Western Digital 160GB 2.5-inch Passport USB Portable Hard Drive
I managed to buy a Passport 160GB for my laptop bag and a MyBook 400GB Essential for my home network. I managed to turn both of them into an expensive paperweight in two days. I loaded about 160GB of data to take to work on my MyBook and got to work, and it died after 10GB of offload transfer. Thinking the drive just failed, I then turned to the Passport to pickup the slack, and that then died two after 10GB of data. Whats crazy is they both have the same error message from WD Diagnostics software: Failed read test element. Now the drive is throwing up bad sectors and such and will require an RMA. I eventually just brought the desktop to work. Pass on this drive.
I've been using external USB drives for the last few years. I've tried several different manufacturers including Western Digital and I've never had any problems-- not lost even a single filre or received any errror messages. This drive failed after 2 days and I lost all my data. Now I can't even get it to format. Its essentially unusable. I would avoid this product.
The little shiny piece of crap became unusable on the second day. First, it was problems with finding sectors, then the thing became totally corrupt. Stay away from cheap junk peddlers like Western Digital and go for reputable, even if expensive, brands like SONY...
This is the smallest 160GB HDD that I have own. It works great on my home built Intel Core 2 Dua 6700 processor / ASUS motherboard. It smokes my bigger 200GB HDD. I wish that it also had a firewire 800/400 port along with the USB 2.0 port. I use it connected in the back of the computer and I also use it connected to a USB 2.0/1.1 hub that is connected to one of the several USB 2.0/1.1 ports in back of the computer. It works great either way. I use it between the office and home with no problems. Oh, and I am using Windows XP Pro on the home built computer. I will buy Windows Vista after it comes out January 30th 2007. I like this WD Passport 160GB HDD so much, that I am going to get another one. I see that they have dropped the price on them. Best purchase that I ever made.
I bought this drive three days ago. After I have a error message
Cannot copy file: {filename}. The requested sector could not be found
Support offer replacement, but this is general problem!
I found this on internet
Hi i ordered item: 327388 about a month ago and it arrived last night (was aware of the delay so no problem there). But as i was using the drive last night i peridocially got an error message "Cannot copy file: {filename}. The requested sector could not be found." This was very annoying so i formatted the drive using the western digital formatter download from the support section their site for this drive. "WD FAT32 Formatter" (ExtFat32.msi), Now the problem is words and the folowing actions fail:
Writing to the disk
Formating the disk again using "WD FAT32 Formatter"
formatting the disk using windows (ntfs mode)
I've tried all actions on multiple systems (2 desktops [xp,2000] and 1 laptop[xp])
I'm am thinking my next action would be to return the item but i am not sure if i want a refund or a replacement, have other people had issues with the drive to date? I know ists a new item so may not be much feedback yet.
I bought this drive and it was not detected by either computer. Formatted the disk. backed-up my hard drive and two weeks later the WD Passport failed. Worthless back-up. Don't buy.
I have the older version of the Passport--a bit bigger, sturdier, done in silver instead of black. That one works like a champ. So I went ahead and "updgraded" to the 160Gb black one. The new design is smaller, but at the price of sturdiness--this drive has a much more flimsy housing, and doesn't seem as well made. I could have lived with that, except for this deal breaker--the 160Gb version won't work with my laptop! My laptop complains that the Passport's power requirements exceeds what can be provided by the USB port. I NEVER had that problem with the older model, using the same laptop. This harddrive is GOING BACK!!
After reading of all the problems, I bought this drive with some trepidation.
As soon as it arrived I plugged it in and ran the Western Digital Data LifeGuard Diagnostics. This gave the drive a clean bill of health.
I then ran the XP chkdsk utility with the /R switch. This turned up 128 KB of bad sectors, and dealt with them.
I seems that the quality control is not what it should be, but that chkdsk can help. I'll post another review if anything changes...
...I can't post another review - this one should be reduced to one star.
In my previous review, I stated that chkdsk had found 128 KB of bad sectors. I was running chkdsk in a loop, and this number was stable.
I unplugged the device for a few hours, plugged it back in, and started the chkdsk runs again. On the very first run the bad sector total increased to 320 KB, and then remained stable at that number.
I then reformatted the drive as NTFS with no bad blocks detected.
I unplugged the drive for 30 minutes, and then plugged it back in and ran chkdsk again. This gave 192 KB of bad sectors.
Something is definitely wrong, and the unit is being returned. I don't plan on buying another.
Very fast, very portable, very light. Performs as indicated. Straightforward 2.0 USB connection, no messy power cords. Love the sleek look. I use it as my primary iTunes library folder; I've had no problems with it so far.
I just bought one of these drives from another bulk retailer (super cheap). I thought "brilliant!" Now I have a huge amount of storage, in a small size, and for a 125 bucks! This drive is terrible and so is the WD customer support. I plugged the drive in, and ....nothing. Nothing mounted, nothing turned on . I call up customer service and they are completly clueless. I have a 2004 Powerbook G4 running OS 10.4.8 , not some ancient computer. She had no idea as to why the drive would not mount, not even offering the idea that the usb port might not supply the drive with enough power. She was rather rude about the whole matter to boot! Now I have to return it. I will never buy another Western Digital product. I suggest you don't either. So any recommendations for a good portable hard drive?
I bought this product with much anticipation. Great size, nice little case and 160GB.
I had problem after problem since I got it and WD tech support SUX!!!!
I first got the drive and tried to perform a sync using the supplied software. My computer locked up during that process and after reboot I was unable to access 4GB of data on the drive. That is where the sync data was stored. I called WD and they said sorry, you have to delete the drive partition and reformat the drive. So I delete the partition, re-add the partition but the drive won't format.
I run the diagnostic and it says "Cable test failed". I got on the phone with tech support again and they say I must have a bad cable. I happen to have another cable so I try that. No luck. Tech support says it must be a bad drive.
I ship back my drive and they send me a new one. SAME PROBLEMS.
So I do my own due diligance research.
This drive requires 650mA of power from your USB port. I got this from Western Digitals website and I DO NOT THINK THAT IS POWER REQUIREMENT IS STANDARD. I have a brand new Dell laptop and those USB ports only output 500mA.
I called Tech support to ask about this and they will not aknowledge the problem. They said the only problems they have had reported are on old notebooks and there passport drive will work with any newer laptop. I repeated my claim that it had to be a power problem. The tech said it can't be a power problem because my laptop would not even recognize it. I think that is a bunch of BS and nonsense.
I am now forced to return it.
PS - I was told a "Y" USB Cable might work becauase it is supposed to grab power from two USB ports. It did not work for me.
Not a solid product for universal use!!!
The fine type on the package reads, "a special cable is available for the few computers that restrict bus power". That should actually read, "MOST computers restrict bus power". Much research has revealed that USB specs max the power at 500mA -- and this requires more. Therefore, it shouldn't work EVER. (if it does, it's because your computer supplies more than it's supposed to.) It would be great if it did.
I purchase this External Hard Drive about 2 weeks ago and I am thrilled with it. Just use like is was a flash drive and you can store everything you need and plug it into any other computer. I was amazed by the simplicity of it. If you are not a computer nerd and just need additional storage space this is what you need.
The Short version: you have the better odds of getting struck by lightning, than you do of getting this thing to work.
