Review: WD Passport Portable Hard Drive
Today I’ll be taking a look at Western Digital’s recently upgraded Passport series of portable hard drives; in particular, the 120GB bus-powered Passport. But Paul, didn’t you tell us to avoid generally fragile, death-prone 2.5-inch hard drives in your back to school post? That I did. When it comes to storing your data reliably, you should definitely spring for the 3.5-inch based external hard drives if possible. My use for this Passport drive is different than that of my main backup drive in that the Passport is simply for convenient, on-the-move file transfers.
Why the WD Passport?
There are many, many competitors for the Western Digital Passport in the portable hard drive market. The most popular of which being the Maxtor OneTouch III Mini and the Seagate FreeAgent Go. For me it came down to looks and simplicity. Like the other two drives, the Passport is bus-powered meaning it gets its powered from the USB bus on your computer. However, the other two drives include a bulky USB Y-cable as older computers don’t have enough juice on one USB port to power the entire drive and must be plugged into two USB ports. The computers I’ll be dealing with won’t have that problem so I’d rather not carry around a larger cable.
That being said, the Passport has a small USB cable. For me, that length is actually functional and ideal but others might have a problem with it. I love that I can just fold the cable once and toss it in my bag - none of the long cable hassle.
When it comes down to aesthetics I side with the Passport’s glossy black case (although it is a fingerprint magnet). The Passport is also smaller and lighter than the rest, making it ideal for daily toting. I can see others picking the OneTouch III Mini though, with its stronger, aluminum exterior.
Features and Performance
I didn’t expect many features for this sub-$100 portable hard drive and that’s what I got. Okay well, if I was running Windows I could take advantage of the included “WD Sync synchronization and encryption software”, but I’m not. Just plug in the drive, it will spin up and appear on your OS X desktop as a removable drive. Nothing more to it. Since I would be using the Passport with Windows computers as well as Macs, I formatted it as FAT32 (Disk Utility calls this MS-DOS file system), which has a file-size limitation of (2^32)-1 bytes. You’ll most likely be using NTFS if you only plan on using the Passport on Windows machines.
The USB 2.0 Passport offers decent performance but it’s nothing to write home about. When thinking about the Passport in terms of 2.5-inch hard drives, the performance I experienced was about average. I tested it out by transferring a 900MB VOB file from the Passport to my MacBook Pro and back again. Keep in mind though, this transfer is from one 5400RPM 2.5-inch hard drive to another, so either could be a bottleneck. Ideally, I should have transfered files to and from the Passport when I was back at home with my PC and its 10,000RPM WD Raptor hard drive to eliminate such variables in testing.
Top: Transfer from Passport » MBP. Bottom: MBP » Passport. Both times were similar.
Thoughts
Regardless of the performance results, I didn’t buy this drive for speed, just convenience. I work on campus as a web developer and often need to access large files on the school’s intranet, which I can’t access via VPN from my place. Now I can just bring the Passport along.
Again, I must stress that the Western Digital Passport is great for transferring files here and there but even I wouldn’t trust it with mission critical data - you shouldn’t either. Keep your important stuff on a desktop-standard 3.5-inch hard drive, a RAID 1 setup if it’s even more important, Amazon S3 if you’d be heartbroken if you lost your data, or an SLA-wielding commercial CDN (Akamai/Level 3/Limelight) in addition to rsynced local and colocated RAID 5+1 setups of your own and then some if you’d die without your data.
The Western Digital Passport comes in 60GB, 80GB, 120GB, 160GB and 250GB flavors.
Looks like a great little drive.
I current user of this drive (160 GB) and don’t have any troubles. My later drive (La Cie) die after 6 month of usage…
I bought one of these last month for the same purpose of file transfers on the go. It’s a great little drive!
Great article Paul. I purchased my WD Passport for the same purpose. I do a lot of freelance web development and work on a Mac while mobile, but a PC at home and at the office.
I purchased my drive from Costco for $109 and the Costco bundle comes with the neoprene case that it fits snugly into along with the short cable.
I love this drive and have used is almost every day since I purchased it a month ago.
Again, great article and I love your site.
What about sturdyness and noise? File transfer is file transfer whichever 2.5 hd i use.
I have the 120GB PP II model and had the 80GB PP before. Never experienced any problems with them!
I bought a 120GB a while back. I think it is a good product, but like you, I don’t use it to back up my computer. I have a 3.5″ drive for weekly backups and even further, I backup mission critical stuff to online servers.
@geirsan - It’s pretty much silent and as for sturdiness, it’s a thin, plastic case so a good drop on the pavement might put it out of commission.
speaking of which the 160gb version of the drive is on sale for ~$90. Check out Slickdeals.net for that.
Hey Paul,
Just out of interest what’s the limitation on the vpn access? Is it a matter of not having a suitable client, or your school just not allowing it?
