[Docrwm]

Anyone using a Western Digital My Passport Wireless Hard drive for backup? There was a thread back in September when they were announced but nothing on actual use in the field. Anyone used one and want to offer their thoughts?

[DavidSKAF3]

I do I have the 1tb My Passport

It is reliable as a stand alone backup and storage device

The back up software does not meet my expectations.

Customer Svc is pretty good but I would rather the software did not require a call for help.

The software copies and retrieves data but I found it cannot put it back where it found it, or I cannot figure out the way to make it do that. In my experience, I still had to manually sort the retrieved contents folder.

So I felt I might as well have just manually dragged files I wanted to store onto the WD drive myself.

But I am glad I had it - all my data would have been lost on three occasions already!

I would consider another brand if someone said their automated software performed better than the WD Smartware.

[Pioneer]

I use several different USB Passports and love them but I haven't tried one of the wireless ones.

I guess I'll see if the wife will buy me one for Xmas.

[Docrwm]

I do I have the 1tb My Passport

It is reliable as a stand alone backup and storage device

The back up software does not meet my expectations.

Customer Svc is pretty good but I would rather the software did not require a call for help.

The software copies and retrieves data but I found it cannot put it back where it found it, or I cannot figure out the way to make it do that. In my experience, I still had to manually sort the retrieved contents folder.

So I felt I might as well have just manually dragged files I wanted to store onto the WD drive myself.

But I am glad I had it - all my data would have been lost, otherwise!

I would consider another brand if someone said their automated software performed better than the WD Smartware.

Thanks. I guess I'll go over to Newegg and start looking at alternative brands.

[hjoseph7]

1TB but no wireless

[lytrytyr]

I have a couple of WD 1TB backup drives.

Haven't used the automatic update software.
I just manually transfer updated folders every few days,
or after major activity.

They've saved my lower anatomy once or twice now,
like after burning out computer hard drives.

[panoguy]

Got a 1TB WD Passport Wireless in for review. Comparing it to a Hyperdrive iUSBPortHD and a couple of other battery/HD/wifi/card readers (if no card reader built-in, then USB host port for a "dangly").

Short summary: it is probably the most affordable solution for in-the-field SD card backups, but you need to set it up beforehand to be able to just put an SD card in the slot and back it up. The entire interface is web-driven (meaning your device or computer must join the wifi network of the drive to change settings), which is different from other devices, including the Hyperdrive, which has an LCD screen with actual text. Of course, once set up, it just hums along happily, and WD makes the drives so the price of 1TB is very competitive.

Downsides include the lack of physical interface (aside from blinky lights and one button), requirement to be formatted ExFAT to automatically copy camera SD card contents, and slow (5-9meg/sec) copy speeds from a card. As an external drive, its quite quick (USB3), and as a wifi hotspot or streaming server, it is pretty good (although the Hyperdrive is faster in that respect). The battery life is also pretty good, but it won't charge other devices (like Hyperdrive, Ravpower, and others).

Meanwhile, I'm looking at these things specifically as portable, in-the-field memory card backup devices first and foremost, then as wireless servers for laptops/ tablets (to view images or download/ upload them), and finally as portable hard drives that might sit on a desktop. This may not be what you're looking for at all, but its the angle I'm taking.

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Last edited by panoguy; 12-20-2014 at 06:03 PM.

[Docrwm]

Got a 1TB WD Passport Wireless in for review. Comparing it to a Hyperdrive iUSBPortHD and a couple of other battery/HD/wifi/card readers (if no card reader built-in, then USB host port for a "dangly").

Short summary: it is probably the most affordable solution for in-the-field SD card backups, but you need to set it up beforehand to be able to just put an SD card in the slot and back it up. The entire interface is web-driven (meaning your device or computer must join the wifi network of the drive to change settings), which is different from other devices, including the Hyperdrive, which has an LCD screen with actual text. Of course, once set up, it just hums along happily, and WD makes the drives so the price of 1TB is very competitive.

Downsides include the lack of physical interface (aside from blinky lights and one button), requirement to be formatted ExFAT to automatically copy camera SD card contents, and slow (5-9meg/sec) copy speeds from a card. As an external drive, its quite quick (USB3), and as a wifi hotspot or streaming server, it is pretty good (although the Hyperdrive is faster in that respect). The battery life is also pretty good, but it won't charge other devices (like Hyperdrive, Ravpower, and others).

