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

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.

Didnt break or give problems when I formatted to EXFAT. So far its been trusting. Build quality is give or take. The shiny plastic part is easily scratched like all plastic and it definitely looks like Ive had it longer than I do.

I bought a couple of these drives to store and watch home movies on our TV. On some TVs ( and a blu-ray player ), this was plug and play without issues. However, on some televisions the drives did not register. I attributed it to not receiving enough power from the USB on the tv and bought an Anker usb hub with a power input. The extra juice allowed the hard drive to register and play videos on more TVs, but not all that I tested. It works fine on computers without any problems, but If you are considering buying one of these, make sure it works on the device you are buying it for.

NoBrainer USB3 ext drive for a MacBook Pro. I DO NOT understand some others issues formatting this drive for OS X/macOS. High Sierra, Sierra, El Cap, Yosemite - IT MAKES NO DIFFERENCE... Goto Disk Utility/Partition and follow the prompts to format as Mac OS Extended (Journaled). By default this will blow out the included useless WD Windows junkware on the drive. I set up 2 logical 1GB partitions, one for Time Machine, the other for Carbon Copy Cloner, both Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Cheese for the mouse, it truly gets no simpler than this...

Bought this in Sept 2018, it now will no longer do a back up. WD tech support is horrible! Would I buy again, well NO! Take your chances!

It has recently come to my attention that Ive been lazy with my backups. Enter the WD My Passport external hard drive. The difference between this and the slightly cheaper WD Elements portable HD seems to be that the former is better suited for backups. At least thats what Western Digitals marketing claims. ***The good*** As an external hard drive it works just fine. Ive posted screenshots of some DiskMark benchmarks I ran and read/write speeds are largely in-line with what I see from my SATA internal HDD. All good there. ***The Neutral*** Build-quality is just so-so. It feels extremely plasticy and doesnt seem like it would take much abuse. That said, it doesnt necessarily feel fragile either. If I were regularly tossing it in a bag or traveling with it I might be concerned. But for in-house backups its fine. ***The Bad*** I appreciate simple, reliable software. Unfortunately WD Backup is a little too simple. Ita about as barebones as one can get. Its only two options are backup frequency and source. The biggest problem being that it doesnt include any option to sync instead of backup. For example, say I create a backup on Monday that includes files 1, 2 and 3. Then on Tuesday, on my PC, I delete file 2. When using sync software, file 2 would be deleted on the drive mirror. Using backup software, file 2 would remain. Neither method is better than the other, just different. However, I would prefer to sync, and not backup. In order to accomplish this one will need to acquire additional software. I find this very annoying considering a) its marketed as a backup-centric product and b) the competing product from Seagate includes software which allows for both. Finally, it didnt even work right out of the box. The backup process kept hanging up. I had to format the drive and download the latest software from WDs website. No big deal but a little annoying. ***Conclusions*** I would not buy again. Most likely, I would purchase the Seagate Backup Plus instead. Alternatively, I might purchase the cheaper WD Elements external HD and also a 3rd party all-in-one backup/sync software solution. ***My Rating Criteria*** Build Quality(47.5%) - 3.5 Stars Efficacy(47.5%) - 3.0 Stars Post-Sale Support(0.0%) - n/a Packaging/Presentation(5.0%) - 5.0 Stars WEIGHTED AVERAGE(100.0%) - 3.3 STARS

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

First thing I did when I got this was to format it because I dont really care for what came installed out of the box. Capacity is awesome and USB 3.0 helps transfer speeds considerably. Absolutely no complaints. I plan on getting another one very soon. For those curious, I use mine for backing up my movies, TV shows, roms, and other things ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

I guess I should have listened to the majority of the other reviews. Unfortunately most of them are true. This drive stopped working amazingly quick. Now dont get me wrong, it still functions somewhat as a drive. But when I try backing up my drive that I bought this for, I get constant errors and it tells me to run chkdsks and all that jazz and that there are bad sectors all over the place. I run the chckdsks and use all of the tools they want me to, yet none of them return errors. Sometimes when you try to transfer large files as well, it just doesnt wanna cooperate. Very very disappointing. Ill be sure to avoid WD from here on out and see how badly Seagate and the likes fail me next.. Dont worry, Im sure they will perform roughly the same. But damn, I was real hopeful here. I have an old WD external that still functions pretty well, so I was hoping to get that same kind of luck. Oh well, cant win em all. And for this price, I cant expect too much I guess. Cheers.

When plugged the Hard Drive into the Xbox, it quickly asked me to format it if was going to be used for game storage. I have used the Hard Drive for some time now and I can say that I have had no issues at all. I have downloaded a considerably large amount of games on the Hard Drive and nothing has gone wrong and speed is to be expected from a Hard Drive. Its not the speed of a SSD but better then the hard drive inside my Xbox that is full. If your are going to use it as a hard drive for a computer and your moving your hard drive a lot, then I cant answer if this is good for the purpose. But if your going to use it as a Xbox One HDD, then you shouldnt have anything to worry about.