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

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 had been using a Seagate FreeAgent Go 640GB portable drive for about three years now, and wanted something with some more space and higher transfer speeds. I purchased this drive for its beefy 2 TB of storage space and speedier USB 3.0 interface. Out of the box, you get the drive, a 15 USB 3.0 cable, soft pouch, quick install guide, and a 3-year limited warranty. The drive looks nice, and appears to be of good construction. Doesnt look or feel cheaply made. I like how compact it is. Its about an inch shorter in length than my FreeAgent Go, and maybe a millimeter or two thicker. The included soft pouch is a nice addition and helps keep dust and dirt off of it. Not an ideal case solution if youre prone to dropping things or somewhat rough with your belongings, so you might want to invest in a more rugged case. It works fine for me though as I keep mine in a messenger bag when on the go, and its a nice addition considering most other drives dont come with anything. The included USB cable is long enough to plug into the USB port on the front of my PC and reach my desks surface. So, thumbs up there. Functionally, the My Passport Ultra 2TB works as advertised. Transfer rates are roughly 3x faster than that of a USB 2.0 drive. I noticed the difference in speed right away when transferring large files (1-5GB+), taking only 2-3 minutes instead of 5-10 minutes or longer depending on file size. I work with large media files all day long, so the bump up in transfer speeds is really nice. The drive is very quiet while running. You wouldnt even know that its on except for a tiny little LED indicator light to the right of the USB connector port. So, why only four stars? Hardware-wise, The Passport Ultra is no different from WDs regular Passport series of portable drives. Theyre the same exact drives, only slightly different in appearance. What the regular Passports lack from the Ultra is the soft pouch, the Ultra label, and WDs misleading labeling on the box that touts, Auto & Cloud Backup Plus Security. The Auto backup is merely referring to WDs abysmal backup software included on the drive, WD SmartWare (more on that later). The Cloud backup is basically instructions on the box for setting up a DropBox account. No kidding! Theyre advertising cloud storage on the front of their packaging like its a feature theyre offering. Flip the box over and youll see that its nothing more than an advertising gimmick for DropBox with instructions on how to set up an account.

I like WD external hard drives but I have to admit I dont use the software for them. I use them like big thumb drives and dump my own files for backing up on them so as to be in better control of the files. I have yet to find a software that satisfies me for this purpose and I need things stored so they can be accessed without the software if I want. Personal preference on my part. I use drives until I fill them and then get a new one since multiple copies and new drives are always a good bet since nothing lasts forever in technology. External drives eventually die, files degrade or corrupt, computers die, I like everything in at least triplicate, cloud saving included. I have used this to backup from my home PC and to travel with to various locations to access files on my laptop. The drive worked for this purpose right out of the box, no formatting or software needed. It has been dependable and very fast for the several weeks I have used it now. I will note that the USB cord port on the drive is for a USB 3 Micro B Male and not interchangeable with many other USB cords I own, so I am more worried and careful about keeping track of it. It is replaceable but its the newer style which I dont own in multiples at this point. However, it is not a proprietary cord as stated in some other reviews, its just a newer design which may not be as common to your own devices yet. The other end of the cord is standard USB design.

I recently started going through all old home videos and pictures, and aggregating them onto my home (RAID mirrored) server. I bought this little (physical size) hard drive for one reason: to backup that data on the server. While the data is mirrored on the servers hard drives, those two hard drives are in close proximity and are susceptible to failure from external sources (electrical/thunder, water, fire, etc). The reason why I paid more and went with a small hard drive (2.5) as opposed to a full-sized hard drive (3.5) was for the ability to store the hard drive into a safety deposit box. Now if you do some research, hard drives arent great for long term storage that is disconnected. If you attempt this method I add the caveat that you should connect the hard drive to a machine once in a while. I personally plan on updating the files every 4-6 months. But C.Rogers, why would you do this when there is cloud storage!?. Simple, privacy and speed. Cloud storage is over the internet and subsequently is limited by the fastest upload speed your internet provider gives you. It is further limited by any bottle-necks the data hits along the way to its destination. When youre talking about backing up terabytes of data, this is already a turn off as it would take a huge amount of time (a week or more?) to upload initially. Granted after that it can do incremental back ups that wont take nearly as long, that leads me to my next problem, privacy. There are two aspects I worry about, non-encrypted transmission and legality/security of the service (who really owns the data on their servers, and how secure is it really?). Does the service provide the ability to encrypt the uploads and downloads so no one in between can look at my data? Does the data stay encrypted on their servers? When push comes to shove, who owns the data once its on their servers? Finally how secure is the service from being hacked? While all these questions have answers that would probably sway me toward cloud storage, the fact that they exist at all means there are far more variables than Im comfortable with. More variables mean higher percentage of problems arising from unforeseen scenarios. You know whose going to hack this hard drive when its not in my possession? A bank robber. Done. You said its fast? How fast?. To that I cant comment fully as I dont have a machine with USB 3.0. Best I can offer is USB 2.0. To that end I can mention that Im getting an average of 20 megabytes (not megabits*) per second writing and about 27 megabytes per second reading. Compatibility: Confirmed working on Windows 7 and Windows Server 2007 without issue. Construction: Feels solid, nice little rubber pads on the bottom. Still a hard drive though, I wouldnt go dropping it. Noise: Church Mouse status Bloatware: Minimal. It comes with Western Digitals management and back up software installed (totaling 254 MB on the hard drive). I imagine I could delete it, but I see no need. In fact I might need some of it in the future. Additionally, its not in your face as soon as you plug it in. There if you want it, but silent if you dont. Other notes: The wire it comes with is about 12 inches long. If this is your first USB 3.0 device, be aware that it is a different wire than USB 2.0 1.1 and 1.0. While I believe USB 2.0 and previous micro wires will work, you will not get USB 3.0 speeds. Thus if you need a longer cable and want USB 3.0 speeds, you will need to order one separately. tl;dr: +Great hard drive for a reasonable price. +Small enough to store in a safety deposit box. +Speeds of 27 MB/s read and 20 MB/s write on USB 2.0. +No real bloatware, just additional utilities included on the hard drive totaling 254 MBs.* +Pretty quiet. -USB 3.0 cable provided is only 12 long. *did not use the auto or cloud backup options, can not comment.

