Western Digital MyPassport 1TB USB 3.0 Hard Drive

Everyone needs personal storage for their notebook and netbook computers, and even though modern portable PCs have decent storage, it pales when compared to many desktop computers.  Laptops can be equipped with 250gb, 500gb, or even 1tb hard drives, which really is enough for photos and documents, but starts to feel a little short when you want to bring a lot of videos and other large media on the go.

Using a large external drive makes sense if you don’t have to have the data accessible all of the time.  You can get cheap 1-terabyte drives to store tons of high-definition videos and music.  Using a large external drive for backup also makes sense, as you really should keep backup data in a separate place in case your laptop is stolen or breaks.

There are a few different small external hard drive solutions that are perfect for notebook and netbook users.  These drives should be small enough to fit inside a laptop bag, but have enough speed and capacity under the hood to not slow you down.  Western Digital’s MyPassport 1TB hard drive could be the answer you’re looking for.  Not only does it offer a ton of storage, but comes in a small form factor and is equipped with USB 3.0 technology.

Features and Specifications

Compatibility •    Formatted NTFS •    Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7 •    Mac OS®X Tiger, Leopard, Snow Leopard (requires reformatting)

Package Contents •    Portable hard drive •    WD SmartWare software •    USB cable •    Quick Install Guide

WD SmartWare.
You’re in control of your backup. Install all the features, select just the components you need, or if you prefer, choose not to use the software at all.

Password protection for privacy.
Gain peace of mind knowing that your data is protected from unauthorized access with password protection and encryption.

Automatic, continuous backup.
Works quietly in the background to protect your data using minimal PC resources. Whenever you add or change a file it’s instantly backed up.

 

Planet friendly.
We designed a small retail box from recycled materials to minimize waste. We encourage you to recycle it.

Your data is not just data, it’s your family photos, your financial documents, your music – your life. You know you should back it up, but many of you don’t. We understand. We’ve talked to lots of people and we’ve heard the reasons why people don’t back up – there’s no time; it’s a pain; their data’s not organized; they don’t know how. Using what we’ve learned, we developed easy, automatic backup software we hope you’ll really use because we understand the importance of your data.

It’s easy.
You’re up and running in a few simple steps. Once you set it up, you can forget it because the rest is automatic.
It finds your data.

• A unique visual interface lets you see the WD drives connected to your computer.
• WD SmartWare automatically scans your computer and finds all of your personal files, including e-mail.
• Select the files and folders that you want backed up or back up your files by category. It’s up to you.
• The backup gauges show how much information you have to be backed up in each category. You can even mouse over a category to see a file count.
• Simply click “Start Backup” and WD SmartWare will automatically start backing up your files.
• As your backup is running the category gauges will change color showing you the backup as it happens.
• When finished, you’ll see a status screen and information about your backup. You only have to do this once. After the first backup, your files will be backed up automatically every time you change or add a file.

There really isn’t a lot to this small drive.  It is about the same dimensions as other ultra-portable drives, such as the Seagate GoFlex, but this 1TB model is a little thicker.  There is a small white activity LED on the back right of the unit, and the back has a mini USB 3.0 port.
The kit comes with a USB 3.0 cable that has a standard blue 3.0 port on one end and a mini 3.0 port on the other, and is about a foot long.  The short length may be adequate for notebook users who tend to keep their data close, but can be a little short when connecting to a desktop PC.

The drive is pre-formatted with the NTFS filesystem.  This is good news for Windows users, but Mac users will either need to re-format the drive or install software to read NTFS before they can use it (from my experience with Linux, you will get better performance from the drive in a native format, but that’s my two cents).

The drive does come pre-installed with WD SmartWare, which lets you back up your data on to the external drive.  The software is pretty easy to use, and is better than most other included software on other external drives.  Seagate’s included software on their GoFlex drives are basically nagware to get you to buy full versions of useless software, but the WD SmartWare seems rather functional without all of the nagging.

Performance

Generally, the higher capacity a hard drive has means that the bits are compacted into a smaller space.  The more tightly-packed the bits means that more bits fly across the read head in any given amount of time.  This general rule means that the larger a hard drive is, the more throughput you should expect from it.  Terabyte models such as this should have some great speed that would rival desktop hard drives from a few years ago.

We tested Western Digital’s MyPassport drive on our big test rig with an Intel i7-950 processor, 12gb of DDR3 memory, and dedicated USB 3.0 controller.  We tested with three different benchmarking programs to get a full picture of what this drive is capable of.  We tested this drive against Seagate’s GoFlex hard drives with USB 3.0 adapter, as it appears to be a comparable product to the WD MyPassport.
The benchmarks we used disagree with each other a little bit.  HD-Tach and HD Tune Pro show the same story for the WD drive, starting out at around 90MB/s, and slowing down to around 40MB/s as it reaches the inner portion of the platter, with an average throughput of around 50MB per second.  According to this test, the smaller 500GB Seagate drive is a little bit faster, which surprised us as it goes against the General Hard Drive Rule.

 
ATTO: WD myPassport vs Seagate FGoFlex

ATTO disagrees with these findings, as it measured the drive performing far better in both read and write speeds: averaging  80 megabytes per second for read, and 70MB per second for write speeds.  ATTO also benched the Seagate 500GB drive as slower.
We no longer bother testing USB 3.0 drives on a 2.0 interface, because the result is always the same: the hard drive will max out the USB bus, providing a constant 25 to 32 megabytes per second.   The speed you get from USB 2.0 is highly dependent on the USB chipset of your computer.

Overall the drive feels a little underwhelming for a terabyte drive.  Even our Acer Aspire One, which is equipped with a much smaller 320GB hard drive performs as well as the 1TB behemoth.  The USB 3.0 interface should allow any laptop hard drive to run at its full capacity, but was bested by other USB 3.0 drives with smaller capacities.

 
HD Tune: WD myPassport vs Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex

The WD MyPassport is no slouch, though, and comparing the drive’s performance to other units can be seen as splitting hairs.  In real-world performance the average user isn’t going to notice that one drive is 10 megabytes faster than any other drive… especially for what laptop users will use the drive for.  Most users are going to use this drive for high-capacity storage and backups, not video editing or any other application that requires high throughput.

The MyPassport technically isn’t as fast as it could be, but given its extremely cheap price point it can be a great addition to any student or Road Warrior’s bag.

	REPORT CARD : Western Digital MyPassport 1TB USB 3.0 Drive category rating comments Quality 4 Western Digital quality and hard-shell case Innovation 3 It’s pretty standard fare.  The included software isn’t phenomenal, but can be useful Performance 3 We expected better speed from a 1TB drive, but it’s no slouch Installation 5 If you have a USB port, then you can plug it in.  The backup software is pretty easy to use. Value 4 You can pick up an extra terabyte for around $80, which is a pretty good deal for portable storage FINAL VERDICT: 4 out of 5 stars