@aptmunich - the stuff I need access to is only allowed on computers connected directly to the network on campus, VPN not allowed.
That’s one sleek looking drive. I think it’s time I got a 2.5″ external because I hate carrying around the 3.5″ all the time. I like the single USB connector cable of that WD.
The bottleneck is more than likely the USB 2.0 interface than anything else. I’ve tried two different 3.5″ USB 2.0 external drives on a multitude of computers and it stonewalls at 25MB/s. So much for the 480mb/s theoretical. E-SATA on the other hand…
ok this is unrelated but what model logitech speakers are those,are they good?
@David - it’s an old set of Logitech 2.1 speakers.. z-2200 I think. They are a good value with a fairly powerful sub, which is why I like them. I used to have a 5.1 setup but that was really too much hassle with all the extra space taken up and cables.
I agree with the fact that 2.5 drives are not the solution for mission critical backup. For that I prefer online backup (especially since I’m biased: I work for an online backup company).
For daily work, though, this is a great drive. Bulk storage without bulk volume. A win-win no matter the transfer speed. I’m a patient man, though. The difference between a 1 min transfer and a 2 minute transfer is just a minute!
ive been running one just for my tunes.. moving to the 250 soon ;)
ive set up iTunes to see this as its library. works like a charm nd even via sharing ive seen now slowing etc.
i went from a 2.9lbs Lacie to this at 9oz which my shoulders love!
my 160gb will become my iPhoto primary.
and yes i have music and photos BU on other drives ;)
So I purchased the 160 GB yesterday… As my Powerbook’s drive was reaching its limits, a sleek external drive would do some good… you would say.
My Powerbook is about 2.5 years old. As it appears, the USB (2.0 though) is not supplying enough power to get the Passport mounted. Only option would be a dual-USB to minu USB cord to use BOTH USB ports in order to supply enough power…
Found the related information hidden deep in Western Digital’s website:
As this would both look ridiculous and be not very handy, I returned the drive today… Will have to look for something else now…
Hey Paul,
Just reporting back after purchasing an 80gb version because of your post. I got the new slim apple keyboard and have my mouse as well as this harddrive running off of the USB inputs below the keyboard. I’m surprised to see that it can run off of such little power given off of the keyboard’s ports.
I bought a 60 gb passport last summer and it failed in the winter. After I paid for an RMA, the replacement passport failed this summer. I mainly used the first passport and my GF mainly used the second passport and although it is the best mobile external for the price, I am still wary of them. I don’t even want to go through the trouble of requesting another RMA which costs me shipping.
Good luck with yours.
I am a student at San Antonio College (Texas) network admin track. Doing a course about mcse/mcsa certification and getting into virtual pc issues to be able to access and play with different flavors of o/systems. I have a desktop e-machine T-3410 w/XP Home and a HP pavilion 9410 w/XP Professional.
Can I load virtual machine on this passport WD1200BEV External Device? in order to avoid bogging down either of my other 2 pc?
And be able to optionally run the virtual machine loaded with windows server 2003? I know this sounds like a school question – but they will probabley to me to locate the info on my own as a “character building exerciseâ€
I have the 120GB Passport and reading the manual it seems to indicate it is formatted with FAT and since I’m on Windows XP I probably should have it formatted with NTFS.
This may be a silly question but if I reformat it I won’t have problems using it since it won’t have the WD synch software on it, will I?
I don’t really need that software since I just intend to copy files onto it and won’t be synching anything with any other computer.
Thanks.
@Dereck - I don’t think you’ll have any problems if you format it as NTFS.
I love the drive, but I’m here to tell you all that Western Digital is one messed up company. My drive crashed and needs to be replaced (under warranty). It took 4 business days, not the 1 business day the web site promises, to get an email reply. The instructions were incomplete and it took several message exchanges (2 more days) before I got adequate instructions to confirm the drive is unusable. I got an RMA, paid $20 extra for overnight shipping for a replacement drive, and still have not received the replacement drive over a week later. Their web RMA status page lists the ship date, but no shipper tracking number. When I call in, my call is either dropped or they are willing to keep me on hold with no hold time indication until I have to do something else and drop out of the queue. When I finally did get to talk to a CSR after more than 10 minutes of hold time, he indicated that the replacement drive was not shipped on the date that the RMA web page says, but he cannot provide a tracking number. Bottom line: don’t trust Western Digital!
Hi Dereck,
I bought a WD 1620GB and I am trying to use it the same way you do.
Questions:
1). Do you have problems after you reformat the disk to NTFS?
2). How to reformat it? I have Window XP.
Jack,
I haven’t had any problems after reformatting. It just removed the Western Digital software and now it’s just a small portable 120GB drive.
To format it just plug it into your computer. In windows explorer right click on it (your WD Drive) and when the pop-up menu comes on just select format.
Dereck and Paul,
Thanks much. I did it based on your instruction. It works very well.
