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

Posted publicly as Tom in NOVA Just got it yesterday. Hardest part of setup was getting it out of the box. Plugged it into a USB 3.0 port and ran Acronis to back up 320 GB in about 90 minutes. Tested copying large file fro a WD Blue 2TB in my computer, Windows 8 showed transfer rate around 820Mbps or approximately 1GBs. Doesnt equal the up to 5GBs mfr claim but a pretty good clip anyhow. Did not load any of the SW on the drive. Drive will be used as a pretty much permanent attachment to my desktop, Dont need to encrypt, pwd protect or go to the cloud for backups. I bought this drive to replace a returned Seagate desktop expansion drive that kept dropping off line. After 24 hts the WD Passport is still connected, as it should be, Most importantly, it rules out my computer as the cause of the Seagate issue.. I realize not much time has elapsed since I received and installed the drive but wanted to report a good experience, so far its all pros and no cons. I will update this review if I encounter any issues Clear

All of the external hard drives I own are the Western Digital brand, and this one is by far my favorite. I love how small it is and how quickly I can move and save files. As a college student, time and backups are essential. I work with Pro Tools and in it comes, massive amounts of files and file backups within its own project folders, and my teachers always say if its not saved in three places, it doesnt exist -- that said, I love that I can trust this little thing not to crap out on me whenever I need to use it. Plus, I like that there are different colors, it helps not to lose it and also distinguish which is which if you use multiple, like I do. Lastly, because I had a difficult time getting a straight answer for this -- It does work for BOTH Mac and PC, but youll have to configure it for Mac, which isnt a terribly hard process at all. You can easily search for a tutorial or have someone show you, if you dont already know how to do this. As far as price and how broke college students roll, Im incredibly happy I made this investment. It was worth every penny to know that I can get my work done without worry.

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.

What a great value for $70..wow. You cant beat that price. It gives me a warm, fuzzy feeling inside knowing that my Macbooks time machine will auto backup to this. I am a tech guy and Ive always told everyone to backup, backup, backup, but I never did myself. Does that make me a hypocrite? Lol. At any rate, for people that are less-tech savvy using a mac, when you first plug it in, just tell your Mac to use it as a time machine disk, then go to system preferences , and look for time machine and make sure its turned to the on position on the left and theres a little checkbox at the bottom of the screen that says show time machine icon in menu bar. I compel you to do that so you can simply click on it and press backup now, when you want, but keep in mind, Mac does it for you once you set it up. If you have anymore questions about time machine, just go to Google and type in time machine Mac with no quotes or just go to Apple.com and type HT201250 into the search area on the top right of the site, you can also type that into Google and it will also pull it up. *I was no compelled by any entity to write a review on this hard drive, the information provided was strictly my own, unless otherwise stated.*

I ordered the drive to run several VMs for school. I needed a drive that was fast, had enough room and was portable. This drive meets all those needs. The drive connects quickly to my laptop running Windows 8.1 and any of the computers at school running Windows 7. I have not had any driver issues when connecting to these PCs or needed to downloaded any separate drivers other than the ones Windows automatically loads when the drive is plugged in. I havent done any official speed testing on the drive, but when transferring bigger files it is consistently reading and writing at speeds over 100MB/s. Much better than my cheap Kingston flash drive writing at maybe 5MB/s. This drive is much quieter than my other drives too. This drive comes with a short micro USB 3.0 cable with a single male USB connector. I have an older USB 2.0 external drive that came with a cable that had two USB connectors on it. This was used so the drive could get more power; some USB ports especially on laptops dont supply enough power. So far I have not run into any issues with this drive needing more power than it can get from the single USB connector. I even tried connecting the drive to a USB 2.0 port on my laptop and it worked fine, although slower of course (USB 2.0 has a lower power rating than USB 3.0, 500mAh vs 900mAh). The short cord is useful when needing to travel with the drive, but I may find at some point needing a longer cable. I bought the titanium gray colored drive, but after seeing the black one in person and comparing them side by side, the black one looks much cleaner. As for the actual housing, I think WD could have made the case a bit more sturdy, theres a some flex in the housing when squeezed. Not that I feel like the drive is going to fall apart, but it feels a bit hollow and plasticy, compared to my older all-aluminum Iomega drive. The case/cloth bag it comes with isnt anything special, but it keeps my drive and cable together while it is in my backpack, which is all I need it to do. I definitely recommend this drive to anyone that needs to move and store large amounts of data that a thumb drive just cant handle yet.

