Western Digital Passport Essential 320GB, 250GB, 160GB and 120GB External HDD Review

Some of Western Digital’s Passport Essential external hard disk drive’s headline features include large capacity options (up to 320GB), compact form factor*, included synchronization software and a 3 year warranty. The Passport Elite models look attractive and like a fashion accessory coming in wide range of 11 colors. *(0.6 x 5 x 3.1 inches or 15 x 126 x 79 mm HxWxD)

Western Digital Passport Essential External Hard Drive

The Passport Essential is a well fitting solution if you need to take important files with you to work or on travels while keeping them in sync. A USB 2.0 port means you can quickly transfer files - 480Mbits/s (max). Your Passport Essential external HDD comes ready to use out of the box with software loading from the drive as soon as it’s plugged in for the first time.

Software provided is for Windows only however, the drive will work with Macs as it is formatted to FAT32. WD Sync lets you synchronize a PC Document folder and Outlook files with those on another PC. For security it includes 128-bit encryption.

There are some user reviews at Amazon if you would like to see some first hand opinions of the WD Passport Essential.

Western Digital Essential and Elite Versions Feature Comparison

Western Digital Passport external hard drives are available in Elite and Essential models. The Elite’s best selling status at Amazon seems to indicate that consumers think that the extra features are well worth the relatively small price premium of the WD Passport Elite versions.