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

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 HDD's 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've used a single 1 TB Passport Ultra with SmartWare backup utility since late 2013 for both my desktop and laptop Windows 7 PCs. After some initial SmartWare glitches it's worked so well I'm getting another - the first 1 TB Passport Ultra is full now. Regarding SmartWare, some 2013 criticisms were valid then but are out of date now. And other criticisms misinterpret the purpose of SmartWare. WD continues to update SmartWare and the bugs in the 2013 version have been resolved. I use file/folder backup rather than category backup, which resolved the glitches I experienced back in 2013. The main misunderstanding is about the purpose of SmartWare - which confused me at first. It's not two-way syncing, like some cloud storage (Google+ Drive is an example). SmartWare is designed to be a goof-proof backup. Anything backed up via SmartWare cannot be deleted from the backup drive. And you can delete files from your main drive without fear of also losing the backup (not so with Google+ Drive in full sync mode). SmartWare isn't two-way syncing, isn't network attached storage and isn't merely rewritable external storage. It's true backup, designed primarily to protect data. The downside is that it's inflexible. If SmartWare fills up the backup drive with junk files, duplicates, etc., the only way to recover drive space is to start over. That's what I'm doing with my original Passport Ultra, by transferring data to another external drive, getting a second Passport Ultra, and recycling the first PU for a new round of backups. Also, if you have Windows 7 or later, you're not locked into SmartWare. You can use the free Windows Backup included with the OS. It works fine, is very simple, and compacts files and folder structures into zip files in a familiar hierarchy. Or you can use Acronis - Western Digital provides a free version of Acronis for download. Or you can simply drag and drop files and bypass any backup utilities altogether. Just depends on your data needs. I'm a photographer and need true backup because it's more secure and runs well in the background or as scheduled. I also bought a 3 TB My Cloud a couple of weeks ago for pseudo-NAS, and for the Red drive reliability. I'm considering a 4 TB My Book with the Green drives, but prefer the compact size and USB powered Passport Ultra. However SmartWare is painfully slow on My Cloud (transfer speed is about 1 GB per hour or slower). But it's fine on the Passport Ultra, even via USB 2.

I told in another review, believe it was of the AmazonBasics USB hub, that I live in an area prone to power outages. This is especially true in spring/summer. We seem to have a daily thunderstorm that rolls through right around 5 PM. I primarily work as a construction engineer and keep all of my files, blueprints, receipts, appointments on an external hard drive. I spent most of March of this year, having clients calling me and asking, "Could you give me the exact price you charged me?" and "What time are you supposed to be at my business tomorrow?" Well, my external was a Western Digital Elements, it required AC power. So, when the power was out, I had to say either, "Don't know, can't access my files" or "I'm not home right now, but will check as soon as I'm there." It was becoming very frustrating. I'm also a neat freak and my work desk at home was getting cluttered. I had seen these Passports for years, but there were always a lot of reviews that talked about failures. The Elements version hadn't gave me a single problem, so I come from the "if it ain't broke don't fix it" group. Then I saw these Passport Ultra's and there were enough positive reviews to make me buy one. With this little hard drive, I'll be able to access anything I need for work as long as my laptop has a charge. Very nice, welcome me to the 21st century now. I will further this by saying I did go in the hard drive's software and deselect the auto-backup and security functions. I don't like anything on my computer doing something without me telling it to. Seems those auto programs pick the worst times to start running. If you want to disable that part, it's very easy and takes all of maybe 5 seconds. The nice thing is you still leave the software on the hardware. You just disable it from running, so there's no long removal process or startup errors when the drive decides to look for its software. I had that problem with an old HP External I had. I had to remove its (HP) auto backup software, then every time I booted the computer, I would get an error. I can tell you my experience with externals. I've had over 10, I try to use one per year, then store it. I really don't know how much brand name matters. I had one HP external that worked flawlessly, then had the one that had an error on every boot. I've had two WD MyBooks without problem. Three WD Elements without any problems, Two Seagate without problems. Two iOmega that died within the first 3 months of use, both of them died. And one Toshiba that worked well. This WD Passport is my first portable, USB powered external and so far it has worked perfectly. I'll try to review all the products I'm using to convert my home office into a less cluttered, neat office space with at least, a little less reliance on power supply.

