WD - easystore® 4TB External USB 3.0 Portable Hard Drive - Black

I have purchased this hard drive (4 TB model) for my PS4 Pro as extended storage since the feature became available within the last year, and everything works as intended. Its small, compact size rests alongside the PS4 and turns off when not in use upon shutting the system down, since it's powered solely from the console through the included 3-foot long usb cable. As is with most hard drives due to partitions or system storage, you'll never get the full storage space as advertised, which amounts to 3.68 TB after formatting, according to my PS4's storage menu. Installation was easy: simply plug in the hard drive to one of the PS4's usb ports and then follow the on-screen instructions. I used one of the PS4 Pro's rear usb ports, to allow the front ports to be used for controllers or any other accessories, as well as to allow the hard drive to rest out of the way in the back half of my tv shelf. I greatly recommend this hard drive for any gamer that's looking to expand their PS4's storage capabilities. I can't confirm or recommend for Xbox One owners since I do not have one, though I wouldn't see any reason why it won't work, as the installation procedures are similarly straightforward. I did purchase this hard drive when it was on sale for $100, which is a definite bang for your buck if Best Buy ever has this on sale for a similar price in the future. I would even go as far as recommending at the $200 MSRP, though keep an eye out if this ever gets marked down soon (Black Friday, maybe?). This is a definite must-have, especially if you have a growing collection of games (either downloaded via PlayStation Network/Xbox Live or installed from physical discs), or even if you have a handful of larger games like Red Dead Redemption 2, Final Fantasy XV, or practically any Call of Duty or Destiny title with all of their downloadable contents or updates combined. You also won't have to worry about uninstalling the free games that you would get for being a Xbox Live Gold/PlayStation Plus subscriber anymore, either!

First, the cost. I always watch for bargains on useful tech. I got this on sale as a Deal of the Day. Within three weeks it was again a Deal of the Day at a lower price, and Best Buy matched that price, making it an even better deal. However, this is a good deal, even if it is not on sale, if you need a lot of storage, in a compact portable enclosure, with good transfer speed, that is not hampered with an external power supply. We intend to use this for backups of our computers and for media storage. Movies, music, photos and mobile apps quickly filled the computer hard drives that we thought were going to meet all our needs. If the majority of your media is shared among family members, as ours is, one backup is called for, but a copy on every computer is a waste of drive space. USB 3 speed is almost a necessity now. We still have USB 2 drives and I still see them being sold, but transfer times are slow even for overnight backups. This is also great for Xbox One users. We got a 2 Tb USB 3 drive to expand our Xbox One storage, and it is about 50% full, twice the size of the 500 Gb standard Xbox One drive. A 4 Tb drive should hold all of your games, add-ons and game saves without any worries about ever running out of storage. With USB 3, we have had no degradation in gameplay. But, be mindful of the fact that once you format an external drive for Xbox One, it can only be used for Xbox One and can never be reformated for use with a pc. If plugged in to your pc, it will not even be recognized as a drive. If this drive was available when we expanded our Xbox One storage, we would have gotten two of these, one for backups and media storage and one for our Xbox One.

I previously bought a WD My Passport Ultra Metal Edition as a backup drive for my PS4. I had been using an old WD MyBook drive which was clunky and a bother to set up to get a backup and took a chance with the smaller drive. I loved it, so simple, so small, bus powered. It was perfect for my gaming system. When I decided to get a backup for my Mac I was shopping for the same My Passport but couldn't find it or couldn't find in the capacity needed. Browsing Best Buy I found this comparable one that seemed the same but differently named. I decided to try it. I have an internal drive in my Mac that does backups but I wanted something external with easy mobility. I've considered some time to have a secondary backup I keep off site in case of a catastrophe. For this purpose, and really any mobile use, this is a nice drive! I've had issues with WD drives in the past but both this and the MyPassport have done me well so far. Great capacity in a small package and I'm impressed with the speed (I cannot find any documentation on the actual speed of the drive inside). Using a Mac, I have to reformat the drive but it was simple, as always. It's also quiet, the click of the head maybe when it is ejected from the computer. So far, I don't have any negatives to point out. Two words: capacity, mobility. With laptops slimmed down these days with fast but limited SSD storage a drive like this is perfect if you want to take your entire music library with you, or videos on the go or, like me, want a easy way to backup any device you have and use.

Don't be fooled by the DURABLE CONSTRUCTION PROTECTS AGAINST SHOCKS statement. I keep this drive in my drone case which has hard foam cut out slots for storage. Had the HD for less than a month and I transferred all my 'important' data to it and 2 weeks later the drive stopped working. SMART is coming up with errors. Definitely a physical error on the drive when I tried to run the Western Digital tools and my own software recovery utilities. Now I need to buy another drive to cannibalize to get my data off the original drive (THIS IS NOT RECOMMENDED FOR ROOKIES!!). IF you are going to use a portable drive to back up data, get 2 and make 2 copies. Also I bought this drive at a great price at Best Buy but I should have gone with an SSD drive for my important information rather than a conventional platter drive. This drive is still under warranty with Western Digital but I need the information that is stuck on it so after doing what I need to do to get the information off of the drive, it will not longer be under warranty (along with the new drive I will have to use to get my information off the old drive).

