Price : Too low to display
WD's ultra-portable My Passport Essential USB drive, features WD SmartWare data management and backup software that backs up your data automatically and continuously, shows your backup as it happens, and restores lost files effortlessly. Password protection and military-grade, 256-bit hardware-based encryption lets you secure your data.
This review is from : Western Digital My Passport Essential 250 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive (Midnight Black)
I preferred the old design . These are great drives, but the annoying embedded firmware that makes it look like a CD and forces you to secure the damned thing is a royal pain. I just format the entire drive so I can use it the way I want. WD needs to stop screwing with a good design.
I preferred the old design . These are great drives, but the annoying embedded firmware that makes it look like a CD and forces you to secure the damned thing is a royal pain. I just format the entire drive so I can use it the way I want. WD needs to stop screwing with a good design.
Western Digital My Passport Essential 250 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive (Midnight Black) Reviews
great hard drive weird software . Love the hard drives, behave great with Mac (OS-10X), Dell (Vista Windows) and HP (XP Windows) laptops. Have three of them, will get another couple before long. But the bundled back-up software is troublesome for us, doesn't operate as transparently as Mac's Time Machine and is difficult to get a handle on its status. So we use it (for Windows machines) without the software, as an attached storage device. On Mac, also without the WD bundled software, Time Machine likes the Hard Drive.
great hard drive weird software . Love the hard drives, behave great with Mac (OS-10X), Dell (Vista Windows) and HP (XP Windows) laptops. Have three of them, will get another couple before long. But the bundled back-up software is troublesome for us, doesn't operate as transparently as Mac's Time Machine and is difficult to get a handle on its status. So we use it (for Windows machines) without the software, as an attached storage device. On Mac, also without the WD bundled software, Time Machine likes the Hard Drive.
Western Digital My Passport Essential 250 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive (Midnight Black) Opinions
very pleased . Item arrived as expected and in a timely manner. Works great, did not have any issues with ordering, receiving, or operation. Would recommend to anyone.
very pleased . Item arrived as expected and in a timely manner. Works great, did not have any issues with ordering, receiving, or operation. Would recommend to anyone.
If you're looking to mod your Wii this is the hard drive for you . Although this external hard drive is a little on the pricey sides for the amount of storage it provides, it works perfectly. For those trying to mod their Wii, this hard drive works 100% with all of the modification software that is currently available. While playing games the hard drive will never slow down and therefore there won't ever be any lag.
Easiest backup I've ever used . This backup drive is so easy to use and so small you can carry it wherever you go if you need to.
Cons Review
Very Disappointed . I bought this drive because I have the previous version of WD Passport and it is fantastic.
This version, however, is a huge disappointment. WD set aside about 700mb for their Virtual CD
which prompts you to install their software everytime you connect the hard drive.
In order to de-activate it, you have to download several software from their website and go through a long step.
Even then, you will not get that 700mb of space back.
I understand that they are trying give us the software but why can we not delete the program if we do
not want to use it? I do not usually leave reviews but this is just unacceptable to me.
I will not buy another product from WD unless they stop doing this.
This version, however, is a huge disappointment. WD set aside about 700mb for their Virtual CD
which prompts you to install their software everytime you connect the hard drive.
In order to de-activate it, you have to download several software from their website and go through a long step.
Even then, you will not get that 700mb of space back.
I understand that they are trying give us the software but why can we not delete the program if we do
not want to use it? I do not usually leave reviews but this is just unacceptable to me.
I will not buy another product from WD unless they stop doing this.
Horrible product forces non-removable software on you . Can't remove the VCD (you can hide it but not remove it). Forces "smartware" (a total misnomer) to run in the background. Frequently freezes during write operations. Returning immediately. I suggest you buy something else or you'll be returning it as well.
Used it twice and already broke . I literally used it twice, first time to empty out stuff from my internal hard drive, and another time to grab a file from it. Plugged it in yesterday and it's telling me that it cant recognize it..
Will be taking it back
Will be taking it back
Unusable on many devices . You cannot connect this to a camera or a VCR because it has 2 partitions, one of which, called a VCD (Virtual CD) pretends to be a read-only CD. This prevents the device from being accepted by cameras, VCRs, etc.
To the best of my knowledge everybody who tried to delete or reformat this VCD has failed. WD's software only allows you to hide this partition - and you have to do this on every single pc you plug the device into - it does not allow you to remove it. The software on this VCD slows down your pc and keeps prompting you to install drivers you don't normally need for an external hard disk.
For Linux users: don't think this does not concern you. It does. Neither fdisk, sfdisk, parted, gparted nor u3-tool will remove the VCD for you.
Buy Seagate products instead, they are about the same price for the same storage capacity and they have no annoying VCD.
To the best of my knowledge everybody who tried to delete or reformat this VCD has failed. WD's software only allows you to hide this partition - and you have to do this on every single pc you plug the device into - it does not allow you to remove it. The software on this VCD slows down your pc and keeps prompting you to install drivers you don't normally need for an external hard disk.
For Linux users: don't think this does not concern you. It does. Neither fdisk, sfdisk, parted, gparted nor u3-tool will remove the VCD for you.
Buy Seagate products instead, they are about the same price for the same storage capacity and they have no annoying VCD.
Poor Connector; Tempermental . For a portable hard drive, the connector is way too temperamental. Just the slightest movement of the cable anywhere along its length will disconnect it. Nice price but there is no portability here - you need a stable desktop environment to use it. Constant unplanned disconnects caused the drive to crash many times and I lost lots of data.
Product Image
Feature Western Digital My Passport Essential 250 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive (Midnight Black)
- Automatic, continuous backup
- Password protection and 256-bit encryption
- Visual backup control center
- USB 2.0 interface
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Product Details
EAN : 0718037744537UPC : 718037744537
MPN : WDBAAA2500ABK-NESN
Brand : Western Digital
Weight : 1 pounds
Height : 2 inches
Length : 8 inches
Width : 7 inches
Binding : Personal Computers
Manufacturer : Western Digital
Model : WDBAAA2500ABK-NESN
Publisher : Western Digital
SKU : DH_WDBAAA2500ABK
Studio : Western Digital
Where To Buy
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