WD 1TB Black My Passport Ultra Portable External Hard Drive - USB 3.0 - WDBGPU0010BBK-NESN

I bought two of these drives to replace my current storage and backup drives for Adobe Lightroom (Im a photography student). One of those drives I was replacing was a 1TB My Passport Ultra that Ive been super happy with, so I decided my new drives would just be larger versions! These drives are super easy to use, they operate very quietly and, in my experience, are very reliable. They run cool, as well, and the USB 3.0 is lightning fast. The only reason I needed to replace my 1TB version was because I was filling it up too quickly - Im going to use that one now as a backup drive for another computer. Word of advice, though - make sure you attach these to a powered USB port on your computer. When I initially connected these, I wasnt able to format them (I use a Mac, so had to reformat and partition them before use) or anything because they werent getting enough power. But once I connected them to a USB hub with an external power source, everything was just fine. The drives has been humming along nicely since, and my files are all safely in place!

UPDATE: I called WD and they walked me through to get it working on my PC and my MAC. So far I like the product, but was a bit annoying that they called at different times than we agreed upon. It did not work on my PC with windows 10, nor did it let me reformat it to work on my mac. I followed all of their instructions online, and did a lot of research but nothing got it to work on either of my computers. I opened a case with Western Digital and they said they needed to call me to go over it. I told them when to call, but they ended up calling the day before while I was at work. I emailed back asking them to call me again another time, then never called even though they said they would. I have spent way too much time trying to get this product to work and it simply isnt worth it.

Pro: cheap, usb powered Con: ENCRYPTS EVERYTHING, NOT VIABLE FOR PORTABLE STORAGE. First, understand that an automatic backup function is critical to any backup storage device. It means that as you make changes to your computer, the program monitors them, and makes the appropriate updates to the backup hard drive. So if you have a folder of thousands of images, and you add 10 photos, the device will then backup those additional 10 photos. Not having auto backup means you would have to remember every change you made to your computer, and manually go to the hard drive and copy the files there as well. Auto backup is absolutely standard and expected on any device. Obviously with 1TB of data, you cant be expected to keep up with all the files and changes. The MAJOR problem is this.... If you are doing automatic back up on this device, it encrypts everything. That means the files are 100% useless on the harddrive unless you plug back in to your computer and go through a very very lengthy decryption process. You cannot just plug this drive in somewhere and view the files like you would on the computer. The files are broken down, split up, and are no longer usable files. The only way to make this a portable storage device, is by manually placing files on the drive. With 1TB of data, that is unreasonable. Hard to explain, but just know that this is NOT a good option for having a large portable storage device. You need an external drive that has an option to NOT encrypt everything.

Identical in size to other My Passport drives, but exactly reversed. The connector is on the opposite side of the drive from all my other Passports. I got this one to replace one that just stopped working after 3 years. The only negative is that if you are buying this drive for color (red for secured, black for unsecured, etc.) you will be disappointed. Only the top cover of the drive has color. The rest of the drive is black. Kinds looks stupid and doesnt in any way let you set it on a shelf with other drives and immediately differentiate them by color. You barely see the color from the side of the drive and not at all from the back.

This model is the 2015 generation of the many My Passport drives Ive owned or purchased for clients. They have proven reliable and good performers. They have incrementally improved with each new generation. BOTTOM LINE (for the impatient): The new model is a little bit faster than last years and adds a 3TB and 4TB model. This My Passport Ultra has a more attractive satiny finish and there is now a white model to fit in better for Mac users. Otherwise its almost identical to the older model. If these differences are not important for you, you may want to get this or

Everything seems to be working out great with this drive. Ive only had it for two days though. I bought this drive for my Xbox One. It was recognized right away and started moving and installing my own game library. It does get slightly hot when it is running that doesnt seem to affect it. The drive greatly improves the performance of games and beats the internal drive right out the park! Black Ops 3 was horrible when it was installed on the internal but now it plays way smoother. NOTE: I am an Xbox preview member, so game performance is affected by the preview updates. Overall, the drive is excellent. Will update as the drive is tested longer. I am also running a Seagate Expansion 1TB portable drive for more storage. It was a gift for Christmas. There doesnt seem to be a noticeable difference between the WD 2TB but Western Digital seems to be more reliable than Seagates line of portable hard drives from multiple site reviews. This is debatable.