I wanted an external drive I could plug into several computers, and back up each one independently. When first inserted into the USB, it installs a bevy of programs onto your computer. Then it asks if you want to back up on a schedule or continually. There is no provision for backing up when you attach it to your computer, immediately. Its designed to be left plugged into a computer and left there. If you dont want to leave it attached to a computer the whole time, this backup system is not for you. I believe my files are backed up, but not the newest files I created today. Also, you cant access the software to order the My Passport to start a backup. Right now the Smart Ware software wasnt even working, so when I clicked on the icon it just spun and spun, never opening the home page. Uninstalled everything. Very disappointing. Update: You are able to set backups for hourly, then connect the WD My Passport before the hour, it will often begin the backup shortly after the clock hits the top of the hour. Often. Or, you can tell it to start a manual backup, but that doesnt always start, either. Better than nothing but not intuitive or effortless.

Well Ive had this external drive for about six months and so far I love it! Ive backed up all of our music, pictures and documents from our computer and my cell phone & mp3 player, as well as my husbands music & videos from his iPod. Together we probably have over 10K songs. Having added all of that, we have only used about 8 GB of the 1 TB available! Lol Ive not had any issues with losing information. It was easy to set up. There were no issues with it being compatible with my computer, which is an older Dell Dimension 2300 running Windows XP. I like that you can set it to constantly back up your documents so that I dont have to remember to do it! Have not use any of the software that came on the passport. The only qualms I have with it is with the program, which is a bit sluggish when you try to open it and also the GUI of the program is not easy to understand. Also the USB cord is extremely short. Otherwise Im pleased with this device.

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.

This drive works very well with USB 2.0, but 3.0 is most ideal for read/write speeds. However, on an older Mac as I have been using for nearly 7 years, it is only USB 2.0. After you connect the drive, you see some folders and files. Copy them to your computer and backup to a CD-R or flash disk, for instance. This is if you need to reuse the programs on the drive. You go into the utility program and erase the contents, making sure you choose the proper format type. I prefer storage for manual backup, which I find a little more time involved, but to ensure that the backup you would otherwise use, say, Time Machine, actually copies all your files and folders. I typically do not trust any backup program, nor have I dared to try since Roxios GoBack 3 in 2001. If you want to use the Passport on Mac and Windows, the utility tells you basic information about the option. The process of erasure and readying the drive is fast. You can also check the drive for errors in case of improper removal. The files disappear from the drive and non-retrievable. (That is why I said, copy them to another storage source in case you need them again in the future, if they are not available for download from Western Digitals site.) A few issues making it four stars in my review... (Cons: 2.) Pros: Small but solidly heavy (nice paperweight?). Edges a little hard but does not cause discomfort. Printed design is catchy. Good performance, for a non-solid-state (moving parts/platters type). Well made, but smells like a musky bandage. Cons: After copying large quantity of data (files, folders, size, and so forth), icons may appear erratic, or the drive will not unmount. This causes your computer not to restart. If this happens, shut your Mac off improperly, wait, and cold boot again. Scan for errors if you think something is not right. System stability and very short USB cord are my two complaints about this drive. It may be targeted for laptop users, which makes sense. Very small size good for travel bag. It is even smaller than most cameras!

The model I am reviewing is the 1TB Black Ultra. Your experience may differ from mine. This is a review from someone using: Mid-2012 MacBook Pro OS X 10.9.3 Mavericks The Good * Sleek Design * USB 3.0 * $69 at the time of this review is a good price for 1TB * Windows users have auto-backup option * Once you format correctly on Mac this drive is a breeze to use * Very small footprint (small form-factor) * Plays nicely with time machine (Mac Users) * Comes with nice carrying bag * Allows you to lock down drive with password * Comes with utilities services bundled in The Bad * The bundled in software that I could use was slow and not very well designed * The prices of this drive fluctuate all the time (I paid $89 for this drive) * Initial set-up for Mac can be difficult for a novice consumer The Ugly * Support for WD has a bad reputation of being nonexistent Recommendation: I would recommend this drive to anyone who has used WD drives before. I have no problem using this drive but I can’t say the same for others. Also if you are on Mac research how to format the right way if you have never done it before.