Comments on: CG Holiday 2007 Recommendation: Western Digital Passport

By: Darlene

Darlene — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 18:58:08 +0000

I’ve been using a 120g and and 160g for some time now. I travel, and also lend technical support for many people with various computers. I have only run into trouble on a tower that was home-built from parts. An optional Y cable (which lets you use 2 usb ports for power) is available if your computer limits bus power. You can get it from WD’s website and many other places.

By: JiM

JiM — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 05:01:35 +0000

lol, DELL.

By: compstuff

compstuff — Sat, 08 Dec 2007 23:58:55 +0000

I have the passport 160 and 3 Dell Latitude D400 and it will NOT work on them

By: xyion1

xyion1 — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 16:38:40 +0000

yea, yea, I’m on my way to CostCo to pick one up to test. If it doesn’t work out I can use the awesome return policy to return it and pick up a Firewire or Powered External HDD.

By: Peter Ha

Peter Ha — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 15:30:49 +0000

See, xyion1, now you have no choice but to get one. After I install a new HDD on the MB I’ll be using my 250 for Time Machine as well.

By: idea47

idea47 — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 10:15:17 +0000

I got a 160 GB passport to use as a Time Machine after having a WD MyBook for over a year with no probs.
It DOES only need one connection and works seamlessly.
Buy one this Christmas for someone you love (even if its just yourself!)

By: Peter Ha

Peter Ha — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 00:27:29 +0000

Ah, right. Duh. I seem to be misunderstanding everything today. Mine plugs in directly to one port without a problem. I haven’t had any issues with it thus far.

By: xyion1

xyion1 — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 23:36:44 +0000

@Peter Ha

Thanks for the reply; the 2 USB ports I was referring to was on the computer itself, for the current draw.

Reading some reviews at Amazon, it looks like the Passport draws 650mA and most USB connectors only put out 500mA. Since the Passport doesn’t have external power supply, you need a y-cable to hook it to the only 2 ports on a MBP, though I suppose you could use an external powered USB hub (which I dont have, and dont particularly want).

Is yours plugged in directly?

By: Peter Ha

Peter Ha — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 21:28:43 +0000

@xyion1

The Passport’s only have one USB port and it works just fine with my MB.

By: xyion1

xyion1 — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 21:18:34 +0000

I was considering getting one of these for my Macbook Pro (250 gb passport) however I heard it needed to be connected to both USB ports in order to provide enough power.

Is this the case, or can you just plug it right in?