WD My Passport 2TB Portable External USB 3.0 Hard Drive Storage Blue (WDBY8L0020BBL-NESN)

Wow. So many mixed reviews here, and like those of you who are pondering over whether it is worth purchasing this Western Digital MY PASSPORT, there may not be a clear answer. Let me tell you my story. Recently bought the new Retina Macbook Pro with its 500GB SSD drive. For a person like me who puts a lot of software on my laptop and does quite a bit of movie editing, hard drive space is a premium. So, when figuring out how to handle nearly 200GB of music, I decided it would probably be best to run iTunes off an external drive instead of taking up space on the Macbook. Again...Wow. Reading these reviews on Amazon was quite unnerving. So many great experiences with this drive followed up by a handful of negative experiences -- many talking of total hard drive failure. It's almost as if you are rolling the dice as to whether you'll receive a drive that works or doesn't. ...then there's the reviews from people who claim they are having problems using this drive on their Mac. Well, I picked myself out a RED 1TB drive. Thought it was a cool color and didn't mind paying the premium price for it. In addition, I picked up this fantastic Case Logic QHDC-101 Hard Case on Amazon for $10. It's the perfect compliment to the red hard drive that fits snuggly inside. Using the Western Digital MY PASSPORT on a Mac couldn't be easier than opening the package, plugging the USB cord into the Macbook, and then formatting it using Disk Utilities. From package to format took under 4 minutes. And for anyone claiming to have a problem using this drive with their Mac, this is all you need to do... 1. Plug in the drive via USB connection 2. Go to APPLICATIONS -> UTILITIES -> DISK UTILITY 3. Click on the hard drive icon located at the very top left sidebar 4. Select the ERASE tab and FORMAT in Max OSX Extended (Journaled). Assign your drive a name if you wish. That's it. Easy. The drive works incredibly fast thanks to its USB 3.0 compatibility, which is backwards-compatible with USB 2.0. The drive is extremely quiet, and I didn't notice it getting warm. And, yes, you can run your iTunes off the external drive.

This external hard drive does what it is supposed to: write, store, and read back large quantities of data at high speed. It must also do so reliably for a period of years, but at this early stage I cannot vouch for that. Ease of installation is also essential; a mass storage device should be completely plug-and-play; and it is helpful for it to be preformatted--this one is formatted NTFS for Windows XP and above. These are all the qualities that I want in such a device, but this drive also provides a couple of bonuses: portability and backup software. Although I use the drive with a desktop, portability, i.e. small size and ability to be powered from a USB port, are nice to have anywhere; not having to have an extra cable with a transformer plug that takes up a lot of space on a power strip is a convenience to cheer. As to reliability over a period of years, I have only had my new drive for a week, so I cannot speak to that; however, I will try to make it a point to update this review should the drive fail prematurely (I expect about a five-year lifespan--knock on wood). Thus far, I have written 340 GB of data to it; and from it I have played back HD video (full-frame-rate, full-HD mpeg-type, not just Flash) without a hitch or a glitch Among these reviews I noticed a lot of complaints about the backup software. They may very well true; and this is not to excuse WD; but I have to say that I have never met a backup program that I liked. Most, including some top-rated, have vital functions that simply don't work. I currently use Windows 7's own backup program; it isn't great--not much flexibility and control; but it's free, and it works (so far). My main motivation for writing this review is to try to provide a little help with installation, which should reassure prospective buyers disturbed by the experiences reported by some other customers. I said above that installing mass storage should be a simple matter of plugging it in, and under the right conditions that is all that this drive requires. But "under the right conditions" can be a big "if"; and a variety of issues can plague the installation of this drive as a USB 3.0 device. In my case, I had never attached a USB 3.0 device to my system before; and I found that Windows would not recognize the device when plugged into a USB 3.0 port. As a search on "WD Passport USB 3.0 Installation Problems" reveals, there are several problems that can occur; and dealing with all those is not the purpose of this review; however, I simply want to do two things: (1) reassure you that this device does in fact come with a good USB 3.0 cable, and that it transfers data at a considerably higher speed over USB 3 as compared with USB 2; and (2) to warn the buyer that (s)he may require a driver update for his/her PC. Regarding the first point, I am getting better than 2.5 times the data transfer rate with USB 3.0 versus USB 2. Regarding the second, the updated driver required will most likely be the one associated with the USB hardware on the motherboard of your PC; if you have problems using your WD passport on a USB 3 port, but not on a USB 2 port, visit either your PC vendor's website, or that of the maker of the motherboard, and do a search on USB 3 drivers. WD also provides firmware updates for its drives; but in my case at least, the Passport's firmware was already up to date as received. While I am in the business of giving tips related to the purchase of an external HD, be aware that if you want a hassle-free installation you might want to avoid drives with over 2TB of capacity. I, and others, have had issues, especially with Windows Backup, with 3TB drives. It turns out that the solution is fairly simple: use the WD Quick Formatter tool (available on WD's website) *before* attempting to use the drive (reformatting will wipe out any data you've already put there). As long as you're willing to take that extra step, it's fine to get a 3TB drive; and I have had no further problems with a 3TB drive. To be clear, the drive I am reviewing here is a 2TB drive; but I just thought I'd throw in this extra tip for people who are reading these reviews and are still undecided about what size to get.

This drive still works today after 16 years. I purchased mine in 2009/2010 while doing a tour of duty in Iraq. It is now 2025 and it's still rocking. Although this drive is probably no longer being made or sold. It's a testament to Western Digital and the quality of their drives. The only issue I ever had with it was the USB port getting slightly loose. But that's to be expected considering how many continents it's traveled to.

Have a problem connecting to main PC but no problem with laptop. Great for shareing video and pics. No brainer for that price

Does exactly what it's supposed to do and has given me more space when I travel. Easy to install, just follow the instructions, although you'll find with the inbuilt software that you'll need to do upgrades straight away. However, this is no problem, again just follow the instructions.

This is the second external Western Digital hard drive I've bought for myself, and I've also bought a couple for other people as gifts. Their hard drives are no nonsense, easy to use and reliable. I also love these little Passport drives for being so compact and not requiring a separate power cord. Great portability. I bought this one for use with my new MacBook Pro, and am very happy with the speed offered by USB 3.0. If you don't want to spend the money on Thunderbolt, go with USB 3.0 - just check to make sure your PC supports it. Of course, these are backwards compatible with USB 2.0, so if you just want to be a little future proof, you can't go wrong here. It's a product that'd work with PC, too. Highly recommended, whether you need a backup drive, or just something to ferry around larger files.

My previous 1.5 To portable hard drive was full (a very good Seagate USB 3) and I was looking for a bigger one. The choice was very limited but I found this WD 2 To in UK (I leave in France). Received it quickly and very easy to use : just plug and play. My comments : Pros - it's 1.8 To and not 2 To but it's the same for all hard drives and it's a pretty high storage capacity - there is a password protection : good when you're traveling a lot - the USB 3 works well and is a plus for transfering big files - the device is very compact, even smaller than my previous 1.5 To drive Cons - the drive is not protected by any soft/silicone part. Could be an issue for the hard travelers - the plug on the drive side is thin and looks fragile. No issue after one month of use but will see after extensive use. In summary, very happy with this drive : fast transfer and seems to be the biggest storage capacity at that time. Looking for a 3 To now :-)

I purchased this hard drive to store video from my GoPro camera. So far its worked well its nice and slim looks like its well made. I don't know to much about the technical side of it, but it was easy to use and I'm happy with it. I've made a few purchases from Amazon now and have never been disappointed, when I ordered this hard drive I got free delivery and it arrived less than 24 hours after placing the order.