I just bought this one yesterday. I was eager to see how much better it was than the 2TB easystore I bought a month or two ago. I was delighted with the 2TB model. That model is extremely thin, light, and runs very cool. This 4TB model didn't surpass my expectations. It is half again as thick as the 2TB model, nearly twice as heavy, got surprisingly warm during a large backup, and its transfer speed is nearly 10% SLOWER than the 2TB. I then ran some large-transfer tests a couple times, comparing the two drives side-by-side. The results gave the same transfer-speed difference each time. But on a positive note, the 4TB didn't get hot during these tests, like it did during the original backup. I don't know what to think. There's absolutely no info on the packaging. No specs anywhere to be found that describe the actual drive inside the plastic casing. I suppose maybe this 4TB easystore is internally two 2TB drives piggy-backed together. Who knows. But it doesn't perform as fast as the 2TB. That's the bottom line. I might take this one back for refund, considering. Comparison: 2TB thickness = 14mm 4TB thickness = 20mm 2TB weight = 4.75 oz 4TB weight = 8.5 oz

There are so many important documents, photos, etc., on my computer that the thought of losing them is very unsettling. Therefore, I back up my data on a regular basis. I've used many types of media for backups over the years, but things have become so much easier since external hard drives became available and affordable. I do temporary weekly and monthly backups (they are written over the next week or month) on external hard drives. I do semi-annual permanent backups on DVD. DVD's are a problem. Although I don't have a huge amount of data like some people do, I have accumulated enough that I'm now up to 8 DVD's for each backup, making it painful and time-consuming to do backups. Then, I have to store all of these DVD's. Now, I find that some of my oldest DVD's are going bad. Definitely time to change media. This 4T drive has solved my problem. I can keep many years worth of permanent backups on this drive and do away with the DVD's. It's simple to do a backup by simply dragging and dropping the folders I want to backup. Yes, I understand that hard drives can fail (been there, done that), so I do have a few archives in other places to protect my data. This is my 5th external hard drive, and they are all WD drives. I have never had a problem with any of them. Even though some of them are getting to be "long in the tooth", they still perform flawlessly. If you need a lot of storage space, I recommend this drive.

I purchased the 4TB model because my older 2TB WD My Passport is just about full. Rather than waiting until the last minute I decided to start transferring my data over now. I installed the drive on my Toshiba laptop and noticed the really cool app features. Including but not limited to the ability to transfer right from my WD Cloud device. I then connected my older WD external to the same laptop to start the transfer process. Before i could start transferring, I get a message stating there's a WD update i need to install. We've all seen this message before... No reason to be alarmed. Well... After allowing the update... My laptop states theres an error on the drive and needs to be fixed! So... I'm not panicking yet... I let it go through the motions and it then states it could not be fixed. So.. The drive seems to allow me access to it. I still see my files. So, I'm puzzled for a moment wondering what just happened. I reboot my laptop. Everything boots up just fine. Then I try to open one of the folders and NOTHING'S IN IT!! I open another folder and it appears to be fine. So I start opening folders to see whats affected. A few are empty. The rest appear to be fine. I know what you're thinking.. The same thing i thought VIRUS!! Well, I have Norton Security and its current on the virus definitions. So what else could it be!? Meanwhile, I get another pop up message telling me i need to run another scan to fix my drive. Again I allow the process, but now MORE FOLDERS ARE EMPTY. I try to do a Norton file recovery and it doesn't work!! The majority of my irreplaceable files are in limbo or worse.. Lost! So.. You know I'm SICK TO MY STOMACH RIGHT NOW!! Im not sure what happened. So i stopped to regroup and will contact WD for a possible solution. I wouldnt wish or recommend this on my worse enemy!! I'll come back to let you know what happened...

I knew I could trust WD from previous purchases used for backing up pc’s and also as a DVR for Dish Network. I was amazed at how simple the easystore is to use, and at the incredible price of $99.00 for 4 TB on the deal of the day from Best Buy, I recommend this drive to anyone looking to backup files from a Laptop or pc and for the photographer’s it’s a great drive to store pictures and videos. I had filled my laptop up with concert videos from my camera and GoPro and this little drive was the perfect one to purchase. When I first saw the size I was not so sure about it but the file transfer is fast and smooth with a great software package from Western Digital. I also like that it is powered through the USB cable and doesn’t need external power. I like it so much I am going to buy another one. Get one and you will be satisfied!