WD updates external HDDs with USB 3.0, 3TB option
James Delahunty
6 Oct 2010 16:01
Western Digital has upgraded its My Passport Essential portable hard drives, My Passport Essential SE portable hard drives and My Book Essential external hard drives with USB 3.0 connectivity. All three drives come in a variety of available capacities, and a 3TB My Book Essential external drive is now available.
The drives are all still fully compatible with USB 2.0. When connected via USB 3.0 (or SuperSpeed USB), users can transfer data at up to 5Gbps. WD's press release states that a two-hour High-definition movie could be transfered through USB 3.0 to one of the drives in about three minutes, compared to thirteen minutes for USB 2.0.
My Passport Essential, still WD's smallest portable drive, is available in a 500
GB capacity in five colors; Midnight Black, Cool Silver, Real Red, Pacific Blue and Arctic White. The MSRP for the My Passport Essential portable drive is $99.99 USD.
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. The MSRP for My Passport Essential SE drives ranges from $129.99 USD to $169.99 USD based on capacity.
My Book Essential, the world's number-one selling hard drive, touts a small footprint, sleek design and high-capacity storage including 1TB, 1.5TB, 2TB and 3TB. The drive uses WD SmartWare visual backup software. The MSRP for My Book Essential drives ranges from $129.99 USD to $249.99 USD based on capacity.
"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," said
Dale Pistilli, vice president of marketing for WD's branded products group.
"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."