product offers the "smartware"?  I'm not familar with it.  You might not need it, check the documentation.  If it does not work, then perhaps you do need it.
• generally Windows File Manager is able to do the job.

[greencanary]

The external hard drive (WD My Book Essential) did it's initial loading of it's information and then wanted me to download SmartWare. The Smartware is basically to back up files and such. I spoke to my cousin who has one as well, and she said that it works fine without the smartware. So, I guess I am ok, because it seems to be working fine. Thank you.

[xl]

• If you already have backup software and procedure, you don't need Smartware
• If you don't have backup software and procedures, go research Smartware
• I personally copy my data to Drobo and then Ghost operating system and application drive.
  http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Data+Robotics+-+Drobo+4-Bay+USB+2.0/FireWire+800+External+Storage+Array/...
  http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Norton+Ghost+15.0+-+Windows/9693128.p?id=1218150608130
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05yqvb5n36M