Customer Reviews

My Passport Essential WDMER5000 - Hard drive - 500 GB - external - Hi-Speed USB - real red

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Pros:
1. no need for external power supply;
2. read & write speed average 12-14MB/sec (FAT32, tested on: vostro 1500 laptop / barton 2400 desktop)
3. pre-instlation of drivers no needed, so you get instant access to your files on any system
4. no warming / no noise / no vibrations
5. my wife likes the design :P
Cons:
1. for large transfers (ie 3GB) waiting time is annoying

This is a great product. It has tons of space for my son's extravagant photo collection. It is small and can be carried around easily, it plugs into the USB port, and so is incredibly convenient. It's the best for back-up data storage at a reasonable price. It does not require an external power source. I highly recommend it.

This portable hard drive is great! There is only 1 cord for power and data which makes it ultra convenient. It is top of the market today, however as the price point for data storage decreases soon we will see greater capacity for cheaper prices. Don't be fooled into thinking you'll get 500 GB. Because of file formatting you will loose at least 40 GB, meaning this thing only stores about 460 GB. That being said, you won't be dissapointed with the WD Hard Drive!

I never knew I could get so much storage in such a little package. I am not really computer savvy and found this product through a client that I work with. It is wonderful, and you can get it in almost any color imaginable. There are a number of sizes available. Just delete all the silly stuff that comes on it when you plug it into your computer, and you have the entire about of advertised space available.

I have to admit that for most of the past 2 1/2 years (I bought this one in March 2009), I have been mostly happy with the purchase. The thing that consistently irked me, however, was the flakiness of the USB connection - with absolutely no movement, it would show as disconnected for a while and then be OK again. This was not frequent enough for me to lose any data (as far as I know) or to return it.
About 6 months ago, I decided to re-format this drive as an Apple Time-Machine drive. During that time, it has appeared to work just fine - no noticeable glitches - until today. The first thing I noticed was that TimeMachine started to fail backups. I looked at the drive through "Finder" and noticed that it said I only had "read" privileges - even though "get Info" showed that my user should have full read/write access.
Figuring that a reboot often clears these anomalies (yes, even on Apple/OSX), I did so - only to completely lose the drive. It will no longer show up as a USB device - on the Mac or a PC. I also noticed that it has now developed an internal tweet sound. Maybe the drive mechanism has quit?
.... This is the second of my WD external drives that I had been using as my "safety backup" to have died.
I'm wondering just how many backups I need to really be safe.

It is small and does not require a separate power cord like the larger external hard drives do. This makes it very quick to connect and disconnect. Just plug and play; no drivers to install.

This portable external drive is good because of it's convenient USB-powered system, sleek design, and reasonable price. However, the only reason I gave it FOUR of five stars is because it is relatively slow in transferring files. This is because the portable external drive is USB-powered, but doesn't take much away from the overall quality of the item.

I recommend this product.

I bought this to back up my computer and it works nicely. very fast, portable, nice appearance.

Love the physical size and the storage size. Bought TWO so I have a terabyte but in a compact size for a lot less dollars.

Western Digital was the first company to come up with these small externals, and they get better every year. I have bougnt several of them, use them a lot, and have never had a problem. Other companies have copied them, but I trust WD because they are the ones who did the R&D - and from experience, I know they got it right. The others may be a bit cheaper, but I don't want to trust my files to the cheapest bidder. I recommend WD to anyone looking for safe, portable, off-site(external) storage.