Review: Western Digital Passport Studio

[noodle654]

Today my WD Studio 500GB Passport came in the mail. I got it for $100 on eBay brand new through Live.com. Great deal! Anyways, here is a review if anybody here is interested in buying one.

Whats in the Box:

-500GB Passport in a Metal like enclosure (identical to the Classic/New MBP)
-FireWire 800 to 800 Cable, FireWire 800 to 400 Cable, USB Cable
-Case
-Warranty Stuff

Pros:

-Small, looks identical to my MBP. Looks like the newer WD MyBooks
-FireWire 800, 400, and USB. All 3 are bus powered
-500GB 5400RPM 8MB Cache
-5 Year Warranty
-WD Software included is pretty good.
-Capacity Gauge
-Formated already for Mac
-Price

Cons:

-Cables provided are a bit small
-Runs a bit warmer than my 120GB Passport
-No Vents

Testing

Transfer of 577MB Movie File

WD Passport 120GB 5400RPM USB 2.0: 26 Seconds
WD P Studio 500GB 5400RPM FireWire 800: 15 Seconds

Overall this is a great drive. I run both my Passport and Studio all the time now, doing backups everyday. I can also put all my Logic loops and recordings on my Studio. I really like the overall design of the Studio compared to the original Passport. The Studio looks like a tiny book. I would highly recommend buying this drive if you need a speedy backup and need it for travel. Great drive right here!

 

[SpaceKitty]

Good drives. We have a 250GB passport that we mostly use to transfer movies and music to other computers. Like yours, the cable was too short so we use one that came from a Garmin GPS that is much longer.

 

[Stephen23]

Hi,

Can you tell me if these are the same hard drives as the 500gb scorpio blue drives? I know the new blues have only 2 platters, and the reviews on them have been pretty good. The drives themselves are going for $115 at newegg, but if I can get the same drive in a firewire case to hold my old one for $175 at buydig.com, then I'll do that instead.

thanks,

Stephen