Something’s telling me that some Filipino government officials were involved in the development of the My Book Elite hard disk drive from Western Digital.

This portable storage device can hoard up to 2 terabytes (or 2,000 gigabytes) of data, and make any corrupt politician with non-moderated greed smile with pride.

That tired and tiring analogy aside, the My Book Elite 2TB external hard drive comes with “intuitive” (a more politically correct term for “idiot-proof”) data-backup choices and options. It even includes 256-bit AES hardware encryption, and an e-ink capacity and capacity indicator.

The latter uses an eInk display to inform its users of the remaining space left on the cavernous drive.
The display can also be used as drive labels, which is quite helpful for consumers who have more than one hard disk drive. Though, for the love of God, I cannot imagine any reason why should anybody need more than one. Unless, of course, he or she was a professional data-hoarding thief, or a Filipino government official.

The WD My Book Elite comes with a book-like design similar to what its older siblings had. A passive cooling system made possible by vents on the top and back of the unit itself allows it to run quietly.

The My Book Elite comes out of the box preformatted (NTFS) for Windows PCs. However, it also supports Macs once appropriately reformatted. No PC bias there. OK, maybe a slight one.

After all, the WD SmartWare – the dashboard tool that allows users to set up backup schedules, revise the eInk label displayed, and run the unit’s password-guarded 256-bit AES encryption system – comes in Mac and Windows versions.

SmartWare classifies data stored in the user’s PC and the external drive based on file extensions, and does it automatically. It does not allow customized extensions, however. Instead, unfamiliar formats are listed simply as “Other” and thrown together with other unrecognized system files.

The unit comes with a lonesome mini-USB 2.0 connection, the kind that is also found in the majority of electronic devices and gadgets, such as digital cameras, smart phones, and other portable drives. It does not offer faster modes of connections, such as FireWire 800 or eSATA. So much for its Elite tag.

While the WD My Book Elite 2TB may not be the fastest USB 2.0-enabled external hard drive Technews has tested so far, it still posted respectable figures.

Gigabytes of movie files were transferred from a certain laptop at a certain company and relocated into another mobile computer’s hard disk drive, all done with ease and not-to-be-ashamed-of time.

The My Book Elite 2TB portable hard drive offers cavernous data storage for consumers who may or may not have a need for it but may still feel compelled to purchase one, just in case. The unit offers user-friendly options in backing up data.

With this WD device at hand, nobody should fear losing his or her collections of family photos, videos (both scandalous and not), email messages from ex-lovers, and any other piece of information their owners are too lazy or ignorant or both to let go.

My only gripe is that it does not have connectivity options other than the USB 2.0.