Customer Reviews

Western Digital My Passport Elite 500 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive (Titanium)

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

The main difference between the WD Passport Elite and the slightly cheaper Passport Essential is in the pre-loaded software. Both versions include sync and encryption software, but only the Passport Elite comes with the "WD Anywhere" automatic backup software. However, if your main reason for buying the Passport Elite is to use it as a data backup drive for your PC, you better think twice - details on that later.


What's so excellent about the hardware?

SIZE: The drive is so compact and light, it can fit in my shirt pocket easily.

CONNECTION: Just a simple USB cable takes care of both power and data. The provided cable is only 15 inches long, but I have tried a generic 30-inch USB cable and it works just fine.

SPEED: I benchmarked the data transfer rate to be 30MB/s for writing large files. This is about as good as it can get for a 5400RPM hard drive connected through USB 2.0.

NOISE: What noise? I have to put my ear right on the hard drive, in order to heard a faint sound during read/write.


What's not so hot about the WD Anywhere backup software?

Initially, the WD Anywhere software appears to be a 30-day trial version. It turns out that on-line registration is required to activate the full version. Fair enough, except that my virus protection program blocked this software from accessing the Internet. So I have to temporarily suspend the virus protection in order to register.

Next, I started to backup selected directories on my PC. The software seems to get 'stuck' after transferring just a few GB of data. It would consume over 60% of my computer's CPU power, yet the files are just crawling along. I restarted the process a few times, but the results are the same. Finally, I downloaded the latest WD Anywhere Backup version 3.50, and it doesn't hang up anymore. However, there are still problems when using this automatic backup software.

Suppose I transfer some image files from my camera to my PC, while the portable hard drive is not connected. WD Anywhere will queue-up those files for backup later, once the drive is connected. The problem is: if I rename/edit those files in the mean time, WD Anywhere is not smart enough to update its queue accordingly. So it will try unsuccessfully to backup those old files, and it will NOT backup those new files I have edited. It is ironic that the backup software for a PORTABLE hard drive requires the drive to be connected all the time. I have yet to find a way to force the software to rescan my directory and look for new files to backup. It is easier for me to just copy the whole directory manually.

The bottom line is, WD Passport Elite is still an excellent USB hard drive. Just remember that you cannot rely on WD Anywhere to backup all your files automatically.

[Update on April 4th]
Thanks to suggestion by William E. Merkley II, I downloaded a free program called 'SyncToy' (part of the Microsoft PowerToys suite). It works exactly the way I want to backup my photo files. I have already deleted the WD Anywhere backup program and will only use SyncToy from now on.

[Update on May 25th, 2009]
I tried using this hard drive connecetd to the USB port of my Philips DVP5990 DVD Player. The DVD player can detect there is an USB device connected, but it cannot read anything from the device. I think the fault is with the USB port of this player. It seems unable to supply the 500mA current required, therefore the hard drive cannot spin up. For this application, I need to get an USB hard drive with its own power supply instead.

Western Digital got it all right with this drive, finally. The new case is a pleasure to touch, it's silky soft. The USB port is no longer inverted. And they did away with the silly rubber cover for the USB mini jack (thank you). The titanium refers to the color, not that it's made out of titanium.

The form factor is wonderful on this drive. It's thin, very thin. Definately a highly recommended drive for the road warrior. It will slip in about anywhere.

Access speed is fast via USB 2, just like most portable drives. It makes almost no noise.

The difference between the WD Elite and the standard Passport is backup software and the fuel gauge lights on the Elite (none of these things are worth a premium).

Great accessory, caselogic carrying case.
Caselogic Neoprene LHDC-1 Portable Hard Drive Case (Dark Gray)

I just bought in quick succession two WD My Passport drives: a 500-GB Elite and a 320-GB Essential (actually 465 and 298 "real" binary GB, respectively), both for backup purposes. Since I have both models, I will be posting this review in both product entries.

