Product DescriptionWD's Passport provides high-performance portable storage for your PC and Mac. Light and rugged, it's easy to carry and no external power adapter is needed. power adapter - they are powered directly through the USB cable.
Love Hate Relationship (Rating: 3 out of 5) I've owned this product for several months and would like to say that I hate it and love it, all at the same time. Let me explain. I love that it's 320GB. I love that it doesn't require an extra plug to get it up and running. I love that it's small and portable.
HOWEVER, what I hate is that often my computer doesn't recognize it, or that it randomly decides to disconnect and reconnect to my computer (in a virtual sense, not physical). This is particularly annoying when I'm listening to music or moving files around. My solution at this point is to physically disconnect it and connect it until the connection sticks.
My fear is that one day I will not be able to access anything on this drive. So, I'm forced to back everything up, perhaps wise, but that means now I have to have 640GB instead of 320GB for the same files.
When I first bought this hard drive I thought "WOW! I can make this like a virtual computer and have access to my files anywhere there is a computer." This has not been the case. It seems the more I disconnect it and reconnect it on another machine, the more problems I have. So, I have to be selective. I don't just take it anywhere "just in case."
So in conclusion, I have to say I love that I can throw this thing in my purse and take it with me to work or vice versa instead of hauling around an entire laptop. I love that this little hard drive has more hard drive space than my laptop. But, it's unreliable, more than normal pieces of technology. So, if you're like me and have a desktop or another hard drive that you can back this up onto or don't wish to use it for your only copy of important documents, then I would go ahead and get it. Otherwise, you're just waiting for a disaster to occur.
Didn't even last 6 months!!! (Rating: 1 out of 5) I bought my WD Hard Drive around February 2008, formatted it, used it heavily to back up my precious data, had to re-format it twice since I initially bought it and around July, it finally kicked the bucket.
I'm no expert on tech stuff, but I'm definitely no novice either, but I know crappy hardware when I see it, or in this case use it. The flimsy plastic case should of been a dead giveaway, but I bought into it and continued to trust it.
My next drive is going to be an Iomega FireWire drive.
Product worked as advertised (Rating: 3 out of 5) Works fine. I purchased for backup purposes. I am not very tech oriented so my son had to show me how to use it, but it is fairly simple once you get it set up. There is a manual to print off and tech support is offered. You might want to uncheck the extra software offered (Google toolbar and some photo editing software) unless these are something you really might use while installing. Wish software companies would explain this a little better to those of us without superior computer skills.
good little drive (Rating: 5 out of 5) the portability is great. y cable works fine no probs. the drive has been flawless. i know the issues with the power supply but its no problem to plug into two usb ports or a powered multi port usb hub.
the bad reviews i read here seem like people who dont know what theyre doing or talking about.
Does its job quite well. (Rating: 5 out of 5) A nicely made little unit, that quite efficiently backs up my 250 gb laptop hard disk. It runs quietly, sits on 4 rubbery feet, and takes up very little space (even less if I stand it on edge). My only quibble would be that the unit's LED does not change color or strobe to indicate that the unit is working, meaning I periodically have to check my laptop during major back-ups, to see if the unit is still downloading.
I also invested in a hard-shell storage case for transport/storage, but that's strictly optional.