I like the WD 160GD disk. It’s very portable and inexpensive. The sales person told me that it won’t over heat as other disks. He is correct. Sale person can be trusted (just once).
I purchased the 120 Passport to back up my iMac G4; mostly photos and iTunes. I am spending hours: I keep getting this error -50 message. I checked the WD support, which directed me to an Apple support document. This instructed me to access “Terminal” (Applications/Utilities) and change some code around. This made me really nervous, because I am the furthest thing from a programmer, but I did it anyway.
I still get the same error message.
Help?
I purchased a Western Dig. 160 GB Passport. Basically, all I want to do is back up my hard drive (some photos, mostly documents and reports). I’m certainly not an advanced computer user, and I was looking for instructions or literature on how to use the damn thing. For instance, how to back up entire drives, individual folders, documents, etc. Is such help available, and (if so) how can I lay hands upon it.
Thanks, in advance, to any respondent.
cliff h,
DITTO that!
The WD site didn’t offer me (techno-challenged!) the “how’s, why’s & wherefore’s” for my MacBook Pro/OS 10.4.10
I’ll keep watching - hopefully, for an informative/instructional response.
Paul,
Do you (or anyone else reading) know if the drive inside this enclosure is a parallel ATA (standard IDE) drive or a newer serial ATA drive? I’m considering purchasing one (250GB) and doing a little drive switcheroo with my MacBook Pro’s internal drive (80GB), but was unsure if it’s an SATA or PATA drive.
@Adam - I can’t be sure without opening it. Have you looked into what is required for swapping the MacBook Pro’s hard drive? It involves a good bit of taking apart the MacBook Pro, no where as easy as the MacBook 5-minute install.
@Paul - Yeah, the disassembly for the MBP is a pain compared to the MB, but I’ve done it a few times already (thermal grease to lower fan noise/speed, and replaced the 802.11g card with an 802.11n one), so it’s not completely foreign to me.
I’m still on my quest to figure out what type of drive is in the Passport. I’m about 85% certain it’s a parallel ATA drive, as that’s what most manufacturers are using since it’s cheaper to make enclosures like that, but it’s worth a little investigation considering the prices as compared to the bare drive ($50 savings, roughly).
Recently I juz bought a WD portable passport….i badly needed the encryption…Not much has there features besides maxtor….which the outlook is so simple unlike the WD which sleek and nice looking…
I picked up a WD Passport with the 160 gigs for a Dell Latitude laptop which has Windows 98 and only a 10 gig hard drive. When I plug it it finds it but it requires the drivers for it. My question is: Can I get this drive to work with Windows 98? Thanks for any info on it.
Does anyone know how to dissassemble this drive? I just want to get the drive out to switch it with my laptops 120 gig drive.
I just picked up a 120gb and its not letting me modify on my macbook but yet it lets me modify it on my PC desktop. Does anyone know how to make it work so I can modify on both systems?
I have a silver 80 Gig WD Passport Portable Drive. The system requirements state it works on Windows Millenium. This drive works fine on all my other compurters running Windows XP and Mac OX 10 but does not work with ME. The system requirement however says it does. It does not show up under my computer, but does show up under device manager w/a yellow exclamation point. After numerous phone calls to Western Digital and hours spent on the net i cant find a driver that works and Western Digital can not seem to understand English! Can anyone help.
Thanks
Hi Paul,
I was just wondering; you mentioned that you “formatted it as FAT32 (Disk Utility calls this MS-DOS file system).”
I was under the impression that FAT32 is not stable beyond storing 32 Gigabits of Data. Is it safe?
A friend of mine just got a 120 GB external HD for her first apple computer, a MacBook Pro (she also has a PC) She is transferring most of her PC data to external HD. I advised her that after she copies all of her PC data (~45 GB) to the external HD, she should copy it all to the desktop of her MacBook Pro, then reformat the external HD to be Mac OS Extended (Journaled), then copy all of the data back to the external HD and erase it from MacBook Pro’s Desktop.
She said that she wanted to transfer data back and forth between the PC and her Mac. I told her that it isn’t safe to save more than 32GB on a drive that is formated in FAT32. I told her that she would be better off just using the external HD for her mac and getting a 4GB Flash drive to transfer files between computers.
Given that you formatted your drive to FAT32, I was wondering if I didn’t give her accurate information. Is it not that risky to put more than 32GB of data on a drive that is formated to FAT32 ?
I apologize this is so long. I’m looking forward to your hearing your opinion.
