Western Digital Passport Elite Review

by Jerry Jackson

The Passport has been Western Digital's most successful line of portable external hard drives for several years. The sleek casing, solid build quality, reasonable speed and tons of storage space continue to keep these USB-powered 2.5" 5400RPM SATA notebook hard drives popular. The all new Passport Elite series offers even greater capacities, improved indicator lights, simple port protection, and some nice software to keep your portable storage organized.

I am no stranger to external hard drives. I own four 3.5" hard drives in external USB enclosures and two 2.5" notebook hard drives in external USB enclosures for a total of almost two terabytes of external storage. Both of my external notebook drives (80GB and 120GB HDDs) are earlier versions of the Western Digital Passport series. While I like both of my older Passports, they are not without their flaws. Did Western Digital improve on an already popular design? Let's take a look.

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Build and Design

In terms of the basic external shape and dimensions the Passport Elite is almost identical to the older Passport series.

• Dimensions (H/L/W): 0.59"(15mm)/4.967"(126mm)/3.1"(80mm)
• Weight: 0.4 lbs/0.18 kg
• USB cable (USB-A to mini-USB) length: 11"

While the size and shape are impressive, the single design element that impressed me was the finish. Since the dimensions of the Passport Elite are almost identical to the older Passports there wasn't much to catch my eye until I touched the new "soft-touch" finish on the Passport Elite. A common criticism users had with the older Passports was the glossy black finish was a magnet for fingerprints and made it difficult to securely hold the drive in your hand.

I've dropped my old Passport drives at least two or three times because of the glossy finish on those drives is almost "slippery" after some oil from your skin is applied to the surface. The matte finish on the Passport Elite not only makes it easier to grip the drive, but it looks cleaner because it doesn't show off your fingerprints.

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The enclosure is very sleek and stylish with a minimalistic design and a subtle Western Digital "WD" logo. The bottom is likewise simple in design, with no rubberized feet like those found on earlier models. The only thing to see on the bottom of the Passport Elite is a small black sticker containing the product information, such as the serial number, model number, and country of manufacture.

To get to the point, this may in fact be the best looking external notebook hard drive I've seen. On one hand, it's just a rounded box, but look a little closer at the design and you might just have to call it sexy. At the time of this writing the Passport Elite series is only available in four colors (titanium, bronze, blue, and red) but I suspect we might see more color options given Western Digital's history of releasing multiple color choices after an initial product release.

One of my favorite improvements over the design of the previous Passport series is that the small rubberized flap that opens to reveal the mini-USB port has been replaced with a sliding panel that protects the mini-USB port while traveling. In addition, the small blue LED ring (which looks like a miniaturized version of the LED ring in the MyBook) has been replaced in favor of a series of four LED indicators that also serve as the new "capacity gauge."

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The capacity gauge enables users to know at a glance how much space is available on the drive. The Capacity Gauge consists of four sections which illuminate left to right to indicate space used on the drive during power-on state. Each section represents approximately 25 percent of drive capacity. Because this drive is preformatted and contains software, utilities and user manuals, the first section is illuminated upon installation.

The LED indicators also serve as standard activity indicators:

Appearance	Drive State
Steady	Power-on or power-save mode
Slow Flashing	System standby
Moving Left to Right	Drive in use

Western Digital also includes their standard suite of software:

• WD Sync is a synchronization and encryption software that enables the synchronization of your data between different computers using the Passport Elite. It also protects your data on the Passport Elite with 128-bit encryption. (Windows only)
• WD Anywhere Backup is a simple yet effective backup and recovery application that provides around-the-clock data protection. It features automatic backup to multiple destinations and synchronization of working files to keep them current.
• Copy Application Software allows you back up the software included in the Passport Elite.

Performance and Benchmarks

The Passport Elite drives are available in two capacities: 250GB and 320GB. With the maximum capacity 320GB drive, that translates to just under 100,000 high resolution digital photos (saved as compressed JPEGs), approximately 140 hours of DVD quality video, or approximately 38 hours of HD video. That might not be as impressive as a one terabyte desktop hard drive, but that's a lot of storage for a portable hard drive.

In terms of speed, the Passport Elite is rated at a "theoretical" maximum transfer rate of 480Mb (megabits) per second based on USB 2.0 transfer rates. That would translate to 60MB (megabytes) per second.

What these figures suggest is that the Passport Elite is roughly half as fast in transfer rates as an average 5400 rpm SATA internal notebook hard drive. That's just a side effect of using USB 2.0 rather than a SATA/150 interface.

The HDTune benchmark measures the overall performance of a drive both in terms of transfer speeds (read/write), "access time" (the amount of time spent searching for data on the disk) and CPU usage (how hard your computer has to work in order to use the drive). What I discovered thanks to the HDTune benchmark was a nice surprise: the Passport Elite actually has a similar average transfer rate compared to a Seagate 5400 rpm internal SATA hard drive.

Internal Seagate 5400 rpm SATA hard drive:

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WD Passport Elite connected to Dell Latitude D630:

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WD Passport Elite connected to Asus Eee PC:

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The most important performance factor in my mind is that I don't notice the difference between the speed of my notebook's internal hard drive and the WD Passport Elite in "real world" use. Both drives are fast and the minor differences in transfer speeds are so insignificant that most consumers will never notice a difference.

