Electronics : Western Digital My Passport Essential 160GB USB Portable Hard Drive

Rating: - Looking good, but some power issues...
I've already got an older 60GB My Passport which is excellent; has always worked fine even after dropping it five feet onto a wooden floor.

The new one (320GB My Passport Essential) looks much the same and I am confident that it will be just as good...once I get it powered up. I plugged it into my four-year-old home Dell laptop and it failed to start up; the older 60GB version works fine attached to that computer. When I plugged the 320GB My Passport into my newer work laptop it worked absolutely fine.

The solution is to phone Western Digital European Tech Support (00800 275 49338) who know all about this problem; it is because older computers may not deliver enough power via the USB port to power the My Passport. However, they will post you a replacement cable free of charge. The new cable plugs into TWO USB ports and hence collects double the power from the computer. I haven't got it yet but will update this review when I have.

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Rating: - WD Passport 250
I've recently purchased one of these items to back up my computer files. This hard drive is reported to be compatible with Windows Vista, but as far as I am concerned, IT ISN'T. I am not a computer wizard, and my son who has far more computer knowledge than I have, is having great difficulty in making it work. To my mind, you should be able to connect it, download the software, and away you go. It doesn't work like this. I would suggest that anyone without a PhD in computers steers well clear of it. If I could give this a zero star rating, I would.

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Rating: - Health Warning - Know what you are getting!!
Western Digital My Passport Essential 320GB USB Portable External Hard DriveWestern Digital My Passport Essential 160GB USB Portable Hard DriveASIN:B0012IOHVM Western Digital My Passport Essential 250GB USB Portable External Hard Drive]]

I feel that it is very important for users to realize what it is that they are buying and installing when purchasing a WD Passport Essential in plug and play out of the box mode.

The marketing on various sites including Amazon which is where I purchased my passport often refers to the inclusive automatic backup software.

Unfortunately this is misleading. If you use the default out of the box set up you will have a very clever and useful device which will permit you to synchronize your PC's hard drive with your passport and thus be able to plug into any other pc and access you files etc.

But in the event that you host PC crashes and you need to recover all your data and settings this installation WILL NOT WORK. Please see Western Digital's support site for details.

The passport CAN be used as a backup device. But you will have to install and configure appropriate back up software which can be from any supplier but is also available from Western Digital - WD Backup.

I have rated this product very poorly because of its' failure to warn the user in advance of spending many hours synchronizing the drives that the WD Sync software MUST NOT be used for back up purposes.

I actually think the installation is very slick and the roaming ability is extremely useful. But I also think that it is appalling that they do not make the users aware in big neon flashing lights that you cannot seek to rely upon Passbook and the default WD Sync software as a back up device.

I am sure that there will be many many customers out there thinking that they have safely backed up their systems. Who in fact have effectively no backup at all.
There will be great nashings of teeth and cries of woe when their error is discovered - alas too late.

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Rating: - Throwing money down the drain!
I bought this product back in August. It seemed ideal for me; lots of storage capacity and nice and small. 3 months later and it looks like one of the worst purchases I have made for my computer. For reasons unknown the entire contents, including the operating software have gone, and I can no longer use it. Luckily I have backed up most of my stuff. But to add insult to injury, I have tried to seek advice and assistance from the manufacturer via the customer service part of their webiste. They appear to be based in USA and I would have to pay to call, which I am loathe to do. So I have emailed 3 times over two weeks. They have deigned to reply once and only then to send me the link to the website (where did they think I got their email address from?). I would steer well clear - a shoddy product and poor customer service from the manufacturer.

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Rating: - Small, cool, quiet and fast
The best of a variety of external HDD's I've used. I store VMware images on mine, and my virtual machines run great even though they're on a USB drive. With the compact size, and the fact that it is cool and quiet I highly recommend.