Rated 
Carry your data with with BIG hard drive in a small, stylish package
Started Apr 14, 2008
Strengths: Nice design, reliable, useful included software
Weaknesses: Scratches easily, activity light in hard spot to view, no accessory power cable included (nor any socket to plug one in to, unlike previous models)
Being a bit of a hard drive 'collector', when I found out that Western Digital was rolling out a new model of the portable passport drive, I was excited to say the least. A bit of research revealed what I could expect... nice package, more resembles the MyBook series of drives than the slanted Passport drives. That's where the changes really stopped. In this iteration of the drive, there are no new features (save maybe for updated software), no new capacities, drive speeds, etc. It appears to be the same drive in a nicer package. Some needed features are missing, like an AC power adapter. Previous models also did not include an adapter, but one was available as an accessory, and the previous drives accepted AC power input. This model doesn't even have the socket for the AC power. The solution for using this drive on low power USB slots is to purchase a booster cable, that basically has two USB inputs and one mini-USB output that plugs into the drive. No luck if you have your USB slots already filled, but I'm sure that it will be fine for most users. All in all, it fits my needs, so I give it a rating of 4 out of 5, missing 5 only because of the absent power socket.
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