As mentioned previously, the Passport Elite is a completely USB-powered device, so the single 11-inch USB cable supplies both power and data connectivity. The power requirements for this drive are so minor that most laptops will have no problems supplying enough power via USB. All of the notebooks I tested with the Passport Elite were able to provide enough power while running on battery. Only a few ultra-portable notebooks such as the Asus Eee PC and HP Mini-Note had trouble "consistently" powering the drive while on battery power. Of course, none of the laptops had any issues powering the drive when the laptops were plugged into a power outlet.

Heat and Noise

The Passport Elite runs quiet and cool. There isn't much more to say on that note. The drive gets "warm" after hours of serious use, but never gets hot. In terms of noise, even when transferring files, the drive makes only the softest audible noise. Of course, when the drive isn't accessing any files it's completely silent.

Conclusion

The Western Digital Passport Elite is a wonderful update to the best portable external hard drive on the market. The elegant design has been improved with a "soft-touch" finish that makes it easy to hold and won't collect fingerprints. The solid performance is complemented by a convenient capacity gauge and easy-to-use synchronization and encryption software.

As a mobile storage solution, the Western Digital Passport Elite series is simply the best.

Pros:

• Attractive enclosure ... and no more fingerprints!!!
• Nice sliding port protector and capacity gauge/activity indicators
• Perfectly portable
• Simple to set up and use
• Solid performance
• Synchronization and encryption software included

Cons:

• The 320GB model is a little expensive
• Included synchronization and encryption software works with Windows only

 

Could you please clarify exactly what you meant by some ultraportables having trouble "consistently" powering the drive on battery power? What would end up happening, such as the transfer process being interrupted mid-way?

Looks like a very nice drive, I'm heavily contemplating getting this for my Vaio TZ, I hope it wouldn't have trouble powering it on battery power occasionally unlike the EEE and HP Mini-Note?



Ooooo, 4444th post! : )

 

Congrats on the post milestone.

As for, some notebooks having trouble "consistently" powering the drive ... sometimes I would plug the Passport Elite into the USB port on my Eee PC and it would show up but would have weird transfer rates or would suddenly disappear as if it was unplugged. Same thing with the Mini-Note. Again, this didn't always happen and that's why I said "consistently."

However, both of these tiny notebooks worked perfectly with the Passport Elite when the notebooks were plugged in.

I didn't have any issues using the drive with any other notebooks. I think it's purely an issue of how much power these notebooks had left to spare for a USB device.

I had similar issues with a USB-powered DVD drive plugged into my Eee PC.

 

now we just need to see if the non-elite passports have the same hard drive as the elites...

 

Nice review Jerry. I looked at the WD passport which locally is selling for $139.00 but opted for an enclosure that allows for ESATA and USB.

With the addition of a $20.00 SATA-ESATA express card adapter and a WD 320Gb bare drive in the enclosure, I can get much faster transfersas well as keeping a USB port free when on USB power (the ESATA cards are not powered so the only downside is that when using the adapter I still must use a USB port for power. The whole thing cost under $200.00.

It would be interesting to see a test on this type of setup. Another benefit is that I can connect to my dvr and transfer recorded programs when my dvr hard drive is full.

M1330 T8300 64Gb ssd hard drive 4Gb ram. Only 2 USB ports.

 

apparently i heard that some device cant power this kind of drives with only 1-USB ports. apparently i heard that the harddrive will spin down if the power usage is not met, thus causing damage to the drives and data. this is what i heard. this is why i bought the seagate freeagent go (2 USB plug, which although fairly inconvinient, will make sure it gets enough power) instead of the WD Passport. on the side note. i think WD offer a 2 plug usb cord for an extra charge.

thats not a good number 4444 hahhaha.

 

Nice review! The Elite version looks good but it would be even better if it was black. I have the 120GB ver. from the last gen it well but I dont like how it was kinda slanted I prefer this new one.

 

I was getting the 320GB WD drive myself! Thanks for the review!

 

Nice review!

 

hey did it came with a carring case

 

Yes, it comes with that thin fabric slipcase/bag/pouch in the first photo. It really just protects the finish if you toss the drive in your backpack or briefcase. It's a nice little extra, but hardly impressive.

But, hey, I don't buy my external drives based on the carrying case.

 

Jerry,

Just the review I was looking for (good for me it was at the top of Google's list). Yesterday I was asked by a co-worker for my advice on removing some of his data from the company network in an effort to reduce the load on the network (as we all were requested to do). I thought last evening that, for this person, a small to medium capacity external hard drive would be the solution. I will rush down to Circuit City and get one of these for my friend.

Now, to the main reason for writing. I have been searching for several months for a 1TB external hard drive to replace my 500GB Fantom Drive. As is usually the case, with me being an engineer, I've researched it to the point with reading every available user review, there seems to be no good units out there. I love the styling (Apple intervention?) and specs of the LaCie, but far too out of balance between good and bad reivews. Just when I think I've found THE unit, up pops more bad user reviews which only sends me back to the beginning of my search.

