Recent incidents (both involving myself and family) have reminded me of the importance of a good backup strategy. External hard drives are a great tools to backup or transfer files. I have owned a My Book and My Passport for quite a while.
Doing a little research on the external drives I was surprised to see that the Passport line had undergone a change since my purchase with multiple versions (and as always, larger sizes).
All Passports feature:
- A compact design (contains a 2.5″ drive).
- USB Powered (no need for extra power supply)
- USB 2.0
- Sync and Encryption software (except the Studio version).
The Passport comes in the following configurations (see breakdown at Western Digital web site):
- Essentials: The no-frills version.
- For Mac: Formatted for Mac.
- Elite: Adds Backup software, Remote Access, Capacity Gauge, and Soft-touch finish.
- Studio:Adds Firewire, Capacity Gauge, and formatted for the Mac. Loses the sync and encryption software.
The Passport comes in sizes up to 500 MB. To compare the models, I will embed the Amazon links for the 320 MB versions. It’s strange that colors can mean big price swings. For example a Bronze Elite is far cheaper at the time of this posting:
