http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/03/western-digital-passport-portable-drive-hits-320gb/ Engadget Comments for Western Digital Passport portable drive hits 320GB http://www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2009 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/03/western-digital-passport-portable-drive-hits-320gb/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/03/western-digital-passport-portable-drive-hits-320gb/Dec 3rd 2007 9:05AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/03/western-digital-passport-portable-drive-hits-320gb/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/03/western-digital-passport-portable-drive-hits-320gb/Dec 3rd 2007 9:17AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/03/western-digital-passport-portable-drive-hits-320gb/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/03/western-digital-passport-portable-drive-hits-320gb/Dec 3rd 2007 9:18AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/03/western-digital-passport-portable-drive-hits-320gb/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/03/western-digital-passport-portable-drive-hits-320gb/Dec 3rd 2007 9:23AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/03/western-digital-passport-portable-drive-hits-320gb/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/03/western-digital-passport-portable-drive-hits-320gb/Dec 3rd 2007 9:29AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/03/western-digital-passport-portable-drive-hits-320gb/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/03/western-digital-passport-portable-drive-hits-320gb/Dec 3rd 2007 10:22AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/03/western-digital-passport-portable-drive-hits-320gb/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/03/western-digital-passport-portable-drive-hits-320gb/
I kind of thought the whole point of buying a passport drive would be to use it with a laptop cause its so portable. If size isn't a concern you can buy plenty of higher capacity drives for less $.]]>Dec 3rd 2007 10:26AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/03/western-digital-passport-portable-drive-hits-320gb/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/03/western-digital-passport-portable-drive-hits-320gb/http://www.lindy.co.uk/31780.html
Just plug the second usb plug into another usb port, or a usb charger adaptor.
However, I agree that manufactures should warn people that 2.5" drives are not certain to be able to draw enough power from a single usb port on all computers before selling them as usb powered.]]>Dec 3rd 2007 12:01PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/03/western-digital-passport-portable-drive-hits-320gb/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/03/western-digital-passport-portable-drive-hits-320gb/
Of course, it's a perfectly symmetrical black box, so I'm not entirely surprised I'd put it down upside down...but I AM surprised it wouldn't work that way...

I was on tech support when I noticed it...and the guy actually said, "Yes, if it's upside down it won't mount."

So there you have it.]]>Dec 12th 2007 8:04PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/03/western-digital-passport-portable-drive-hits-320gb/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/03/western-digital-passport-portable-drive-hits-320gb/
~~ George]]>Dec 16th 2007 5:04AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/03/western-digital-passport-portable-drive-hits-320gb/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/03/western-digital-passport-portable-drive-hits-320gb/Dec 3rd 2007 9:20AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/03/western-digital-passport-portable-drive-hits-320gb/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/03/western-digital-passport-portable-drive-hits-320gb/I've never been a fan of pre-built external drives. Buying an internal drive and an enclosure gives you so much more flexibility.
It's not even like it is remotely difficult to install the drive, generally 2 screws and 2 plugs, and generally the cost they same or even slightly less.
Plus you can use the enclosures to test/recover other drives.

BTW - This isn't really a benchmark, the first 320gb 2.5" drive is newsworthy. IMO Western Digital sealing it in a usb case isn't really.]]>Dec 3rd 2007 11:54AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/03/western-digital-passport-portable-drive-hits-320gb/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/03/western-digital-passport-portable-drive-hits-320gb/
Mind pointing me in that direction? I've just spent the last half hour looking around online, and I've only found two places that claim to carry it at all, those being CDW and PC Connection. Neither have it in stock. Everywhere else only has the 250gb model.

I wholeheartedly agree with you, why not just buy an enclosure and do it yourself, being able to test other drives as well as having access to Firewire or eSATA connections would be incredibly useful.]]>Dec 3rd 2007 1:20PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/03/western-digital-passport-portable-drive-hits-320gb/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/03/western-digital-passport-portable-drive-hits-320gb/Dec 3rd 2007 9:31AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/03/western-digital-passport-portable-drive-hits-320gb/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/03/western-digital-passport-portable-drive-hits-320gb/Dec 3rd 2007 9:33AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/03/western-digital-passport-portable-drive-hits-320gb/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/03/western-digital-passport-portable-drive-hits-320gb/Dec 3rd 2007 9:49AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/03/western-digital-passport-portable-drive-hits-320gb/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/03/western-digital-passport-portable-drive-hits-320gb/
The only problem is that, if the drive is connected when the Mac is off, when I turn it on sometimes my Mac wouldn't boot properly, freezing prior to loading OSX Leopard.

But I guess it has to do with leopard more than the drive itself.