A lot has already been said about this drive (over 4000 reviews) so I don't want to repeat everything from the beginning. This is a drive that performs well and is good for backing up your hard drive. I use it with a combination of a long USB 3.0 transfer cable and therefore I can keep the drive in a constant place (hard drives don't like to be moved around much.) and just connect the cable whenever I want it to backup. It is $10 more expensive than the comparable size Toshiba hard drive (I have that one too) and I think in terms of speed or other performance parameters there is not a significant difference. The reason why I paid that extra $10 to buy this one is the automatic backup software that is built in. If you have a windows operated computer and you want to use the drive for the purpose of backing up your actual computer, then go for it and pay the premium. That does the job and saves your valuable data and memories decently. It backs up as frequently as you wish and does not compromise the computer performance. (On a desktop computer I would leave it connected all the time, on a laptop I would connect from time to time because it is not easy to move around with a hard drive sleeking from one side.) Mac users do not need to buy this for the purpose of backing up. Time machine does a fantastic job and you don't need WD smart. Any hard drive would work for the purpose. Besides that, if your main goal is not having it as a backup drive then again I would for sure go for the cheaper toshiba drive and save $10. One criticism about the drive is that it gives a misleading information about the cloud backup service and the capabilities of WD smart (not very pro) software. To be able to use the software with full performance which allows you to backup to non WD drives etc, you need to buy another license. The so called pro software included is only good for this drive, which is okay but still needs to be mentioned at least as a fine print somewhere in the product description. Yet again for the dropbox stuff, you both need a high capacity paid dropbox subscription but also a paid version of the software. So the cool stuff they advertise in the product description is not actually that cool. In conclusion, if you like me only use it for physical backup and do not ask for fancy stuff, you don't miss much and I can recommend this device for that purpose.

I,m a semi elderly computer user of average tech savvy, so if I can setup and use an external hard drive anybody should be able to. The WD Passport ultra with one TB memory is probably much more memory than I'll ever need, but for the difference in price I went with the 1TB. Setup instructions I found by Goggling variations of “ installing passport external hard drive” was much more useful to me than the included user guide. I studied both before starting. Once I started I had it ready to go in just a few minutes. When I first got this new Windows 8 computer a few months ago, during setup and initialization it guided me thru creating an “operating system recovery partition” and copying it to a USB drive. With a little exploring I found I could also copy a O.S. Backup to the passport. I think I read in the user guide where passport would not do that but by all indications it did. Guess I'll know if I”m ever unfortunate enough to try and use it. Can't ever have too many backup plans. I got all my documents and photos copied to the pass port, then to verify success I took it to a friend's computer and viewed what was on it. Every thing was there. I didn't set up the automatic back up software because my plan is to keep the passport disconnected and stored in a safe place and bring it out and update whenever I feel the need. My reasoning for this is if I ever get a virus or malware and the backup hard drive is connected it will be compromised also. I had been watching several vender's for a device like this for a of couple months and was about ready to use USB drives for data backup which for no more data than I have would have been sufficient, but when I found this passport at Amazon for around $70 with free shipping I went this route. I also needed an Ethernet cable hub to hook up a VOIP phone but Amazon had a wireless router with four LAN connections on sale so I went with it. Now if I ever need a wireless connection I'll be ready. If you are reading this then you must be thinking about data backup. So remember, when dealing with technology sooner or later Murphy s law is going to bite you. So however you decide to do it – BACKUP-BACKUP-BACKUP.

