The portable hard disk drive has evolved
tremendously over the last few years. From a device that needs another power
source to becoming one that just simply plugs in via USB port. For better or
worse, they all come in so many shapes and sizes. And oft late, in a variety of
colors too. Then we have the Western Digital My Passport Edge. From the
picture, you’d think it looks similar to other WD devices. However, we have it
here in the labs to tell you the differences.
The
My Passport Edge for PC comes in a simple single color, single capacity
configuration
No shame
Even through the packaging, it is easy to
tell that this portable HDD is a real looker. When it is out of the box, it
stands out even more. The Edge is definitely thinner and more attractive than
compared to its other WD counterparts. Furthermore, the build is great as it
feels solid while being held in my hand. This is something you don’t mind
putting next to your notebook.
The
Edge is definitely thinner and more attractive than compared to its other WD
counterparts.
Smarter portable HDD
While testing this with a test notebook
with USB 3.0 port, files transfers are very fast as it takes only 15 seconds to
copy a 1.2GB file. Additionally, there is a PC/Mac Smart Ware software bundle,
which includes password protection, secure erase, drive testing, SMART status,
sleep-timer adjustment, and basic backup. While they can be considered as added
bonuses, they are certainly good ones to have. After playing around with it, it
quickly became clear the interface is easy to use and is very attractive to the
eyes.
Speed-wise,
both drives offer very similar specs. In our benchmarking, the My Passport
Edge, uh, edged out the G-Drive, with read and write speeds of 106.7 MBps and
105.1 MBps when connected via USB 3.0 to a 2.9GHz Core i7 MacBook Pro.
In
addition to the backup software, WD also includes drive security and utilities
applications that help users password protect the contents of the drive and
monitor drive health
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Specifications
§
Price: $89.99
§
Type: External HDD
§
Interface: USB 3.0 and USB 2.0
§
Features: PC/Mac SmartWare software
§ Format:
NTFS for Windows 7, Windows 8, require formatting for Mac
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