The drive is quiet and performs exceptionally. It need care, because it tends to scratch on the surface, but all in all it is, for portables, the best "timemachine" drive out there (IMHO).]]>Dec 3rd 2007 9:52AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/03/western-digital-passport-portable-drive-hits-320gb/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/03/western-digital-passport-portable-drive-hits-320gb/
Example: My WD:Passport powers up through my Dell Laptop, but not my Macbook Pro.]]>Dec 3rd 2007 10:09AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/03/western-digital-passport-portable-drive-hits-320gb/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/03/western-digital-passport-portable-drive-hits-320gb/Dec 3rd 2007 11:53AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/03/western-digital-passport-portable-drive-hits-320gb/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/03/western-digital-passport-portable-drive-hits-320gb/Dec 3rd 2007 10:07AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/03/western-digital-passport-portable-drive-hits-320gb/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/03/western-digital-passport-portable-drive-hits-320gb/
It amazes me that they got the 320GB out, considering how small it is. When the 500GB is out, I'll buy a new one.]]>Dec 3rd 2007 10:10AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/03/western-digital-passport-portable-drive-hits-320gb/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/03/western-digital-passport-portable-drive-hits-320gb/Dec 3rd 2007 10:15AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/03/western-digital-passport-portable-drive-hits-320gb/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/03/western-digital-passport-portable-drive-hits-320gb/Dec 3rd 2007 10:21AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/03/western-digital-passport-portable-drive-hits-320gb/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/03/western-digital-passport-portable-drive-hits-320gb/Dec 3rd 2007 11:21AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/03/western-digital-passport-portable-drive-hits-320gb/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/03/western-digital-passport-portable-drive-hits-320gb/Dec 3rd 2007 12:39PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/03/western-digital-passport-portable-drive-hits-320gb/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/03/western-digital-passport-portable-drive-hits-320gb/Dec 3rd 2007 10:27AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/03/western-digital-passport-portable-drive-hits-320gb/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/03/western-digital-passport-portable-drive-hits-320gb/Dec 3rd 2007 2:21PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/03/western-digital-passport-portable-drive-hits-320gb/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/03/western-digital-passport-portable-drive-hits-320gb/Dec 3rd 2007 10:28AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/03/western-digital-passport-portable-drive-hits-320gb/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/03/western-digital-passport-portable-drive-hits-320gb/These days, a portable HD should do bluetooth as well.

]]>Dec 3rd 2007 11:00AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/03/western-digital-passport-portable-drive-hits-320gb/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/03/western-digital-passport-portable-drive-hits-320gb/
cool, sign me up (not really ;) )]]>Dec 3rd 2007 12:40PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/03/western-digital-passport-portable-drive-hits-320gb/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/03/western-digital-passport-portable-drive-hits-320gb/No, it would need an internal battery. My point is: these days, a pocket/portable hard drive really needs to be more than just a "fixed hard drive with an external enclosure and a wire". It needs to be something that you really can use on the move, and/or using less conventional devices.

There are emerging bluetooth hard drive products (Seagate DAVE, Agere BluOnyx, older devices in Japan). This should be a new standard feature in the "portable hard drive" market. If you have to pull the hard drive out of its carry case, and attach it via wires, in order to use it ... then it's really still a fixed hard drive ... it's just easier to move than other fixed hard drives.
]]>Dec 3rd 2007 12:46PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/03/western-digital-passport-portable-drive-hits-320gb/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/03/western-digital-passport-portable-drive-hits-320gb/Dec 3rd 2007 11:31AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/03/western-digital-passport-portable-drive-hits-320gb/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/03/western-digital-passport-portable-drive-hits-320gb/Dec 3rd 2007 12:09PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/03/western-digital-passport-portable-drive-hits-320gb/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/03/western-digital-passport-portable-drive-hits-320gb/Dec 3rd 2007 11:44AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/03/western-digital-passport-portable-drive-hits-320gb/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/03/western-digital-passport-portable-drive-hits-320gb/
I have the 250GB one, and the case opens really easily (with a credit card only), and then I installed the 250GB drive in my MacBook in about 4 minutes, and now use the passport with the 80GB. At the time I bought it the passport 250 was cheaper than a bare 250GB drive, and I trust western digital drives more than most.]]>Dec 3rd 2007 12:16PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/03/western-digital-passport-portable-drive-hits-320gb/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/03/western-digital-passport-portable-drive-hits-320gb/Dec 3rd 2007 12:08PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/03/western-digital-passport-portable-drive-hits-320gb/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/03/western-digital-passport-portable-drive-hits-320gb/
>4GB files are so commonplace nowadays, that format is useless for those hauling files larger than 4GB; good thing you can format to something more useful, such as NTFS.]]>Dec 3rd 2007 1:19PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/03/western-digital-passport-portable-drive-hits-320gb/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/03/western-digital-passport-portable-drive-hits-320gb/Dec 3rd 2007 2:40PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/03/western-digital-passport-portable-drive-hits-320gb/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/03/western-digital-passport-portable-drive-hits-320gb/
When will it be available for purchase?! I really need it now (I'm down to 9GB of space on my MBP's stock 200GB drive... things are running sloooowly).]]>Dec 3rd 2007 2:48PM