First of all, why Western Digital? Well, I have two Seagate internal HDDs in my desktop PC and no complaints, but lately that company has been making a lot of serious flops and lost much of its reputation and reliability. I did consider the FreeAgent Go, but user reviews were discouraging, with reliability issues and a mysterious and frequent write error in Windows, for which Seagate offered no solution. Toshiba and Samsung models had even worse reviews - they just "died" after a short while. While Iomega models seemed to be good, their design was a bit awkward and bulky, and they were too expensive. And I didn't want obscure brands, or worse, one of those crappy adaptations of internal laptop HDDs in external USB enclosures - I don't trust those little Frankensteins. WD My Passport's reviews, combined with WD's reputation, were good enough to convince me that it was the best choice.

Why an Elite first? Because price difference at Amazon was only about $10, and I thought it was worth it. I could do without the Elite's matte finish (even though it does look and feel much better), the extra LEDs and the crappy extra software I won't use anyway, but I think the Elite is a much better deal because it offers 5 years' warranty, vs. 3 years for the Essential. Definitely no small thing, especially for HDDs and for such a small price difference.

Then why was my second one an Essential? Because I live in Brazil. I had a visiting friend from the U.S. and he brought me the Elite I had bought here at Amazon and shipped to his home, but Amazon doesn't ship electronics directly here, and even if it did or I shopped elsewhere, freight and customs duties would do away with any advantage. So, I had to buy the second drive locally, and here prices are MUCH higher than in the U.S., and the price difference between models was much greater. So, I had to settle for an Essential, but this was no tragedy - it's a great product as well!

Both are working very well, and I'm extremely satisfied. The performance of both models is exactly the same. Don't expect anything close to an internal HDD's speed: the USB 2.0 interface is much slower, and the drives don't even come close to USB 2.0's nominal transfer rate (480 Mbps, or 60 MB/s). SiSoftware Sandra benchmarked both drives at around 18 MB/s, but this appears to be the market average and a realistic expectation for this kind of drive. But keep in mind that external HDDs are primarily meant and designed for *off-line storage* and *occasional* access, unlike internal system drives, which are meant for fast, *constant* access and where speed is critical.

Attention, Linux users: I tested the drives on Ubuntu 9.04 (Jaunty Jackalope) and it recognized and worked flawlessly with them - and much faster than Windows: up to 28 MB/s, as reported directly by Gnome during a large file transfer.

I reformatted the drives in NTFS because I have some individual files larger than 4 GB, so FAT32 wouldn't do. I'm also using TrueCrypt for privacy - it's great free software, available for Windows, Linux and Mac, and it didn't affect the drives' performance the least bit: its on-the-fly encryption is faster than the drives' transfer rate even with the stronger but slower encryption algorithm "cascades."

The manuals (in PDF files that come on the drive but can also be downloaded from WD) could be better. True, there isn't much to say about a device whose function is obvious, which has no controls and works out of the box, but what about WD's recommendations for cleaning, or detailed technical specs, for example? They aren't there. My only other complaint is that the provided USB cable is way too short, and the drives didn't work with a longer spare I had. But these are really minor issues, and don't even scratch these drives' excellent value. I still give them 5 stars, because the hardware is great, and that's what matters.

Since both of my drives are brand new, I can't tell about their actual durability, but HDDs are ALWAYS a matter of luck by their own nature, and the least that can be said is that WD has a better reliability record than other brands.

For protection, I highly recommend the Assorted Colors EVA Hard Shell Case for Western Digital WD Passport. It's a nearly perfect fit for the drives (the Elite and the Essential are exactly the same size and shape), offers great protection with an outer hard EVA layer and an inner soft foam one, has a neat inside pouch for the USB cable, and it's cheaper than Amazon's current recommendation, the Case Logic Compact Portable Hard Drive Case, which according to user reviews is too large for My Passports (though good for the older and slightly larger Passport line) - the drive slides and bounces inside it.

In short: can you buy a WD My Passport with confidence? Definitely so! Then an Elite or an Essential? I'd advise the Elite because of the longer warranty, but you can't go wrong with an Essential either. Go for them!

These drives are best currently available.