Chris
@Chris,
The only real limitation, in my opinion is the 4GB size limit. No file may be larger than this, so if you’re planning on backing up DVD’s, don’t use FAT32…
Otherwise, i’ve had several 100GB FAT32 partitions on my computers, since i use a number of operating systems, and have never had problems with it. Most of the time i have 70GB+ on a FAT32 partition at any given time and this has never caused any problems. I don’t know where you got this 32GB ‘limit’ from, but i’d be interested in finding out ;)
Your suggestion seems fair, to have her use the external drive as an HFS+ drive for her OSX files and use a 4GB flash drive for inter-computer transfers… I think FAT32 allocates at least 4KB to every file, so even if your file is a text file with 1 line of text, it’ll take up 4KB. So FAT32 isn’t really recommended if you have lots and lots of very small files. Also note FAT32 doesn’t allow permissions, but this may be an advantage ;)
All the best
I just need a backup drive to save word processing files mostly - I am a writer. I have the 80 GB WD external drive. Is that not adequate?
Also, what’s the diff between “saving” your files and “synching” your files, in terms of future access to those files on your own or others’ computers?
@Sue,
For word processing documents, even long books, an 80GB drive is going to be on the magnitude of at least twenty times more storage than you’ll be needing. In comparison to videos, pictures, and audio files, word processing documents are fairly small.
Hi Paul,
I just got the Passport (I travel a lot) to back up DVD’s (~11 GB/ file) from my Powerbook and now I see that the file size limit is 4 GB. Problem!
Do the other small portable drives like this one have larger file size limits or is that a function simply of FAT32 formatting?
I understand that I can’t reformat to NTFS with a MacIntosh, so are there other options?
Of course I’d love to have a RAID system but need the portability.
Thanks.
@Sally,
4GB per file is a limitation of FAT32. If you’re only going to use this drive on Macs, use HFS+ (also called Mac OS Extended), as it can handle files up to 8EB (exabytes – a LOT). Disk Utility will allow you to reformat the drive to HFS+.
If you’re attempting to use this drive on a Windows and Mac machine, unfortunately FAT32 is your only option, unless you spring for a commercial product like MacDrive.
Somebody asked earlier - IS IT POSSIBLE TO REMOVE THE DRIVE FROM THE ENCLOSURE ? - I too am looking for the answer. I’ve looked under 3 of the 4 rubber feet and the sticker there are no screws anywhere !!
Any ideas, maybe I’m missing something obvious or maybe it is sealed
Thanks, Sharon
Yes, it’s possible. I took mine apart. The case is made of two plastic panels, joined along the sharp edges. By using my fingernails and some pressure, I was able to separate the two halves. The drive nor the case are held with any screws.
Found out how to get the drive OUT OF THE CASE .Here is a video posted by someone on UTube. My 120mb is a SATA Drive (Serial ATA)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdWKNQHLTmw
My 80 Gig drive just crashed. I have important data on it - how do I retrieve it?! It activates when plugged into the computer, but freezes everything up and I can’t access the folders.
I just cracked opened my newly acquired 250GB one and it is indeed a Serial ATA WD Scorpio drive inside. The good news is that I can swap out my MacBook Pro’s 120GB with the 250GB and put the old drive in the PassPort to make it a 120GB one. The bad news is that it is tedious and a risky move to open up my MBP for the hard drive upgrade.
However I am contemplating whether to just spring for a 7200 rpm Seagate Momentus 200GB instead, since I am going to put so much effort and risk into taking apart the MBP. The pluses would be increased disk access speeds equivalent to desktops. The minuses - please let me know. Anybody have 7200 rpm drives on their MacBook Pros? Is it worth the upgrade? Has the faster drives been as reliable as the 5400 rpm ones even though all 2.5 inch drives fail more often than desktop ones.
Thanks for any inputs.
Have a great day!
PS: for the person who lost important data on their 80 gig one, if your data is mission critical, and you can expense it out, you can look up data restoration experts in your local area and prepare to pay an arm and leg for it. If the data is not so important and you are willing to take a chance, you can put the drive in the freezer for 5 to 10 minutes and then plug it in and get to work quickly and copy the files immediately once the drive mounts on your computer.
The reason is hard drives heat up with use and the platters expand and contract over time. The cold shrinks the metals inside and hopefully the areas needed to be read can be accessed before they expand again. Do this at your own risk and only for data that can be sacrificed. Go lookup the freezing method of reviving dead drives on the web and you will see numerous posts. But if your data is mission critical and can not be recreated, consult your local data restoral experts as they have an arsenal of appropriate tools to do it professionally.
Good Luck!
i have this small baby and it think is worth every penny
I really like mine now, but when I first plugged it in to my MacBook it crashed my computer completely, leading to a bunch of data loss. After dealing with Western Digital’s shitty customer service, I finally got a replacement that works fine now. It was pretty ironic that my backup drive did to me exactly what I had boughten it to prevent.
Kool Info. I just purchased the 160gb. I plan on using it with xp (and possibly on a Macbook). I think I read to format it FAT if I wanted to use it with xp and mac. If I was going to use it strictly for windows what would be the advantage of NTFS. If I format it to NTFS will I lose the sync sotware feature? I do not undderstand syncing. I plan to transfer files and photos. Also, is it possible to refomat in the future. Thanks.
