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

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!

This is my 3rd WD Passport style external drive over the years and all still perform great. This one is the 2TB unit BTW. As many have indicated the software continues to suck but I never use it anyway except for the security utility. I prefer to drag and drop to create my own back ups as that is much easier to move to another PC anyway. I am running Windows 7 and all appeared to transfer at what I consider to be acceptable transfer speeds (measured in hours not days). I set up about 500GB to transfer overnight and it was done before I got up in the AM. This unit is actually more compact than my older 500GB unit but does not come with a case. If I need a case I will use one from my older 500GB drive. Having the 2TB gives me way more flexibility as my Laptop is only 600GB and about 5 years old but still performing well (HP Pavilion). I take tons of HD Video which is a major space hog as many of you know. Hope this helps give you the basics that I am always looking for in these reviews.

And it comes in four different colors! First, most people can use extra storage these days. Secondly, everyone should have a backup drive any way. My Passport Ultra by Western Digital does both very well. This drive works well on both PCs and Macs, and as a Mac user, I was concerned whether this product would be fully compatible with OSX 10.9.1. Yes, you can buy this in a Mac-only version (also made by WD), which costs about $5-$10 more; or you can save the money by getting this one. I got this one. It wont work on a Mac right out of the box, but following the simple reformatting instructions made this drive fully compatible with my operating system. Apples Time Machine backup program works well with this drive, I have it backing-up my data twice a day. It has worked flawlessly during the three months that Ive had it, and anyone who needs 1TB of storage in a small, portable package should give this product a serious look. It comes with the USB cable and is compatible with both USB 3.0 and 2.0. It works quietly, with little or no noticeable vibration. The finish is solid and attractive. Other 1TB portable drives I looked at were priced about $10-$20 more than this one, so the net savings after FREE SHIPPING from Amazon was at least $20. When my storage need increases (hopefully not, but most likely it will), I will be looking at WDs 2TB My Passport Ultra at $108 and free shipping on Amazon. Until then, this one will do the job!

Thank God i picked up this little guy, my computer got messed up and i was able to get everythign back because i had backed up everything just a few days ago.. Anyways, on to the review: Ok so i did my research before buying and went with Western Digital since i had already owned a previous external hard drive from them and know of its reputation. The price was perfect and I got a good deal of Amazon. I personally did look around and I dont think you will be able to find a better deal than the one Amazon is curently providing.. This portable hard drive is so light , im amazed how far these things have come.. it feels like it weighs less than my smart phone! The drive is pretty fast and has plenty of storage with the 1 TB option.. I usually dont install the software that manufacturers send with their devices but i thought why not, I was so impressed that this drive actually backed up my whole PC, and that too just the way i wanted it to and im sure most people would want, all the pictures in a seperate folder, music in another documents in another , videos in another... I mean it blew my mind, i just watched it do everything on its own and it barely took any time.. I backed up my own laptop and my wifes laptop the same day and it did it quickly and everything is well organized.. I would also recommend you to look at the Amazon Basics Case for this drive, thats the one i got and its fits perfectly..Highly recommend this drive to anyone.. Extremely easy to use.

I purchased the 2TB version of this External Drive to use as part of backup regiment for my android devices, laptops, desktops, and a small NAS. It is a nice sleek device with great read/write speeds of up to 50-54 MB/s read and 32.4 MB/s write (assumption being that you as well have the infrastructure required to produce said speeds.) What caught my attention and was ultimately most important decisional factor was the 3 year limited warranty. As great of product as it may be I did find two cons that could potentially have negative overview of the product. 1. You need to install WDs quickview and subsequently WD smartware as theyre tied together in the installation to safely eject the portable drive. 2. If a password is set on the drive you need administrative credentials on the local PC to unlock the drive when plugging it back in. These two issues can be a big issue when traveling as you might not necessarily have access to computer where youre the administrator thus not having the ability to install their software or as I would say bloatware. For my intents and purposes it works out great but if you plan on using it for travel I would read into these issues first.

This drive had all the selling points good price, good capacity, looked good, nice transfer speeds all in one 2.5 inch package. Sounds to good to be true... and it is. The story begins when I ordered it from amazon and opted for the UPSsmartPost. This is shipped by UPS, but the most important part was handled by the USPS! It said it was delivered right on time to my house, but it was never there. So I called Amazon told me USPS sometimes does this gave me a $20 promo code for my next purchase. Cool! So I get the drive transfer about 100gbs of data over (important data may I say). The drive was very fast (USB 3.0 is amazing) worked like a dream. I put it away and didnt use it until the next day. Next day it wasnt regonized by Windows. Finally windows regonized it then it wanted me to format. I waited a little while and I finally could see my folders I made on the drive. I thought I could get my data off and be on my marry way. Nope wouldnt let me access the data. I tried every data recovery software I could find and it would do the same thing cause it to not respond because it took forever to detect that the drive was there. I lost 100 gbs of data I needed off a faulty drive. I called amazon anf they said they couldnt replace the drive but could refund it. So I took that money and ordered another one ( I keep reading great reviews on this and I want that experiance) this one costed more money than the last one. The lady at Amazon gave me free expedited shipping which I was very grateful for. I truly did enjoy the drive when I could use it, it just crapped out on me the next day. Hope whoever reads this has a better overall experiance than I had.