The biggest (HUGE) difference between the Elite and Essential is the warranty. The Elite is warranted for 5 years, the Essential not.

All portable drives fail. Not if, but when. You'll plug in one day in the future, and it won't "boot". Get over it and plan.

Get 2 WD Elites. One to regularly back up and store your important pictures, data, etc.

Get the other to occasionally back up the first one.

Getting your data off of a failed drive will cost $700+, minimum. I have the receipts from my experience with my dead Maxcell to prove this. (The response from Maxcell's feckless support line was: "You didn't back up your back up???").

If you are backing up you photos or other vital data, get 2 of these.

Back up your back up and avoid the migraines.

The WDs are the most reliable by far available in portable footprints.

I have 2 of these and just couldn't handle all of the conflicting software issues. I formatted the drive to erase all of the software and just leave me with raw storage space.(very, very, very easy... right click on the drive and hit "format") It's fast and portable. I never have to burn discs anymore.

I purchased this product recently and have rapidly become disenchanted with several things about this product which has resulted in a deduction of two stars.

The hardware seems fine, although it has only been running for a few days, so I can't exactly share how well the longevity is on this product yet. But the case seems sturdily built and nice looking. The outside has a soft textured finish which makes it seem soft, rather than the metal it is. There is a long oval plastic switch on the side which can be pushed to cover the usb port. It has little round white lights which go on when the unit is operational. The switch seems to be the weakest part of the design. It feels a little loose and is a little "clicky" when touched. Probably will hold up fine, I suppose, since I likely won't be moving this switch much. It comes with a soft zippered case which should do fine to protect it during transport.

Here is where I get annoyed. The unit did not work when I first plugged it in to my computer. After doing a little research on the web, I discovered it could be one of several things. One of the things that was mentioned was that the usb cable that is provided with the unit might not be the correct one that is needed. Some computers have usb ports that only supply 500mA of power through the ports when this unit actually requires 1000mA of power (my computer is only 2 years old, so I doubted this could be true in my case. How wrong I was). The user said that he used a cable that came with his camera and suddenly his external hard drive worked. I took a look at my cable that came with my digital camera, and noticed that it had a large cylindrical piece near the end of the cable. I assumed that this was likely the power booster that the writer of the article indicated, and I used the cable to plug into my WD external hard drive. Lo and behold, it worked. I find it amazing that my digital camera manufacturer could afford to provide me with a cable that would work, but WD was too cheap to afford to do so. Not to mention that the cable is super short. The longest the hard drive would reach is barely to the top of my computer if the cable was plugged into a usb port at the base of the computer. I guess it doesn't matter anyway since I can't use the cable!

The other thing I found very cheesy was that one of the software provided requires purchase to use after 30 days. The software I am mentioning runs in the background and keeps track of any changes to documents or any additions that need to be saved. I supposed I could just delete all of the software and do it manually from time to time, but that would require doing a complete delete of my files and then a resave of those files since it wouldn't keep track of when I permanently deleted a file. I would wind up with a bunch of files I deleted that stayed on my hard drive, unless I erased everything and then resaved. Not sure how long it takes to save all my files yet, I ran it while I was asleep. But I would guess it would take at least an hour. Call me old fashioned, but I expect all the software to be included in the purchase price.

And the software does not seem to be particularly well designed. I was looking for the link that would take me to where it would tell me how much it cost to buy the software, but couldn't find a link for it. I suppose it will just show up again near the end of 30 days *sigh*. I found I was just confused by the four different pieces of software it installed, wondering why one was not sufficient. It installed google desktop (which now always runs and takes up memory). I guess this is critical for it to remember what changes happened so it can update my hard drive when I plug it back in. Then there is a software program that always runs as well called WD Anywhere backup, which seems to do the same thing, take up memory keeping track, and I assume linking to the google desktop to do the job. Then there is some Picasa program which searches for all my photos on my computer, which makes no sense to me since WD Anywhere backup already gathered all of my files and saved them for me. Then there is another software program that requires connection to the web called Mionet. It seems to be some way to connect information from one computer to another over the net. Of course it adds another icon to my task bar indicating it is using up even more of my memory. All of this just adds up to make me feel that the software is a big jumble of programs that don't look to be too terribly professionally designed. I am tempted to erase all of it and just do things manually.