For those wanting larger file sizes than Fat32 affords, look into using Ext3. There are drivers for Windows (free - http://e2fsprogs.sourceforge.net/ext2.html) and for Mac, well it’s unix based and should have the capability by adding the driver located here.. https://sourceforge.net/projects/ext2fsx/. Ext3 is the journaled version of ext2. Most of the drivers list ext2 but have the journaling making it ext3.
Need Help! Just bought a 160G and plugged it into my PowerBook G4, but nothing comes up on my desktop. I plugged it into my old laptop, a Toshiba Satellite, and it worked fine.
Does anyone know why it will not recognize the external on my Mac?
@kboogie - make sure it’s plugged into a powered USB port that is part of the computer and not some underpowered USB hub. does it sound like it’s spinning up and the blue led comes on? Try opening Disk Utility - perhaps it is seen but it’s not formatted in a way that OS X can read it and thus doesn’t get displayed on the desktop.
kboogie, I have the same issue.
Oddly enough, if I plug it into a USB 1.0 powered hub both of my drives work just fine. If I plug it into the on board USB 2.0 it stalls. No errors. No messages. no nothing. Disk Utility doesn’t even see it.
Seems like an issue with the USB 2.0 ports/drivers and the drive itself.
(FYI. I know my way around a Mac very well. It is plugged in to a powered port and the format is Mac OS X Extended (journaled).
Will this drive work with Linux? Thanks.
Order from buy.com arrived WD passport external H. Drive 160Gb, but without password protection, or complete encryption. I formatted it to NTFS and backed up its default programs to my desktop. Theres no encryption, whatsoever besides that sync thing which allows only for C drive to WD Hard drive, not in between other drives.
I visited their support site and looked at answer ID 1460 at wdc.support.com, however this doesn’t explain that problem. I called their non-existent customer service and was put on hold for over 46 minutes then i hung-up. This is ridiculous.
I wouldn’t encourage anyone to buy this expecting to store 149GB of data and leave it naked without any encryption. Thats bad.
Thanks.
Hmmm, I seem to have a slight problem with my WDC Passport Black 250.
Running XP on my desktop it worked fine, but I have an older laptop - Toshibe Satellite 2590XDVD, running Win98SE.
I understand from wdc.com, that the drive isn’t supported by 98SE, but my question is this - WHY? Both red and silver are, I liked the black one, and it did NEVER occured to me that this would be a problem.
Very dissatisfied Passport customer
So, I have/ had this hard drive and so did my boyfriend. His was newer and just decided not to work one day. He had all his music on the drive. He erased everything, started over and 2 weeks later again!
I thought I got Lucky however one day I ejected the drive to hook it up somehwere else and nothing, never wanted to pop up again.
The hard drive itself doesn’t feel to protected for something portable. After this, and half of my students getting WD hard drives and them not working after 2 weeks, i will never own and WD hard drive again. just not reliable
i have a black 160Gb brand-new passport but after many reviews on many different websites i want to know if anyone with the of the same computers i have had any problems with it before i back-up VERY important files with it
i have a Sony Vaio Desktop Model PCV-C42L and a Sony Vaio Laptop Model VGN-FS840 if you have one of these computers and a Passport (specifically the 160GB Version) please tell me how well they work together
Just bought myself one, 160GB, got a good deal and got the Y cable free, waiting for it to arrive. A fun little convenient thing to have. Since I have Mozy won’t be for critical backup, just for more storage for lots of random things.
Thanks for the review.
I have Sony Vaio PCG FRV 37 and there is a problem with back up to!!!
There is a lot of helpful info here…Thanks! I have included a link to another place that has additional info that I found very useful:
http://mytechtalk.wordpress.com/2007/08/17/western-digital-passport-an-excellent-option-for-backing-up-your-data-to-an-external-hard-drive/#comment-810
ok, i am cheezed off with this product right now. the instructions werren’t clear regarding the synch software and i think it synch to the cleared files and has deleted my baby’s photos. any suggestions on how to get them back? can they be recovered? i have even tried the restore point on windows and nothing. wd requires you purchase tech support from them. is it worth it? tracy_bailey at hotmail dot com.
I’m not sure if this work work but there is a program to recover lost photos (and other files) that I tried and was amazed that it worked after i had deleted the files and then formatted the memory card and it recovered all files but 3 mp3 files. It’s called: Photorescue 3.1 PC by a company called http://www.datarescue.com It’s worth a try
I just got this drive today. 160g (black)
Plugged it in my Powerbook G4, OSX.5 (leopard)
waited, NOTHING
Only clicky sounds with blinking blue light.
This is supposed to be compatible with a mac.
It is also supposed to be plug and play
I am very disappointed.
@vic - loud scratchy/clicky sounds? Drive is probably DOA.
