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

I bought four of these for my kids and I so that I could save all their pictures in their respective hard drives. I use different venues for saving my photos from our family trips and I try to save it in two or more locations so that I won’t lose any of it. When I received the package, I was excited to use it because I’ll have a peace of mind that I may be able to save our family excursion pictures in a much safer place (unlike saving it in the desktop which might get deleted overtime). The product worked out fine at first but then it stopped working all throughout. I was using our Windows computer but the hard drive won’t open. I was so scared that I might lose the files inside! Good thing my husband tried something which let me back up the pictures. I thought it’s our Windows desktop to blame for that but when my Mac came, I tried using the hard drive to retrieve my files but to my surprise it still didn’t work. I called their customer service for help and they told me that I have to reformat the hard drive so that it will be compatible. I felt horrible because it took me a long time to organize all the pictures and the folders inside that hard drive and knowing that all my hard work will be put to waste. I paid not just for one device but for four devices made of crap. This hard drive doesn’t come cheap and it makes me angry that I can’t use it properly. There are malfunctions in the hard drive that I find annoying, when I plug it in, my files don’t open, both for our Mac and for our Windows. I have to repeat it several times up to the extent that I’ll just give up. It gave me more problems than good. I tried calling their hotline several times reporting the difficulty that it’s causing me but all they can say is to offer me for an exchange of product. I tried asking them if they could just refund my money but they told me that it can’t be done because it’s already past the warranty. The only thing that I can do is to warn the future customers that this product is no good and that you should just buy something else. The four devices that I bought are useless and are now just collecting dust in our home. If you want to throw your $56.99 away, be my guess, buy this product.

I did a careful product analysis before I purchased this product. Looking for additional highly portable storage I had originally looked at installing a hard drive in my laptop optical bay using a spare 500GB 5400RPM HDD I had laying around. Unfortunately another laptop had a hard drive failure and it became necessary to use that spare drive as a replacement for the failed drive. At that point I was no longer sure how to proceed. The last time I shopped for external storage was 5 years ago. I bought a WD My Book at the time. 2 years later the enclosure took a nosedive but the drive was still good, needless to say that drive got transplanted into a new enclosure and is still running fine today, problem being it is pretty large (3.5 form factor), has its own power supply, and not very portable. So going into this process I was looking for something powered only by a USB connection, and preferably smaller than a thick trade paperback. Well, I was in for a bit of a surprise. The new portable drives were about as big as my iphone and all were powered by USB connection. Big plus for me. At that point it became a maximum dollar to storage to quality equation, with a optical bay HDD still being an option. Since I could do that for $65 or so and use an older 250GB HDD I had laying around that became a base line for my budget, however I wanted at least 500GB since I am busy backing up my media library, and wanted it handy for travel. Essentially the more storage the better. Speed was not so much of a factor, raw storage was, and since I run a machine with Ubuntu 12.04 the various manufacturer provided apps and encryption software for Windows or Mac were a complete non factor. So basically the biggest bang for my dollar is what I was looking at. Upon further research I discovered the best storage range was definitely items in the 1TB range. Not only were they the same size as 500GB solutions, they only cost roughly $10 more. 2TB solutions were thicker, and the price jump was much larger. 1TB it was. I narrowed it down to three choices. The Seagate Backup Plus, the HGST Touro Mobile, and the WD My Passport Ultra all priced at roughly $70. So why the Ultra? It fit all my requirements, had a smaller form factor, lighter weight, equal storage, similar price, best benchmarks, and I have had great luck with WD HDDs in the past. It arrived yesterday, took one minute to set up and less than half an hour to get all my data transferred. It is very quiet, and gives off very little heat. Pretty sturdy construction. I will definitely update this if any problems occur, but for now I got exactly what I was looking for, quickly, and at a great price.

I ordered 2 WD Passport Ultra 1TB Portable external USB 3.0 Hard Drives with Auto Backup. The first drive worked properly on a new Dell 15-3521 Laptop running Windows 7 Professional, but when I tried to use the second WD Passport external drive on another Dell-3521 Laptop running Windows 7 Professional it would not install if the USB 3.0 cable was plugged into any USB 3.0 port on the Dell Laptop. After swapping drives and computers and cables around, it became apparent that the USB 3.0 cable that came with the second WD Passport Ultra HD is defective. The drive will install and be recognized on either computer only if it is plugged into a USB 2.0 port which defeats the purpose of having a high speed USB drive if it cant work at USB 3.0 speeds. Either drive will work with either laptop at USB 3.0 speeds on USB 3.0 ports if the non-defective USB 3.0 cable is used! All I really need is a replacement cable that works, but since Amazon.com LLC filled the order, I have not figured out how to request a simple replacement for the defective cable without having to return the entire order. I could use some assistant! Or, I can order another USB 3.0 cable which should solve the problem! I hope I hear from someone at Amazon about this!

Im a big digital media junkie. I damn near have every show, movie, music, or piece of data on an extra hard drive. For the longest, I relied on 2 AC powered hard drives that I had gotten from NewEgg about 3 years ago. One was a 1TB the other a 500GB. These are nice options if you dont need to carry them around, which I did some times. It was a pain in the butt. Not to mention the added weight from a desktop sized hard drive, the case, cables, and the need to have a power outlet nearby. I began looking into USB 3.0 powered drives a few months back. I wanted it to be atleast 1TB, slim form, and of course, powered over USB. By chance, I found this hard drive while randomly searching around on Amazon. I purchased it instantly. Once it arrived, I hooked it up, wiped it clean and began transferring everything over to this bad boy. The transfer speeds were slow, I think that is my fault due to my USB 2.0 ports, but I didnt mind and I did this while I was asleep. This thing is awesome. I rarely remember that Im even carrying it, its really that light. The indicator light on this is located on the back(where you plug the cable in it) and isnt bothersome or insanely bright. During idle, it does a slow pulsating with more off then on. During load it blinks and flashes quickly. I havent heard any random clicks or sounds from the drive, which is really nice. The rubberized feet serve their purpose, but I can see them not having a sturdy grip. But, as long as youre stationary, I dont see that being a problem. The case itself has a nice texture that has some grip to it, feels sturdy and well put together. I got the black color, it matches my setups more than the other colors would have. The texturing gives it some depth and makes it pop, but not to much. All-in-all, Im very happy with this drive and will definitely look into another one in the future or a much larger one.

I have four of these which I use for backups. They are very convenient since they are small and they run off of USB power. I do not use them as portable storage so I cannot speak to how they respond to rough handling. My oldest Passport, a 128 Gig FAT system, recently stopped working so I bought this one to replace it. The old drive is probably 10 years old, and disks wear out, so no fault to WD for the failed drive. That is why we keep backups of backups. The disk has a USB 3 interface and a standard USB 3 cable. My computer has only a USB 2 interface, and this drive works fine with it, albeit at the slower USB 2 data rate. The file system on the drive is NTFS. My computer is running Mageia 3 Linux, and the drive worked fine with it right out of the box. There was nothing extra to install (e.g. drivers). Since I run Linux, the auto-installs and auto-backup software and all that other software does not run. That is fine with me since I did not want to use it anyway. I wrote my own backup software, and I like it better than the commercial stuff. Since I do not use this drive on a Windows platform, I cannot speak to the quality of the software contained on the disk.

When I worked for a former employer in Austin TX in the 1990s we had an expression - Backing up a computer is NOT an option! That axiom is as true today as it was in 1991. Additionally, a technical support representative from Buffalo Technologies made the recommendation to me five years ago that the more valuable or important that the data is, the more back ups that you should have. This relates to data redundancy. I am a tax preparer and have about eight separate back up devices in my office. WD continues to produce reliable storage devices. I purchased the 1 TB version of this product which coincides with the HDD capacity of my desktop computer. The WD software that comes with this product is very user-friendly and intuitive. Initial configuration is relatively simple. It connects to an available USB port on your PC and virtually no intervention is required by you after the initial set up. My configuration includes regular queries for software updates and when available, they have all been seamlessly installed. In a nutshell, this is an excellent and very wise investment for anyone.

Well, I was really excited to have all my file & system image backups on a single drive, without a wall wart and in a portable small form factor (I never move it as it is connected to a desktop system). Unfortunately, after 3 months, it started whining, then grinding and clicking and now it comes on only 5% of the time, regardless of the computer it is hooked up to - I thought it was the antique of a PATA drive I had connected to the motherboard making the noise but it wasnt. WD Drive Utilities says the SMART status passed, CrystalDisk Info says it failed and the Quick Drive test in the WD Utility says it failed. This just reinforces the need for a complementary Cloud backup solution or a second backup drive. This drive was Made in Thailand so who knows if it was made with the equipment that got affected by the flooding in the past. Usually, I only go with WD Black hard disk drives due to their well known, industry reliability and warranty coverage. I would just buy that with an external hd case but Im already invested in this drive now. Hopefully the replacement is new and works like expected. UPDATE: Since I had files on there that I wanted but wasnt willing to pay $500-$1000+ for data recovery services, I tried doing a PCB swap with a donor board and firmware transfer since that seemed like an inexpensive possible fix (pros did the firmware transfer). When that didnt resolve the situation, I had another 2TB WD My Passport Ultra around and I opened up that case to see what is involved with a potential platter swap (that didnt go well either). While doing so, when I opened up the new Passport Ultra, I noticed it specifically said on the drive Recertified!!!! I cant believe it. Seeing this only reaffirms my thoughts on just buying an external hard drive case and OEM HDD together and using that instead because otherwise, you dont know what you are getting. I still will use the WD Blacks as they have never failed me and I am very impressed with their performance and warranty. Also, for backup, I will stick with the 3.5 size as now I know, with everything so miniaturized on the the 2.5, recovery seems a little more challenging (which I will do what I can to even prevent that from being needed again).

The Good (+) Color options available to serve as a quick visual aid for content identification (+) Rubber feet on the underside to grip firmly on resting surface (+) USB 3.0 transfer speeds The Bland (-) Chunkier than comparable 2TB portable drives The downright puzzling (x) Soldered USB-SATA bridge connector to hard drive Overall: Its performs admirably and within expectations, but the puzzling decision to hard solder the USB bridge connector to the hard drive simply serves to diminish the value proposition Note: This review is based on the 2TB version Ive posted a lengthy review over at the 2TB Seagate Expansion portable drive page (

The model I am reviewing is the 1TB Black Ultra. Your experience may differ from mine. This is a review from someone using: Mid-2012 MacBook Pro OS X 10.9.3 Mavericks The Good * Sleek Design * USB 3.0 * $69 at the time of this review is a good price for 1TB * Windows users have auto-backup option * Once you format correctly on Mac this drive is a breeze to use * Very small footprint (small form-factor) * Plays nicely with time machine (Mac Users) * Comes with nice carrying bag * Allows you to lock down drive with password * Comes with utilities services bundled in The Bad * The bundled in software that I could use was slow and not very well designed * The prices of this drive fluctuate all the time (I paid $89 for this drive) * Initial set-up for Mac can be difficult for a novice consumer The Ugly * Support for WD has a bad reputation of being nonexistent Recommendation: I would recommend this drive to anyone who has used WD drives before. I have no problem using this drive but I can’t say the same for others. Also if you are on Mac research how to format the right way if you have never done it before.

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.