INTRODUCTION

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   With the arrival of the very first 3TB 3.5" external and internal HDDs a few years back most of us knew that although at home we'd be able to have sufficient storage space to support our work and "hobbies" it just wouldn't be possible to carry that amount of data around with us since at that time the largest 2.5" internal/external HDD models had just hit 1TB (let's face it, carrying around a 3.5" desktop drive with its power adapter isn't the easiest thing). Since then it's always been the same story again and again and even now although the highest commercially available 3.5" HDD has hit 10TB its 2.5" equivalent is only 4TB in capacity. Still both 3TB and 4TB 2.5" portable hard drives offer sufficient storage space to cover the majority of consumers out there and since many of you asked today we're going to be testing the latest My Passport Ultra 3TB USB 3.0 portable hard drive by WD.

   WD, a Western Digital company, is a long-time innovator and storage industry leader. As a storage technology pacesetter, the company produces reliable, high-performance hard disk drives and solid state drives. These drives are deployed by OEMs and integrators in desktop and mobile computers, enterprise computing systems, embedded systems and consumer electronics applications, as well as by the company in providing its own storage products. WD’s leading storage devices and systems, networking products, media players and software solutions empower people around the world to easily save, store, protect, share and experience their content on multiple devices. WD was established in 1970 and is headquartered in Irvine, California. For more information, please visit the company’s website at www.wd.com.

   Much like the Backup Plus 4TB portable hard drive by Seagate the My Passport Ultra 3TB by WD is a rather thick model (20.96mm) so if you're looking for something which you can take with you in your back pocket such drives may not fit that description. For the My Passport Ultra 3TB USB 3.0 portable hard drive WD has used a durable hard plastic enclosure inside which they have placed the brand new WD30NMVW-11C3NS2 2.5" SATA III/600 HDD model which is roughly 15mm thick and features four perpendicular magnetic recording (PMR) 750GB platters, rotational speed of 5400RPM, AES 256-bit hardware encryption (SED) and 8MB Cache. WD also ships the My Passport Ultra 3TB with their very own WD Software (Security/Backup/Utilities/QuickView) and has it covered with a 3 year warranty.

 

 

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WD sells the My Passport Ultra 3TB inside a small box that has a clear plastic section at the front from where you can see part of the drives front.

 

 

Some of the included software is printed at the left side right above the OS compatibility list.

 

 

A quick product description is placed at the rear of the box in 8 languages.

 

 

Aside the My Passport Ultra 3TB PHD and its USB 3.0 cable the box also has a quick start guide.

 

 

THE MY PASSPORT ULTRA 3TB

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The 232g heavy glossy/matte enclosure of the My Passport Ultra 3TB portable hard drive measures 110.07mm in length, 81.57mm in width and 20.96mm in height.

 

 

To get a better idea about the size of the My Passport Ultra 3TB we placed it right next to the Toshiba Canvio Alu 2TB, the Seagate Backup Plus 4TB and the Seagate Backup Slim 1TB.

 

 

WD has placed their logo and model name at the top of the drive.

 

 

The USB 3.0 host port and the HDD activity LED are both placed on the left side of the enclosure.

 

 

Turning the drive over we see four small round rubber feet and a sticker on which WD has placed the serial and part numbers/barcodes and the country of manufacture.

 

 

WD SOFTWARE

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Since chances are that the software included on the drive is outdated you should check the official WD page to download the newest versions.

 

 

Via the WD Drive Utilities you can check the status of the drive, adjust the sleep timer and erase the contents of the drive.

 

 

You can setup the security feature (encryption) of the drive by just entering a password.

 

 

Unfortunately the backup software doesn’t automatically backup your entire drive, instead you have to pick which files and directories you want to backup.

 

 

TEST BED

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TESTING METHODOLOGY

 

   Keeping things simple so even people new in the field of computers can understand will always be our way so once again our testing procedure is almost exactly the same as the one we use with 2.5/3.5" external docking stations. This time however we will be comparing the product at hand with a wide range of 2.5" portable drives and standalone 2.5" enclosures all of which were benched using a HGST 7K750 SATA II hard disk drive. Our standard selection of benchmark suites is used here as well including the famous HD Tach RW (Long Bench 32mb Zones), HD Tune Pro (read/write -when possible- speeds), Sisoftware Sandra Pro (Read/Write - also when possible- speeds), AIDA64 (Linear Read/Random Read), Crystal Disk Mark x64 (100MB/1000MB read/write speeds) and finally the quite outdated yet highly reliable ATTO 2.47 (Max Read/Max Write speeds). Every test was repeated for a total of 6 times and after that the average (not peak) numbers were recorded into our charts. As always every test was performed in a fresh installation of Microsoft Windows 7 Service Pack 1 with every update installed up to January 25th 2016.

 

 

TEST RESULTS - AIDA64 / ATTO

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TEST RESULTS - HD TACH RW / HD TUNE PRO

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TEST RESULTS - SISOFTWARE SANDRA PRO / CRYSTAL DISK MARK X64

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TEST RESULTS - TEMPERATURES

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CONCLUSION

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   Over the years I’ve used quite a few portable HDDs by WD but the My Passport Ultra 3TB is not only the latest but also the highest capacity to ever reach my hands. Now I have to admit that previous WD portable HDD models (the 500GB/1TB ones I’ve used in the past) somewhat failed to impress in read/write performance but the My Passport Ultra 3TB is the exact opposite since it’s clearly one of the 3-4 top models in our charts currently. Of course the bundled software also matters since it allows the end user to check the status of the drive, enable AES 256-bit encryption and backup your crucial files but performance is the one thing we can compare to other drives and in that area the My Passport Ultra 3TB is simply put a winner. Now I would had liked to see a rugged enclosure instead of this polished/matte plastic one but the same applies for most portable hard drives out in the market so I can’t really hold it against WD.

   Price as we all know is a decisive factor in just about anything so I was somewhat pleased to see that the My Passport Ultra 3TB USB 3.0 portable hard drive by WD retails for just USD129 inside the USA (Amazon.com) and for 149Euros inside the EU (Amazon.co.uk). Of course currently there’s not much competition in the 3/4TB storage capacity for portable hard drives but even so the price is still right and since the My Passport Ultra 3TB is one of our 3-4 top models to date and is also covered by a 3 year warranty it gets our Platinum Award.

PROS

- Build Quality
- Compact Size
- 3TB Capacity
- Excellent Performance
- WD Bundled Software
- Low Temperatures
- Available In 4 Colors
- 3 Year Warranty
- Price (For Some)

 

CONS

- None