Western Digital Updates 'My Passport' Hard Drive Line With Up to 5TB Storage
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k1121j
macrumors 68000
Same ill stick with my Drobo
Clix Pix
macrumors Core
Interestingly, I am running across this thread even as I am running a backup/copy of an archived drive using my other machine as the pass-through with a Seagate 5 TB portable external drive on the receiving end..... I've had good luck with Seagate in the past and in fact use a couple of them as always-available desktop backups, along with several Samsung external SSDs that I use as both backups and supplementary drives..... I didn't want to go to the expense of plunking out big bucks for external SSDs that would primarily live in my bank safe deposit box so today in Microcenter found just what I needed in the the capacity that I needed.....and am in the process of copying images from the desktop external drive to the small portable one which will (I hope!) physically fit into my safe deposit box..... When one is into photography, image files add enormously to what needs to be stored and protected!
blackxacto
macrumors 65816
Western Digital today introduced new My Passport and My Passport for Mac hard drives, which are equipped with up to 5TB of storage.
The drives are the slimmest 5TB options in the WD brand portfolio, measuring in at 0.75 inches thick, and Western Digital says they're about palm sized.
Western Digital refreshes its My Passport lineup each year, and this year's models have a new look in Black, Blue, and Red color options. My Passport hard drives are formatted for Windows 10 and feature a USB 3.0 connector.
The My Passport for Mac option, which is formatted for macOS Mojave and features a USB-C connector, comes in a Midnight Blue color option. Mac users who have a USB-C machine and are looking at WD hard drives will want the Mac version so it will work out of the box without an adapter.
The new drives are available starting now from the Western Digital Store and Best Buy in the United States. Prices start at $79.99 for 1TB of storage and go up from there.
Article Link: Western Digital Updates 'My Passport' Hard Drive Line With Up to 5TB Storage
Bought a My Passport 4TB drive for use w my 17,1 iMac Mohave. Connected via USB slot. The stupid drive barely lopped along while the LED light slowly went on and off after I erased and formatted for MacOS Extended Journaled. Had to put it away. Maybe you must get a SPECIFIC posted compatible Passport drive, but I wiped and formatted mine and it just struggled to run. Never again a WD drive.
Plutonius
macrumors G3
The WD my passport drives that I own / use never have had any issues.
Although I recommend the drive, I still would never trust it for time machine backups (this goes for all manufacturers of small USB drives).
The drives also seem very slow.
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Did the drive show up on the desktop ?
What were you attempting to do with the drive ?
Was it running slowly or not at all ?
Although I recommend the drive, I still would never trust it for time machine backups (this goes for all manufacturers of small USB drives).
The drives also seem very slow.
[doublepost=1567658670][/doublepost]
Did the drive show up on the desktop ?
What were you attempting to do with the drive ?
Was it running slowly or not at all ?
That's not all. If they haven't changed anything from earlier versions, the Mac version comes with an NTFS write driver. The Mac version also supports the more efficient UASP protocol, whereas the PC version is limited to the older USB BOT. (That's the dumb thing about WD, since Seagate drives have supported UASP on all models for years.)
Rather have two 2 TB drives dying after a month than one 5 TB one. Because restoring two 2 TB drives per month is better than restoring one 5 TB drive per month.
Kevbasscat
macrumors 6502
Lol, I'm always late to the party. Just last evening I went to Best Buy and purchased a 4Tb My Passport to hopefully rescue my 3Tb Seagate Hard Drive, ya, the notorious failing one. I unboxed it, but haven't plugged it in yet. After reading your glowing reviews, I have to return this p.o.s. Will they let me return it? They better. The whole evening was a circus of bumbles. I needed to update Disk Warrior to do the recovery, and I went to their site, entered my serial number, got a downloaded update, then no matter what I did, or how many times I read and re read their instructions, when I ran the update, it said, it's an unserialized version, to reinstall the app, open it and enter the serial number, except there isn't a registration form. I'm not the smartest guy on earth, after all, I bought a Seagate 3Tb hard drive and a 4TB WD Passport, but I can fill out a registration form...If it shows up, arrrrrr! Lol,
This is an auspicious beginning to very nerve racking rescue, one I did not have a backup for, well because it was a rescue drive for a 2Tb WD MY book. This merry go round
, make it stop! Make it stop! Before you give me the 3 backup rule advice, I signed up with Backblaze, a few weeks ago, you know, of 3TB Seagate fame, and am backing up all my drives there. The Seagate 3Tb had been sitting in a drawer for quite a while, and it has some irreplaceable memories on it. I wonder what will go right today? I can't wait. It was last on my list.
This is an auspicious beginning to very nerve racking rescue, one I did not have a backup for, well because it was a rescue drive for a 2Tb WD MY book. This merry go round
, make it stop! Make it stop! Before you give me the 3 backup rule advice, I signed up with Backblaze, a few weeks ago, you know, of 3TB Seagate fame, and am backing up all my drives there. The Seagate 3Tb had been sitting in a drawer for quite a while, and it has some irreplaceable memories on it. I wonder what will go right today? I can't wait. It was last on my list.
montycat
macrumors 6502
When Hurricane Dorian was predicated to pass through my area, I started to do a backup on my three Macs as well as my GFs Mac. My 1.5 year old 4TB WD My Passport decided to die at this time. I can't even erase or do first aid in disk utilities. Frustrating but not dire as I have redundant backups and iCloud for my most important files. I could never imagine having just one backup source. I guess its time to use another brand external HD.
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So weird, as I was posting my comment my electric was intermittent. And the storm isn't even in Fla. anymore. Sorry for the double post
blackxacto
macrumors 65816
Showed on desktop.
Simply store information, not TM. Not a boot disk.
The drive was moving, but slowly, the writing led would flash very very slowly.
Upgrader
macrumors 6502
So I have 2 older Passport drives and I’m about to buy a Thunderbolt only Mac. If I buy 2 micro USB to Thunderbolt cables, are my drives likely to connect ok?
(This sounds like an obvious question when I read it back but you never know with this stuff).
nutmac
macrumors 603
I am guessing your older drives have micro-B type connector. If so, all you need is micro-B 3.0 to USB-C cable, such as CableCreation USB-C to Micro-B 3.0 cable (make sure the connectors match and the cable is minimally 10 Gbps). Thunderbolt 3 is overkill for just about anything, except for 5K monitors and high-speed storage designed for creative professional.
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Clix Pix
macrumors Core
Yes, Nutmac is correct; the micro-B to USB-C cables will work just fine in your machine with Thunderbolt 3, as the connector is actually a USB-C connector, which serves both USB-C and Thunderbolt 3. I have done exactly what Nutmac describes and that is how I connect my older external HDDs, which is much easier than fooling with adapters and such. Only if you have a Thunderbolt 3 device to connect to your Thunderbolt 3 port is it necessary to have a Thunderbolt 3 cable. The Samsung X5, for example, comes with a Thunderbolt 3 cable. The Samsung T5 external SSDs come with two cables: a USB-C to USB-C cable and a USB-C to USB-A cable and that way those devices work in either machines with USB-C or USB-A ports.