WD Ships First 2 TB Portable Hard Drive

[webfact]

PRESS RELEASE

WD ships first 2 TB portable hard drive

World's top-selling external storage solution gets capacity boost, premium new design, improved signature features of security and automatic backup

Western Digital (NYSE: WDC) today announced the next generation of its top-selling My Passport line of portable hard drives,offering consumers a fresh new enclosure design and the first-ever 2 TB capacity in a portable drive. The new My Passport drives offer WD SmartWare automatic backup software and WD Security for password protection and hardware encryption.

With the addition of premium finishes, specially-engineered to make the outer shell more resistant to scratches and fingerprints, the new My Passport portable drives feature ultra-fast USB 3.0 connectivity; USB 2.0 compatibility; continuous, automatic backup software; and password protection with hardware encryption. The included software offers the flexibility to customize the drive to a user's storage preferences: installing all features, just the components needed, or using the drive without the software.The new 2 TB model offers massive capacity in an amazing pocket-sized enclosure, affording plenty of secure storage for all of one's photos, video, music and other important files.

Given the small form factor and easy portability of My Passport drives, the built-in security features of password protection and hardware encryption help protect files from unauthorized use, making the drives safe data repositories for data while offering peace of mind to busy consumers on the go.

"More than money, jewelry and other valuables, the item most missed if ever lost or stolen is ones computer - and everything on it - so our goal in launching the next-generation of the popular My Passport drives is to encourage more consumers to protect their data before something happens," said Jim Welsh, executive vice president and general manager of WD's branded products and consumer electronics groups. "The new My Passport makes backing up and preserving one's digital life easier, reliable and more secure than ever - it's the perfect blend of monstrous capacity, reliability and user-friendly technology in a sleek form factor."

Pricing and Availability

My Passport 2 TB portable hard drives come with a 3-year limited warranty and are available at select retailers and distributors in Thailand. MSRP is 7,600 baht for the new 2 TB edition.

-- The Nation 2012-03-26

[givenall]

I would wait a while if these are made in Thailand. I am worried because of flood they may still have particle and confirmation issue in their disk drive plant. It should be sorted out in 6 month or so

[rayinkrabi]

I'm sure I saw Acer or similar 2tb hard drives much cheaper than this in tesco ages ago (?)

[tomat]

I'm sure I saw Acer or similar 2tb hard drives much cheaper than this in tesco ages ago (?)

Yes 2TB external drives have existed for a looong time, but those are not classified as "portable" meaning that they use 2.5" drive inside and don't need an external power supply but gets their power from the USB plug(s).

[rayinkrabi]

Thx Tomat, I'm not familiar with this subject, so I guess the higher price is due to its portabilty..still seems a bit steep tho.

[Tywais]

Thx Tomat, I'm not familiar with this subject, so I guess the higher price is due to its portabilty..still seems a bit steep tho.

Here are the dimensions - the bottom one is the 2TB. The 2nd photo shows it in a ruggedized case for the field. The price is about 1500 Baht more then the 1 TB portable drives but will probably drop from list price as competition comes on line with equivalent models. But yes, you pay for the portability/compactness.

[h90]

Thx Tomat, I'm not familiar with this subject, so I guess the higher price is due to its portabilty..still seems a bit steep tho.

I worked with both. Even it does not seem to much difference the large drive with power supply in the laptop bag is really annoying. Every time you want to use it, you need to find a plug first......

Now I really love the small WD Passport 1 TB I have.

(Just an idiot Taxi driver drove over it and now it is at a recovery service...)

[Tywais]

(Just an idiot Taxi driver drove over it and now it is at a recovery service...)

Maybe one of these would have helped.

[h90]

(Just an idiot Taxi driver drove over it and now it is at a recovery service...)

Maybe one of these would have helped.

yes....laptop had broken screen as well.

Maybe I let someone weld me a stainless steel case?

[craigt3365]

I have the 1TB model and it's great. Very small and NO power supply cord!!!!

[BugJackBaron]

I have the 1TB and it is so far far more reliable than the power-chord model I had(which I lost data on).

At 7600 it is about twice the price of the 1TB model so hopefully that will go down and it will become the new

"sweet spot".

I just wonder what happened to SeaGate. They used to be a great alternative and had cool led lights across the body

Go Seagate go!

[negreanu]

Think they are still 12.5mm not 9.5mm therefore won't fit in all internal laptop bays should you decide to rip it apart.

However Macbook Pro's can accommodate 12.5mm drives. So rip it apart time?

[RedNIvar]

I have the 1TB and it is so far far more reliable than the power-chord model I had(which I lost data on).

At 7600 it is about twice the price of the 1TB model so hopefully that will go down and it will become the new

"sweet spot".

I just wonder what happened to SeaGate. They used to be a great alternative and had cool led lights across the body

Go Seagate go!

They are behind in time to market. And have been for over a year now.

They have never been an alternative to WD, where would you get that idea. They lack in external drive creativity and for the longest time had arrogance to think that the external market was not worth investing in. Hence, now are behind in the business segment. Their attempt in going into the media player market (like the WDTV) fell flat in their faces. Their drives are bulky, lack imagination and still have a bridge board attached. They could not even be bothered to work with a USB PCBA.

I don't really see Seagate going!

[RedNIvar]

I would wait a while if these are made in Thailand. I am worried because of flood they may still have particle and confirmation issue in their disk drive plant. It should be sorted out in 6 month or so

You do realize the WD has two manufacturing sites? I would think their OEM customers would have a bigger concern that you and would probably have their own independent qualification and buyoff. I would think all issues would have been sorted out prior to restart, unless you know different.

[astral]

I have 500Gb and 1Tb portables from Seagate,

also a 2Tb disk that needs external power, as a backup.

The latter stays at home, but the portables go on the road with me

and carry all my torrent downloads

[BugJackBaron]

I have the 1TB and it is so far far more reliable than the power-chord model I had(which I lost data on).

At 7600 it is about twice the price of the 1TB model so hopefully that will go down and it will become the new

"sweet spot".

I just wonder what happened to SeaGate. They used to be a great alternative and had cool led lights across the body

Go Seagate go!

They are behind in time to market. And have been for over a year now.

They have never been an alternative to WD, where would you get that idea. They lack in external drive creativity and for the longest time had arrogance to think that the external market was not worth investing in. Hence, now are behind in the business segment. Their attempt in going into the media player market (like the WDTV) fell flat in their faces. Their drives are bulky, lack imagination and still have a bridge board attached. They could not even be bothered to work with a USB PCBA.

I don't really see Seagate going!

I got the idea from a google search on "best external HD " or something like that. The ones that

came up most in forums and discussions were Seagate and Western Digital.

I have somewhat old 350GB external Seagate and it still runs fine. It also seems to have less nagware than on WD.\

Yes I know you can ignore the backup software provided and I access it as an NTFS volume from linux or sometimes win 7.

Edited March 28, 2012 by BugJackBaron

[bobl]

Might as well throw in my $0.02...

Been in the profession since long before "personal" hard drives ever came along. My first hard drive (outside of business - for home) was a 5.25" full height 10Mb (no that's not a typo) IBM drive, that replaced one of the two floppy drives on my IBM PC/XT.

Fast forward 28 years, and to cut a long story short Seagate gets my vote. I've lost less data off Seagate drives than any other type - from a sample set of many hundreds of drives over the years...

[nikster]

Seagate recently bought Samsung's HD division. Major consolidation happening in hard drives, there's only very few players left.

I have a 1TB portable WD but it's a bit clunky compared to the 500GB version - didn't see that on the packaging, found it a little disappointing. It works though, and it's great to have a portable backup solution.