Long Version:
My father bought 6 of these drives, 1 for himself, and 1 for me and each my siblings. Everyone one of us has more than the minimum requirements to use this hunk of trash, WinXP + USB 2.0, all very new computers. 4 out of 6 of these paper weights are already on the way back. Some of them worked 1 time, 1 even let me transfer 70gb of information onto it. I "safely removed" it from the winxp computer, and sent it on its way with my brother. When he got home(several states away), and plugged it into his brand new computer, it told him the drive was not formatted and needed to be formatted. My own personal 1, I copied a DVD onto my regular hard drive, then tried to copy into onto this drive. It got about half way and gave me some weird message, then filled my drive with over 200,000 files and folders with names like this "¥ae". THese files couldn't be deleted, viewed, couldn't enter any of the folders. This drive has pretty much been toasted, it will not allow me to re-format using any of WDigital's utilities. And the best part is WDigitals diagnostics tools find absolutely no problems with the drive. In My Computer the drive shows 149gb total size, with 148gb Free. When i open the drive an select all these weird files and folders > right click > properties, it says there's over 200k files, and somehow its 189gb worth of information. Mind you this is a 160gb drive. Buy Maxtor or Seagate !!! My 300gb Seagate external has never had 1 problem!!
I bought this drive yesterday, it worked once only. The software supplied with it was Google (desktop search, Picasa) and WD Sync, but I never got to use any of it. Next time I plugged in the drive I got a "power surge on USB" message. Tried another PC - PC froze and started beeping. I had to reboot. Tried on a USB hub - big mistake. Burned the hub. Tried on a 4th PC - drive remained dead. This is sooo going back to the store.
I bought this drive thinking how great and compact it is, I can back up all my files. The drive worked for about two days, then started giving me "sector errors", then when I had it plugged in my computer it would not reboot properly, my computer was locked in a boot-reboot mode. I unpluged the drive and everything worked fine. I used the dive to back up some files while I reloaded XP, now all the files are gone. I have read about this Y cable, I may try it. This drive is going back and I wont buy anything WD again.
Transfer rate is great. It seems even faster than what they report. You expect to have to wait a while using something externally like this but this thing is cool. Thin and narrow enough for shirt pocket!!!
I ignored the warnings in the reviews, and this drive was great for about three days. It failed and took down other devices with it. They can be reconnected but this drive requires a special USB booster cable from WD, which you can buy to make their product work (I'll soon find out if that's true). WD support makes it sound like it's something wrong with your computer, but this drive is the only USB device that has ever tripped my USB connections. Best to avoid this drive.
I got a good price on this drive and the piano black finish exactly matched my new HP Laptop, so I thought, why not? Usually I'm more careful -- I should have checked here first.
When I plugged it in, the drive was recognized and all seemed well. But it's pre-formatted for FAT32, and I run NTFS files system, so I went to the Western Digital site to find out how to re-format it. I CAREFULLY followed the directions, and after that the drive was recognized in Windows, but showed it wasn't formatted. Every format attempt in Windows, even low-level, failed.
So I downloaded the Western Digital utilities, which tested the drive and found no problems. Then I used the WD utilities to format the drive. It said the drive was successfully formatted, but again, when I tried to use it in Windows, no luck. Windows called it an unformatted drive and continued to give an unhelpful error message when I tried to format it. I even tried the "long format" method and that came up with the same "Drive could not be formatted" error, but only after two hours of seemingly formatting correctly.
I returned it to the store and bought a Maxtor-mini III which I plugged in and it recognized my file system immediately. I'm not sure whether it was pre-formatted in NFTS or re-formatted during the quick setup, but it works very well.
Western Digital used to make excellent products. The Western Digital 160 GB USB 2.0 Passport is a mess.
Update: (4-15-07)In reviewing my reviews I notice that many recent reviews have been more positive. I am thus willing to concede that the some early models may have fallen victim to startup production problems. If you note the review arc for the Passport, you'll see a steady climb in the ratings. Still I would caution against trying to re-format the drive to NTFS, even though WD claims you can do it. Even if I could change my rating now, I wouldn't. Following WD's instructions explicitly, the drive failed for me and could not be recovered. As always, YMMV.
We bought two of these for backing up data at work and they've worked well so far. They also work well on my three-year-old laptop (work computers are Windows XP Dell Precision 380; laptop is a Windows XP Alienware Area-51m 766). The size and single cable make these hard drives so much easier to work with than previous external hard drives I've used. I plan on buying two more for myself soon. I haven't used the software that comes with it, nor do I intend to, so I can't speak to the quality of that. The drive works just like any USB drive in XP -- just plug it in and it pops right up, ready to use. The only improvements I would suggest to make this product better is if it was even smaller and faster.
*UPDATE: I've been using the two work ones for about a month now, doing regular weekly backups of about 15GB. I also bought two more for my own use; I've filled both of those almost up and haven't had a single issue or even a warning message. They work just like a USB drive, only they hold a lot more data!
I got this drive for Christmas, and then proceeded to read the reviews about what utter junk this thing was. But I figured I'd give it a shot anyway. It worked well for the few times I've used it over the course of the last month or so, but it just decided to stop working. I had files on there, but now Windows is just telling me I need to format it, which is funny.....because I already did. I'd be more upset if I hadn't been expecting this based on the barrage of negative reviews I've already read. Refund time!
I got this hard drive for Christmas and it just did not work. Was using it with my laptop...it powered on but that was about it. If I copied a jpeg to it, it would create a damaged copy of the file. More often than not I would get an error message that said something like "cannot find the sector requested" whenever I would try and copy, save, or backup any of my files to it. Completely useless.
I do not get the marketing people - this is small and light for travel but the only machines that can run it are big desktop units because of the high power requirements! I returned mine after trying to get it to work on a number of machines. Laptops are useless! Particularly the Macs (am I thinking another MS conspiracy to drive Mac owners crazy). The thing worked one time and that was flacky on a Windoz unit. It does not have an option for a power cord and if you hunt around their website long enough you will find it "says" that a Y-cable will make it work (i.e., more money), but I cannot find such a cable anywhere!
I got quite a shock when I read the bad reviews for this product. I've had one for about a month, and it works great, just like my older passports. I used it with FAT32 format to transfer 160 GB of data from one disk and then back to a newer one with no failures at all. Then I reformatted it using the standard Windows XP format command to use as backup for my Dell E510. I'm running Ghost backups to it twice daily with no problems. The only thing I can figure is my computer, and the other Dell computer that I used it on, have adequate power supplies to handle the drive. I logged onto Amazon because I was considering buying another one, but now that I see the bad reviews I guess I'll wait awhile and see how it performs! But as of now it has worked perfectly as a great backup and transfer medium!!
It lights up and sometimes spins for a second or two. That's all. Sometimes Windows beeps. Macs do nothing.
Buy a Smartdisk Firelite instead -- I've had an 80gb USB firelite for two years and have dropped it numberous times. It's the exact opposite of this WD turd.
Worked for almost a month. Luckily this piece of junk started to flake out on me (started making grinding noises) before it totally bit it. So I bought another drive (320GB Lacie) and transferred my files just in time; this piece went the very next time I tried to use it. Can't format it - I'm looking for my receipt so that I can return it.
This drive was passed on to me from the previous IT manager and I've been using it for nearly 3 months. So far so good!! The capacity is nearly maxed out with a nice assortment of documents, music, photos and applications and I've never lost a file or received a "file is damaged" notification. Working in Iraq, this drive is constantly exposed to enough dust to short out Number 5 and has performed flawlessly.
In regards to the operation/functionality of the drive on a Mac notebook (I have a PB15) it will NOT work unless a dual-USB type connection is used due to the lack of power on the port. Again, not a HD issue, this has always been a Mac issue. We're using Dell's here in Baghdad and I've never had an issue with connectivity.
Afordable price for and excelent product. Amazon delivered it so fast and it is working perfect.
was offered one of these for xmas, plugged it in and the light came on on the drive but it wouldn't mount or otherwise respond. it did work with a gigantic toshiba laptop. judging from the other reviews here, it looks like the drive sucks too much power from the usb port. this kinda negates the ease of use and universal backup qualities usb should offer.
i don't have this sort of problem with firelight drives or lacie drives, or even my iriver drive. only this one.
This might not be bad, but not only does it absolutely require USB 2.0, it will not work with most laptops due to the lack of power.
There is no power supply available for this drive as far as I can tell. Instead, WD has you purchase a connector with TWO USB connectors to "double" your power (they obviously do not understand how electric current works).