Well, I know this can't be an accurate assessment, and fully understand most people write only to rag on something. Having said this, I've just decided that I'll let you make this decision for me. If you were to buy, today, a 1TB external hard drive (not too complicated, may be transported with me on occasional trips, non networked storage, auto backup software preferred but not mission critical), to be your primary source for backup and the keeper of your life's work...what would you buy?

thanx in advance and I'll understand if...on second thought, no I won't! GIVE ME THE *#!% ANSWER!

 

Well, since you asked so nicely.

I hate to recommend yet another WD product (since I realize it sounds biased after having just written a favorable WD product review) but if I had to buy a 1TB external hard drive right now it would be the WD My Book Home Edition.

It gives you USB, Firewire, and eSATA connectivity so you're covered for any situation and you can use faster eSATA speeds if you've got access to an eSATA port.

If I was running a Mac then I'd go with the larger WD My Book Studio Edition II because it's RAID enabled and preformated for Macs.

There are other excellent 1TB external hard drives (some of the ones from LaCie are solid alternatives) but most of the competition is eSATA only or USB/Firewire only. The ones that offer both Firewire 400 and 800 are nice, but I'd still rather have eSATA over FireWire 800 ... simply because there aren't a lot of machines with Firewire 800 ports other than Macs.

The only thing I dislike about these larger desktop enclosures is that they require a power outlet connection (so they aren't as convenient for "portable" storage) and they are much bulkier than the smaller 2.5" enclosures like the Passport series. Unfortunately, you're stuck with a bulkier desktop drive right now if you want a 1TB external hard drive.

 

I've been contemplating buying a Passport (either 160GB or 250GB), but the older model's plastic, glossy finish is an absolute magnet for scratches. You mentioned it's a rubber-y texture, but would you say it's more scratch resistant than the normal Passport? I'm trying to decide if the extra price is worth it.

And nice review - that's one sweet looking drive overall.

 

Thanks for the quick response and I'm off to Circuit City for the Passport Elite.

Unfortunately, CC carries only the Essential Edition so I'll need to search the web for prices and ordering. Given the fact that there is only $50 difference (per WD list pricing) between the Home Edition, Studio Edition and Studio Edition ll (allows for user servicing), I would rather go with the Studio Edition ll. My thinking (hope) is that this external drive will outlive my current computers, therefore I'm buying into the future. Having said this, I'm not confident that I can pull off reformatting from MAC to Vista. I read WD's spec sheet and it all reads okay, but their terminology isn't quite what I was following on my machine when I did a walkthrough. I've read some user posts (now here I go again) where it didn't go as planned for them and they ended with a mess.

The RAID 0 feature I believe would be a huge asset. I work all day with complex 3D modelling/rendering and audio/video creation, so my world is all about the need for speed.

thanx again (offered with no expletives this time)

 

I would absolutely say the finish on the Passport Elite is less likely to suffer from minor surface scratches. One of my older Passports doesn't have any scratches (because I don't ever take that one off my desk) but then my other old Passport has lots of minor surface scratches.

I think this new finish is less likely to show scratch marks ... but I'm sure you could scratch it if you "tried."

 

After seeing the evolution of the Passports (and owning one of each), this is definitely an improvement, but I think the case is a step backwards. Online WD does sell soft and hard cases for their Passports, and if you get one from Costco they *come* with the soft cases (long ago they had a few that came with the hard ones). I plan on picking one up today... see how it goes

 

I am about to pick up the 320GB Elite...I will use it to store my music collection as a a backup. I've read that the drive is pre-formatted as FAT-32. Would you recommend reformatting the drive as NTFS?

 

Hi, I just got a 320GB Elite from Amazon. It seems to working well except for one thing. Even when the drive is not in use, it spins consistently, creating a very noticeable vibration when touched. As soon as I plug it in, it starts spinning (I assume from the vibration that that's what it's doing) and doesn't stop until I unplug it.

Is this normal? If not, I'm going to get it exchanged.

Thanks!

 

sorry, i'm posting another reply for the purpose of subscribing to this thread.

 

I just bought WD My Passport Elite 500GB, and have been having issues connecting to my laptop. The desktop recognized it after a couple of tries. My laptop on the for the most part would detect it for a second, and then drop the connection. It close to being usable. After all what's the use of having a portable hard drive that doesn't work with a laptop... designed to be portable. I went to WD's support web site, but there isn't much help there. I should have gone with La Cie instead.

Sure it has a nice finish, and it's slim, but so does my paper weight at a significantly lower price.

 

Hmmm, do you hear it making any clicking noises of any sort? Or do you feel it slightly vibrating once you plug it in? I have the 320GB Elite and it works just fine, but I have used many portable hard drives in the past and one common problem I see if that sometimes the hard drive uses too much power and thus cannot turn on (that is why sometimes you see hard drives that need 2 USB ports). The slight vibration indicates that it is receiving power and on. Clicking generally indicates it is not getting enough power and is trying to turn on. Try also just waiting a little bit (~15 secs), maybe it is just spinning up a little slow.