Western Digital My Passport Essential 320GB USB 2.0 Portable Hard Drive (Real Red)

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Editorial Reviews:

Product Description
These elegant portable drives are simple to use, light and easy to carry, and require no power adapter -- they are powered directly through the USB cable. Pack up your office files and take them home. Carry thousands of songs or pictures. Synchronize files between home and office and encrypt everything on the drive for added security. WD Sync synchronization and encryption software lets you take your critical data with you. Plug My Passport into any PC, edit files, read e-mail, and view photos. Then sync all of your changes back to your home or office computer. Your data is protected with 128-bit encryption (Windows only). Perfect for the business traveler who needs to transfer large amounts of data from laptop to clients or just daily backups in case of accidents from mishandled luggage to coffee spills. Also comes in handy if you're worried about laptop theft and someone else having access to your important data, you can store it on this portable encrypted drive instead. For all those precious pictures, videos, music and data files, this external hard drive is a must-have. WD Sync synchronization and encryption software lets you save your critical data and take it with you. Plug your drive into any PC, edit files, read e-mail, and view photos. Then sync all of your changes back to your home or office computer (Windows only) Search your drive, manage your photos, and simplify Web searches with included Google software (Windows only) Up to 480Mb/sec Bus Transfer Rate with USB 2.0 System Requirements - Windows 2000/XP/Vista, Mac OS X (10.1.5 or later), Available USB port Approximate Unit Dimensions - 0.59 x 4.96 x 3.14 Approximate Unit Weight - 0.23 pounds

Customer Reviews: Read 164 more reviews...

4 out of 5 stars

Western Digital Passport 320 GB - Nice Looking Portable External HD May 8, 2008
114 out of 116 found this review helpful

The Western Digital 320GB Passport Essential WDME3200TN is the largest capacity in the portable essentials line-up. They say that this is the update to the regular Western Digital 320 GB Passport 2.5" USB 2.0 Hard Drive and I own both of them. In fact I also own several other portable hard drives in the Western Digital passport lineup and so far I couldn't be happier. All of these are great for mobile backups of data, though slower to copy large backups than their A/C powered MyBook big-brothers.

Pros
+ Largest current capacity available in this line of products
+ Nice portable form factor that easily connects via USB
+ USB powered, no A/C required, which is great for portability
+ Works well on Windows Vista, XP and Mac OS X
+ Easy to set up disk encryption for security and privacy
+ Nice looks, in my opinion better looking than the new essentials version
+ Turns on and off with your computer or easily ejected via system tray
+ Easy plug-and-play installation
+ Integrates nicely with my growing stable of WD MyBook drives
+ Included software may be useful for some novices
+ 320 GB capacity is just about right for most users

Cons
- Somewhat slow file transfer speeds for larger backups
- Included software not useful for power users
- Shiny body attracts scratch, fingerprints and dust
- Have to spend your cash to get a case that should have been included

The Looks

The drive has a nice shiny exterior. The case can scratch in transit and the surface also attracts fingerprints and dust. But the look is still nice and you can easily purchase a case or holder for the drive if it bothers you. Most versions don't ship with the included case, but you can pick it up for $10 or $15. CaseLogic Small External Hard Drive Case (Black)

The Features

I had no problem connecting this drive to any computer, including Windows XP, Vista and Mac OS X. Keep in mind this is a USB 2.0 device so ancient computers may not yield the same results.

Transfer speeds are ok but definitely slower than the A/C powered MyBooks. This guy is still limited by the 480 Mps connection speed of USB 2.0, but performs somewhat slower than this when performing large backups. The USB2.0 speed rating can not really be achieved in production and you will get a fraction of that. But it's a trade-off that's worth it since it's USB-powered.

The software utilities included with this device will be most useful for beginners. I tested the backup software in particular but found it to be slow and impractical. I mean REALLY slow. It works, but cutting and pasting is better. Take my advice: don't use these utilities and just do cut and paste backups and saves to this drive.

Reliability

I've had good luck with the passport line of drives. They seem to have lower failure rates than many MyBook drives, though I also own those and haven't had issues there either. Maybe my gentle care has helped me to get lucky with these guys so far. Maybe it's because these drives are generally off when in transit. Regardless, these guys have held up fine.

Conclusion

This drive is great or those who want a portable drive for backups on the run. It's nice getting the 320GB capacity in one drive. There are smaller drives but other than capacity there is no real difference between them. Watch the price changes and choose the sized drive that's right for you.

Enjoy!

3 out of 5 stars

Disappointing data transfer rate, although improved from the older generation Passport HDD June 18, 2008
48 out of 54 found this review helpful

This product is indeed excellent for its intended purpose, other than the data transfer rate. I realized that this review is listed as most helpful *critical* review. Although I urge the manufacturer to improve the data transfer rate to match that achieved by some competitors, I don't mean to discourage potential buyers.

One improvement made compared to an older version of Passport is that this drive spins down during inactivity. The previous ones (mine is 120GB in silver color case) didn't spin down, even when the host computer was in the sleep mode. Another improvement is the power requirement. This product worked fine with a MacBook on a single USB port, even when the Macbook is operated on the battery, not the AC power.

For Mac users, like any external hard drive, I recommend to format this drive in MacOS Extended filesystem with journaling option. You can do this with Disk Utility of MacOS X, found in /Applications/Utilities.