I currently own one of these drives, but can only use it in ONE desktop PC, which means to me it's not at all portable. If I had it to do all over again, I'd avoid WD.
The 160GB Western Digital Passport is my third (including 40 & 120GB models) and has endured 10-18 hour work days (5-7 days a week). It travels to and from work EVERYDAY and has joined me on domestic and international trips.
Given the amount of time and money invested in my 'digital' life; Western Digital's Passport has been the sole source of security. Despite PC crashes, thunderstorm power-outages, and suffering a pretty bad 'spill' at work; the Passport has paid for itself many times. I don't use it to 'back up' my music and video files; it stores a working clone of them.
I empathize with some of the poorer reviews. However, I suspect many of them are Mac users. I also own an Apple G4 PowerBook and NONE of my Passports are adequately powered by a single G4 USB port. I've researched the issue and am confident many (if not all) pre-Intel MacBooks have limited power through their USB 2.0 ports. I even tried a LACIE (Mac endorsed) external with my PowerBook; the drive does not mount without using both USB ports.
If you use Windows-based PCs at home or work consider making the Western Digital Passport essential as a surge protector. Its the sleekest, sexiest, and most reliable brand I've used.
The Wd160 Passport has performed very well in the main. The first drive did start to report delayed Write errors after a few weeks and has been replaced. The replacement performs well and so far is reliable. It is very light and with a light weight case (bought separately) it is a great way to carry your digital world.
I have several of the original passports in 60 and 80 gb and have never had a problem with them. I bought one of these 160 gb ones for my husband and it was smaller and nicer than the earlier ones I had, so I had to buy another one for me! We both carry ours back and forth to work and use them daily and never had a problem. I never had a problem with the older ones that I have had for a couple of years. We use them on our desktop computer, laptops, and our work desktops. We don't use any Apple products so maybe the mention in the other review is the reason others have had problems. I love ours. Simple to use, small, reliable.
I have used this on a Macintosh for 2 years. It is plugged into my computer, via USB cable, and I have scheduled weekly backups using Apple's "Backup" software. I just sent one to my Son, who is in Iraq and on a PC, to back up his laptop. The one downside for a laptop is it could drain power since it does not have its own power source. Other than that, it is very affordable, easy to use, and dependable.
I just bought this HD and it's pretty neat! I use it with an Apple macbook and it works just fine I am using it to store all my music and photos so I dont have a crowded laptop. This is very recomended if you guys like to take your computer to the go.. anywhere so you external HD should be small and very light... if that is the case this is your product... although if you want more space for a better price you should pick other brands with more storage but they are more bulky. Well hope this is usefull to someone.
This model, along with another 120GB external drive that I own, is very unreliable when I tried to back up files from my PC to this external drive. I keep getting "the drive cannot find the sector requested" error frequently. I am strill trying to get a replacement and service from Western Digital support without much success. :-[ Don't buy this drive no matter how good the deal is!
Performs as advertised and very reliable. Nice size and works well with my MacBook Pro. I use mine to store my I-tunes library, as I wanted to free up space on my notebook. Simply plug into the USB port, click I-tunes and there's the whole deal! Couldn't ask for more from this product. Was hesitant to purchase in the beginning, due to other reviews, but I had no problem with any of the 120 gb WD externals, so I went ahead and purchased this 160 gb. No problems whatsoever and I use the longer cord from my older WD 120 gb externals.
** Update **
If your hard drive crashes or seems like it died ... unfortunately, you're going to have to format it and start over! I wish I could go back and edit the rating on this thing. Hopefully you keep your receipt and original box.
* * * *
The best feature about this external hard drive is that it's so skinny and light weight. I have an external hard drive much like this one by SimpleDrive, but it's about twice as thick and noticeably heavier. The Passport drive is much better for me since I usually stick my hard drive in my purse before going to work and it takes up very little space (less space than my wallet!) This little thing doesn't make any noise, it has a pretty short USB cable but that's not a huge deal. The only thing that's missing is firewire, but it's still a great buy.
As a user of *many* 2.5" external USB drives, including some 7200rpm'ers, this badboy has delivered bigtime - in a small, elegant footprint. I primarily use it as a media drive for my new Vista machine. The first thing I did was reformat it to NTFS and it has performed like a champ from the get-go. I can't wait until the next size comes out!
I used this drive on 3 machines with WinXP SP2. It worked great the first few weeks. Then it started producing "Delayed Write" errors and corrupting files. Good thing I had a backup. I had sensitive data on this drive and tried to wipe it (with the intention of asking for a warranty replacement). But it would not work on any of my modern machines. I tried it on my old laptop with USB 1.1 ports and it would successfully mount. Then I tried to wipe it (using WD's utility and Truecrypt). But it would only get half way through (24 hours!) before exiting with a "sector not found" error. I tried a few times then gave up, took it apart and smashed the platters with a hammer. Western Digital, you've lost a customer for life!
I put all the content of my old PC on it, and now I use it with my new laptop. It was the best I could have done now that I am relocating. It has not given me any trouble so far, and everyone around me loves it and is thinking about getting one too.
I think the customers who gave bad reviews may have gotten a deffected model.
Anyhoo. This is a great buy!
Started using it on a friend's new Imac but bought for my 17" powerbook and once I tried to use it, it wouldn't mount on the desktop unless my powerbook was plugged to an external monitor and using the monitor's back usb, so there's some power issue related or to my usb or the drive. The product is stylish and the transaction was not a problem at all but for my main use it lacks some performance.
very good.
muy recomendable.
advisable, I have one of 60 gb that came out me excellent.
I wait that this it leaves me equally
This works out well for data storage. Till now i have not faced any problems with it. WD also replaces the piece if there are any problems with it.
Looks sleek, runs fast on my dual opteron with Suse 10.1.
Reformatted to ext3 very well.
Unfortunately, it will not work on my Dell Precision M50, not enough power on the USB port I guess. I wish it had an optional connector for a power supply. Now I will have to hack the cable. Waste of time :(
The best! I have been using add-on portable hard drives since back when they were on 10GB, huge and heavy. The WD 160GB is almost everything I have always wanted and not yet found before -- they have huge 160B storage and are incredibly small -- three or four of them could fit in the space that other small drives claim. I suppose the only tradeoff is that for this size and with USB self power, you can't yet get a 9600 drive this big (160GB) and a space so small, but the WD160 drives are as fast as my internal drives and they look fantastic. I am now own 4 of these and now I can bring huge video libraries with me all in less than the space of a paperback book.
It is small, light, looks good and transfer rates are good enough. If you will use it with a desktop, I strongly recommend it. Although I have heard it has trouble with Mac laptops.
The title says it all: I like the drive (and carry it in my briefcase for data transfer).
The software that came with it doesn't install on my fairly vanilla laptop. Good thing I don't need it to use the drive.
Attempts at customer service have been a 100% total waste of time. No answer to my questions about the software at all.
Oh, and the package says the cable that comes with the drive is 22" long. It's not, mine is about 7". A longer cable won't work.
This is the perfect external hard drive!!! It is so small and light that I always carry it with me in my laptop bag. It also doesn't need any external power supply. I love this one!
small on size..big on storage space..sleek design..overall very good value for money..could have had a longer USB cable though..(hence the 4 star rating)..
After reading the reviews on this website I was a little apprehensive about buying this drive, but I'm glad I bought it.
The drive comes installed with a FAT32 file system. FAT32 has a 2GB file size limit. This can be very limiting for backing up large files. However, I was able to format the drive easily to NTFS using the format command on the Windows XP.
The drive works fine after formatting. It is very light and portable and very quiet.
I just wish it came with a case.
Buying this, I was a little skeptical since there were so many people with complaints...but why not?
So far I haven't had any problems, I pluged it in to my Dell Inspirion 9300 (about 2 yrs old) and it started up like a champ. I did try all six usb ports and they all work so no problems with the power issues that other people have had.
