Western Digital Passport 250 GB Hard Drive - WDXMS2500TN

Couldn't get this to work with my powerbook g4

1/30/2008

i really love the look and size of this external hardrive, but i could not get it to work with my powerbook g4. i went to the western digital website and it recommended a number of steps which I could not duplicate (apparently, this doesn't work well with some macs as indicated on the website). then i waited 20 minutes for technical service and the guy told me i needed a power boost cable because my laptop wasn't supplying the external hard drive with enough power. i didn't want to waste $10 so i ended up just returning. too bad, the hard drive looked great and was very compact, just didn't seem to work with my apple. i'll just buy the new time capsule instead and not deal with the compatibility issues.

Computer Data storage

1/27/2008

So much room if you don't want to store too much data on your internal harddrive. The fan works great and this unit is so compact and sleek.

Love it but it comes with very little Instructions

1/26/2008

Got it yesterday and was pleasantly surprised to see that it came with a neoprene case. With the case on it still fits into a coat pockect with room to spare. I guess WD saw all the complaints that it didn't come with a case.
There is no step by step instruction manual. I was lost on how to get it to start copying my files. After calling the help line (in India), going to their website and using the help menu from Mac's TimeMachine backup I figured out how to get it to start backing up. It took 5 hours to back up 105 GB of files from my G4 12" Powerbook. If it does what everyone else says I will love this little baby.
I removed the glossy finish with 000 steel wool(available at any hardware store). That gives it a nice matted finish. This prevents scratches and finger prints from being visible.

Apple Time Machine Backup Drive

1/26/2008

I use this hard drive to back up my Apple MacBook using the new Time Machine feature of Leopard. It has worked flawlessly and has the capacity I need. It is small, USB powered, and quick. Glad I bought it.

Possible USB solution; comments about software

1/26/2008

If it won't run, try unplugging some USB cords to "free up power," then try the Passport.

I've owned this for about a week and just today resolved a major problem. I scoured the internet for a solution for why this product worked flawlessly on my laptop (HP Pavilion with Windows XP) but gave an error message on my Dell with Windows XP desktop ("USB device not recognized", or somesuch message.) While speaking to the nice fellow on the helpdesk in India, I happened upon the solution for me: I had to unplug a USB cord to a printer to plug in the Passport USB and, miracle, the desktop recognized it! Yeah, me! It hadn't worked in the back ports previously, nor in the front ports. Perhaps I had too much power being sucked out of the back and unplugging the printer released it all. If I'm lucky, it'll work on the front ones, too; but I haven't tried that yet.

As for the online documentation and the little that comes with the product: we feeble techie-wannabees need a little more information to use the product to its fullest. For ex., the WDSync icon sits among several others and I was hesitant to click it. "Sync" what? I guess I'm synchronizing, or updating, data. I'm still not sure if I have to update everything or if there's someway to update only files that have changed since the last update. Also not sure if selecting "all files" is what I need or if I can select only a few and so speed up the download process. I plan to use this to make my work computer portable I'm still learning, but am encouraged.

Thanks to all who posted ideas previously. It put me on the right track once I happened onto a solution.