WD 1TB Black My Passport Ultra Portable External Hard Drive - USB 3.0 - WDBGPU0010BBK-NESN

Very nice. I use it as an external backup for my small email server on a Windows 10 machine. I enabled BitLocker for full disk encryption on it and connected it via USB port and enabled Windows File History backup on it. So far works really well. CON: One downside is that if you have an older computer, Windows XP for instance, this drive will not work with it. I learned it the hard way. Luckily I had another (newer) computer to use it there instead. CON2: The drive does not have a power supply. Which is good if you want to save space and a wire clutter. But it is also bad if your USB port is underpowered.

Im using this drive as a offsite backup, and it works fine. I am also using it with a Mac, which requires a re-format. That is very easy to do using the Disk Utility built into OSX--but it takes a while. Im not willing to pay more for the same drive in a Mac version. I now have three WD backup drives, and they all look the same except that this one is blue. The colors are more than a fashion statement; they let you identify drives used for different purposes at a glance. I AM willing to pay a little more for Western Digital over drives from other brands. They have proven more reliable for me over the years. Its much too soon to comment on the reliability of this one.

Im updating the rating on this from one to three stars after some kind members offered me help on getting it to work with my Mac Still not an easy task but it is possible and even easy if you havent yet stored a lot on the drive. However if you have a lot of data from a Windows pic on the drive its still quite a process to get that to you Mac not simply a plug and use. Ok heres is the problem with this admitted stellar value USB drive NOWHERE DOES IT TELL YOU IT WILL NOT WORK WITH A MAC. Shame on you Western Digital. Shame Shame Shame. I understand there was a time in history that it was considered acceptable for a company to ignore Apple products and pretend they no longer existed and that is (NO) was accepted because for a while they didnt really exist. However that was what ten years ago at least! I bought this drive to back up some very valuable files of my deceased partner, memories, photos, documents that I cherished and wanted to preserve, which i could as long as i didnt buy a new Mac computer. After I bought a Mac i discovered that yes I could use this drive after I reformatted the drive,erasing all my beloved memories and starting from scratch. Tech support was atrocious and the only positive info they gave me was that i couldnt use the drive without erasing everything on it. So bottom line....If your sticking to Windows for life and want to save your lifes work then buy this drive. If you decide to migrate to a Mac, throw your life on this drive away and start from day one in your new Mac world. When will companies learn that we just all want to get along?

I bought this drive hoping to back up my entire computer to it, which worked absolutely perfectly. I own a Mac, and while the packaging stated Windows 10, It worked perfectly well after a simple reformatting (This is also stated in the Features and Details section of the product). In terms of aesthetics, the drive stays fairly slim, but is completely composed of plastic. The plastic is not horrible, its really nice actually, but I still would have preferred a different build material, one that would protect the internals more. I did purchase an add-on case, so I think that takes care of the problem. I do not have too much experience with backup drives as I usually dont take the way of caution and instead decide to trust my computers SSD, but with this drive I am happy to say the switch has been fast and easy. I think it was well worth the asking price compared to other options, especially for a name brand like WD. I would suggest this to anyone looking for a simple USB backup drive.

Let me first say that I have no problem with the reliability or performance of this product. My issue is a software one that Western Digital has enacted to try to steer customers to their more expensive products. I bought this drive for a small business, with the intention of attaching it to the USB port of our Linksys Smartrouter to use as a file server and backup for several computers in our local network. When I did so, I found that the WD Backup app could not detect the drive, even after I mapped it in Windows10. Upon searching the internet to try and solve the problem, I found that there was a program called WD Anywhere and the screen shots of it appeared to be exactly what I needed. However, it was nowhere to be found on the WD support website, even after I went through their registration process to gain full access to the site. My next step was to email their support, expecting that theyd have a solution. Below is the reply I received. Please accept our apologies for the inconvenience you are experiencing. I am happy to assist you with your inquiry. Western Digital doesnt support using our USB external drives as network drives connected through a router, so for best use of this function you might want to consult with the router manufacturer. WD Smartware, or WD Backup will not detect a USB drive mapped as a network drive, the drive needs to be connected directly to a computer or use one of our WD NAS drives such as the WD My Cloud which do work with WD Smartware for backups. And here is my response to that email. Thank you for your polite and informative reply. I have to say that I am not pleased at all by it. Your Smartware is not very smart if it cannot detect your drive on a local network. I can only conclude that your company has chosen to exploit customers into purchasing your other product line when it is really not necessary. You used to offer WD Anywhere backup software which does exactly what I need and Windows backup works fine on your drive when it is connected to my router. I guess Ill use that, and Ill also be sure to post my opinions on Amazon. Consider my case closed. In closing, the WD Passport Ultra 1 TB drive is a solid product at a good price. The My Cloud product that WD recommended to me is significantly more expensive for no gain, under my intended use of the product. It is not impossible for WD to make their less expensive drives work over a local network, but they choose not to. UPDATE: Soon after this review posted, I received another email from WD. Here is what they said. I apologize for the disappointment experienced due to the performance of our software. WD Anywhere Backup is still available in our website but it is not compatible with Windows 8, 8.1 or 10 so it might not work as you need. Still let me provide for you the software installer. WD Anywhere Backup Software (Windows) [...] I appreciate their honest communication but I have no desire to try this on Win10 if they say it isnt compatible.

Great external hard drive. I bought it mostly to secure important documents in case anything ever happens to my laptop. So far it has done its job just fine. It is small and portable so it conveniently fits in any backpack, satchel, or travel bag. 1TB is more than enough space for basic documents, but Western Digital conveniently sells up to 4TB models for those who need the extra space. This is the older model, and Western Digital has just release the newer model for around the same price range. The newer model supposedly has faster reading/writing times, and it is more aesthetically pleasing with the new design having sharper corners. I would recommend Western Digital to anyone in the market for an External Hard Drive.

I use this drive to backup my laptop computer. I like the fact that it doesnt require a separate power cord, like some other external hard drives. I like the small form factor of this drive too. It is a similar size as a laptop computer hard drive. Also it supports USB 3.0 data transfer speeds, which is also nice, as USB 3.0 is more than ten times faster than USB 2.0. Of course USB 3.0 is backwards compatible, so it will work with any computers USB port, although its performance will be limited to the speed of the USB port that it is plugged into. Although it comes with software to encrypt the drive, I havent used it, so I cant vouch for the quality of that software. I encrypt my own files anyway, using other software. Some people use utilities like truecrypt, some people use password protected RAR files. Do whatever works best for you, if you want to encrypt something. As for the cloud storage software it comes with, that basically requires you to set up a drop box account, because that is what it really uses to store your date in the cloud. Thats kind of useless, you could just use drop box anyway, without needing to use this Western Digital software as a front end for it. Maybe it is useful for some people, but I dont find any use in doing things that way. So aside from my neutral comments about the software that this drive comes with, which I find to completely be unnecessary, I am just rating the hardware its self as 5 stars.

Pretty good device...very fast. For some strange reason, I cannot perform a system image on my Windows 7 computer with it, which is why I bought it in the first place. (Yes, its formatted properly). What I dont like is that it doesnt seem to let you decide how often or manually (which is what I want) that you can do a back-up. It wants to set an automatic backup date regardless of what you want. Well, tough...its just a laptop; were not going to be plugged in all the time, are we? Why does everyone make stuff with predetermined controls? You can just unplug it, but Im sure in time, that wont be good for it.

I recently found myself faced with the dilemma of having to send my Xbox One in for repair, thankfully while still under warranty. The notion of loosing all my saved games or having to download them all again via the WWW was unpalatable to say the least. So I decided to move all the data I could from the Xbox before shipping it off to Microsoft to this HDD. Glad I did, because my Xbox came back set up as a brand new unit, even though the unit that came back was the same exact unit I sent in. Couldnt be happier with the space, speed and the drive in general. It is completely powered via the Xbox USB port so no need for an external power supply. The Xbox recognized the drive and I just had to format the drive for use with the Xbox before I could start storing data. Im very happy with it and and wouldnt hesitate to make the purchase again, plus I now have the added bonus of 2TB of storage, which I was having to delete things previously from the internal HDD to make room for new games.

This is by far the smallest external drive Ive ever owned. Its roughly 4 x 5 x 0.5 inches and easily slips into a carry on bag or laptop bag. The USB 3.0 cable looks very different from the USB 1.0 and USB 2.0 cables Ive used on other drives and needs to be stored with the drive -- which means it wont fit some of the cases advertised for it like the Lacdo case I bought for it. If you are going to get a special case, get one that is a full 6 inches long by 5 inches wide and 2 deep so you have space for the cable too. I love the magenta colour; definitely catches your eye so you are less likely to lose it or forget it when packing. I bought this for overseas travel and I expect great things from it. Do be aware that file transfer speed depends on the source you are downloading this to/from. Overall I am very happy and would consider getting more if the price and colours are right.