WD - My Passport Ultra 3TB External USB 3.0 Portable Hard Drive - Classic Black

Just wanted to note that the 3TB (and possibly other capacities) "My Passport Ultra" drives DO NOT work with Apple's Time Machine feature IF encryption is selected. I tried two of these drives and both failed the same way when Time Machine was attempting to initialize encryption. It gets about 90% of the way into initializing encryption, then fails every time. I tried the same process with a 2TB Seagate Slim drive and it worked fine. The "Ultra" drives DO WORK with Time Machine IF encryption is NOT enabled. Both of the "Ultra" drives I tried were 3TB. Both drives were formatted with Apple Disk Utility to "OS X Extended (Journaled)" and a GUID Partition Map per Apple's guidelines. Could be that all capacities of these drives will have the same problem. Or it could be that Time Machine software has an issue with encrypting drives over 2TB. Could also be that these might encrypt if connected via USB 3.0, although the 2TB Seagate is encrypting on the USB 2.0 connection. The error messages I received during the encryption initialization process were "There was an error preparing the Time Machine disk. Couldn't mount disk." and then "The disk you inserted was not readable by this computer". Platform: I am running Mac OS X v10.11.3 (El Capitan) on an Early 2009 24" iMac. The "Ultra" drives were connected to a USB 2.0 port on the iMac using the USB 3.0/2.0 cable supplied with the drives.

My first ever SSD drive, and I couldn't be more pleased with the results. Small enough to fit in a pocket and an enormous amount of storage. I write and illustrate for a living, and saving all of those documents and drawings takes a lot of room. I haven't filled it yet, not even close. A word of caution if you haven't owned an SSD drive before: don't manually defrag it on a regular basis. Defrag creates unnecessary write/rewrite cycles. While spindle technology doesn't care, the solid state storage units have a limit. That doesn't mean you should never defrag an SSD; Windows will do it for you if you have Volume Shadow Copy turned on. But you don't need to defrag with anywhere near the frequency of a spindle drive because there are no "spin / seek" delays in an SSD. However, fragmentation can be a problem if you NEVER defrag. There is an upper limit to the number of file fragments the device can track, so the occasional defrag is good. A rule of thumb: if you're not doing volume shadow copies, defrag once a quarter on a schedule so you remember to do it but not do it too often. Better: leave Windows to manage the defrag and the drive will be defragged once a month.

WD Released these updated versions of the Ultra's 500GB, 1TB , 2TB, and a new 3TB. (For the 2TB The old version was Model # WDBMWV0020BBK-NESN and new version is Model # WDBBKD0020BBK-NESN) I researched if there are any differences, so here is what I came up with... Pros Overall Size of new model is a tiny bit smaller ( see picture for comparison of dimensions on each new model vs old model ) Higher Capacity Available - Now Up to 3TB vs the older model only up to 2TB capacity Optional 256-bit AES hardware encryption Now available in white Same as Old Model Nothing Changed Weight is the same exact at 0.50 lbs ( 0.23 kg ) Automatic local and cloud backup Comes in 4 colors ( they still offer black, and blue, red became berry and they replaced titanium for white on the newer models) USB 3.0 connectivity Formatted for Windows, reformatting required for Mac 3-year limited warranty Same Data transfer rate and Operating temperature USB 3.0 up to 5 Gb/s (max) / USB 2.0 up to 480 Mb/s (max) Operating temperature: 5°C to 35°C / Non-op. temperature: –20°C to 65°C Cons None so far .....

I bought this to replace a 1TB Book. I saw from the reviews that it had 3x the space and also USB3, but with compatibility to USB2. I needed both the extra space and the compatibility, and this drive gives both for a great price. So far, the drive has worked flawlessly, with zero problems under Windows 10. I give the drive itself two thumbs up. The software is also good, but not great. I use the drive for local backup, so I was hoping the backup software would help out with backing up changed files. It does that, but unfortunately it does not mirror renames or deletes; that is, if I have changed file names or deleted files from my main computer, the backup software does not accommodate for that but instead backs up the changed files as though new and retains the deleted files on the drive. So, I have gone back to doing manual backups without the WD software, so I can mirror my files precisely.

I had a My Passport backup drive that was VERY simple to use and I loved. I plugged it in the USB drive, a box came up asking me if I wanted to run the backup, I said yes, there was a status bar and I knew it was working. Even an idiot could use it. So, I replaced it with this model. Now, the newer model is more complex. It refused to load on my computer. I needed a professional to install it and then the backup software was not simple as it was before. They want to you set up a schedule. There is no option to just back up the machine right now. I finally told them to rip it off my machine and I just use it as an external drive and it is just fine for that. But as a one touch backup drive it was useless. I hated the Seagate one touch back up drive but it did install the minute I plugged it in, unlike this one.

I have owned external hard Drives from Toshiba, Seagate and Western Digital. In the first two cases, the connector at the external drive was flimsy and in short order became intermittent. I had to put the Toshiba and Seagate external HD's into special positions so that there was absolutely the right sort of force at the hard drive connectors to maintain USB connectivity. The Connector on the WD device is much firmer and more reliable. I have been using this external HD for about three months with no problems, whereas, by this time, the Toshiba and Seagate were already becoming unreliable.

I have purchased a number of portable external drives. This one is not the smallest physically, but, so far, it has been the most reliable. The 3 TB capacity provides lots of room for files and backups; it rivals the desktop portable drives that are larger and require a power adapter. Most of the smaller portable drives are limited to 1 TB and slow. The Western Digital is quick and quiet. Unfortunately, like most USB 3.0 drives the USB 3.0 cable is woefully short. The cable that came with this drive is approximately 14 inches long, but I would prefer a cable of at least 20 inches. I have purchased drives with cables only 3 inches in length! Please pay attention and provide longer cables external drive manufacturers!

I exchanged a WD 5TB HDD for this (due to the 5TB needing a separate adapter to power and the light shining from it at night). It works perfectly with my xbox one. No needing a power supply for it since it runs off the console's power. My only issue is that the power light for it flashes at night when the console is off (which is a major annoyance when trying to sleep. I placed a small piece of electrical tape offer the HDD's power light, and that took care of it. The odd thing is that I own a Toshiba 750GB portable external HDD , and when the XB1 is off, the Toshiba HDD is completely powered down. The power light is the only reason I don't give the WD 3TB drive 5 stars.