As our devices are getting better day by day and urge of having better quality in everything is increasing, the size files is getting bigger as well. And yes, better quality means bigger files, and bigger files mean more space and fast access required. The leading storage solutions provider like Western Digital aka WD are well aware of this ever-increasing hunger for more storage space, so they have come up a nice range of external hard drives for both Mac and Windows based machines.
Our laptops are getting slimmer and thinner, which actually doesn’t offer high-capacity internal storage, and it’s like impossible to keep all the data on your laptop only. It is also a reason where our requirement of an external drive comes to life.
I am using a MacBook Air, which comes with 256GB of internal storage only and not enough for my storage needs as I am a hobby photographer as well. I love to click pictures in high-quality, so I am always in need of more storage to store the collection of my photos. But as a Mac user, I prefer to use a drive that is specifically made for Macs only because it allows the high-speed transfer of data and risk of data loss due to any technical incompatibility is also less.
I got WD’s My Passport Pro 4TB portable external hard drive for review, and I am using it for a while now. If you’re looking for external storage options, you should read this review.
WD offers four types of external drives for Mac, and My Passport Pro is their flagship model that comes with all the latest tech they have to offer. The drive comes in 2TB and 4TB storage capacity variants, and what we reviewed is a 4TB variant.
The drive has an all metal casing with a very smooth finish that looks premium, just like what Apple users like to use. The drive has an integrated Thunderbolt cable, yes no USB connector, so your two or three only USB ports are still free to use, isn’t it a nice approach by WD? But the main reason for using the Thunderbolt is to meet the hard drive’s power requirement.
My Passport Pro is a very high speed and high efficient drive, so it needs more power to perform, and yes this has made WD to eliminate the requirement of AC adaptor to power up the drive.
At the top, My Passport Pro achieves 233MB/S transfer speeds on normal usage. The rates are just more than double of what USB 3.0 drive can ever achieve. I tried transferring a folder having about 700 big and small files of about 50GB total in size, and it just took about 8 minutes to finish the transfer! The performance is just remarkable.
The 4TB variant is having two 2TB drives encased in a single housing, but they perform just as a one single unit. The drive has a physical fan installed, just in case if it gets heated up during long hours of usage.
The dimensions of the 2TB drive are 143.4X88.5X28.7 mm whereas 4TB drive is 143.4X88.5X44.2 mm in size. The 4TB variant is quite bulky and thick, which is something that Apple products users don’t prefer, but sometimes we have to negotiate slimness for sturdiness and durability.
If you need to use the drive for transferring big amount of data that will take time, I strongly recommend you to plug in the charger of your MacBook. The drive is so power hungry that it will suck all the juice out of your battery in no time.
The drive comes with WD Drives Utilities software that allows a user to maintain the drive easily. It let you run several diagnostic tests to ensure the health and optimal functioning of the drive. The other features of utility include RAID management and secure deletion of data & formatting of the drive.
WD My Passport Pro Price:
- 2 TB My Passport Pro – approximately Rs. 24,000
- 4 TB My Passport Pro – approximately Rs. 33,000
The drives are now available to buy both online and at the retail stores.
The GOOD:
- Amazing build quality – All thanks to the metal casing
- Amazing performance – faster than USB 3.0 drives
- WD Drives Utility – makes it pretty easy to manage the drive settings
- Comes with three years of limited warranty
- No AC power adapter required
The BAD:
- Bulky – Two drives encased in one which makes it heavier
- Costly – Prices are quite high
- Power hungry
- The drive will solely work on Mac OS X only, not with
- Windows even in the Boot Camp or any other virtual environment
- The inbuilt fan is pretty noisy
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The verdict:
WD My Passport Pro, as the name suggests is made for the professionals, and it stands up perfectly to what it claims and offer. It is one of the best options out in the market for Mac users without any doubt. If budget is no issue, I will highly recommend this drive.
