Western Digital unveils smaller, smarter, more secure external hard drives

MANILA, Philippines - Western Digital, a world leader in external storage solutions, introduced recently its smaller, smarter and more secure My Passport Essential and My Passport for Mac ultra-portable external hard drives.

Both feature WD’s new SmartWare software and boast hardware-based encryption. The new My Passport drives are more than 20 percent smaller than the previous-generation My Passport.

The new portable drives with WD SmartWare visually present data in a control center, providing users with peace of mind that their precious photos, videos and files are securely protected.

Available now at select retailers, the new My Passport Essential and My Passport for Mac drives are offered in capacities ranging from 320GB to 1TB and come in five colors: Pacific blue, real red, cool silver, midnight black, and arctic white.

According to research firm Parks Associates, the average US broadband household currently has over 120GB of digital media and files, expected to grow to over one terabyte (1TB) of data by 2013.

And while 70 percent of consumers back up their content, the majority of these people are using manual, cumbersome methods such as copying and pasting to multiple CDs and DVDs, and less than 18 percent use software that automatically and continuously backs up their content.

When the My Passport Essential drive is plugged in for the first time, the simple and intuitive first backup process launches automatically. The real-time visual interface of WD SmartWare gives users a reassuring view of their backup as it happens. After the first backup, users’ files are backed up automatically every time they change or add a file.

My Passport Essential and My Passport for Mac drives also feature user-selected password protection combined with military-grade 256-bit hardware encryption, which scrambles files before they are stored.

Typically found only on much more expensive drive systems, the encryption acts as a virtual padlock to keep data secure.

“The smaller and sleeker design of WD’s redesigned My Passport drives, combined with the intuitive visual backup experience of WD SmartWare software, makes this drive a smart and secure, travel-friendly storage choice,” said Dale Pistilli, vice president for marketing of WD’s branded products group.

“These ultra-portable drives are a stylish and spacious storage solution for consumers to confidently back up, store and carry their entire digital lives,” he added.

WD My Passport Essential hard drives are designed for Windows-based PCs while WD My Passport for Mac drives are formatted for Mac computers and are compatible with Apple Time Machine, Apple’s integrated backup solution.

WD SmartWare works on Windows PCs and Mac computers and offers a seamlessly integrated option for Mac users who want an alternative to Time Machine or Mac OS 10.4 users who don’t have Time Machine compatibility.

The new My Passport Essential drives are offered in capacities of 320GB, 500GB and 640GB; and My Passport Essential SE drives in 750GB and 1TB.

My Passport for Mac drives are available with 320GB and 500GB. Prices range from P4,600 to P12,500.

For those who need even more memory capacity and don’t need the ultra-portability of WD’s My Passport hard drives, WD introduced its new, smaller, sleeker My Book Essential and My Book for Mac desktop external hard drives.

Just like with My Passport, these are also equipped with WD SmartWare and 256-bit encryption. The new My Book Essential and My Book for Mac drives are offered in capacities ranging from 500GB to 2TB.

“Keeping an extra copy of your digital life used to be a painstaking, manual task undertaken only by the most expert and diligent of users. WD’s new My Book Essential and My Book for Mac external hard drives, powered by WD SmartWare, have finally made it easy enough so that anyone can do it,” said Pistilli.

“WD’s new drives combine massive storage capacity, visual backup, and hardware encryption, so consumers can now actually see their digital life, safe in one place,” he added.

WD’s My Book Essential hard drives are designed for Windows-based PCs while My Book for Mac drives are formatted for Mac computers and are compatible with Apple Time Machine.

The new My Book Essential drives are offered in capacities of 500GB, 1TB, 1.5TB, and 2TB. Their prices range from P4,900 to P13,900.