WD Introduced its New My Book and My Passport External Hard Drives with USB 3.0 Connectivity

Oct. 5, 2010 – WD today introduced its new My Passport® Essential™ portable hard drive, My Passport® Essential™ SE portable hard drive, and My Book® Essential external hard drive. All three drive families come in a variety of capacities and offer lightning-fast USB 3.0 connectivity. Highest industry capacity is another key feature for the My Book Essential drive, which is now available in 3 TB capacity, in addition to 1 and 2 TB capacities. Equipped with WD SmartWare™ visual backup software for automatic, continuous backup, these drives provide users the extra space they need to store or back up all of their digital memories, such as high-resolution photos and videos, along with music and other critical files, all in one place.

The drives not only take advantage of the latest blazing-fast USB 3.0 technology, but are also fully compatible with USB 2.0 connections for those who have yet to upgrade their computers to USB 3.0. When connected to a SuperSpeed USB 3.0 port, consumers can transfer data at speeds up to 5 Gb/s. At that rate, a two-hour HD video will transfer in as little as three minutes. The same two-hour video would take approximately 13 minutes to transfer on a USB 2.0 port.

My Passport Essential, still WD’s smallest portable drive, is available in a 500 GB capacity and comes in five fun colors – Midnight Black, Cool Silver, Real Red, Pacific Blue and Arctic White (Arctic White only available in EMEA and APAC). My Passport Essential SE portable hard drives are available in 750 GB and 1 TB capacities and come in stylish black, silver, metallic blue and metallic red colors. The pocket-sized My Passport portable hard drives are powered directly through the USB cable; no separate power supply is needed.

My Book Essential, the world’s number-one selling hard drive, also impresses with its small footprint, sleek design and high-capacity storage ranging from 1 TB up to a massive 3 TB3. The drive is compatible with both USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 ports, and uses WD SmartWare visual backup software.

“With more and more devices like the iPod touch®, iPhone®4 and other smartphones adding video-capable cameras, digital video is becoming ubiquitous. Most homes already have thousands of photos and music files, increasing the need for storage around the house. Having the extra capacity to store these files and move them around quickly is becoming a big issue for many consumers around the world, WD’s newest line of My Book and My Passport external hard drives features the latest USB 3.0 connection technology, which more than triples the speed to transfer media files, but still works with today’s USB 2.0 ports. In addition, consumers can take advantage of the highest capacity available on external hard drives with the new 3 TB My Book Essential drive.” – said Dale Pistilli, vice president of marketing for WD’s branded products group.

Features:
My Book Essential external hard drives, My Passport Essential and My Passport Essential SE portable hard drives feature:

  • Dual USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 interfaces;
  • Up to 3x faster transfer rates when compared to USB 2.0;
  • WD SmartWare software for automatic, continuous backup;
  • Password protection for privacy; and,
  • Planet-friendly packaging from recycled materials which can, in turn, also be recycled.

Capacity and Compatibility:
The My Passport Essential portable hard drive is available in 500 GB capacity. The My Passport Essential SE portable hard drive is available in 750 GB and 1 TB capacities. The My Book Essential external hard drive is available in 1 TB, 1.5 TB, 2 TB and 3 TB capacities. The drives are formatted NTFS for Windows® XP, Windows Vista®, or Windows 7. These drives require reformatting for Mac® OS® X Leopard® or Snow Leopard®.

Price and Availability
My Passport Essential portable hard drives and My Book Essential external hard drives offer a 2-year limited warranty in the U.S. and are now available at select U.S. retailers and online at wdstore.com.

MSRP for My Passport Essential portable is $99.99 USD. MSRP for My Passport Essential SE drives range from $129.99 USD to $169.99 USD. MSRP for My Book Essential drives range from $129.99 USD to $249.99 USD.

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Recommended Western Digital External Hard Drives

WD External Hard Drives The main purposes we need an external hard drive:

  • Expand your computer’s storage capacity;
  • Backup your data and share data between computers;
  • Easy to use. Most of the time, you just need to plug it into the computer and use it as an internal hard drive.

Desktop external hard drives are based on the 3.5-inch internal hard drives and laptop (or portable) external hard drives that are based on the 2.5-inch internal hard drives. Generally, external hard drives are connected to a computer using collectively these types of connections: USB 3.0, USB 2.0, FireWire 400, FireWire 800, and eSATA.

Here’s the list of our current favorites.

Western Digital WD Elements 320 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive

Original Price: $99.99
Price: $59.99 on Amazon.com
Model: WDBAAR3200ABK

Western Digital WD Elements 500 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive

Original Price: $129.99
Price: $74.99 on Amazon.com
Model: WDBAAR5000ABK

Western Digital WD Elements 1 TB USB 2.0 Desktop External Hard Drive

Original Price: $129.99
Price: $74.99 on Amazon.com
Free Standard Shipping
Model: WDBAAU0010HBK

Western Digital WD Elements 1.5 TB USB 2.0 Desktop External Hard Drive

Original Price: $169.99
Price: $106.49 on Amazon.com
Model: WDBAAU0015HBK

Western Digital WD Elements 2 TB USB 2.0 Desktop External Hard Drive

Original Price: $229.99
Price: $129.99 on Amazon.com
Model: WDBAAU0020HBK

Western Digital My Passport Essential SE 1 TB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive

Original Price: $199.99
Price: $139.99 on Amazon.com
Model: WDBABM0010BBK

Western Digital My Book AV DVR Expander 1 TB USB 2.0/eSATA Desktop External Hard Drive

Original Price: $127.60
Price: $119.00 on Amazon.com
Model: WDBABT0010HBK

Western Digital My DVR Expander 1 TB eSATA Desktop External Hard Drive

Original Price: $159.99
Price: $119.00 on Amazon.com
Model: WDG1S10000VN

Western Digital Elements SE 1 TB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive

Original Price: $149.99
Price: $119.99 on Amazon.com
Model: WDBABV0010BBK

Western Digital My Book for Mac 1 TB USB 2.0 Desktop External Hard Drive

Original Price: $129.99
Price: $99.00 on Amazon.com
Model: WDBAAG0010HCH

See my another post: USB 2.0, USB 3.0, or FireWire – What is the recommended solution for data storage.

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