I recently purchased a new Dell laptop with the plan to add an internal hard disk for data and backup for the SSD disk that came in it. To my dismay, the battery in the laptop was the larger 91 Wh version instead of the 61 Wh version, and it took up all of the internal laptop space. I had no choice bu to use and external disk. I had an older model of the WD My Passport that was 1 TB and had a USB 2.0 port. I tried it on my new laptop and quickly remembered why I quit using it soon after I bought it. It was slow and the little USB 2.0 port on the disk end would just fall out of the port. When I received this new Ultra 2TB, I really put it through the ringer. Not only is the USB 3.0 connection solid (you have to pull on the cable to get it to come out), this disk is really fast. It only runs at about 35 MB/s when connected to a USB 2.0 port, but it runs at 110 MB/s when connected to a USB 3.0 port. I would not have gotten much more speed than that with a 5400 RPM internal disk, and I would have been limited to 1 TB because pf the laptop space and heat removal requirements. Another good feature is the small size. This new Ultra 2 TB is only slightly larger than my older 1 TB unit. I also like the red color that I selected. I will never lose this one among my laptop gear. It really stands out.

I wanted an external drive for my Macbook Pro. I was looking for a good looking drive that was small, had USB 3.0 or Thunderbolt connectivity and one that didnt need an external power source. Of the drives that fit my criteria, I was drawn to the Western Digital drive because of the form factor, the price and the brand. This drive looks good. It is fairy small, about the size of an index card and a little large than .5 inch tall. The drive has a small white LED on the front that lets you know when the disk is being accessed. It comes in a variety of colors. I loved the both the red and blue versions because I was simply tired of the blacks and grays. I know it seems odd to be concerned with how the drive looks but I think you should get pleasure from the things you see and use all the time. When you see this drive you should not only see something that is technically competent but also something that is pleasing to the eye. I have experience with Western Digital drives in a number of internal applications over the year and have never been disappointed. This external drive has been in use since January and I am completely satisfied. It is very reasonably priced. It is quiet and stays cool to the touch. It has USB 3.0 connectivity so it is zippy. A thunderbolt 2 connection would have been great since my Macbook supported it, but those drives were hard to find at the time and I didnt think it was worth the extra money for just a thunderbolt connection. As far as throughput spend are concerned, USB 3.0 has max throughput is 5 Gbps, Thunderbolt is 10 Gbps and Thunderbolt 2 is 20 Gbps. USB 3.1 will be also 10 Gbps.

The physical drive is a 5 so far using it as a continuous backup drive. Its operating on a HP Pavilion Elite M9340F 64bit, Win7 Pro with a 3.0 PCI card using Acronis True Image 2014 and WD Smartware backup software. The 4 rating goes to the SmartWare and the difficulty in getting Win7 to recognize the WD drivers. Also, Trying to follow directions in the User Guide was worthless, even the updated version. The disk comes with SmartWare version 2.6 PRO but almost as soon as the software is activated a popup indicates a new version. The new version installs as non-pro with an indicator for upgrading to the pro version, for free. The directions to upgrade are simple enough however, when the request is submitted it errors out and doesnt upgrade but it does remove one of three authorized installations. It took over a week of emailing WDs tech support, who did work with me, to get the new pro version activated. All indications are that WD has/had a Win7 structure glitch in its automated upgrade software. It appears the software needs a file that should be located in a particular structure of Win7s Program Data but it isnt. After sending WD my structure they were able to manually upgrade the software. As for the drivers, Im still not sure Windows is using the proper driver but it works so Im not going to fight it any more. I finally got Windows to recognize the drive name in the Device Manager and get the SES driver install however, details of the driver under Disk Drives in Device Manager indicates its a Windows 2006 driver. The instruction indicates using the Extras folder on the Passport to update the driver but Windows return a no drivers that match your device error. All attempts to find an updated driver failed. As said, it works. Im leaving it alone.

I bought this HDD to backup the files on my aging dell laptop (Windows 7). Overall installation of the software went smooth and I found the backup app to be intuitive and simple to use. The software recognized both drives in the laptop and gave me two options on how to back up data: guided or all files. The guided option will find files that fit a category (i.e. music, documents, etc) and back them up whereas the all files option will back up ALL non-system files unless otherwise specified. I ended up using the all files option as it did a better job capturing game files (such as those in the program files folder). The back up files were easy to find on the HDD. This hard drive is about 1.5 - 2 times thicker than the Seagate Backup Plus. I did not use the dropbox backup feature. My laptop has only USB 2.0 so I wasnt able to take advantage of the higher speeds with 3.0 however I have no complaints with the transfer speed or time it took to back up everything.