I've also plugged it into another laptop and desktop and all of them recognized and powered the drive with out any problems at all.
It writes fast and transfers fast for a 5400rpm hard drive, so I can't complain about that. It also looks great and is small enough to throw in my backpack for travel. I did get the logitech case to go with it to help prevent any unnessary wear/tear.
I also own a WD Pro Edition 500gb hard drive and haven't had any problems at all. So all those complaining about the cheap quality of WD, either they don't know what they're talking about or had one bad experience. WD has always been a reliable company...
And for that person out there complaining about his hard drive not working after he dropped it from chest height...what did you expect? I looked all over the WD warranty and stupidity isn't covered by them. I dare you to drop any computer, XBox, PS2, PSP, TV (get the idea yet?) from chest height and see if it works. Unless you're only 6-9in tall, I'm not suprised that it stopped working. Don't blame the company...
All in all, depending on how old your computer is or what gen your WD Passport is, I think it works just fine.
I used this Hard Drive for one week and I had to return it. They sent a new Hard Drive to me immediately
This hard drive is worthy of consideration given its compact size, capacity and ease of set up. I have 3 external hard drives, all of which need an AC adapter. Given that the weight of those are quite heavy and the inconvenience of needing a plug, I needed an alternative.
I attached the USB cable to the laptop and the drive, and that was it. Before saving any data, you might as well format it to NTFS, since FAT32 is the default (files greater than 4 GB minus 2 bytes won't transfer on FAT32)
Just right click with the new hard drive highlighted and click "Format" with NTFS selected and you're off to archiving your data. Even more importantly is the ability to back up data on the laptop and have some convenient method of restoring the information.
Powered through the USB cable, this convenient package eliminates the need for an additional power outlet. This is especially useful for the traveling user where all you may get is a plug for the laptop. This unit is quiet and I barely hear it which limits any distraction from the 'plug in units' that I own.
The case is about the size of a 30 GB video ipod with a glossy black finish. My only grip is the 8 inch cable that accompanies it but it is hardly a showstopper.
Your other brand considerations are the Smart disk Firelite which is the pioneer of the portable high capacity HDs and the Seagate double USB corded hard drives.
Seagate 120 GB 2.5" Portable External Hard Drive 8 MB Cache ( ST9120801U2-RK )
Wolverine Data Portable Series 120GB External Hard Drive USB 2.0 ( 2120 )
SmartDisk FireLite - Hard drive - 100 GB - external - Hi-Speed USB - 4 pin USB -
For cost, capacity, styling and size, this one has absolutely NO comparison.
Any case that can hold a Nintendo DS will hold this drive. Here are some examples:
Nintendo DS Lite Carrying Case
Nintendo DS Lite Ultimate Leather Case
Two thumbs up.
Graet portable and back-up drive. A little higher cost than the others, but by my experience, at leats this one works.
Hi, this hard drive is very good, its great performance makes it an excellent tool for an intermediate user, I just use with XP I dont know about OS Macintosh.
I needed to move my data from a Dell Inspiron 8500 (a large laptop) but when I plugged the drive in I got 'USB Power Overload' messages and the drive wouldn't power up. Tried it in a few other models of Dell laptops in the office and got a 50% success rate.. only some laptops had enough power to drive this thing.
I ended up spending another $20 on an AC powered USB hub to get it working. The extra gear makes this drive much less portable. Otherwise it works fine, and no problems when used with a desktop machine.
Western Digital has always made excellent hard drives. This external is sleek and sexy in appearance and performs well. I have an 80, 120, and now the 160 GB. It conducts adequate speed when transferring files. It's not better than an internal, but it outshines other external. A plus it that you require no other power source.
Is a Western Digital...... but if you have a moderate data I recomend the 120G Western digital, I have the two and I used the 120G every day
I ordered the 120 gig version of this item for my iBook G4. It came quickly, which was great, but then I plugged it in. Nothing. Didn't recognize it. It appears some laptops, including Macs, do not have enough power going to their USB ports to operate this drive. I did see that in previous reviews, but I guess I had to try it myself. Didn't work for me (I've heard it doesn't work for Powerbooks either). Trying to salvage the effort and money I tried it in my small form factor desktop (Shuttle XPC) and that didn't work, in fact it crashed the machine, three times. So either those USBs ports were incompatible as well or the unit was faulty. There is a "booster usb cable" that may be available (it plugs into 2 usb ports to boost the power) that might work for some people. I didn't try that because I didn't want to take the trouble (and that might not have worked anyway). It's curious to me that this device is obviously designed for laptops and yet it won't work with many of them. So I am disappointed and returned it today.
I've backed up PCs (and small business networks) since 1980 - before there was an IBM PC - using 5.25-inch floppies, then 3.5-inch floppies; followed by Zip disks, QIC tape, DAT tape, CDs, and now, at long last, a hard disk. I recently bought a new laptop and thought I'd use the DVD writer in it for backing up. Har har, it was old home week with the same error problems I've faced all too often for years. ("Bad byte on disk xxx," "cannot verify file xxxx," and the like.)
It is a pleasure to at last get a reasonably fast backup that consists of executable FILES, not proprietary code format files (albeit ziped files) without errors in the media causing a fubar, snafu, or blivet well into the process, requiring a start over.
The physical size of this pocket portable in combination with its capacity mean you would easily spend multiples of its price on any other medium - and take a chance every backup with them, of a failure. And if your time means anything to you, acquiring one of these units today should be an absolute no-brainer.
Western Digital is well known for quality hard drives, so when I saw the 160gb Passport on sale, I got one without hesitation. I had no problem using it on my home PC. It did NOT work on my Dell M60 Laptop, nor any of a half-dozen other laptops I tried. It would overload the port and a warning message indicating USB power surge/overload would pop up on the screen. Since my primary intended use was to transfer files from my laptop to my home PC, I returned it to the store for another model (Firelite). Other reviews indicate that this is not a "rare problem" (as WD would tell you). WD sells a cable that combines power of two USB ports (an extra $9.95 on it's online store) that solves this problem and that of a very short 8" USB cable supplied. Of course, who wants to tie up two of the limited USB ports on a laptop? They could provide an optional power cable using a PS2 port like my Firelite did. Yes, the drive is attractive, fast and very quiet, but until WD gets a handle on the high power demands, I can't recommend it.
It is very portable, reliable and easy to use (I did reformat it to NTPS). It has taken more than one fall to a hard floor and keeps on working. It runs fine off my Fujitsu Lifebook laptop and my wife's Dell Inspiron 8000. I intend to get another one. All ten thumbs up! :-)
If you are looking for a light and small, but which has big storage capacity, then you might want this one. This one would be best if you are going to have one which is able to be moved easily, I mean, it is light, so you can carry it wherever you want. So.. You might want to have this one if you have lots of stuff which is valuable for you.
LOVE it! With 9-10 machines that I need to synchronize data between, some laptops some desktops, this is the right external HD and the price is certainly right, having broken below the $1/gig point that external drives seem to have been stuck at.
It's not blazingly fast, but fast enough to work from.
It's quite quiet and the design is exceptionally slick with the rubber cover over the usb port.
My only complaint (and it's a pithy one) is that the usb cable shipped with the drive is no bigger than about 4 inches.
As others have already stated, this device is not really Mac friendly. I have a PowerBookG4 that is only 2 years old, I figured it was new enough that it might not have the power issues that others had. I was wrong! The drive won't even power up, it just makes this weird clicking noise if you try to plug it into your laptop with the cable provided. After calling Western Digital to complain and see what my options were, they knew the problem right away. I was hesitant to believe it was just a power issue, but I figured I'd try the new cable they promised to send me and then go from there. The cable arrived a few days later (very quick shipping!) and my drive works wonderfully now! The only problem is that since it takes both USB ports on my laptop, you cannot really use other devices at the same time. This causes me issues since I got this drive to transfer my digital photos from my camera (which of course uses USB). So now I still have to keep enough space to transfer photos to the harddrive and then transfer them again to the portable drive.
