WD My Passport Slim 2TB Portable Metal External Hard Drive USB 3.0 with Auto Backup

Bought this January 2014, still working and still has plenty of space :)

After having a laptop stolen in September and thinking my desktop had died on me this month, I decided I had learned the hard way one too many times and needed some better backup. This is my first experience with an external hard drive so I have nothing to compare it with.First of all it is so small. For some reason I thought these things were the size of my modem. Not as slim as I had imagined but like I said before, nothing to compare it to. It is as thick as the diameter of a penny.It really didn't come with any instructions so I was about to panic but the setup process popped up on its own and was simple and took care of itself. After I started the first back up we had to leave the house so I have no idea how long it took but when we returned (2hours later) it was finished. I went through to make sure it had saved everything I really cared about and that was easy to do and sort through for me.I bought the 2TB (actually 1.81TB) and after backing up my desktop (that is about 5 years old with tons of stuff on it), I had 1.71Tb remaining. I knew when I bought it that I would probably never use more than 1TB but it was my husband's call. We still need to backup his laptop too but from what I have read, we can use this hard drive for both computers. Plus his laptop is new and not used for much so I'm not worried about using up too much memory.So basically, this thing is great so far and if you are a first timer like myself, it is easy to use and most likely you only need 1TB.

I bought a couple of these recently instead of the WD Passport Ultras 2Tb maybe because of looks and metal enclosures as well as the price being pretty much the same. I also have a few of the WD My Passports 2Tb (Black) (USB3) from a couple of years ago when they were much more money (about 50% more).Side by side, these slims don't seem any different in size to me except for the weight. The slims seem heavier to me. I was kinda surprised that the slims don't have some kind of rubber feet or something to cause them to not slip or slide on my desk top. So they are not condusive, in my mind, to stacking them on top of each other. It's a nit-pick I suppose but I'm going to try to find something to place on the bottom for 'feet'.The thing is I have this demonic cat that likes to climb on to my desk and knock things on to the floor or carry things off in her mouth to places hard to find. And I had stacked these up and she knocked one on to the floor (carpeted). But It still works just fine.Overall I like this product, and have never had any trouble with these WD portable drives and are the only ones I will ever buy. They all (WD My Passports) seem very reliable and well made. I could have just as easily gone with the black Ultras as well as these. But these I'm using mainly for my photography and video camera backups.

This is based off my initial experiences with the drive and might be updated as time goes along. That being said, this is a great hard drive. I bought the 1 TB version to replace a 500 GB USB HDD by another brand that was starting to act shaky as the sea. Out of the box, this drive feels very solid. The metal enclosure feels nice in the hand and feels like it would offer some moderate protection should it encounter a rough ride in a car when kept in a laptop bag.The transfer speeds over USB 2.0 from the aforementioned HDD to this one have been very good so far. I cannot test USB 3.0 speeds yet, but a roughly ten year old desktop computer has had no major problems so far with using this drive. The drive initially didn't seem to be detected in Windows Vista on the aforementioned computer, but I assume that was because it was connected to the same pair of ports as another drive as when I moved it to the back of the computer, it came up and installed right away in Vista. Keep the power limitations of USB in mind if you want to use it alongside another USB HDD on something like a laptop and you'll be fine. Overall, a really great hard drive that will work great for being able to hold documents, videos, or whatever else you might want to keep safe.

The item is heavy and thick. 'Slim' is not a word to describe it. And, like the newer versions (blue, silver, or champagne) only the top is metal.Not really a big deal.But note that Western Digital's statement of 3 year warranty is a bit misleading: the warranty period starts when they FIRST sell it to a retailer. When you register the unit (required to utilize the warranty), the calendar has already deducted time spent sitting on a retailer shelf.In my case, the warranty period was 666 days from day 1 of my purchase.I questioned WD and the program was clarified.To update the warranty, I was required to provide a number of scans and other info.In all, while I do not object to the request for a proof of purchase, I do object to the under-handed protocol.That said, the unit works.

It's hard to believe that 20 years ago my entire computer only had a 200 MB hard drive! This holds everything I have on my computers, plus my entire video library. But the best thing about WD Passports is the security. I don't have to put files in any special folder. Once I've set it up, when I plug in my passport, the entire drive is encrypted but will open without a password once I've input it once on that device (if I choose to go that route; otherwise, you can just key in the password every time).I have 4 WD Passports bought over the past 3 years, and I've never had one fail, though I've maxed them out. Still--safety first. I back up everything on TWO separate external drives (yes, I did have both my PC hard drive and an external drive both crash, and a friend lost years of work when that happened; I only lost a month's work).There are so many external drives out there, but after having bought about every brand there is, I stick to WD because it's reliable and I love the encryption--and that is about all I need.