It work perfectly fine with my new Dell m1330 xps.Also I must say that with new motherboards ( 800mhz) work faster so 5400rpm is completely enough.
Hi i am having a problem with my external hard drive atm-
everytime i connect it it makes a beeping noise- soft but faint,
then after 20 seconds the safely remove button come up on the computer
but the hard drive is not visible in My Computer- and in the device manager it reads it as so-
WDC ROM MODEL-SCORPIO USB DEVICE
However i tried using the WD FAT 32 formatter and it read the hard drive as SCORPIO and says it cant format as is too small partition?
In addition on the hard drive it says the model no is- WD600VE-00HDT0 which on your system means its a laptop/mobile device.
So i downloaded the program for the model no stated- laptop/mobile and it says it can only format up to 20 gig and its suppose to be 55 gb what should i do??
Been 12 hrs since i posted on WD no response as of yet? How i can i at least format it as 60 gb i dnt really mind bout the sound jus is it dangerous?? And if i format it as 20 gb can i go back and change it?
Thanx Terr
P.S
Wd tell me this NOW-
Thank you for registering your WD product below.
Model Number: WDXMS600TNâ€
†For external drives, the order number is displayed instead of the model number.
The sync feature is terrific.
This 120 wd worked great for 6 months, now my 2 pc’s do not recognize it. It needs a Y but I would much rather get another reliable brand that has this sync feature.
What what would you guys recommend?
Thanks.
Cecil
hi,
I just got a 160G WD passport. I plugged it to my PowerBook G4 and nothing happen.
The HD is not recognized and I got the clicky sounds with blinking blue light.
Does the person who met the same problem get the HD working?
Thx
Well my powerbook G4 as it was mentioned before does not give enough power to the HD so I need a special double USB cable. I tried it with a USB hub plugged on power (my powerBook has one usb port on each side of the computer :D so the double usb cable was too short ).
After all this plugs i got it run :D Except now i can t eject it correctly it always say that the device is used but it is not.
I am strongly thinking to give it back :(
WARNING NOT 250GBs! - Purchased the white 250GB model only to find out I am not getting 250GBs. I wonder if anyone checks these drives. I deleted the WD software (found in the drive…don’t need it). I also formatted my Passport several ways only to find out I cannot get the full 250GBs of space that WD claims you are buying. I’ve successfully gotten advertised space from my other drives but not WD.
I’m doing research to find a format software which will allow me to get what I paid for…250GBs, not 230GBs.
@Dave - this is a simple issue of drive formatting. there’s nothing you can do about it - to be used, drives need to be formatted properly and that takes up space. read the box of any hard drive in detail and it states this.
My hard drive stopper working a couple of days ago (it’s a 120 gb) and the blue light comes on but the hard drive isn’t recognised at all. Do you recommend any process in which to get the hard drive working without paying for a new one? Thanks.
My hard drive stopper working a couple of days ago (it’s a 120 gb) and the blue light comes on but the hard drive isn’t recognised at all. Do you recommend any process in which to get the hard drive working without paying for a new one? It also doesn’t make any scratchy noises. Thanks.
I have recently bought a WD Passport 120 GB external hard drive ( during my recent trip to Dallas TX) but having a problem as my PC ( old one Toshiba Satellite 2000 model having Windows Me operating system) does not recognise the drive. I do not wish to reload XP on my machine as some software progs may get affected if I again reload those on XP.
Can anyone help me resolve this problem? You can also use my home mail address which is sumjay2006@gmail.com
I have a Yamaha RX-V2700 that allows music to play through a USB. I have the WD Passport 120GB but the reciever does not recognize it, it says it is not connected. Can anyone help me. Thanks.
Hi
Have just purchased a WD Passport Portable 160GB - copied photos across from my iMac (OS X 10.4.7) no problem but when I tried to copy a folder with a whole heap of files (mainly Word docs) it stopped half way when it came to a file it didn’t like and would not continue to transfer the rest of the folder.
Any suggestions ?
thanks very much
fgwyn
I bought the WD 80GB about four months ago and now my computer won’t recogonize it at all. The Blue light comes on and it flashes but it won’t show up in my computer…or come up with the message ‘new hardware found’. It seems like a lot of people are having the same problems so I’m wondering if I should just buy a different one…but before I can do that I need to get all my stuff off the old one. Any ideas how to get my computer to read the files?! Thanks!
Hello, have thw WD Passport 120GB
Had some program on it that would not delete,formated, now cannot access it on PC (HP) XPPro or Tosh Satellite XPPro.