Wow, thanks that's very informative. If you could buy just one backup HD for field use with SD cards which would you purchase?

[panoguy]

Wow, thanks that's very informative. If you could buy just one backup HD for field use with SD cards which would you purchase?

Just one? Awww....

The one I bought is the Hyperdrive iUSBPortHD, but that's because I had a spare drive to put into the empty shell (usually $160, currently $130) and I like that the backlit LCD shows me info like; how fast the card is copying, how much battery life there is, what IP the wifi is set to or what network it's connected to.

Like the WD, it has only one button and is fairly pokey to copy an SD card (a full 8GB card takes about 15 minutes!), but also has a USB host port that is powered to recharge other devices or even run another USB hard drive (and make it accessible over wifi).

That said, if you're looking for bang-for-your-buck and don't have a spare laptop drive sitting around, the WD Wireless is the way to go. Takes some setting up, but it can do "one-button SD backup" and stream the contents to other devices, no problem. It's also not much more ($50?) than the cost of a non-wifi portable drive (convenient that WD is a drive company).

[Docrwm]

Just one? Awww....

The one I bought is the Hyperdrive iUSBPortHD, but that's because I had a spare drive to put into the empty shell (usually $160, currently $130) and I like that the backlit LCD shows me info like; how fast the card is copying, how much battery life there is, what IP the wifi is set to or what network it's connected to.

Like the WD, it has only one button and is fairly pokey to copy an SD card (a full 8GB card takes about 15 minutes!), but also has a USB host port that is powered to recharge other devices or even run another USB hard drive (and make it accessible over wifi).

That said, if you're looking for bang-for-your-buck and don't have a spare laptop drive sitting around, the WD Wireless is the way to go. Takes some setting up, but it can do "one-button SD backup" and stream the contents to other devices, no problem. It's also not much more ($50?) than the cost of a non-wifi portable drive (convenient that WD is a drive company).

Thanks a bunch. I have several full-size HDs sitting about but no laptop HDs. I do have a SSD that is 2.5in.....hmmm.....

[atcoombs]

Another option is a different Sanho Hyperdrive product, the Sanho Hyperdrive Colorspace UDMA2. I can't find the exact specifications of both but the Colorspace is supposedly faster to download the SD card. Both Sanho are faster than the WD wireless. The Colorspace is only USB 2 while the iUSBPortHD is USB 3 so downloading from the drive would be slower. For my needs that would not matter. I would use the Colorspace as backup while traveling light without a lap top. I would backup files from the SD card at the end of the day to the Colorspace. I would not delete the files from the SD card so at the end of the trip I would have the files on both the cards and the Colorspace. If all goes well with the files on the cards I would never even have to download the files from the Colorspace. The Colorspace comes with a wireless adapter so you might be able to check files on a wireless device. Don't know pokey that would be. One plus for the Colorspace is that you can change the battery in the field. That would be very handy if you can't recharge batteries. You can buy the Colorspace without a drive the same as the iUSBPortHD. Be careful with trying a SSD, apparently not all SSD's will work.

[Docrwm]

Another option is a different Sanho Hyperdrive product, the Sanho Hyperdrive Colorspace UDMA2. I can't find the exact specifications of both but the Colorspace is supposedly faster to download the SD card. Both Sanho are faster than the WD wireless. The Colorspace is only USB 2 while the iUSBPortHD is USB 3 so downloading from the drive would be slower. For my needs that would not matter. I would use the Colorspace as backup while traveling light without a lap top. I would backup files from the SD card at the end of the day to the Colorspace. I would not delete the files from the SD card so at the end of the trip I would have the files on both the cards and the Colorspace. If all goes well with the files on the cards I would never even have to download the files from the Colorspace. The Colorspace comes with a wireless adapter so you might be able to check files on a wireless device. Don't know pokey that would be. One plus for the Colorspace is that you can change the battery in the field. That would be very handy if you can't recharge batteries. You can buy the Colorspace without a drive the same as the iUSBPortHD. Be careful with trying a SSD, apparently not all SSD's will work.

Thanks.

[beachgardener]

D.I.Y. WD black drive in a Vantec enclosure.

[ZoeB]

I use two 1tb OWC mercury on-the-go drives-- one is formatted for time machine backups, and the other contains my entire photo library, so that I don't have it cluttering my internal hard drive.

[beachgardener]

a back up for the back up and less tears will appear