Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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669 of 690 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Western Digital Passport - A Great Value In Portable External HDs, May 7, 2008
The Western Digital My Passport Essential 320GB USB 2.0 Portable Hard Drive (Midnight Black) is the largest capacity in the portable essentials line-up. This comes in a variety of colors including Pink, Real Red, Artic White and Intense Blue. They say that this is the update to the regular Western Digital 320 GB Passport Hard Drive and I own both of them. In fact I also own many 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.
Some will be considering the Western Digital My Passport Essential 250GB and the Western Digital My Passport Essential 160 GB sizes of these drives. I started with the 160 GB and have owned multiple versions in all sizes, and capacity aside these drives are basically the same. If you are on the fence between a smaller or larger size, the decision will come down to what you really need most. If you need a drive for complete backups, don't box yourself in purchasing a 160 GB model when your hard drive is 120 GB. Give yourself some room and go with the 320 if you can.
For those with backup needs of 80 GB or smaller, look into the other capacities. Periodic specials are being run on some of the smaller sizes, making them very attractive. Plus a 500 GB model should be on the way soon. So if you need the largest size, then by all means get the 320 GB version. But if you can make do with the smaller size, then the value pricing may entice you. Weigh your options but whatever size you pick now make sure it's enough to meet your needs right now and for at least the next 6 months. In fact, some people who are extremely picky like me are going to want to buy at least 2 drives so that they can have 2 copies of their backups, just in case.
Pros
+ Great capacity options at good prices 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, and cool color options for those that care about that
+ 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
+ Drives are sufficiently durable holding up to normal use over time
+ 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
- Only USB, so look to the LaCie 250 GB Rugged Hard Disk if you need fire-wire ports too
- Only up to 320 GB right now, so look to the LaCie 500 GB Rugged Hard Disk with FireWire and USB if you need more capacity in a portable drive
- 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 case included, but you can pick up the CaseLogic Small External Hard Drive Case (Black) for $10 or $15.
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 Mbs connection speed of USB 2.0, but performs somewhat slower than this when performing large backups. The USB 2.0 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. Check out the LaCie 250 GB Rugged hard disk if you need fire-wire ports too. Or try the LaCie 500 GB Rugged hard disk if you need more portable capacity.
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!
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183 of 188 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Quiet, Easy to Use, and SUPER Small ... An Amazing Product!, May 24, 2008
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!!
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288 of 313 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Disappointing data transfer rate, although improved from the older generation Passport HDD, June 17, 2008
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.
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