Review: Western Digital My Passport for Mac Hard Drive

For the past few weeks, I've been using the new generation of My Passport for Mac, the company's line of external HDDs Western digital designed especially for Ma computer users. At first, the obvious question arises: What would be the difference of this model to other “ordinary” and cheaper HDDs available on the market? These and many more will be answered in the next paragraphs.

At first glance, the design of My Passport for Mac discreet, but beautiful. Your appearance clean blends perfectly with Apple's aesthetic language; The lower part is very similar to the aluminum used in the construction of the most modern Macs, despite being plastic. Apart from the make and model inscriptions (on the top cover) and the technical details (hidden on the bottom) besides a usage indicator LED next to the USB 3.0 port, there are no other obstructive elements in the unit, forming an approved minimalist array. .

My Passport for Mac by Western Digital

The chubby 2TB model (that's what I tested), about 2cm thick, while the remarkably thin 1TB version, measuring just over 1cm. Either way, both versions are compact and easily transportable. The included USB 3.0 cable is approximately 30cm long, which is suitable for any type of Mac sold today including Mac Pro but can be annoying if you need to connect your HDD to a tower desktop.

Connecting the HDD to my MacBook Pro, the first impression I got was that it wasn't a Mac-specific product. The disk was absolutely empty, with no utility or installer for that purpose; There was only the empty space, ready to be filled with files, like a giant flash drive. Just by way of comparison, My Passport Ultra, from the same manufacturer (but without Apple's special dedication) and the external HDD that I use on a daily basis, came with a number of utility programs for Windows, but you understand my point.

On the plus side, I highlight the fact that My Passport for Mac was already formatted in OS X Expanded, the most appropriate partition type for use on Macs. The only problem is that if you intend to use HDD also on a Windows machine, you have to reformat it to a partition type that the Microsoft system recognizes, such as exFAT.

My Passport for Mac by Western Digital

By accessing the Western Digital website, as indicated in the boxed brochure, I was able to download the appropriate applications. Only two: the WD Drive Utilities Its main functions are to check the status of the unit to prevent potential failures; delete all your files and program a hibernate state for the HDD after a certain time. In a brief test, all three functions worked to their satisfaction, although the diagnose of disk problems seems to me somewhat incomplete: once a problem is detected, there is no option for the utility to fix it; it is up to the user to hunt for possible solutions on the internet, to contact WD or to sit down and cry.

My Passport for Mac by Western Digital

The other software available, the WD Security, allows you to set a password for accessing disk content and trusted machines where the password is not required. Data is encrypted on 256-bit AES hardware, an interesting feature that does not affect drive performance, unlike software encryption solutions for those concerned with the confidentiality and security of their files, an essential feature. External HDD also worked smoothly with Time Machine, the native backup feature of OS X which is not quite a differential as it works with any type of external storage.

Speaking of performance, My Passport for Mac didn't leave anything to be desired, but it didn't do better than its Windows brother. Part of the blame about this is that we're talking about a 5,400RPM HDD WD missed the opportunity here to differentiate its product with a higher spin disk. In my tests, both HDDs were rated at 110MB / s for both read and write, which is an acceptable rate for drives connected via USB 3.0 in 2016. Other more robust models support much higher transfer speeds, but for a much higher price.

My Passport for Mac by Western Digital

According to WD, the suggested price for the 1TB version of $ 350while the 2TB model comes out by R $ 550 In a quick search in the online stores, however, what we found were much higher values. In the end, WD's new line does not go far beyond the commonplace in terms of external HDDs; Your "Mac" subscription adds almost nothing (it only frees you from the software that usually comes with the Windows version) and should not be a major factor when choosing a buyer; On the other hand, it is a well-designed device, with interesting safety features (download separately), and worthwhile if found in price comparable to its competitors.