The My Passport Wireless Pro is probably the coolest portable hard drive you can own. Western Digital has just announced a higher capacity version and firmware updates that enable new capabilities.
I reviewed the My Passport Wireless Pro last August, and I'm still a big fan of it. With 10 hours of battery life, built-in Wi-Fi, USB 3.0 connectivity, a built-in SD card reader, and a built-in USB input for other card formats, it's pretty much a complete in-the-field backup solution. I keep mine in my bag, and drop the memory card in it as I drive to another location or head home, and by the time I arrive, I already have a backup of the shoot.
Western Digital has now introduced a four-terabyte version of the drive to complement the one, two, and three-terabtye version along with firmware updates that enable thumbnail previews to be automatically generated within the My Cloud app for reviewing on the go and improved wireless and memory card reliability and compatibility. Altogether, they make for a great expansion of a solid hard drive for photographers that I happily recommend.
Interested in picking up your own? Grab it here.
"built-in USB input for other card formats" Didn't know that!! I was looking at these awhile back and since I shoot CF it was a no go.
This is exactly the backup solution I was looking for. Thanks for posting.
Yeah same here I didn't know there was a built in USB. This is excellent for CF backup!
Thanks for the post
I have the first generation which was "ok". Definitely tempted by the newer version.
Hi Alex, Thanks for posting this. Have they upgraded the usb2 to usb 3? I shoot Nikon D5 so I would need and eternal xqd card reader...
That's the only bummer. The computer connection is 3.0, but the host port is 2.0. It's never bothered me that much, though.
An SSD version would be nice as it would offer a smaller size and likely better battery life. Sure, price would be higher and capacity smaller but there are no easy methods for backing up cards when backpacking. I just keep a few spare cards for the memory space and hope they don't get damaged.
It would depend on the type of SSD they would choose to use. A SATA SSD will be the same dimensions as the 2.5" drive already inside the current models. WD would most likely use a relabeled SATA SSD from the recently acquired SanDisk. The biggest benefit would be much better battery life with the existing battery.
Humm ... if contracts pick up again, I may just pick one of these up. :)
interesting does the WirelessPro auto copy the files when you slot the SD card in ? Or do you still need to use tablets,laptops, phones to start the backup ?
Automatically! It has LED lights that tell you the progress.
Two years later, I'm still waiting for my Gnarbox which does the same (with SSD). I'm wondering if it will ever come... Might cancel my order and buy this instead
Reading the manual, it still looks as though you need a computer to use the USB connection for a card reader, which makes it useless for those of us that use CF, XQD, etc. I'm a bit surprised that they don't make a format-agnostic version to which you add a WD card reader in the format of your choice.
From the manual
https://www.wdc.com/content/dam/wdc/website/downloadable_assets/eng/user...
Loading Content using a USB Connection
The best way to transfer a large number of files to/ from your device is by using a USB port
connected to your computer. This process is faster than using the the My Passport Wireless Pro
Wi-Fi network. Use the following steps to transfer your data using the USB port.
Note: When you connect your computer and drive this way, the drive’s wireless
network is disabled.
1. With the 3.0 USB cable included with your device, connect the My Passport
Wireless Pro device to your computer,
2. On your computer, open the File Explorer (Windows) or Finder (Mac).
3. Do one of the following:
▪ Windows: In the left pane of the File Explorer window, click Computer and
double-click the My Passport Wireless Pro drive.
▪ Mac: In the left pane of the Finder window in the DEVICES section, doubleclick
the My Passport Wireless Pro drive.
4. Drag and drop files from your computer to the My Passport Wireless Pro drive (or
from your computer to the My Passport Wireless Pro drive). A copy of your files
are saved on the drive.
You don't need a computer to do it!
I stand corrected. They need to be much clearer about that in their documentation.
I still had lingering doubts, so I asked WD support. The response that I got was "Regarding your inquiry about transferring the information from an SD card connected to a USB SD card reader to the My Passport Wireless Pro automatically, it might work but its not something that we support. It gives some problems depending on the SD Card and/or reader."
It auto-copies, as he said, and it can also copy+wipe if you set it up that way, so after the dump the card is good to go. Transfers are a wee bit slow, but it's a great backup-on-the-fly option.