Old Model WD My Passport Ultra 1 TB Portable External USB 3 0 Hard Drive with Auto Backup

Bought it back in May 2015 and it's great. Works as expected on my Windows pc. I use it to keep my files on in case something happens to my computer. Still works fine. I think it was kind of hard to figure out how to manage on my computer at first and during installation but it's actually very easy, on my computer I just plug it in drag and drop files like I would with a regular USB flash drive. I bought it for around 60 dollars so there are cheaper ones out there though. But not bad. One complaint I have is that I'm not sure where to store it but I just keep it in a little cardboard box I have in my closet. I'm forgetful though so I also have a tendency to just leave it out where ever haha, but it still is in good condition so it's fine. Also I feel like it looks slightly different than in the picture but that may just be the lighting but to me the little circles on the front aren't that bright or noticeable. Also in the pictures they have it might look a little bigger or smaller than it is, but it's about 21 cm vertically, 9 1/2 cm horizontally, and 2 cm thick, and it comes with a USB cable that's around 48 cm long. So it's kind of too big to put into a regular pocket but you could probably put it in a medium sized bag pocket. Though I do worry about the USB cable because there's not comfortable way to pack it with you without bending it all up unfortunately. That might end up being a problem in the future if the USB cable breaks but so far it is fine. Read more

Flawless. Just load this up with all your photos and documents. (Highlight folders, right click, hit send to WD Passport or highlight and drag.) It can take whatever you give it pretty much unless you are decades behind this holds a ton of data. No clumsy CD's or DVD's to store! Delete, add upload download, it works perfect and as easy as working from a folder, file or destination on your pc. Just plug in the USB cord to your pc and get going. I own two of these and a great feeling all my photos/documents are safe and secure as with two I can store them in separate locations in case of fire or disaster. Burning CD's suck, this is the way to go. Oh and just take this palm size device to any WalMart or any photo processor, plug it in and select and print from all your folders. Such a great feeling to have everything stored and not afraid of a glitchy pc dropping everything. Read more

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. Read more

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. Read more