Western Digital Passport 250 GB Hard Drive - WDXMS2500TN

Use for Mac backup

4/22/2008

I use this drive primarily for Macbook backup using Timemachine. After the initial backup, the subsequent backups take mere seconds, even after loading song and picture libraries. It is light, small and fits easily in a small pocket of a briefcase. It looks sharp, although I don't show it off. This drives functions great as a secondary drive or backup drive at home or on the go.

Great drive; poor software.

4/22/2008

I bought the WD Passport as a primary backup drive for my desktop. It is small, light, quiet and has plenty of space, and install was a piece of cake. So far, so good.

The problem came when I decided to use the included software, WDSync, for my backups. WDSync "synchronizes" your data to the drive and encrypts it. You choose the folders, it keeps them up to date, and you can save your "profile" so that each batch of data (ie, if you use different computers) is kept separate. The problem came after I decided to reinstall XP on my C: drive and use the WDSync to restore my data later. When I did, I selected all my files, hit "Copy to PC"....and I began to get a recurring error. "WDSync could not copy a file that was too large for the mobile storage device." This obviously made no sense, as the "mobile storage device" - ie, the Passport - already HAD the files on it. But even after multiple tries, reading the manual, etc. I was unable to get back a number of files. Plus, since the drive encrypted the files, I can't just bypass the software and grab everything off the drive! ARGH.

I have not yet called WD, but I have emailed them, and their answer was unhelpful, to say the least. First they told me to do what I had already done, then they pointed out that WDSync is NOT backup software and should not be used as such. Are you kidding me?? What else would you possibly use it for?? Anyway, I still need to call WD and try to sort things out further, but my long-winded conclusion is this: Buy the drive. DON'T use WDSync.

A lot of Space for the money!

4/20/2008

I purchased this drive so I could store files on it and not clog up my desktop hard drive. Lots of room on this bad boy and the price was less than 50 cents per gigabyte.

perfect size - easy to carry

4/20/2008

This product is a great little investment. i'm not tech savvy and was just looking for a hard drive so i could move data around between my four computers. The price was great for 250 gigs - and it was way more than enough for what i needed it for. so far i've hardly even filled 10% of it. I also love how small and portable this thing is. It fits in my purse and is nice and light.

Excellent Backup Solution

4/14/2008

Bought this drive primarily to backup my MacBook Pro using Time Machine. As with all hard drives, keep in mind that it's sold as a 250GB drive, but the actual drive capacity is 232GB.

I wiped the drive clean and partitioned it -- 200GB for Time Machine use on my Mac and 32GB for storage use on a PC and Mac.

Power isn't an issue on my MBP, the WD Passport operates whether my Mac is plugged in to a power source or running on the battery. Only wish the USB cord was longer.

It comes with WD Passport Software (Windows only) installed on the drive, but I'd highly recommend not installing it or using it especially since it's the drive is PnP and the software (as reported elsewhere) makes the loading time slower.