WD 2TB Black My Passport Portable External Hard Drive - USB 3.0 - WDBS4B0020BBK-WESN

Im editing my last review about the speed of the product. However, the rest remains an issue. The box says the contents include a quick install guide and software. Not there. Went on line and the brand isnt listed on WD site, but there are numerous blank squares (where a photo might appear but wont open) that you can click and find out what they are. Clicked though them and found the product. But the Quick Installation on the menu just comes up with a cover page and an address for the support site. Went to the user manual, and the instructions were sketchy. Lots of false starts trying to get program going. Finally called support #. Good news is that I got a real person right away and the support guy steadily worked the problem for a 1/2 hour, trying all sorts of methods, and eventually got it working. When I first tried the back-up, it was only 5% backed-up after 4 hours. I then figured out that it wont back up once the computer goes into sleep mode. So you need to be at your computer doing other stuff for it to back-up. Which means that it wouldnt back up at night when I would want it to automatically do that.

Ive bought several of WDs external hard drives over the years, and this one remains my favorite. Its easy to set-up/install, but please read carefully before you just madly accept any and all offers the program may encourage. Use this HD just for its intended purpose: to back up your files and protect you in the event of a system failure and data loss. I purchased the 2TB My Passport. This is more than enough spacious realty for your files! If youre the average users, mostly backing up personal data such as photo, videos, and word docs, it may take you a lengthy amount of time to fill the Passport to capacity. The files transfer over at lightening speed. Transfers that were calculated to take a full day to complete occur in less than 5-10 minutes when using the WD My Passport. You cant beat it for all around portability and on-the-go needs!! I highly recommend regularly backing up your data in case of system failure, and WDs My Passport is a lower cost, and highy effective means to achieving that end. The peace of mind alone is worth the cost. This is a hands-down excellent product.

I purchased this product around 5 weeks ago. Within 4 weeks it was making a beeping sound. I could hear the beep and I could hear the drive spinning but none of the files could be read by my computer. After not very much research I found thousands of people with the same issue. It appears this drive has issues with its heads whatever those are. They appear to be defective. I went though the Amazon website and requested a call to fix the issue. I was connected twice to people with very thick foreign accents that I could barely understand. The first call after wasting my time with troubleshooting I knew wouldnt work the man told me he would send me a ONE TIME COURTESY REPLACEMENT. As if it was my fault WD is selling a faulty and defective item. That person hung on up me without me getting anytime of confirmation of information about the replacement so I had to call back. The second person told me the exact same thing about the one time courtesy replacement which made me mad all over again. But he did confirm a replacement was coming and when to expect it. Since I know now this item has issues what happens if I get another defective item? I suggest not buying this particular WD product.

Its irritating to find products poorly rated simply because of damaged packaging, but when the packaging doesnt include items that it says does, and whats missing is vital to using the product, then I think ratings based on packaging is fair game. I just opened my WD 2T My Passport and in the box was the device, a very short cable, and a folded paper booklet containing nothing but legal ramblings in many different languages. That was it. Even though the box says a Quick Install Guide is also included, there was none. And of course, no full user manual was included either. Within the first 2 minutes of opening the box, I regretted my purchase. The Quick Install Guide from the WD website contains no information or instruction what-so-ever so that didnt help matters. How are you supposed to set this hard drive up without instruction? To WDs credit, unlike a competitor, customer support is available by phone when you need it. However, the fact that you have to call customer support before you can even get started is a big disappointment. Unless youre reasonably tech-savvy, spare yourself the frustration and skip this hard drive or at least be prepared to find instruction on how to use it on your own.

It is a good price

I would keep the WD Passport on your desk. Mine survived several falls, but considering it has moving parts, it could only take so many hits before breaking. This is my own fault, and I own up to my mistakes. Its a great drive for a great price. I recommend being careful with it for the sake of its longevity. After all, no hard drive is immune to falls.

Western Digital Passport drives have always been my go-to for a compact, no-power-chord-needed, portable storage solution with a lot of space. And most importantly, they wont cost you a fortune! I must have about 10 of these drives laying around, in different colors, across the past four generations of product. None of them have failed, and the color options help you to easily organize your projects. Buy a cheap case to go along with it, and youre all set to go!

I have been using WD Passport as my backup since 2015. I own two previous versions of the product (purchased 2015 and 2016), and the old ones are still working with no problems. However, the warranty is expired. I purchased two new ones in September 2019. I am unhappy with the software provided with the new version. The main reason I purchased WD Passport in the past was for the built-in password protection software, but the new software is not working. Im not a software engineer so I dont know why its not working, but Ill tell you exactly what happened in case this helps. I had a previous version of the WD Passport software installed on my computer. When I plugged in the new Passport, it offered to upgrade my software. However, the upgrade didnt work. There was a component of the old software that refused to uninstall. I couldnt get the WD password protection software to work on my new Passport, so I reformatted the new Passport and used a different encryption software that I had to purchase separately. As far as I can tell, the hardware is working perfectly to back up my files, but the software that came with the Passport was a bust. If you dont mind doing manual backups, this would not be a problem. If you rely on the software to make your backups automatically, this would be a major issue. I am perfectly happy making manual backups, and I have had good experience with the WD brand in the past, so I decided to stick with it. The hardware seems to be sturdy, because it got shaken around in a very loose box, and still worked when it got here. I purchased a second WD Passport off the same product page, but in a different color. The new Passport has a slightly different design and a slightly different cord was provided with it. I managed to get the old WD Passport software completely uninstalled off my computer, after multiple attempts. I tried to install the new software. The installation appeared to be a success, but when I ejected the Passport and plugged it back in, and tried to use the new WD Passport software to set a password, the software said that I didnt have a USB disk plugged in. Im not sure if this is because Im still using USB 3.0, and the new Passport is built for USB-C. They supplied a converter that lets you plug into USB 3.0, but maybe the software doesnt recognize the plug-in. Another possibility is that the software might not work if you dont have an internet connection. I am somewhat paranoid about some of my data, and I always back up all my computers while in airplane mode, with the wireless connection turned off, because at the present time, Ive been using the same back-up device for my public and private files. I dont use cloud back-up for most of these files. Im not sure if the software would work if I turned off airplane mode, but that wouldnt work for my needs anyway. Therefore, I will be using a different encryption software to password protect the drive, because I cant get the WD software to work for my needs. As far as I can tell, the hardware is still working perfectly to back up your files. The main delivery girl actually THREW the envelope onto my porch, and the drive seems to be okay, so it must be pretty sturdy. BTW: This is my second attempt to review this product. The first critical review I submitted mysteriously disappeared, and when I went back to edit the review with the new information, my first review simply wasnt there. So Im submitting this again and I hope it will get posted this time, to give you the heads-up on the software issue.

Im a photographer and I bought this drive before a 6 week trip to India. I knew that Id need a backup drive and that Id be generating a lot of data (photos, video). In the end, I didnt fill it up... I barely used 1TB, but it was good that I never felt limited in my shooting by storage options. This drive, like my other WD Passports, was simple to use.... just plug it in and it appears like any other USB thumb drive would, with no external power requirements, and it didnt take up much room in my camera backpack. While connected to my Surface, it was fast enough reading and writing that editing photos was not uncomfortably slow.

This is my second My Passport. Its easy, just plug into your computer, and thats it. I have 3 external drives (WD) i from the 90s, 1 from 20006, 1 from Christmas and they all work and have never had any problems. Ive had Maxtor and Seagate drives and had many problems. So I am staying with WD and recommend them to anyone