Oh yeah, and the hard drive is not designed to be a back up for your whole system. I tried to save the entire C: drive, but it told me it was not designed to save things like my program files. It is only for saving "My documents" and things like that.

I did give the product 3 stars for having a product that runs fairly silently and seems sturdily built, but the rest of the product leaves something to be desired.

I have two external hard drives. One to backup my entire computer, I keep it plugged in and Mac automatically backs up in regular intervals. Everything about a mac is highly intuitive and this is no exception. I also have this product that I use to keep my media on. I keep photos, music, and movies on this drive and off of my laptop. When I want to access them, all I have to do is plug in the Passport and open iTunes, or open the photos folder.

I would never have had enough room on my laptop to hold all of my media. This product has been so simple to use and to set up for this purpose!

I had the 250 Gig before I bought the model. I put all my downloaded movies, pictures, clips you name it. It works so well I even bought the WD TV player to use with it. I can watch all my media on my HD television. I had a WD "My Book" and it died very soon after I got it. It ran too hot all the time and finally burned out. Lost a lot of data. The Passport runs cool, quiet and is very stable. I'm no tech, but I know what works. Nice going Western Digital.

OK so I, as the 1337 I am, bought this because it had the word "Elite" in the title. Honestly, I bought it after seeing my friend really enjoy his MyPassport Essentials harddrive which got great speed, maxing out the USB2.0 line. Speed is 33MB in real life. Also, I refuse to be the moron saying "I bought a 500GB harddrive but it only has 465GB :(". Some reviewer said "It gets 30MB/s which is as fast as a 5400RPM drive will get." Which is not true since 30MB/s is the Max a USB2.0 will ever get, 5400RPM harddrives get much better speeds with internal connectors (D'uh). Finally, if you don't care about finger prints and dust then you should get the Essentials line since it is the same speed and $40 less. Did a little benchmark with HDtune.

*HD Tune Pro: WD 5000BEV External Benchmark (500GB USB Elite)

Read transfer rate
Transfer Rate Minimum : 30.1 MB/sec
Transfer Rate Maximum: 31.2 MB/sec
Transfer Rate Average : 31.0 MB/sec

Write transfer rate
Transfer Rate Average : 30.0 MB/sec
Transfer Rate Maximum: 31.1 MB/sec

*HD Tune Pro: Hitachi HDT725032VLAT80 Benchmark (320GB USB 7,200 RPM External drive) (To make it look good)

Read transfer rate
Transfer Rate Minimum : 29.9 MB/sec
Transfer Rate Maximum: 31.3 MB/sec
Transfer Rate Average : 31.1 MB/sec

Write transfer rate
Transfer Rate Average : 32.0 MB/sec
Transfer Rate Maximum: 33.1 MB/sec

*HD Tune Pro: NVIDIA STRIPE 279.47G Benchmark (Internal 2x 150GB Raptors 10,000RPM RAID 0) (To make it look bad)

Read transfer rate
Transfer Rate Minimum : 100.1 MB/sec
Transfer Rate Maximum: 165.4 MB/sec
Transfer Rate Average : 127.3 MB/sec

Write transfer rate
Transfer Rate Average : 145.0 MB/sec
Transfer Rate Maximum: 149.0 MB/sec

If you have ever lost data, pictures, or important information, you now know you must back up all your critical items. Western Digital makes an excellent product. I have purchased several, both the Passport and the My Book external drives, some for gifts. Not just quality, but the ease of set up and use. Don't lose your mp3 data! When downloading the latest version of my particular mp3 software, it crashed. Had I not been in the habit of backing up my entire "MyMusic" file, I would have spent hours replacing it all. I just went under "file", then "add folder to library" and put my entire "MyMusic" folder--saved on my Passport--back in the mp3 library.