Between the old 120GB model (silver) and this 320GB model (Passport Essential series), I also noticed that this model is slightly smaller and thinner. Sure, it is easier to slide into a briefcase, but I will have to see how well it takes the normal shocks from daily transportation.

Now, the data transfer rate issue.

This drive ships formatted in FAT32. In that format, I get a benchmark of 16.8MB/s transfer rate when I write a single 2.0GB file into this drive. I formatted this disk in MacOS Extended (Journaled), which is a lot more modern file system, and run the identical benchmark. The result is 18.0MB/s. Both of the tests were performed when the drive is empty (hard drive slows down when the filesystem is nearing full capacity). My computer is an 8-core Mac Pro, and the speed of the host computer is not the limiting factor. This is a hugely disappointing result, indicating that they used a cheap chipset to interface the drive to the USB 2.0 port.

In comparison, my Western Digital SATA 2.5" 320GB laptop hard drive (which is in this product) achieves 35-50MB/s with the same benchmark when installed directly in a MacBook. Also, this same hard drive in a different USB interface case delivered 22-27MB/s in the same benchmark.

I would give this product 4.5 stars if the product delivered 35MB/s.

Also as a comparison, Passport 120GB drive delivered only 8MB/s while an average laptop HDD of that size delivered 25MB/s.

I routinely copy a lot of data in and out of my portable hard drives every day, and any slight improvement in the data transfer rate can save minutes every time I use it, and to me, this difference is worth paying extra few dollars to use a faster interface chip. I truly wish that the manufacturers print the actual data transfer rate rather than the 480Mbit/s nonsense for USB 2.0 interface, which no one expects to see.

4 out of 5 stars

Only four stars from a techie April 30, 2008
44 out of 58 found this review helpful

Here's the problem from a techie's perspective: the drive loads software automatically. This is not what most techies (understood as Information Technology geek) want. We like to plug in the drive and then use our tools to work with it. However, the fix is simple - you just have to delete the files off the drive when you first connect it.

This is probably not an issued for the average user and the drive is fast, quiet, and small. Perfect for connecting to my laptop at the front of a training or seminar room when I'm teaching a class. The portability is great since I travel a lot. Great device once the software is removed ;-)

4 out of 5 stars

Quiet, Easy to Use, and SUPER Small ... An Amazing Product! May 24, 2008
43 out of 46 found this review helpful

The Western Digital Passport reduced my 388 CD rack to a pocket-sized miracle. Likewise, all the photos, lesson plans, and Power-Point presentations that were cluttering my computer are now on my Passport.

Here's the low-down. I was a bit worried that I might have difficultly setting-up this little guy. My fears were alleviated in about 15 seconds. About a month ago, I downgraded from Vista to XP and had NO PROBLEMS with the installation of this product ... whatsoever (seems some people who run Vista have been having some trouble). It could not have been easier. (Thank you Western Digital!)

Now, the pre-installed software is REALLLLLY bad (that part is true). Western Digital should rethink this approach since nearly everyone removes it (and it deters some people from even purchasing their products). Minus one-star for being SERIOUSLY annoying!!

As mentioned by other reviewers, the product is whisper-quiet. And, while some folks found that they need an USB Power Adapter Y Cable, I did not. I have a two-year old Alien Area 51 m5550 and experienced no problems with power (regarding this product). I would advise that you purchase the Passport without the substitute cable and give it a try before you invest the extra cash.

And yes, the product is glossy, so it shows fingerprints and can scratch easily. Amazon currently recommends the CaseLogic Small External Hard Drive Case (Black) but the case is much too large and the Passport remains too loosely confined. Instead, I bought the Caselogic Neoprene LHDC-1 Portable Hard Drive Case (Dark Gray). (It is soft and protects the product's appearance while in transit). If anyone finds a better fit, please feel free to comment on this post.

Bottomline: Regardless of the unwanted pre-installed software, this product exceeded my expectations. It is quiet, petite, and pretty amazing! It handled a tremendous volume of work fairly quickly (I was prepared for some lag, of course) and makes my life much tidier. Highly recommended!!

1 out of 5 stars

Don't buy this hard drive May 20, 2008
24 out of 47 found this review helpful

I bought this to back up my hard drive. Go figure. Makes sense, right? Well when I plugged it in, there is software pre-installed. That is kind of cool. I let it do its thing. Then it asks you which folders to back up. I told it, and it started copying all my songs, pictures, documents, etc. That was easy (though it does take about 12 hours).

The pre-loaded software is junk. It doesn't actually explain WHAT it does. Worse part- it is not compatible within operating systems. My work computer uses Vista, my lap top has XP. I called tech support and after being on hold for 10 minutes they confirmed that it only works from XP to XP or Vista to Vista. In my opinion, the info should be accessible from ANY computer.

The directions that come in the package are entirely useless. Here is what it says: "Should you encounter any problem, please do not return this product to the store before carefully reading your use manual."

Good advice. I did that. Here is what the user manual says (via diagrams):

-Your product contains a drive, a cable, and a user manual
-Plug one end of the cable into the drive and the other into your computer's USB slot.
-On your computer download the software

THAT IS IT. It is entirely useless.

The reviews made it seem like this is a good product. I thought Western Digital was a good company to buy in to. I was wrong. You could tell they may've made a good product, but they didn't think it all the way through.

I'm not sure if I made this clear, but seriously- save your money. Buy something else.

love
nick

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