WD 2TB My Passport Portable External Hard Drive Black backup software with defense against ransomware and password protection

You can't go wrong with Western Digital. Very small package for huge storage. Plug and Play - connected the USB cable, (included) and my computer immediately recognized it. The portable drive is larger than the drive on my laptop, so I partitioned it into 2 virtual drives. One partition for an Image/Backup and a second partition for file backup & storage. The partitioning process was flawless and now my computer recognizes two separate drives. I am super happy with the WD SSD portable drive. I would highly recommend to anyone wanting a portable drive. I'm even thinking about buying another larger drive and partitioning into more virtual drives for backup of other computers. My only complaint and major disappointment with WD, is that the free "WD Backup" software is no longer supported by WD and hasn't been for a few years. They offer a free version of Acronis, which doesn't work. Installed the Acronis software, created a bootable disk on a USB Flash (thumb) drive, then rebooted the computer from the thumb drive and created a full backup/ disk image to the new WD drive. The software seemed to run perfectly, and said the backup was successfully created. I felt really good that I had a full backup of my 2015 laptop, in case I ever need to replace the mechanical HDD. But it was a false peace of mind. Only 2 weeks after using the Acronis backup software, my computer was crashing shortly after bootup, which it had never done before. So I thought I would test the new drive and backup. After rebooting with the Acronis USB Boot drive, it asked for the location of the image file. The computer recognized the WD drive with all of the Acronis backup folders. But then the Acronis software said all of the folders were empty and there was No Image found. WTF?! Acronis said it successfully made a full disk copy. But then the software could not find its own image. DO NOT USE the ACRONIS software. I was fortunately able to fix the boot/crash problem using other software. But if my hard drive had completely failed, I would not have a usable backup copy to restore to a new drive. I would have been screwed. It would have been better if I never attempting to create a backup. At least I would known that I didn't have a backup copy to rely on, rather than falsely thinking I was protected. In addition, the "free" software isn't really free. It's only a 30 day free Trial version. So if you make a full backup within 30 days, and later have a critical problem, you will be forced to purchase the full version to perform the restore. The backup file versions are propitiatory, so you can't use another brand of software to do the restore. They've got you! You can make a free backup/copy (if you can even get the software to work properly). But then you have to pay for the software to actually use the Backup in order to Restore. This is akin Ransomware. I have since purchased other backup/imaging software and made a full (working) backup to my new WD drive. I'm very happy about that. Read more

Had it for 3+ years with no issues. Works great, simple to use and hasn't messed up. Small, light weight and no issues even in 100 degrees Fahrenheit temps. Read more

I recently purchased a 1TB storage device, and I couldn’t be happier with my decision. This portable powerhouse has transformed how I manage my digital world. With ample space, I can easily store my entire media library, important documents, and countless photos without worrying about running out of room. The setup was a breeze; I just plugged it in, and it was recognized immediately by my devices. The transfer speeds are impressive—backing up files is swift and efficient. I especially appreciate the compact design, making it easy to toss in my bag and take anywhere. Overall, this 1TB storage device has made organization a snap and has provided peace of mind, knowing my data is secure and portable. I highly recommend it to anyone in need of reliable storage! Read more

Bought this for my boyfriend who is a musician and in the middle of writing music.. works for him to save his mp3s of his music, piece by piece, as he goes.. then he can pass it off to his bandmates so they can work on adding their music magic, so in the end, it will become one awesome album! Read more

Inexpensive backup! I typically use a combination of hard drives for my photography backups. For important stuff like weddings, I only use solid state drives, but for my everyday photos like kids sports or travel, I don't mind using a mechanical drive. The thing I consider when buying one of these is the price per GB. I use a high-resolution 61 MP camera and usually keep both RAW and JPG copies. My RAW files can be 80GB per image or higher, so I fill these up fast. This is a great alternative option to buying SSDs which are currently double the price. This is my second one from WD and I'm pleased with the size and stability of the drive. It's just a bit thicker than my SSDs but still easily portable for when I'm on the road. The drive runs extremely quiet too and I don't notice a lot of heat when I'm using it. Connection is simple, just plug and play for Window or Mac. The speed isn't great. Obviously, no challenge to a SSD which is lightning fast for me, but I think the speed on this could be a bit faster. Granted, my files are big and 5TB allows for a lot of folders and files, but I feel like it drags a little bit when I open my Finder. I'm using this on a Mac Studio M2. I haven't had any issues with WD drives failing in the past, so I do trust that this will last quite a while. As I mentioned before, I wouldn't put critical files on it unless I had another backup copy somewhere. But for general use, portability, and storage amount, this works great. I never use the software that comes preloaded on the drives, so I can't speak to that. I've heard that it's no good anyway, but it's basically not an issue. I typically delete anything pre-loaded anyway. Read more