(Old Model) WD My Passport Ultra 1 TB Portable External USB 3.0 Hard Drive with Auto Backup, Black

Ive used a single 1 TB Passport Ultra with SmartWare backup utility since late 2013 for both my desktop and laptop Windows 7 PCs. After some initial SmartWare glitches its worked so well Im getting another - the first 1 TB Passport Ultra is full now. Regarding SmartWare, some 2013 criticisms were valid then but are out of date now. And other criticisms misinterpret the purpose of SmartWare. WD continues to update SmartWare and the bugs in the 2013 version have been resolved. I use file/folder backup rather than category backup, which resolved the glitches I experienced back in 2013. The main misunderstanding is about the purpose of SmartWare - which confused me at first. Its not two-way syncing, like some cloud storage (Google+ Drive is an example). SmartWare is designed to be a goof-proof backup. Anything backed up via SmartWare cannot be deleted from the backup drive. And you can delete files from your main drive without fear of also losing the backup (not so with Google+ Drive in full sync mode). SmartWare isnt two-way syncing, isnt network attached storage and isnt merely rewritable external storage. Its true backup, designed primarily to protect data. The downside is that its inflexible. If SmartWare fills up the backup drive with junk files, duplicates, etc., the only way to recover drive space is to start over. Thats what Im doing with my original Passport Ultra, by transferring data to another external drive, getting a second Passport Ultra, and recycling the first PU for a new round of backups. Also, if you have Windows 7 or later, youre not locked into SmartWare. You can use the free Windows Backup included with the OS. It works fine, is very simple, and compacts files and folder structures into zip files in a familiar hierarchy. Or you can use Acronis - Western Digital provides a free version of Acronis for download. Or you can simply drag and drop files and bypass any backup utilities altogether. Just depends on your data needs. Im a photographer and need true backup because its more secure and runs well in the background or as scheduled. I also bought a 3 TB My Cloud a couple of weeks ago for pseudo-NAS, and for the Red drive reliability. Im considering a 4 TB My Book with the Green drives, but prefer the compact size and USB powered Passport Ultra. However SmartWare is painfully slow on My Cloud (transfer speed is about 1 GB per hour or slower). But its fine on the Passport Ultra, even via USB 2.

I received the WD My Passport Ultra 2TB external HD this evening. I connected it to my 3-month old Dell XPS 850 / Windows 8.1 computer, which immediately recognized the device and displayed a directory for all the files on the HD. Unfortunately, the directory began to flash on and off at random intervals. Undeterred, I installed the WD software provided on the drive, and I waited patiently after being told that more up-to-date software was available on line, and waited longer as replacement software was installed. It was only with great difficulty that I managed to register the new product with WD, because the constant disconnecting and connecting of the drive made it difficult for the registration program to accept my typed name, address, email, etc. I then followed the instructions provided after the installation and product registration was complete and re-booted my PC. Alas, installation of the newest WD software and rebooting made no absolutely no difference. The WD HD continued to connect and disconnect rapidly but randomly, preventing me from backing up any data onto my new WD external HD. I searched WD support pages to find a diagnosis for this problem (which has been reported by at least 7 other WD My Passport Ultra 2TB external HD users. I implemented a couple of the proposed fixes, but none worked. After 45 minutes of experimentation, I gave up, physically disconnected the failing WD external HD and replaced it with my older (but full) WD external HD, which worked flawlessly. I removed the newly installed software, re-installed and then updated the software provided with my older WD external HD, and requested that Amazon accept my return of a defective HD, a request that was promptly granted by Amazon. It is conceivable that the apparently defective device works, but is somehow incompatible with my new Dell PC or the Windows 8.1 OS or some obscure default setting in my PC or Windows 8.1 OS. But I am not an engineer; WD does not provide anywhere on its website a straightforward explanation or fix for the problem, and I do not feel it is the responsibility of the user community to engineer a fix for this or any other problem in connecting an external HD to a standard, plain vanilla PC. I hope I can find another 2TB external HD that will serve as effectively as my older 1TB WD external HD as my main backup device. (By the way, the WD-supplied backup software, even on the older, perfectly functioning WD HD was crap. I used the Windows Vista OS backup software for backup on my old PC, and it was much more intuitive, straightforward, and dependable.) UPDATE: 12-23-2013 - After returning this item, I went to a specialized store and obtained recommendations for an external HD. After discussing the alternatives with a knowledgeable expert, I purchased (at his recommendation) the very same WD My Passport HD model that earlier failed. His comment was: All hard drives will fail someday, and a small percentage will fail immediately. Yours happened to fail immediately. He thought the WD Ultra HD offered the best combination of speed and simplicity; he uses it for his own personal laptop PC. I brought the new HD home, hooked it up speedily and without incident, and it has worked fine for a week. In fact, I restored a defective file onto my home PC with very little effort. Well see how long it lasts. So far so good. UPDATE: 04-03-2015 - The replacement WD external HD still functions well and without serious errors. One small problem is that my PC occasionally loses the external HD. That is, even though the HD remains connected to the PC, the PC no longer recognizes that it is connected. The problem is easily dealt with, however. I physically unplug the connection and then plug the external HD in again, and the device functions without incident.