Worked OK but now no indication it`s there, get the sound when I plug in, but thats all.
brian
Hey Brian, jsut a heads up, my WD was doing the same things that your is now, I took it into a computer place and they said it was shot. I haven’t heard back yet if they were able to get any files off of it but my advise would be to get it checked by a date recovery place if there’s anything on there you need. I would take it as soon as possible too, the place I took mine said they see it all the time in WD external hard drives and most people loose all of their information. Hopefully your problem will check out and not be as drastic mine…I lost of 1300 pictures from a trip abroad! But it’s worth getting it checked just incase.
The exact thing is happening with me. 160 g passport, plug it it beeps about five times and dosnt get recognized. when i go into device manager though it reconginzes that there is a usb mass storage device. it sounds like its just a crappy peice of equiptment. i wouldnt expect much more i got it at costco for $100. everyone seems to be having the problem but does anyone know how to resolve it.
There is no way to resolve it, it just means its a crap hard drive. If you can still get it to recogonize some of the time then do a back up ASAP if not, well then you might have just lost everything that was on it.
I’m a total novice at this computer lark, but my 120gb Passport (which I’ve had for about 6 weeks and which has all the photos I’ve ever taken and my itunes music on it and which was working fine until I plugged it in just now) appears to have lost everything and I am absolutely at my wits end to try to recover all the photos of my daughter’s first 6 months on this earth… what the hell can I do to get them back? I am gutted.
If this is the first time it won’t show up then get it to a data recovery place ASAP. I took mine to the bestbuy geek people and though it cost a ton of money they were finally able to get all my pictures off of mine. But don’t try to keep plugging it in because that just hurts it more and take it some where fast. Be prepares to spend about $159 up though. But if it clicks and blinks a blue light when you plug it in then take it somewhere and take it somewhere now to do a data recovery.
hi there… i have WD external hardrive and have stupidly forgotten my password…. can anyone help?
I have WD 250GB but recently my desktop would not recognise the hard drive but the blue light seems having a problem with power. It used to work fine. I can use WD on my laptop without any problem so I back it up quickly but no problem using it through my laptop but I have a problem through my desktop. I took it to try on some one else’s desktop and the result was the same. Why work on note book but not on desktop? Any help I am thankful. I would try to use double USB cable to test it to see if there is any change. Thanks everyone
wow, it’s funny how you post a review, and half the people on the internet automatically assume you’re willing to do tech support for free ^_^
Just got a WD Passport 120GB for a friend. Was surprised to see it formatted as FAT32 on such a size. File write performance while it was on FAT32 is horrendous though. Copying 105GB of videos onto it, Windows estimated around 180+minutes!!
After reformatting it to NTFS (copied out the existing WD programs and user guides first) and putting back WD’s original files into it the same amount of videos took less than 1/2 the time.
At the moment the drive seems to work fine over my Belkin powered USB 2.0 hub (have 2 other 2.5″ external drives on it at the same time).
ALLCON,
I’m currently deployed to the middle east and while I was home on leave I purchased a black 320GB to store all of my music, pictures and movies onto.
Today I was laying in my bunk and went to get up and my knee barely put any weight onto it. The movie froze (I thought I had just disconnected it) and I unplugged it, plugged it back in and still nothing. It makes a faint beeping noise and then.. nothing. Doesn’t even try to spin up. The blue light comes on and my lap top says its safe to remove after it says installing drivers.. but nothing. I brought it up here to the TOC to put it on a gov computer with XP, and still nothing..
Could it be it just overheated? (It was plugged in all night with music playing)
If anyone could get back to me, I’d greatly appreciate it.
My email is Andrew.Porter@bdab.centaf.af.mil or andrewlp1@yahoo.com
-Andrew
The short USB cable included is apparently a must. I experienced problems with a longer cable adapter, probably power related. Works great with the short cable however. Love it.
Can’t find the words to describe my disappointment with this ‘device’. I am having the same problem which many of the guys describe here: the blue light is on but the computer does not recognize this ‘DDDDDDDdevice’.
All my pictures are safed as mdl files. And I can’t open this files.
Can anybody help me?
It was a great little device for a month. But Paul you gave good advice to not trust it for anything other than data transfer. Both myself and a colleague have had ours fail shortly after date of purchase and only a few uses. We were very careful with them to not unhook them until they are stopped as another friend had one crater when he failed to stop it before disconnecting it. WD’s downloads and diagnostic tools do not recognize the drive and so nothing can be done. Cost of replacement under warranty is not worth it the time and effort to pursue a replacement of this fragile item.
These things are crap. They look good, great value, you fall in love with them…
But they die. Quickly. Simply not up to being chucked in a laptop bag and toted around the world.
I’ve had two flake out on me (got the data off when I realised they were on their way out), a colleague has just had one die completely, and another colleague has one that’s gone intermittent. It’ll die soon.
They are shit shit shit.
DO NOT BUY. And if you already have one, backup everything on it as soon as you can….
Maybe the best solution is to get a set of Flash pens and keep them nearby at all times. Some of them seem never to break, and at 16 gig a few of them would suffice for most things except your images.
