Western Digital My Passport Wireless Pro

[elsa hoffmann]

Accessory review: Western Digital My Passport Wireless Pro

Comes with USB, SD card reader, (they didn't get the same email as Apple)

Price $229 for 2TB and $249 for 3TB

https://www.dpreview.com/reviews/wd-my-passport-wireless-pro

[simato73]

It uses spinning disks, it should take SSD's to be interesting to me.
The transfer rates are nothing to write home about and external card readers can only be attached via USB 2.
Pass for now; I'll reconsider the decision at the next generation.

[Bjørn Rørslett]

To make the device really versatile, it should also be able to function as a NAS. Which it in fact is claimed to do, but only through wi-fi. Add an Ethernet port and that strangled performance might get the necessary boost. However, the fragile storage technology of a spinning disk drive is not solved. Using a spinning disk as travel storage is risky at best. Period. I have had disk crashes several times on travels and only come through by having duplicate files on cards or DVDs.

The cross-over point in price vs capacity for SSD isn't here yet, but shouldn't be that far off into the near future. I have added 1 TB SSDs to my laptops for pure data storage and don't need the mediocre performance of units like the WD Passport.

[simato73]

To make the device really versatile, it should also be able to function as a NAS. Which it in fact is claimed to do, but only through wi-fi. Add an Ethernet port and that strangled performance might get the necessary boost. However, the fragile storage technology of a spinning disk drive is not solved. Using a spinning disk as travel storage is risky at best. Period. I have had disk crashes several times on travels and only come through by having duplicate files on cards or DVDs.

The cross-over point in price vs capacity for SSD isn't here yet, but shouldn't be that far off into the near future. I have added 1 TB SSDs to my laptops for pure data storage and don't need the mediocre performance of units like the WD Passport.

I totally agree.

[Akira]

A few days ago, I read a report saying that the cost of 1TB SSD has gone below 300 USD.  Yes, it is still more expensive than this item, but should be competitive enough, considering its mechanical reliability and easiness (both physically and mentally) of handling.

WD bought Sundisk last year.  The accompanying USB 2 card reader could be the (enormous) surplus stock. 

[arthurking83]

.... The cross-over point in price vs capacity for SSD isn't here yet, but shouldn't be that far off into the near future. ....

I used to marvel at how small 2.5" drives were, and could still hold 1Tb, then 1.8" drives came along.
My recent PC build I used a M.2 Samsung SSD only because it was the same price as any other 256G SSD, and it's speed was 3x faster .. so why not.
You could probably shoehorn 8 or 10 of those sticks of gum M.2 drives into a 2.5" form factor.

What would be nice to see in the immediate future is a 2.5" form factor using a M.2 SSD, the resultant space saving in the 2.5" case could house a large battery that could power the device for days(not hours or minutes), easily house GbE, and AC Wifi connectors too.

As long as the price of those M.2's drops as quickly as is happening for conventional SSD form factors, the future may come even sooner than the quoted "not far off"

[David H. Hartman]

The USB-2 port is a deal breaker for me. A 5,400 rpm HD is quite undesirable. An SSD in an armored case similar to an Otter Box for a cell phone would give much better safety to one's data. I'd save for an SSD solution with USB-3 or 3.1 access.

Dave Hartman

[MFloyd]

Had a brand new WD Passport crashing. Wacky guarantee. Never again.