Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for WD My Passport Studio 1TB Mac Portable External Hard Drive Storage FireWire at Amazon.com. Read honest and unbiased product reviews from our users. WD My Passport Studio 2TB Mac Portable External Hard Drive Storage FireWire. Western Digital also includes three cables for connecting the My Passport Studio to either a Mac or PC. Performance and Benchmarks. The My Passport Studio drives are available in two capacities at.
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Western Digital My Passport Studio 1TB
Western Digital My Passport Studio 500GB
Western Digital’s latest My Passport Studio has a solid build and multiple connections, but slow transfer speeds and a preinstalled security app hamstring an otherwise decent drive.
Unlike the My Passport Essential’s () plastic exterior, the My Passport Studio is made from anodized aluminum with a black case and silver edges, giving it both a durable build and professional look. The drive weighs 0.75 pounds, which doesn’t sound like a lot, but it feels sturdy when you hold it in your hand.
The drive has a USB 2.0 port and two FireWire 800 ports, and with a tiny activity light. The My Passport Studio comes preformatted for the Mac, so there’s no need to reformat it. You get the necessary cables (though no FireWire 800 to FireWire 400 cable), along with a Quick Install guide and warranty information. A full digital version of the user’s manual is included on the drive itself, or you can download it from Western Digital’s website.
We tested the 1TB version, but WD sells a 500GB version for $170 and a 750GB drive for $200.
Every time you connect the Passport Studio to your Mac, you’re greeted by Western Digital’s Unlocker software, which requires you to type in a preset password before you can begin using the drive. [Editor's note: This was our experience with the evaluation unit used for testing. A WD representative says that with brand new drives, the Unlocker software should not ask for a password. This is to allow you to delete the software if you wish.] To get around it, you have to use the provided WD Security app. Once installed, you change the password or stop Unlocker from showing up by removing any required password. I’d prefer that Western Digital let the customer decide if they want to use their security app or not, and I find it unfortunate that you’re forced to install extra software in order to deal with a preinstalled app on the My Passport Studio. But it’s possible that you may welcome the extra security the software provides.
In every test we conducted, the My Passport Studio’s USB 2.0 transfer speeds were a bit on the slow side compared to similar drives. It netted 28.6MBps in our 2GB folder write test and 31.3.MBps in our 2GB file write test over USB 2.0. In contrast, the G-Drive Mobile (), a USB 2.0/FireWire 800 portable drive released over a year ago, obtained 30.8MBps in the 2GB folder write test and 31.7MBps in the 2GBfile write test. The My Passport Studio finished our low-memory Photoshop test in 90 seconds, one of the slowest times among the portable hard drives we’ve tested.
Wd My Passport Studio Driver
The drive faired slightly better over FireWire 800, where it posted 55.8MBps in the 2GB folder write test and 67.1MBps in the 2GB file write test. It also completed the Photoshop test in 64 seconds. Compared to other FireWire portable drives we’ve tested, the transfer rates were more middle-of-the-road, and the Photoshop time was sluggish, unable to surpass other drives. That’s too bad, since the drive is marketed to creative professionals, who generally need as much speed for their projects as they can get.
Macworld’s buying advice
The My Passport Studio looks good and is overall a decent drive. But it lags in the speed department and has a security app that doesn’t disappear without intervention.
Editor's note: Updated 3/23/12 at 10 a.m. PT with information about the Unlocker software on brand new drives.
Western Digital My Passport Studio 1TB
Western Digital My Passport Studio 500GB
Sleek New My Passport™ Studio Drives Designed for Mac with Faster FireWire Interface and Time Machine™ Support
Expanding on its popular portable storage offerings, WD NYSE: WDC today introduced its new Mac-formatted My Passport™ Studio™ Portable Drives. The newest members of the My Passport family are designed for Mac users on-the-go and are equipped with both FireWire 400 and USB 2.0 interfaces, a clever capacity gauge, and include a soft drawstring carrying bag for protection from scratches and dirt. Available now at select retailers and at WD’s online store, the My Passport Studio portable drives are offered in capacities of 320 GB and 250 GB.
Weighing in at less than 5 ounces, the My Passport Studio portable drives make it easy to securely carry office files, thousands(1) of songs, videos or photos and back up a Macintosh laptop using Apple Time Machine™ backup software utility. With an elegant silver metallic finish that perfectly complements other Mac products, these portable drives feature a shock-resistant enclosure to provide protection from the bumps and jars of everyday life on-the-go. Ultra portable, these drives are USB-bus powered which eliminates the need for an external power adapter(2).
“We designed the My Passport Studio portable drives to work seamlessly with Apple’s Time Machine, making this drive an ideal storage solution for creative pros on-the-go who require high performance storage to back up and carry their massive amounts of digital content,” said Jim Welsh, vice president and general manager of WD’s branded products and consumer electronics groups. “This sleek personal storage device with a faster FireWire interface and Mac-formatting is exactly the storage solution our Mac customers have been clamoring for ever since we introduced the first WD Passport portable USB drive.”
Unique features of the new My Passport Studio portable drives include:
- formatted HFS+, Journaled for Mac compatibility(3);
- FireWire 400 and USB 2.0 interfaces;
- capacity gauge that enables users to know at-a-glance how much space is available;
- works with Apple Time Machine backup feature included in Apple’s Leopard operating system;
- USB powered(4);
- industry-leading 5-year limited warranty; and,
- elegant silver metallic finish that perfectly complements other Mac products.
WD’s My Passport Studio portable drives are available now at select retail stores and from WD’s online store. MSRP for the My Passport Studio portable drive with 250 GB capacity is $159.99 USD and 320 GB is $219.99 USD.
Product information and photos of My Passport Studio Portable Drives are available on the company’s Web site here.
About WD
WD, one of the storage industry’s pioneers and long-time leaders, provides products and services for people and organizations that collect, manage and use digital information. The company produces reliable, high-performance hard drives that keep users’ data accessible and secure from loss. WD applies its storage expertise to consumer products for external, portable and shared storage applications.
WD was founded in 1970. The company’s storage products are marketed to leading systems manufacturers, selected resellers and retailers under the Western Digital and WD brand names. Visit the Investor section of the company’s Web site to access a variety of financial and investor information.
Western Digital, WD, the WD logo and WD Passport are registered trademarks in the U.S. and other countries; My Passport Studio is a trademark of Western Digital Technologies, Inc. All other brand and product names that may be mentioned herein are the property of their respective companies. One gigabyte (GB) = 1 billion bytes. One terabyte (TB) = one trillion bytes. Total accessible capacity varies depending on operating environment.
(1) Results will vary based on file size and format, settings, features, software and other factors.
(2) An optional cable is available for the few computers that limit bus power. If using the FireWire cable, you must plug both the FireWire and USB connectors into the device.
(3) Can easily be reformatted for Windows 2000/XP/Vista.
(4) If using the FireWire cable, you must plug both the FireWire and USB connectors into the device.