This is my 3rd WD Passport style external drive over the years and all still perform great. This one is the 2TB unit BTW. As many have indicated the software continues to suck but I never use it anyway except for the security utility. I prefer to drag and drop to create my own back ups as that is much easier to move to another PC anyway. I am running Windows 7 and all appeared to transfer at what I consider to be acceptable transfer speeds (measured in hours not days). I set up about 500GB to transfer overnight and it was done before I got up in the AM. This unit is actually more compact than my older 500GB unit but does not come with a case. If I need a case I will use one from my older 500GB drive. Having the 2TB gives me way more flexibility as my Laptop is only 600GB and about 5 years old but still performing well (HP Pavilion). I take tons of HD Video which is a major space hog as many of you know. Hope this helps give you the basics that I am always looking for in these reviews.

I wrote this glowing review below and only hours later I went to do an update of an existing backup and it is not working (or if it is, its going so slowly that it will take days to backup * FIVE GB * - which is ridiculous. It took less than 5 minutes to do the initial backup, and now that Ive connected the passport to my PC to update the files already backed up, its been going for over an hour. Same data (just a couple of edits on some excel files), same USB port, etc. For 5GB of data. You can copy / paste to the drive, but the whole reason I liked it is because I thought it would backup changes for me. Sigh. ******************************************************************** So easy to use! I was dreading picking out a new external hard because I was sure I would experience some awful technical issue and end up buying my brother a plane ticket to Atlanta just to help me backup some music and photos of my kids. But the WD Passort Ultra is really fast and easy to figure out. You plug it into the USB 3.0 port if you have one (it will say SS = Super Speed) or any other USB port if you dont. It does its installing new hardware thing and then the notification pops up that the device is ready to use (I use my Passport using Windows 7 and Windows 8). You go to My Computer, double click on WD Apps Setup, follow the prompts and after a minute the WD Smartware is installed on your PC. You then double click the WD Smartware icon and you can set your preferences. I chose continuous backup, but you can also set a certain day of the week and time to have your files backed up. I dont intend to keep the drive plugged into my PC while I work, this way it updates right away when I plug it in. For the backup scope, I chose the advanced setting. It says this is for experienced users, but all it asks you to do is select the folders you want to back up. I selected my Document, Pictures, Videos & Music folders. If you need your email backed up or anything that is not in a central location, you might want to use the default setting. You click enable backup and it begins backing up the folders youve specified onto the Passport. I use this drive to backup personal documents on my work PC and all doc/photos/videos/music from my personal PC. I can view them by viewing the folders on the drive and opening the WD SmartWare.swstor folder. There I see a folder for each of my PCs and if you drill through into those folders you will see your backed up data. You can do all kinds of other fancy things (versioning, etc.) but Im just trying to keep it simple. I bought the Amazon basics case for it, and its perfect, holds the device and the cords.