On the plus side, its very cute (sorry, its a girl thing) and i love how compact it is. It is great to use on the road.
As many have stated, many Mac PowerBook G4s and other laptops don't provide enough power through a single USB port to properly spin this drive.
Western Digital does have a FREE fix, which is a power booster cable that plugs into 2 USB ports and replaces the original USB cable... and they'll ship it to you free if you call them. As you might have guessed, this means you need two free USB ports in order to use the drive (which is very small and sleek - tres chic).
You cannot buy the power booster cable anywhere that I can find. To get the cable, call WD tech support AFTER you get your drive (you need the serial number to call them) at 800-275-4932. At the prompts press 2 and then 2 again. Be sure you have your serial number when you call.
Others have pointed out that you can use a powered USB hub, however, I encountered trouble in doing so, plus as they point out that means carrying an extra USB cable, the hub, and the power source. The free power booster cable from WD replaces the cable that came with the Passport and thus you only have to carry the drive and the one cable.
Though I've noted some comments on the limited power supply for this product on Mac, I have to say it works smoothly on my MacBook 2.0GHz 2Gb Memory, as well as my Dell desktop PC. Since I am transferring data between Mac and PC, the accompanied sync software is of no much use to me. Anyway, I guess it is a decent deal.
It's smaller than the silver older version , But the down part about it is that the body can get scratched easily. But again very nice product
It's smaller than the silver older version , But the down part about it is that the body can get scratched easily. But again very nice product
Though I've noted some comments on the limited power supply for this product on Mac, I have to say it works smoothly on my MacBook 2.0GHz 2Gb Memory, as well as my Dell desktop PC. Since I am transferring data between Mac and PC, the accompanied sync software is of no much use to me. Anyway, I guess it is a decent deal.
As many have stated, many Mac PowerBook G4s and other laptops don't provide enough power through a single USB port to properly spin this drive.
Western Digital does have a FREE fix, which is a power booster cable that plugs into 2 USB ports and replaces the original USB cable... and they'll ship it to you free if you call them. As you might have guessed, this means you need two free USB ports in order to use the drive (which is very small and sleek - tres chic).
You cannot buy the power booster cable anywhere that I can find. To get the cable, call WD tech support AFTER you get your drive (you need the serial number to call them) at 800-275-4932. At the prompts press 2 and then 2 again. Be sure you have your serial number when you call.
Others have pointed out that you can use a powered USB hub, however, I encountered trouble in doing so, plus as they point out that means carrying an extra USB cable, the hub, and the power source. The free power booster cable from WD replaces the cable that came with the Passport and thus you only have to carry the drive and the one cable.
As others have already stated, this device is not really Mac friendly. I have a PowerBookG4 that is only 2 years old, I figured it was new enough that it might not have the power issues that others had. I was wrong! The drive won't even power up, it just makes this weird clicking noise if you try to plug it into your laptop with the cable provided. After calling Western Digital to complain and see what my options were, they knew the problem right away. I was hesitant to believe it was just a power issue, but I figured I'd try the new cable they promised to send me and then go from there. The cable arrived a few days later (very quick shipping!) and my drive works wonderfully now! The only problem is that since it takes both USB ports on my laptop, you cannot really use other devices at the same time. This causes me issues since I got this drive to transfer my digital photos from my camera (which of course uses USB). So now I still have to keep enough space to transfer photos to the harddrive and then transfer them again to the portable drive.
On the plus side, its very cute (sorry, its a girl thing) and i love how compact it is. It is great to use on the road.
It is very portable, reliable and easy to use (I did reformat it to NTPS). It has taken more than one fall to a hard floor and keeps on working. It runs fine off my Fujitsu Lifebook laptop and my wife's Dell Inspiron 8000. I intend to get another one. All ten thumbs up! :-)
If you are looking for a light and small, but which has big storage capacity, then you might want this one. This one would be best if you are going to have one which is able to be moved easily, I mean, it is light, so you can carry it wherever you want. So.. You might want to have this one if you have lots of stuff which is valuable for you.
LOVE it! With 9-10 machines that I need to synchronize data between, some laptops some desktops, this is the right external HD and the price is certainly right, having broken below the $1/gig point that external drives seem to have been stuck at.
It's not blazingly fast, but fast enough to work from.
It's quite quiet and the design is exceptionally slick with the rubber cover over the usb port.
My only complaint (and it's a pithy one) is that the usb cable shipped with the drive is no bigger than about 4 inches.
Western Digital is well known for quality hard drives, so when I saw the 160gb Passport on sale, I got one without hesitation. I had no problem using it on my home PC. It did NOT work on my Dell M60 Laptop, nor any of a half-dozen other laptops I tried. It would overload the port and a warning message indicating USB power surge/overload would pop up on the screen. Since my primary intended use was to transfer files from my laptop to my home PC, I returned it to the store for another model (Firelite). Other reviews indicate that this is not a "rare problem" (as WD would tell you). WD sells a cable that combines power of two USB ports (an extra $9.95 on it's online store) that solves this problem and that of a very short 8" USB cable supplied. Of course, who wants to tie up two of the limited USB ports on a laptop? They could provide an optional power cable using a PS2 port like my Firelite did. Yes, the drive is attractive, fast and very quiet, but until WD gets a handle on the high power demands, I can't recommend it.
I've backed up PCs (and small business networks) since 1980 - before there was an IBM PC - using 5.25-inch floppies, then 3.5-inch floppies; followed by Zip disks, QIC tape, DAT tape, CDs, and now, at long last, a hard disk. I recently bought a new laptop and thought I'd use the DVD writer in it for backing up. Har har, it was old home week with the same error problems I've faced all too often for years. ("Bad byte on disk xxx," "cannot verify file xxxx," and the like.)
It is a pleasure to at last get a reasonably fast backup that consists of executable FILES, not proprietary code format files (albeit ziped files) without errors in the media causing a fubar, snafu, or blivet well into the process, requiring a start over.
The physical size of this pocket portable in combination with its capacity mean you would easily spend multiples of its price on any other medium - and take a chance every backup with them, of a failure. And if your time means anything to you, acquiring one of these units today should be an absolute no-brainer.
Hi, this hard drive is very good, its great performance makes it an excellent tool for an intermediate user, I just use with XP I dont know about OS Macintosh.
I needed to move my data from a Dell Inspiron 8500 (a large laptop) but when I plugged the drive in I got 'USB Power Overload' messages and the drive wouldn't power up. Tried it in a few other models of Dell laptops in the office and got a 50% success rate.. only some laptops had enough power to drive this thing.
I ended up spending another $20 on an AC powered USB hub to get it working. The extra gear makes this drive much less portable. Otherwise it works fine, and no problems when used with a desktop machine.
Western Digital has always made excellent hard drives. This external is sleek and sexy in appearance and performs well. I have an 80, 120, and now the 160 GB. It conducts adequate speed when transferring files. It's not better than an internal, but it outshines other external. A plus it that you require no other power source.
Is a Western Digital...... but if you have a moderate data I recomend the 120G Western digital, I have the two and I used the 120G every day
I ordered the 120 gig version of this item for my iBook G4. It came quickly, which was great, but then I plugged it in. Nothing. Didn't recognize it. It appears some laptops, including Macs, do not have enough power going to their USB ports to operate this drive. I did see that in previous reviews, but I guess I had to try it myself. Didn't work for me (I've heard it doesn't work for Powerbooks either). Trying to salvage the effort and money I tried it in my small form factor desktop (Shuttle XPC) and that didn't work, in fact it crashed the machine, three times. So either those USBs ports were incompatible as well or the unit was faulty. There is a "booster usb cable" that may be available (it plugs into 2 usb ports to boost the power) that might work for some people. I didn't try that because I didn't want to take the trouble (and that might not have worked anyway). It's curious to me that this device is obviously designed for laptops and yet it won't work with many of them. So I am disappointed and returned it today.
