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Western Digital Passport: Portable HDD

Our current poll asks about how much portable storage people carry around nowadays. I didn’t realize I needed more than 4GB USB drive until my old laptop ran out of disk space from all the photos I’ve taken recently.

I still have the Western Digital MyBook 500GB that I got from Singapore last year, with about 200GB space left. It sits beside my desktop PC at home and serves as some sort of a network backup.

Now that I am shooting in raw (7 to 10MB per file), my laptop’s 80GB isn’t enough. I decided I needed a portable HDD to go along with me on out of town trips when I could not transfer files to the backup network drive.

WD Passport

The WD Passport Portable Hard Drive was my first choice and looks much like its older brother, the MyBook. The 160GB model (5400 rpm) I got cost Php5,800 while the lower capacity 120GB is only Php4,850. Running USB 2.0 the max transfer rate is 480Mbits/s or about 60MB/s. The USB port is inconspicuously hidden at one side with a rubber cap.

It’s a fairly lightweight device too at only 105g with dimensions of 15mm x 130mm x 80mm. Compare that to my iPod Touch which is 8mm x 110mm x 62mm and weighs 120g. So, even if the WD Passport is bigger in size than the iPod Touch, it’s still a bit on the lighter end.

The black and shiny casing is cool but that makes it prone to dust and smudges. There’s a Sync and Encryption software that comes with it so you can choose which file formats and directories you want synchronized with your laptop. It doesn’t do full backups though so you can’t do disaster-recovery of your OS. It doesn’t matter to me since all I wanted it for was to store extra digital photos for my camera.

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15 Responses to “Western Digital Passport: Portable HDD”


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  1. Gravatar Icon 1 Dexter | Techathand.net Feb 27th, 2008 at 10:51 pm

    The nice and shiny casing is also what have attracts me most.. Because almost all cna supplu the 120 GB or 160 GB

  2. Gravatar Icon 2 Jaypee Feb 28th, 2008 at 2:07 am

    I plan to get one too and I’m still thinking whether I should get the 120 or 160. I don’t have much files to backup so either one is enough. :)

  3. Gravatar Icon 3 vance Feb 28th, 2008 at 4:05 am

    hmm..

    I was going to suggest to get either a 160Gb or 320Gb ordinary seagate/ western 2.5 notebook drive and a cheap 2.5 enternal drive casing with firewire support thinking that it will be a lot cheaper but overall it will cost the same hehe.

    I have nothing against WD Passport its a great all-in 2.5 external storage. I just find the usb 2.0 only a downer..

  4. Gravatar Icon 4 vance Feb 28th, 2008 at 4:11 am

    Just additional:
    If it wasn’t for the physical size I would be suggesting a 320Gb Seagate or WD SATA Drive since they cost only about 4k now and partner it with a CD-R King SATA External Drive Casing with firewire for P800 and that would be a great deal… hehe

  5. Gravatar Icon 5 jhay Feb 28th, 2008 at 7:57 am

    Anything above 100GB is just fine for me. I don’t do OS backups, I prefer a fresh re-install each time major disaster strikes.

    Just for backup of my personal files and media.

  6. Gravatar Icon 6 Tim Feb 28th, 2008 at 10:49 am

    Hello, I’d just like to ask where you bought this? Thanks!

  7. Gravatar Icon 7 KePu Feb 28th, 2008 at 9:22 pm

    3990 ko lang nabili yung 120 gig…

  8. Gravatar Icon 8 Gaijin Pinoy Feb 28th, 2008 at 10:08 pm

    @Dexter - You’re right. The casing is what catches the eye.

    @Yuga - That’s a nice looking portable drive.

    Is it self-powered? If yes, do you think it can handle real-time video capture as I am capturing with my video camera?

  9. Gravatar Icon 9 ramil Feb 28th, 2008 at 11:39 pm

    considered an Epson p-5000? (or canon’s m5?) can view raw photos and you don’t have to bring a laptop. great for trips! you can’t blog on of tho..

  10. Gravatar Icon 10 ramil Feb 28th, 2008 at 11:39 pm

    considered an Epson p-5000? (or canon’s m5?) can view raw photos and you don’t have to bring a laptop. great for trips! you can’t blog on it tho..

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