I have a 80GB WD Passport brought in January… Works like a charm with windows vista and transfer speeds are around 30 Mb/s… This is simply awsum!
hi!
well. i have the 160G WC passport
i can only read it or transfer files from it to my mac but i can’t do that the other way around and i can’t write it…..i try to unread but it doesnt work…..so do u guys have any ideas how to solve that
thanks alot
Problem Solved!
Hi folks …. Yes, you can recover all your files. If you can hear the hard drive spinning, the problem is probably not the hard drive. You can recover all your files, but you must be willing to spend less than $30 and do a little work.
1) Disassemble your WD Passport. See the YouTube video at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0K4MgukGtDM&feature=related.
2) Find out if your hard drive is IDE or SATA. (Once you open up the drive, just read the label - look for IDE(EIDE) or SATA(Serial ATA).
3) Purchase the appropriate IDE or SATA compatible 2.5 in. portable hard drive enclosure (make sure it has either a USB Y cable or a 5V power supply - I bought mine for $12.99 with the USB Y cable but no power supply and it works fine.)
4) Assemble. This is extremely easy. If you can plug a power cord in a wall, you can plug a 2.5 in drive into its socket in the enclosure. (as an example see the YouTube video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a47G7nAjZ48)
5. Plug in your USB Y cable into your computer.
6. Wait while your computer recognizes the drive, installs the proper drivers and asks you if you want to open up the folder.
7. Voila! You are up and running again with all your files intact!
PS. I would get rid of WDsync for reasons I won’t detail here. Suffice it to say, beware of WDsync, under certain circumstances you can lose all of your files!
All the best,
just bought a WD passport external hard disk. my ps’c os is windows server 2003 64 bit ok
i hv facing a problem that my pc detect the external disk but not showing any drive why i dont know.
so plz give me the solution
I bought a 250GB WD Passport @ Costco 6 months ago…Im facing a problem now.
My computer is detecting the usb drive, but I cant open the files. I need to open it, because I have a lot of important info there….please if someone can help me, email me.
Thanks for your time…
lizy25@hotmail.com
well i got a 160GB one of these, and the usb port on it stopped working, so i just took it out of the casing ,and i’m using it hooked up to my computer.
Hi i have a 120 WD passport. it runs fine on my laptop w/ vistas. but i bought it to transfer files from my older desktop Windows ME OS, the first time i plugged it in it was recognized and i was able to access files. however, the next time i plugged it in it was not recognized (and still isn’t). i realize that perhaps i don’t have enough “BUS Power” and also i don’t have and updated “PS2 USB cable..
with that in mind do you have any suggestions regarding a solution so that the drive is recognized?
Thanx a bunch,
Bob
segovia58@yahoo.com
WD USB EXTERNAL HARD DISK DOESN’T WORKING MY WINDOWS SEVER 2003
PLEASE GIVE ME YOUR ADVICE TO ME
Ooohh I really wanted one of these beauties in the form of 250GB white, and I was going to use it for Time Machine backups. I love the way it is soo portable and will be able to fit easily into any bag, for backups wherever I go. It also looks great and the glossy white would match my MacBook perfectly. But then I remembered your advice and decided that if I was going to get an external drive for backups, I would get a WD MyBook instead.
In the end, I have decided to go with an off-site backup solution which is very cheap (free, in fact) and allows me to store all of my important information in the cloud for absolutely nothing. It is excellent and I will be posting how to do it on my blog soon at http://www.DarJon.co.nr. It really is a legitimate solution and provides plenty of online space for all of your files, music, videos, apps, etc. I’m not going to say too much about it here (I don’t wanna ruin the surprise for ya!) but it is definitely more than enough for all of my stuff.
Good post, anyway, Paul. :D
I recently bought a WD Passport 160GB and have a question about reformatting. If I use it on my Mac initially can I reformat it to use it on my home PC?
thanks
Well…
I bought mine in May 08 - (320g passport version)
cost me under £90.
and 3 months on…
its failed on me, I’m not sure what I have backed up and what I have not.
but… doesnt look good, I hate loosing work.
and really upset fact that it failed, and I’m unable to see the drive in windows.
so I cannot recover my files from any file recover program.
the drive makes 3 sequence noises once connected then nothing.
lights on, device manager see’s is at WD but say’s its un-readable.
for me… better of saving and buying lots of pen-flash drives!
this isnt worth the hassle and money, I’ll stick to my USB power supply ones.
unless…
anyone can tell me where and how to fix it!?!?
I’ll change my mind…
cheers,
Cezare
this morning my third passport drive failed. Three in about a year and a half.
I use two others and I can’t wait for them to fail.
Why can we not get WD to pay for our data recovery.
Do not buy them, I am now looking for another way.
They will fail.
I have a slighly older passport external drive - I dropped it - now it just “buzzes” when I plug in the usb - any thoughts on how to fix it?