Graet portable and back-up drive. A little higher cost than the others, but by my experience, at leats this one works.
It works best! Its compact and looks great. Never had any issues with this product. I compared several other hard drives, but I am glad I chose this.
Awesome product & price!
Only problem is that with Windows XP you have to reformat the WD Drive to make it compatible. Bit of drag.
I'm totally not a comp-geek,so I really don't know how should I express
myself in this case. But,in short,to my surprise this WESTERN DIGITAL 160 GB USB 2.0 PASSPORT 2.5" EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE(WDXMS1600TN)I bought is in-
deed easy.
IT's WORTH BUYING!
I chose this product as an add-on drive for my laptop. I have not kept this out ever since I bought this. Its worth the money.
Pros: size, speed and of course 160 GB of storage space.
Cons: expensive, would have been good if this comes with a carrying case
Worked well for 2 months (WD Passport 160GB) until I connected a second Passport drive to another USB port on my laptop. Long story short this Passport stopped working and reported "USB Device not Found" error when connected. All data was inaccessible.
To all of you out there who have this same problem, don't worry I have the solution and you won't have to call a Data Recovery service and pay $1000 for your data. Firstly the drive in my case is unharmed. The problem: the USB interface/adapter went bad - the drive is fine.
Solution: to maintain your warranty, carefully open the Passport by twisting the case until an edge pops up and you are able to get your fingers in and gently pry the rest of the case open. Next pull the USB interface/adapter from the drive. Then go online (amazon) and find a USB 2.0 to SATA adapter. I used "Bytecc USB 2.0 TO IDE & SATA Adapter". The adapter should have a data and a power adapter to work. Simply connect the Passport to the adapter and the adapter to a USB port. You should have full access to your data. This should work in most cases but if this does not solve your problem then you will need software in addition to this adapter to get to your data.
I give this drive 3 stars rather than 1 star because it is the smallest drive I could find at 160GB. Before this incident I would have given this product a 5 star rating. Not everyone has this problem but several people have so hence 3 stars.
I used this Hard Drive for one week and I had to return it. They sent a new Hard Drive to me immediately
This hard drive is worthy of consideration given its compact size, capacity and ease of set up. I have 3 external hard drives, all of which need an AC adapter. Given that the weight of those are quite heavy and the inconvenience of needing a plug, I needed an alternative.
I attached the USB cable to the laptop and the drive, and that was it. Before saving any data, you might as well format it to NTFS, since FAT32 is the default (files greater than 4 GB minus 2 bytes won't transfer on FAT32)
Just right click with the new hard drive highlighted and click "Format" with NTFS selected and you're off to archiving your data. Even more importantly is the ability to back up data on the laptop and have some convenient method of restoring the information.
Powered through the USB cable, this convenient package eliminates the need for an additional power outlet. This is especially useful for the traveling user where all you may get is a plug for the laptop. This unit is quiet and I barely hear it which limits any distraction from the 'plug in units' that I own.
The case is about the size of a 30 GB video ipod with a glossy black finish. My only grip is the 8 inch cable that accompanies it but it is hardly a showstopper.
Your other brand considerations are the Smart disk Firelite which is the pioneer of the portable high capacity HDs and the Seagate double USB corded hard drives.
Seagate 120 GB 2.5" Portable External Hard Drive 8 MB Cache ( ST9120801U2-RK )
Wolverine Data Portable Series 120GB External Hard Drive USB 2.0 ( 2120 )
SmartDisk FireLite - Hard drive - 100 GB - external - Hi-Speed USB - 4 pin USB -
For cost, capacity, styling and size, this one has absolutely NO comparison.
Any case that can hold a Nintendo DS will hold this drive. Here are some examples:
Nintendo DS Lite Carrying Case
Nintendo DS Lite Ultimate Leather Case
Two thumbs up.
After reading the reviews on this website I was a little apprehensive about buying this drive, but I'm glad I bought it.
The drive comes installed with a FAT32 file system. FAT32 has a 2GB file size limit. This can be very limiting for backing up large files. However, I was able to format the drive easily to NTFS using the format command on the Windows XP.
The drive works fine after formatting. It is very light and portable and very quiet.
I just wish it came with a case.
Buying this, I was a little skeptical since there were so many people with complaints...but why not?
So far I haven't had any problems, I pluged it in to my Dell Inspirion 9300 (about 2 yrs old) and it started up like a champ. I did try all six usb ports and they all work so no problems with the power issues that other people have had.
I've also plugged it into another laptop and desktop and all of them recognized and powered the drive with out any problems at all.
It writes fast and transfers fast for a 5400rpm hard drive, so I can't complain about that. It also looks great and is small enough to throw in my backpack for travel. I did get the logitech case to go with it to help prevent any unnessary wear/tear.
I also own a WD Pro Edition 500gb hard drive and haven't had any problems at all. So all those complaining about the cheap quality of WD, either they don't know what they're talking about or had one bad experience. WD has always been a reliable company...
And for that person out there complaining about his hard drive not working after he dropped it from chest height...what did you expect? I looked all over the WD warranty and stupidity isn't covered by them. I dare you to drop any computer, XBox, PS2, PSP, TV (get the idea yet?) from chest height and see if it works. Unless you're only 6-9in tall, I'm not suprised that it stopped working. Don't blame the company...
All in all, depending on how old your computer is or what gen your WD Passport is, I think it works just fine.
It is small, light, looks good and transfer rates are good enough. If you will use it with a desktop, I strongly recommend it. Although I have heard it has trouble with Mac laptops.
The title says it all: I like the drive (and carry it in my briefcase for data transfer).
The software that came with it doesn't install on my fairly vanilla laptop. Good thing I don't need it to use the drive.
Attempts at customer service have been a 100% total waste of time. No answer to my questions about the software at all.
Oh, and the package says the cable that comes with the drive is 22" long. It's not, mine is about 7". A longer cable won't work.
This is the perfect external hard drive!!! It is so small and light that I always carry it with me in my laptop bag. It also doesn't need any external power supply. I love this one!
small on size..big on storage space..sleek design..overall very good value for money..could have had a longer USB cable though..(hence the 4 star rating)..
This works out well for data storage. Till now i have not faced any problems with it. WD also replaces the piece if there are any problems with it.
Looks sleek, runs fast on my dual opteron with Suse 10.1.
Reformatted to ext3 very well.
Unfortunately, it will not work on my Dell Precision M50, not enough power on the USB port I guess. I wish it had an optional connector for a power supply. Now I will have to hack the cable. Waste of time :(
The best! I have been using add-on portable hard drives since back when they were on 10GB, huge and heavy. The WD 160GB is almost everything I have always wanted and not yet found before -- they have huge 160B storage and are incredibly small -- three or four of them could fit in the space that other small drives claim. I suppose the only tradeoff is that for this size and with USB self power, you can't yet get a 9600 drive this big (160GB) and a space so small, but the WD160 drives are as fast as my internal drives and they look fantastic. I am now own 4 of these and now I can bring huge video libraries with me all in less than the space of a paperback book.
Started using it on a friend's new Imac but bought for my 17" powerbook and once I tried to use it, it wouldn't mount on the desktop unless my powerbook was plugged to an external monitor and using the monitor's back usb, so there's some power issue related or to my usb or the drive. The product is stylish and the transaction was not a problem at all but for my main use it lacks some performance.
very good.
muy recomendable.
advisable, I have one of 60 gb that came out me excellent.
I wait that this it leaves me equally
As a user of *many* 2.5" external USB drives, including some 7200rpm'ers, this badboy has delivered bigtime - in a small, elegant footprint. I primarily use it as a media drive for my new Vista machine. The first thing I did was reformat it to NTFS and it has performed like a champ from the get-go. I can't wait until the next size comes out!