By far best Price/Quality ratio on the market. A great, portable and secure HDD. After a few years of stupidity and not backing up, i finally decided to pick this up. Why did i like it? Its cheap and effective. One Terabyte of storage in my pocket is great for a price like this. Why did i dislike it? So far i havent I dont use it daily, and probably wont any time soon, due to the fact that im only planning on backing up data on it. But 400GB filled so far, and the thing has not slowed down at all. Similar products Storage online is probably first thing that comes to mind, but due to limitations of my data plans and real world locations where i can freely upload +20GB file batches without getting stopped by Hey youre using too much of our free data messages off puts me, and i would gladly store my stuff on my private storage, instead of going through open SECURE connections.

This will now be the third Western Digital Passport hard drive that I have purchased. I work a lot with photo and video, so I am always in need of more hard drive space. I have had a very positive experience with their products. None of the Passports I have purchased have had any issues whatsoever. That being said, I back-up my back-ups, so in case one of these were to fail I wouldnt lose anything. But by and large I feel confident that this hard drive will hold up well over time. USB 3.0 transfers files quickly and the compact size makes it easy to throw in a backpack. I wouldnt transport one of these without some kind of protective case. However, Amazon Basics makes a great case for $5 that is sturdy and very useful. I have purchased one for each of my Passport hard drives.

I am extremely disappointed in this purchase. I purchased this less than two months ago to replace another Western Digital external hard drive for Mac, and I am already having the same issue with no resolution. Initially the hard drive worked fine, but after 4-5 weeks it suddenly became very temperamental; claiming that the device was disconnected when I would shift position of the cord slightly. After a week or two of that, it was no longer recognizable, yet the light was on and it appeared to make noise as if it were on. My computer recognizes it is plugged in, but I am unable to access it. I have spent many hours trying to find a solution through the website and other sources with no solution. I work in two fields where we constantly need to be using external hard drives, and this is unacceptable. I am legally obligated to securely store data for three to five years for my job in academia. I have lost money in my photography job, as I am unable to access photos that I need to get to clients in a timely manner, not to mention the few dollars I spent to buy a third cord to make sure it wasnt a wiring issue. I have spent countless hours reprocessing photos that I had finished before because I keep my raw images on another disk. I gave this product two stars because it does have a three year warranty and I was able to spend an additional $10 for insurance in case I have to pay someone to retrieve the data from the disk. Unfortunately, I do not trust this brand any longer and I will not be using the warranty just so I can switch brands. Additionally, the company contacted me after I had complained about these issues via Twitter. Despite me sending them my personal information so they could resolve the issue, I have yet to receive a phone call or email from them.

Purchased this as an alternative to a very bulky 1TB backup drive for my Macbook Pro. As a photographer, photos and videos amass on my computer at an alarming speed. And because of the high quality nature of the files, I know its time to do a clean out when my whole system starts to slow down. The problem was, having to set up an external drive with an independent power source was just annoying. This little gem has twice the storage and is about a quarter of the size of my other drive. I keep it within reach of my bed, where I do 99% of my editing. Whenever I need to dump files, or pull files, my passport drive is so convenient and FAST. RAW files and high definition video files have no problems jumping ship from my mac to the passport in a very timely fashion. Ultra Portable really does mean ultra portable for this little black book. If I know Ill be shooting a lot of footage that Ill need to dump later, or I may need to retrieve old photos for editing, chucking my passport into my backpack or camera case is so convenient. Also, not having to find yet another plug to power it with while my phone, computer, and spare camera battery are charging is a relief. I dont have to worry about knocking it over, sucking up dust, or tripping over wires. Awesome little product. No cons! Buy it!