My 5 star rating is for the Western Digital hardware. It seems that previous reviewers had problems with USB 3.0 and with the WD Smartware Pro software. But there is no good reason to use either of these. I have my drive plugged into a USB 2.0 port and I dont have a performance problem. There are many free backup software applications. I am using Microsofts Sync Toy. Works great. Right now I am doing backups when I feel they are needed. But the Sync Toy directions tell you how to automate this using Windows timers. My OS is Windows 7. I just plugged the WD hard drive into an unused USB 2.0 port and it was recognized right away with no messing around. Then I started up Sync Toy and set it up to backup the contents of My Documents to the WD and then kicked off the first backup. (I have 45 GB worth of pictures in My Documents so this took about half an hour). I find it amazing that you can purchase 1 TB of storage for $65. My association with the computer industry goes back to the early 1960s when 25 MB cost my company several hundred thousand dollars. Hats off to all those smart American engineers who made this happen over the last 50 years!

I just received this drive on 2/14/14 and have had an opportunity to work with it a bit since then. I got the Ultra to replace a 2TB external portable e-Sata drive that had died. Fortunately I had another identical/redundant e-Sata drive that I used to copy all the data to this WD Ultra. All in all I copied around 400GB and what I found was very interesting indeed. I have a Lenovo W510 which has e-Sata, USB 2.0, and USB 3.0. That enabled me to compare apples and apples and oranges to oranges when it came to transfer/copying speed. Using the e-Sata drive and the WD Ultra hooked into the USB 2.0 port of the W510 I got copy/write speeds around what Id expected -- 14MB/sec, +/-. When I then switched to the USB 3.0 port the speeds doubled -- to an average of 28MB/sec, +/-. It varied slightly depending on the size of the files, but overall, I was able to confirm that the speeds definitely and consistently doubled using USB 3.0. I was very pleased. Some notes: 1. I was not interested in any of the software included with this drive. All I wanted was a hard drive that Windows would recognize and nothing more. So the first thing I did after plugging it in was copy all the included software to another partition (as a strictly precautionary measure in case I ended up needing any of it, which I did not, btw). I then reformatted the Ultra, effectively erasing all of the included software and/or programs. I double checked to see if there were any hidden drives, and I found none. (Its possible that if Id installed all of the accompanying software a virtual drive might have been created. But after reformatting the drive and not installing anything, all I got was a nice big storage drive, which is exactly what I wanted.) I then created two partitions to suit my needs -- a large one around 1.5GB, and a smaller one around 300GB. 2. I did not use the included USB 3.0 cable. Instead, I used THIS cable:

When I worked for a former employer in Austin TX in the 1990s we had an expression - Backing up a computer is NOT an option! That axiom is as true today as it was in 1991. Additionally, a technical support representative from Buffalo Technologies made the recommendation to me five years ago that the more valuable or important that the data is, the more back ups that you should have. This relates to data redundancy. I am a tax preparer and have about eight separate back up devices in my office. WD continues to produce reliable storage devices. I purchased the 1 TB version of this product which coincides with the HDD capacity of my desktop computer. The WD software that comes with this product is very user-friendly and intuitive. Initial configuration is relatively simple. It connects to an available USB port on your PC and virtually no intervention is required by you after the initial set up. My configuration includes regular queries for software updates and when available, they have all been seamlessly installed. In a nutshell, this is an excellent and very wise investment for anyone.

Well, I was really excited to have all my file & system image backups on a single drive, without a wall wart and in a portable small form factor (I never move it as it is connected to a desktop system). Unfortunately, after 3 months, it started whining, then grinding and clicking and now it comes on only 5% of the time, regardless of the computer it is hooked up to - I thought it was the antique of a PATA drive I had connected to the motherboard making the noise but it wasnt. WD Drive Utilities says the SMART status passed, CrystalDisk Info says it failed and the Quick Drive test in the WD Utility says it failed. This just reinforces the need for a complementary Cloud backup solution or a second backup drive. This drive was Made in Thailand so who knows if it was made with the equipment that got affected by the flooding in the past. Usually, I only go with WD Black hard disk drives due to their well known, industry reliability and warranty coverage. I would just buy that with an external hd case but Im already invested in this drive now. Hopefully the replacement is new and works like expected. UPDATE: Since I had files on there that I wanted but wasnt willing to pay $500-$1000+ for data recovery services, I tried doing a PCB swap with a donor board and firmware transfer since that seemed like an inexpensive possible fix (pros did the firmware transfer). When that didnt resolve the situation, I had another 2TB WD My Passport Ultra around and I opened up that case to see what is involved with a potential platter swap (that didnt go well either). While doing so, when I opened up the new Passport Ultra, I noticed it specifically said on the drive Recertified!!!! I cant believe it. Seeing this only reaffirms my thoughts on just buying an external hard drive case and OEM HDD together and using that instead because otherwise, you dont know what you are getting. I still will use the WD Blacks as they have never failed me and I am very impressed with their performance and warranty. Also, for backup, I will stick with the 3.5 size as now I know, with everything so miniaturized on the the 2.5, recovery seems a little more challenging (which I will do what I can to even prevent that from being needed again).