I used this drive on 3 machines with WinXP SP2. It worked great the first few weeks. Then it started producing "Delayed Write" errors and corrupting files. Good thing I had a backup. I had sensitive data on this drive and tried to wipe it (with the intention of asking for a warranty replacement). But it would not work on any of my modern machines. I tried it on my old laptop with USB 1.1 ports and it would successfully mount. Then I tried to wipe it (using WD's utility and Truecrypt). But it would only get half way through (24 hours!) before exiting with a "sector not found" error. I tried a few times then gave up, took it apart and smashed the platters with a hammer. Western Digital, you've lost a customer for life!
I put all the content of my old PC on it, and now I use it with my new laptop. It was the best I could have done now that I am relocating. It has not given me any trouble so far, and everyone around me loves it and is thinking about getting one too.
I think the customers who gave bad reviews may have gotten a deffected model.
Anyhoo. This is a great buy!
I have several of the original passports in 60 and 80 gb and have never had a problem with them. I bought one of these 160 gb ones for my husband and it was smaller and nicer than the earlier ones I had, so I had to buy another one for me! We both carry ours back and forth to work and use them daily and never had a problem. I never had a problem with the older ones that I have had for a couple of years. We use them on our desktop computer, laptops, and our work desktops. We don't use any Apple products so maybe the mention in the other review is the reason others have had problems. I love ours. Simple to use, small, reliable.
I have used this on a Macintosh for 2 years. It is plugged into my computer, via USB cable, and I have scheduled weekly backups using Apple's "Backup" software. I just sent one to my Son, who is in Iraq and on a PC, to back up his laptop. The one downside for a laptop is it could drain power since it does not have its own power source. Other than that, it is very affordable, easy to use, and dependable.
I just bought this HD and it's pretty neat! I use it with an Apple macbook and it works just fine I am using it to store all my music and photos so I dont have a crowded laptop. This is very recomended if you guys like to take your computer to the go.. anywhere so you external HD should be small and very light... if that is the case this is your product... although if you want more space for a better price you should pick other brands with more storage but they are more bulky. Well hope this is usefull to someone.
This model, along with another 120GB external drive that I own, is very unreliable when I tried to back up files from my PC to this external drive. I keep getting "the drive cannot find the sector requested" error frequently. I am strill trying to get a replacement and service from Western Digital support without much success. :-[ Don't buy this drive no matter how good the deal is!
Afordable price for and excelent product. Amazon delivered it so fast and it is working perfect.
was offered one of these for xmas, plugged it in and the light came on on the drive but it wouldn't mount or otherwise respond. it did work with a gigantic toshiba laptop. judging from the other reviews here, it looks like the drive sucks too much power from the usb port. this kinda negates the ease of use and universal backup qualities usb should offer.
i don't have this sort of problem with firelight drives or lacie drives, or even my iriver drive. only this one.
This drive was passed on to me from the previous IT manager and I've been using it for nearly 3 months. So far so good!! The capacity is nearly maxed out with a nice assortment of documents, music, photos and applications and I've never lost a file or received a "file is damaged" notification. Working in Iraq, this drive is constantly exposed to enough dust to short out Number 5 and has performed flawlessly.
In regards to the operation/functionality of the drive on a Mac notebook (I have a PB15) it will NOT work unless a dual-USB type connection is used due to the lack of power on the port. Again, not a HD issue, this has always been a Mac issue. We're using Dell's here in Baghdad and I've never had an issue with connectivity.
I got this hard drive for Christmas and it just did not work. Was using it with my laptop...it powered on but that was about it. If I copied a jpeg to it, it would create a damaged copy of the file. More often than not I would get an error message that said something like "cannot find the sector requested" whenever I would try and copy, save, or backup any of my files to it. Completely useless.
I do not get the marketing people - this is small and light for travel but the only machines that can run it are big desktop units because of the high power requirements! I returned mine after trying to get it to work on a number of machines. Laptops are useless! Particularly the Macs (am I thinking another MS conspiracy to drive Mac owners crazy). The thing worked one time and that was flacky on a Windoz unit. It does not have an option for a power cord and if you hunt around their website long enough you will find it "says" that a Y-cable will make it work (i.e., more money), but I cannot find such a cable anywhere!
I got quite a shock when I read the bad reviews for this product. I've had one for about a month, and it works great, just like my older passports. I used it with FAT32 format to transfer 160 GB of data from one disk and then back to a newer one with no failures at all. Then I reformatted it using the standard Windows XP format command to use as backup for my Dell E510. I'm running Ghost backups to it twice daily with no problems. The only thing I can figure is my computer, and the other Dell computer that I used it on, have adequate power supplies to handle the drive. I logged onto Amazon because I was considering buying another one, but now that I see the bad reviews I guess I'll wait awhile and see how it performs! But as of now it has worked perfectly as a great backup and transfer medium!!
It lights up and sometimes spins for a second or two. That's all. Sometimes Windows beeps. Macs do nothing.
Buy a Smartdisk Firelite instead -- I've had an 80gb USB firelite for two years and have dropped it numberous times. It's the exact opposite of this WD turd.
Worked for almost a month. Luckily this piece of junk started to flake out on me (started making grinding noises) before it totally bit it. So I bought another drive (320GB Lacie) and transferred my files just in time; this piece went the very next time I tried to use it. Can't format it - I'm looking for my receipt so that I can return it.
I got this drive for Christmas, and then proceeded to read the reviews about what utter junk this thing was. But I figured I'd give it a shot anyway. It worked well for the few times I've used it over the course of the last month or so, but it just decided to stop working. I had files on there, but now Windows is just telling me I need to format it, which is funny.....because I already did. I'd be more upset if I hadn't been expecting this based on the barrage of negative reviews I've already read. Refund time!
We bought two of these for backing up data at work and they've worked well so far. They also work well on my three-year-old laptop (work computers are Windows XP Dell Precision 380; laptop is a Windows XP Alienware Area-51m 766). The size and single cable make these hard drives so much easier to work with than previous external hard drives I've used. I plan on buying two more for myself soon. I haven't used the software that comes with it, nor do I intend to, so I can't speak to the quality of that. The drive works just like any USB drive in XP -- just plug it in and it pops right up, ready to use. The only improvements I would suggest to make this product better is if it was even smaller and faster.
*UPDATE: I've been using the two work ones for about a month now, doing regular weekly backups of about 15GB. I also bought two more for my own use; I've filled both of those almost up and haven't had a single issue or even a warning message. They work just like a USB drive, only they hold a lot more data!
I got a good price on this drive and the piano black finish exactly matched my new HP Laptop, so I thought, why not? Usually I'm more careful -- I should have checked here first.
When I plugged it in, the drive was recognized and all seemed well. But it's pre-formatted for FAT32, and I run NTFS files system, so I went to the Western Digital site to find out how to re-format it. I CAREFULLY followed the directions, and after that the drive was recognized in Windows, but showed it wasn't formatted. Every format attempt in Windows, even low-level, failed.
So I downloaded the Western Digital utilities, which tested the drive and found no problems. Then I used the WD utilities to format the drive. It said the drive was successfully formatted, but again, when I tried to use it in Windows, no luck. Windows called it an unformatted drive and continued to give an unhelpful error message when I tried to format it. I even tried the "long format" method and that came up with the same "Drive could not be formatted" error, but only after two hours of seemingly formatting correctly.
I returned it to the store and bought a Maxtor-mini III which I plugged in and it recognized my file system immediately. I'm not sure whether it was pre-formatted in NFTS or re-formatted during the quick setup, but it works very well.
Western Digital used to make excellent products. The Western Digital 160 GB USB 2.0 Passport is a mess.