4.5/5 PROS: - Great Price - No plugs! - Small (Can fit in your pocket) - USB 3.0 support - 1.81TB of storage CONS: - Not really plug-and-play as the quick set-up guide suggests (Used on Windows 7) - Not easy to eject in Windows I really love how portable this device is, its very small and easy to carry around. I have a WD 1TB mybook, and its a lot less convenient in comparison. My Passport Ultra is just much more enjoyable to use as I dont have to plug it into another wall socket. The 1.81TB of storage is excellent and provides enough space for most people, however, many may question where the other 200GBs of storage went. In case you were wondering, the difference lies within how hard drive manufacturers calculate bytes vs how companies such as Windows calculate bytes. This isnt unique to this hard drive as every storage device is calculated this way. I really enjoy using this device, my only real gripe was that it wasnt really as easy to set up as the instruction manual suggested. According to the quick-set-up guide, the device is supposed to open with a setup window as soon as you plug it in, unfortunately this didnt happen for me (using Windows 7). Instead, the device requires you to assign it a letter before you can format it, luckily theres Google to help figure out this process, but I think you shouldnt have to search (beyond an instruction manual) to figure out how to properly set up a device. One other annoying thing is that this hard drive isnt read as an external storage device on Windows 7, so it cant be ejected simply. Im sure there is a way to eject it, Its just not as simple as right-clicking it and selecting eject. Those are minor issues that youll only have to figure out once, so after that the hard drive is excellent! Im constantly using this device to transfer storage from several computers and also as a second backup. Its very convenient, I dont regret this purchase at all~

I purchased this hard drive for myself for back up and file storage. The setup is very simple. You plug it in and start using it. It includes the software you need for a Windows machine to encrypt the data. This is an important feature for a portable drive. You can lock down the files if you need to. I am currently using the drive to run Virtual Machines via USB 2.0 and there is no noticeable latency. There is not too much more you can ask of a USB drive. If it will transfer information for a Virtual machine, it should transfer any file you need in a timely manner. I really like the looks of the drive. It is small enough to fit into my back pocket or into any pocket in my backpack. The red will stand out and is shiny crimson color. If you are a computer novice or an expert this drive you can not go wrong with this one. Western Digital has almost made the best hard drives on the market and come with the best support in the industry.

This hard drive is a hardy little workhorse! Bought it almost a year ago, and hasnt failed me yet. I formatted it in Ex-FAT, allowing cross-compatibility reading and writing across Mac and Windows, without the restriction of the 4GB maximum file size. This conveniently allowed me to store my legally obtained HD and Blu-Ray copies of my favorite movies on the hard drive! Many people dont know about thiThis hard drive is a hardy little workhorse! Bought it almost a year ago, and hasnt failed me yet. I formatted it in Ex-FAT, allowing cross-compatibility reading and writing across Mac and Windows, without the restriction of the 4GB maximum file size. This conveniently allowed me to store my legally obtained HD and Blu-Ray copies of my favorite movies on the hard drive! Many people dont know about this new file formatting option. I went home for the week and somehow both the Weimaraner and the Golden Retriever, both puppies one year old (so old enough to do some damage) tore through the entire case, and chewed up the corner where the USB 3.0 plugs into the hard drive. After thinking that the entire endeavor would be hopeless, I still decided to give salvaging a try. The part where the USB 3.0 plugs into the hard drive was dented and squished, and there were random white parts of what looks like paper stuck inside hole. I poked around a bit with a pen and cleared out the hole, and plugged in the cable. To my complete surprise, the little blue light came on and started blinking, and the hard drive started spinning. The thing works. I mean what the hell? Fantastic, I just ordered a replacement.

I just received this drive on 2/14/14 and have had an opportunity to work with it a bit since then. I got the Ultra to replace a 2TB external portable e-Sata drive that had died. Fortunately I had another identical/redundant e-Sata drive that I used to copy all the data to this WD Ultra. All in all I copied around 400GB and what I found was very interesting indeed. I have a Lenovo W510 which has e-Sata, USB 2.0, and USB 3.0. That enabled me to compare apples and apples and oranges to oranges when it came to transfer/copying speed. Using the e-Sata drive and the WD Ultra hooked into the USB 2.0 port of the W510 I got copy/write speeds around what Id expected -- 14MB/sec, +/-. When I then switched to the USB 3.0 port the speeds doubled -- to an average of 28MB/sec, +/-. It varied slightly depending on the size of the files, but overall, I was able to confirm that the speeds definitely and consistently doubled using USB 3.0. I was very pleased. Some notes: 1. I was not interested in any of the software included with this drive. All I wanted was a hard drive that Windows would recognize and nothing more. So the first thing I did after plugging it in was copy all the included software to another partition (as a strictly precautionary measure in case I ended up needing any of it, which I did not, btw). I then reformatted the Ultra, effectively erasing all of the included software and/or programs. I double checked to see if there were any hidden drives, and I found none. (Its possible that if Id installed all of the accompanying software a virtual drive might have been created. But after reformatting the drive and not installing anything, all I got was a nice big storage drive, which is exactly what I wanted.) I then created two partitions to suit my needs -- a large one around 1.5GB, and a smaller one around 300GB. 2. I did not use the included USB 3.0 cable. Instead, I used THIS cable: