WD My Passport Ultra 1TB Portable External Hard Drive |Review

on January 08, 2017 / by

I decided to bring in my 2017 clutter-free and that called for replacing stacks of cardboard boxes full of photos, video cassettes and documents that once crowded my study by a more space efficient and convenient substitute. External hard drives have today turned into this space efficient substitute, that is not only faster or technologically better, but also easily portable and absolutely value for money.

I’ve used the Western Digital My Passport Ultra at work and swear by the sleek and powerful device for its innovation and reliability. Thus when I was looking for a home-solution for all the photos, videos, music I’ve saved, I opted for the Western Digital My Passport. My Passport is the redesigned version of the highly popular My Passport Ultra range and priced slightly higher.


WD My Passport First Impressions
WD has launched My Passport in India in four of the six colours available internationally. The brand has stuck with the most popular colours white, black, red and blue for their India debut. The new look, designed by FuseProject, a design firm founded by the legendary Yves Behar, has an amazing visual appeal. The latest version of My Passport Portable Hard Drive comes with a WD Backup, WD Security and WD Drive Utilities software, an installation guide and USB 3.0 cable. The drive is segmented into two halves, with the upper half plain and the lower half featuring a diagonal scalloped pattern; a port and LED on one side with tiny rubber feet at the base. Though the design does nothing for the overall functionality, it does set it apart from all the competition.


WD My Passport Performance
WD has made available the My Passport in 1-4TB variants, all of them pre-formatted for Windows 10, Windows 8 or Windows 7 operating systems. Since I use a Mac, I reformatted the drive easily. The sequential read/write speeds clocked in at 114.3/114.1MB respectively, making it relatively good at the write speeds, especially for large files. 

The entire focus of this product is on the software with all three niche aspects of WD Backup, WD Security and WD Drive Utilities thrown in. WD Backup is the basic folder synchronisation tool offered, which lets users select folders on the PC or to/from a Dropbox/Baidu account to back up automatically as per the pre-defined schedule. WD Security lets users set up the drive’s 256-bit hardware encryption feature to a password, to recognise and synchronise with the registered machine, preventing unauthorised access. Finally, WD Drive Utilities lets users do a quick SMART status check and run diagnostic tests to identify errors if any and prevent drive failures that otherwise would take several hours. 

WD My Passport Conclusions
WD has been known for its range of products, and My Passport offers oodles of storage, good performance, password protection and a two-year warranty. With a price tag of between 7 and 17k, it’s a product to reckon with. Though the drive is a good choice for the portable storage needs, the only glitch is that the password encryption doesn’t prevent the drive from being reformatted. Yes, users might lose the drive but they can be rest assured that the content will not fall into the wrong hands. 

If you are looking for a portable hard drive, my suggestion would be to compare your selected product with WD My Passport before you seal the deal. 
~ Heena

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