Update: (4-15-07)In reviewing my reviews I notice that many recent reviews have been more positive. I am thus willing to concede that the some early models may have fallen victim to startup production problems. If you note the review arc for the Passport, you'll see a steady climb in the ratings. Still I would caution against trying to re-format the drive to NTFS, even though WD claims you can do it. Even if I could change my rating now, I wouldn't. Following WD's instructions explicitly, the drive failed for me and could not be recovered. As always, YMMV.
The Short version: you have the better odds of getting struck by lightning, than you do of getting this thing to work.
Long Version:
My father bought 6 of these drives, 1 for himself, and 1 for me and each my siblings. Everyone one of us has more than the minimum requirements to use this hunk of trash, WinXP + USB 2.0, all very new computers. 4 out of 6 of these paper weights are already on the way back. Some of them worked 1 time, 1 even let me transfer 70gb of information onto it. I "safely removed" it from the winxp computer, and sent it on its way with my brother. When he got home(several states away), and plugged it into his brand new computer, it told him the drive was not formatted and needed to be formatted. My own personal 1, I copied a DVD onto my regular hard drive, then tried to copy into onto this drive. It got about half way and gave me some weird message, then filled my drive with over 200,000 files and folders with names like this "¥ae". THese files couldn't be deleted, viewed, couldn't enter any of the folders. This drive has pretty much been toasted, it will not allow me to re-format using any of WDigital's utilities. And the best part is WDigitals diagnostics tools find absolutely no problems with the drive. In My Computer the drive shows 149gb total size, with 148gb Free. When i open the drive an select all these weird files and folders > right click > properties, it says there's over 200k files, and somehow its 189gb worth of information. Mind you this is a 160gb drive. Buy Maxtor or Seagate !!! My 300gb Seagate external has never had 1 problem!!
I bought this drive yesterday, it worked once only. The software supplied with it was Google (desktop search, Picasa) and WD Sync, but I never got to use any of it. Next time I plugged in the drive I got a "power surge on USB" message. Tried another PC - PC froze and started beeping. I had to reboot. Tried on a USB hub - big mistake. Burned the hub. Tried on a 4th PC - drive remained dead. This is sooo going back to the store.
I bought this drive thinking how great and compact it is, I can back up all my files. The drive worked for about two days, then started giving me "sector errors", then when I had it plugged in my computer it would not reboot properly, my computer was locked in a boot-reboot mode. I unpluged the drive and everything worked fine. I used the dive to back up some files while I reloaded XP, now all the files are gone. I have read about this Y cable, I may try it. This drive is going back and I wont buy anything WD again.
Transfer rate is great. It seems even faster than what they report. You expect to have to wait a while using something externally like this but this thing is cool. Thin and narrow enough for shirt pocket!!!
I ignored the warnings in the reviews, and this drive was great for about three days. It failed and took down other devices with it. They can be reconnected but this drive requires a special USB booster cable from WD, which you can buy to make their product work (I'll soon find out if that's true). WD support makes it sound like it's something wrong with your computer, but this drive is the only USB device that has ever tripped my USB connections. Best to avoid this drive.
I purchase this External Hard Drive about 2 weeks ago and I am thrilled with it. Just use like is was a flash drive and you can store everything you need and plug it into any other computer. I was amazed by the simplicity of it. If you are not a computer nerd and just need additional storage space this is what you need.
The fine type on the package reads, "a special cable is available for the few computers that restrict bus power". That should actually read, "MOST computers restrict bus power". Much research has revealed that USB specs max the power at 500mA -- and this requires more. Therefore, it shouldn't work EVER. (if it does, it's because your computer supplies more than it's supposed to.) It would be great if it did.
I just bought one of these drives from another bulk retailer (super cheap). I thought "brilliant!" Now I have a huge amount of storage, in a small size, and for a 125 bucks! This drive is terrible and so is the WD customer support. I plugged the drive in, and ....nothing. Nothing mounted, nothing turned on . I call up customer service and they are completly clueless. I have a 2004 Powerbook G4 running OS 10.4.8 , not some ancient computer. She had no idea as to why the drive would not mount, not even offering the idea that the usb port might not supply the drive with enough power. She was rather rude about the whole matter to boot! Now I have to return it. I will never buy another Western Digital product. I suggest you don't either. So any recommendations for a good portable hard drive?
I bought this product with much anticipation. Great size, nice little case and 160GB.
I had problem after problem since I got it and WD tech support SUX!!!!
I first got the drive and tried to perform a sync using the supplied software. My computer locked up during that process and after reboot I was unable to access 4GB of data on the drive. That is where the sync data was stored. I called WD and they said sorry, you have to delete the drive partition and reformat the drive. So I delete the partition, re-add the partition but the drive won't format.
I run the diagnostic and it says "Cable test failed". I got on the phone with tech support again and they say I must have a bad cable. I happen to have another cable so I try that. No luck. Tech support says it must be a bad drive.
I ship back my drive and they send me a new one. SAME PROBLEMS.
So I do my own due diligance research.
This drive requires 650mA of power from your USB port. I got this from Western Digitals website and I DO NOT THINK THAT IS POWER REQUIREMENT IS STANDARD. I have a brand new Dell laptop and those USB ports only output 500mA.
I called Tech support to ask about this and they will not aknowledge the problem. They said the only problems they have had reported are on old notebooks and there passport drive will work with any newer laptop. I repeated my claim that it had to be a power problem. The tech said it can't be a power problem because my laptop would not even recognize it. I think that is a bunch of BS and nonsense.
I am now forced to return it.
PS - I was told a "Y" USB Cable might work becauase it is supposed to grab power from two USB ports. It did not work for me.
Not a solid product for universal use!!!
Very fast, very portable, very light. Performs as indicated. Straightforward 2.0 USB connection, no messy power cords. Love the sleek look. I use it as my primary iTunes library folder; I've had no problems with it so far.
I bought this drive and it was not detected by either computer. Formatted the disk. backed-up my hard drive and two weeks later the WD Passport failed. Worthless back-up. Don't buy.
I have the older version of the Passport--a bit bigger, sturdier, done in silver instead of black. That one works like a champ. So I went ahead and "updgraded" to the 160Gb black one. The new design is smaller, but at the price of sturdiness--this drive has a much more flimsy housing, and doesn't seem as well made. I could have lived with that, except for this deal breaker--the 160Gb version won't work with my laptop! My laptop complains that the Passport's power requirements exceeds what can be provided by the USB port. I NEVER had that problem with the older model, using the same laptop. This harddrive is GOING BACK!!
After reading of all the problems, I bought this drive with some trepidation.
As soon as it arrived I plugged it in and ran the Western Digital Data LifeGuard Diagnostics. This gave the drive a clean bill of health.
I then ran the XP chkdsk utility with the /R switch. This turned up 128 KB of bad sectors, and dealt with them.
I seems that the quality control is not what it should be, but that chkdsk can help. I'll post another review if anything changes...
...I can't post another review - this one should be reduced to one star.
In my previous review, I stated that chkdsk had found 128 KB of bad sectors. I was running chkdsk in a loop, and this number was stable.
I unplugged the device for a few hours, plugged it back in, and started the chkdsk runs again. On the very first run the bad sector total increased to 320 KB, and then remained stable at that number.
I then reformatted the drive as NTFS with no bad blocks detected.
I unplugged the drive for 30 minutes, and then plugged it back in and ran chkdsk again. This gave 192 KB of bad sectors.
Something is definitely wrong, and the unit is being returned. I don't plan on buying another.
I managed to buy a Passport 160GB for my laptop bag and a MyBook 400GB Essential for my home network. I managed to turn both of them into an expensive paperweight in two days. I loaded about 160GB of data to take to work on my MyBook and got to work, and it died after 10GB of offload transfer. Thinking the drive just failed, I then turned to the Passport to pickup the slack, and that then died two after 10GB of data. Whats crazy is they both have the same error message from WD Diagnostics software: Failed read test element. Now the drive is throwing up bad sectors and such and will require an RMA. I eventually just brought the desktop to work. Pass on this drive.