This does exactly what I need it for. I used it as a external hard drive to store my iTunes media. (I have a macbook in case anyone is wondering if it is mac compatible.) It's quiet, doesn't really get hot, and has a huge storage capacity for a relatively low price. The software that comes with it is very easy to configure and has some neat features. I mostly ignore all of them and only use it for setting a password on my drive. There is an option on it where you can "save" your computer and not require a password when connecting to your computer but require one when connecting to another. Super convenient! It's also small enough to carry in a pocket if you need it to go. I originally planned on using it only at home for my iTunes storage, but I have since started using this in lieu of my usb just because I feel like its very convenient to have a one stop shop for my storage needs. Recommend to anyone looking for a cheap storage solution!

Bought this in March 2014 to replace a corrupted hard drive from another brand that shall not be named (rhymes with equate), used somewhat regularly until 2019, sparingly until 2021, and then forgot about it until today. One of my friends passed and I had some photos that only lived on the ext hard drive (bad data hygiene I know). I bought a new connector cord because I'd lost the old one and plugged it in. Everything was still there, readable, and accessible, albeit a little slow to boot up the folders, etc, but no distress noises so it's still kicking. 12+ years is surely past the life expectancy of the product, so it has obviously gone above and beyond my expectations.

My recently purchased Western Digital Passport Ultra 1 TB Portable External USB 3.0 Hard Drive with Automatic Back Up is really very amazing. You know how products that are advertised will say they're this or that, then when you get them home, turns out the product is not only not living up to its advertised standards, but the company doesn't support you when the product does not perform. And the product will put you threw so many configuration changes you'll wish you could throw that product as far from you as you can. Well this Western Digital Passport Ultra 1TB Portable External USB 3.0 Hard Drive with Automatic Backup is really the Mercedes Benz of USB Back- Ups for my Lap-Top (and I love Mercedez Benz cars). The minute I plugged this product into my Lap-Top, it instantly backed my files up, no question, no configuration laborious instructions. It did it so fast, till I had to make sure that what was going on by simply checking just went on and configured on my digital USB backup. As some of you know, Ubuntu (Ubuntu problem child) will be making changes to their OS service on July 31, 2014, I was concerned about backing my files in preparation for Ubuntu's changes (talk about Ubuntu changes- a real headache) – well! I can forget worrying now in my file back ups on my Lap-Top. I highly recommend Western Digital Passport Ultra 1 TB Portable External USB 3.0 Hard Drive with Automatic Back Up – no fuss, no muss, no hassles, just plug it in, and it does the configurations file backups spontaneously. Really great product by Western Digital.

Nice external drive and it's fast. The days of unreliable WD drives seem to be behind them. These are light, robust, fast and cost effective. Self-powering, there's not double cable non-sense with these. I've ordered several for clients. My only complaint is that they sometimes include a flimsy cloth case and sometimes come with no case, when in fact they should always include the premium case that normally sells for $10 extra.

Petit, transportable facilement, a fait mon bonheur à l'époque ou je l'ai acheté

👌 okay

Buscando un disco duro externo que me permitiera respaldar la información de mi computadora me encontré con este disco. Decidí adquirirlo primeramente por la gran CALIDAD de la marca Western Digital, la relación costo-calidad es de las mejores del mercado aunado al excelente precio manejado por Amazon y la durabilidad y calidad de los materiales empleados en su fabricación. Ofrece la Interfaz USB 3.0 por lo que resulta muy rápido la escritura y lectura de la información en el disco, puede emplearse de manera sencilla en sistemas Windows y MacOS trae precargadas utilerias para ambos que permiten sacarle el mayor provecho. Sin duda una de las mejores opciones WD.

Plug into a USB 3 port on a windows 7 laptop and it worked without issue. I was averaging 65 megs/sec write speed to it while moving over video and audio files. They were coming in over the network too, so probably direct writes would be faster. Its so incredibly light and thin as well. Very happy with it. I have not tried or installed any of the WD apps that come with it.