Let me start off by saying the drive itself is great. Backups up quickly and efficiently and there is a wide range of options...BUT there are some lacking features. Many other reviews tell you what it can do, I feel you need to know where its lacking. Lets begin with and issue that will affect novice computer users. This drive comes with a tiny one page pamphlet. The graphic shows you to connect the drive to your computer, then theres a little graphic of a book and a web address. You need to go to the document section of their website. From there, you locate the manual for your drive. Going by their pamphlet, you need to be connected to the internet at the time of your initial install. This is not always an option for everyone. But heres the thing, if youre a Windows user, click on MY COMPUTER, then click on the MY PASSPORT drive, you will find a directory of User Manuals. The instructions should state this. Once youre in the user manual, you discover that you only needed to run the WD APPS SETUP file, which you access in the same way as the manuals. Already youre doing more work than necessary. A simple sentence of connect drive to computer, open drive folder, double click WD APP SETUP file would have saved some aggravation. Once the software is installed on your system, you can access the help menu within the program, which is very user friendly. There are a few software items I dont like. You have many choices on when to schedule your backup, (daily, weekly, monthly, immediately) except on a certain DATE of the month. Say, I want to back one of my systems on the 1st of the month. Not an option. You can choose the first Monday (Tuesday, Wednesday, etc) of the month, but not a specific day. I also would have appreciated a confirmation screen or at the very least, a status bar notification that told me my drive actually performed the backup. Even a little notification that the drive is currently backing up would be nice. And as I discovered, a blinking light on the drive does not necessarily mean its backing up your computer. To ensure the drive is actually backing up or to confirm a backup has completed, you have to open the WB SmartWare software and click on the Backup Tab. If its currently backing up files, you will seeing a copying files message on the top of the screen. To confirm a backup, you need to click on the clock icon located near the bottom of the screen. This will tell you your Next Backup, Missed Backup and Last Backup. BUT, I had a daily backup set for 5PM and the drive wasnt connected at the time...the missed backup never appeared on the list. One might argue that it didnt log the missed backup because the drive wasnt connected. My argument is you should NEVER keep your backup drive continuously connected. If a virus hits your computer, it hits your Passport Ultra too. Ive already been there, done that with another external drive, hence the reason why I always disconnect. The hardware is great and I love the drive, BUT I have had to help a few older, less tech savvy people set this up and explain how to double check their backups. Theyve all asked the same thing...why doesnt it tell you when its done? Bottom line, it an awesome little drive, but the software leaves a bit to be desired. Would I recommend it? Only to people who have a modest amount of tech knowledge and who dont mind extra clicks to double check their backup.

Bought it back in May 2015 and its great. Works as expected on my Windows pc. I use it to keep my files on in case something happens to my computer. Still works fine. I think it was kind of hard to figure out how to manage on my computer at first and during installation but its actually very easy, on my computer I just plug it in drag and drop files like I would with a regular USB flash drive. I bought it for around 60 dollars so there are cheaper ones out there though. But not bad. One complaint I have is that Im not sure where to store it but I just keep it in a little cardboard box I have in my closet. Im forgetful though so I also have a tendency to just leave it out where ever haha, but it still is in good condition so its fine. Also I feel like it looks slightly different than in the picture but that may just be the lighting but to me the little circles on the front arent that bright or noticeable. Also in the pictures they have it might look a little bigger or smaller than it is, but its about 21 cm vertically, 9 1/2 cm horizontally, and 2 cm thick, and it comes with a USB cable thats around 48 cm long. So its kind of too big to put into a regular pocket but you could probably put it in a medium sized bag pocket. Though I do worry about the USB cable because theres not comfortable way to pack it with you without bending it all up unfortunately. That might end up being a problem in the future if the USB cable breaks but so far it is fine.

My recently purchased Western Digital Passport Ultra 1 TB Portable External USB 3.0 Hard Drive with Automatic Back Up is really very amazing. You know how products that are advertised will say theyre this or that, then when you get them home, turns out the product is not only not living up to its advertised standards, but the company doesnt support you when the product does not perform. And the product will put you threw so many configuration changes youll wish you could throw that product as far from you as you can. Well this Western Digital Passport Ultra 1TB Portable External USB 3.0 Hard Drive with Automatic Backup is really the Mercedes Benz of USB Back- Ups for my Lap-Top (and I love Mercedez Benz cars). The minute I plugged this product into my Lap-Top, it instantly backed my files up, no question, no configuration laborious instructions. It did it so fast, till I had to make sure that what was going on by simply checking just went on and configured on my digital USB backup. As some of you know, Ubuntu (Ubuntu problem child) will be making changes to their OS service on July 31, 2014, I was concerned about backing my files in preparation for Ubuntus changes (talk about Ubuntu changes- a real headache) – well! I can forget worrying now in my file back ups on my Lap-Top. I highly recommend Western Digital Passport Ultra 1 TB Portable External USB 3.0 Hard Drive with Automatic Back Up – no fuss, no muss, no hassles, just plug it in, and it does the configurations file backups spontaneously. Really great product by Western Digital.