Western Digital Upgrade Essential Portable Drive Range
Western Digital has introduced three new external hard drives; 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 USB 3.0 connectivity, the latest and fastest USB connection. Also available is the highest industry capacity, which is available at 3TB, in addition to 1 and 2 TB capacities.
Equipped with WD SmartWare visual backup software for automatic, continuous backup, these drives give you the extra space you need to store or back up all your digital memories, such as high-resolution photos and videos, along with music and other critical files, all in one place.
The drives are also backward compatible with USB 2.0 connections for those who have yet to upgrade their computers to USB 3.0. When connected to a USB 3.0 port, you can get data transfer rate of up to 5 Gb/s.
My Passport Essential is still WD's smallest portable drive and is available at 500 GB capacity and in five different colours. 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 colours. The pocket-sized My Passport portable hard drives are powered directly through the USB cable; no separate power supply is needed.
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
MSRP for the My Passport Essential portable drive is $99.99 USD. MSRP for My Passport Essential SE drives ranges from $129.99 USD to $169.99 USD. MSRP for My Book Essential drives ranges from $129.99 USD to $249.99 USD.