Pros: We've had one of these for about two years now (in Black finish), using it hold backups, transfer files, etc. It's been moved around a lot from room to room, or put in my pocket to travel to a friend's house, etc. and we've never had a single problem.

Cons: Wouldn't it be nice if they were half the price?

Other Thoughts: You could put a lot of movies on this little portable drive and take it with you on vacation! Or, use it to store System Image backups and store them offsite somewhere safe.

Pros: Fast transfer of files and lots of space

Cons: Please don't drop your "passport"

Other Thoughts: Almost as easy as wireless but much easier on the wallet. The solo connection is very straight forward and then you can transfer files all day if needed.

Pros: It's a pretty blue 2TB Western Digital from a company with an awesome track record for reliability. Quite small and portable and easy to use security software to keep all that data safe. Drive runs cool and very fast when connected using USB 3.0 hitting 120 MB/second without the need for a power cord. This drive comes bundled with free programs to help you backup, protect, and manage the drive easily for both Windows and Mac systems. This drive is extremely quiet and I've never heard a sound from it. There is a very bright white LED that is always lit when the drive has power which also blinks when the drive is accessed making it easy to tell that it is plugged in and working even when you are not using it. The included USB cable is thick and feels very durable although it is quite short.

Cons: I hated to take an egg off for this but this drive had a very sharp edge around the blue cover that hangs just slightly over the black sides and it cut me just as I removed it from the packaging. This might just be a fluke but I had to lightly sand the lip off so it was no longer dangerous. I'm not talking a huge cut, more like a paper cut, but I was a little shocked because I've handled drives that look just like it before and never had one even come close to cutting me.

Other Thoughts: There is good value here with plenty of optional software included that you don't have to use if you don't want to and the added flexibility to function on both Windows and Mac computers. My read speeds averaged 105 MB/second while my write speeds averaged 65MB/second.

Pros: good value, good USB speed even on 2.0, decent Windows software. This is our second batch of these drives - first were reds now blues.

Cons: so-so for a Mac (software a throw away). weight

Other Thoughts: These drives have been pretty reliable for us so far though they are showing their age by their weight (newer 2 TB's are slimmer). Still one of my first choices for our office for portables in spite of the weight!

Pros: Good big capacity WD USB 3.0 HD works fine.

Cons: None

Pros: * I’ll admit I had slight bias coming into this review as Western Digital is my favorite storage manufacturer. When buying one of their products, you can usually be assured of their quality. The same applies to this drive. *

- Though I usually prefer Black, the WD My Passport Ultra “Blue” edition is appealing. The top has a glossy finish and looks more purple than blue, especially in the light. The sides are a black matte. On the bottom are rubber grommets that hold the drive in place. There’s a single LED indicator light on the side near the port. It’s understated but can be noticed without any annoyance. While running, the drive is practically inaudible, only heard when you press your ear against it.

- Included on the drive (usable 1.82TB) are a couple folders, a user manual and a few programs for mac and Windows. Installing the .EXE WD Apps Setup will install WD Backup, WD Security, WD Drive Utilities and WD Quick View; these free programs lead to all the extended features that the Ultra touts. Of course, if you want to simply use the drive as a storage drive with no frills, you can do that, but I recommend buying a different Hard Drive then, for the Ultra shines because of its extra features. Once installed, there are a few software updates to follow. I’ll outline the three programs’ cool options in the following paragraphs.

- The WD Drive Utility program has a few tests you can run to ensure the Ultra’s health status. From here you can check if SMART is enabled and running properly. You can also scan for bad sectors on the Ultra, much like the Error-Checking in My Computer. Another handy feature is a Sleep Timer to set a certain time after which passes the Ultra would sleep–as opposed to running 24/7, diminishing its life. A Secure Drive Erase is also included in the Utilities to reformat and start fresh easily.

- To use a tiresome (and inane) cliché, the meat and potatoes of the Ultra is the WD Backup Program and WD Security it is bundled with. The Backup App includes a Dropbox backup as well, which is somewhat redundant since Dropbox can do the same thing within its own program. Most importantly, here you can select the source disk(s) you want to backup continually and schedule Daily (specific days of the month), Hourly or Monthly backups. The backup will run in the background unobtrusively and automatically per your settings (see Cons). To illustrate the program’s flexibility, I currently have it backing up my RAID Game SSD drives and my main Boot SSD every other day at 6:00PM. The WD Security app allows you to assign a password that must be entered to access the drive.

- The Read and Write speeds are decent enough and very close to each other. It isn’t a significant difference, but the Ultra is slightly faster than other USB 3.0 External HDDs I’ve tested. By slightly faster I mean anywhere from one MB to 10MB/s. I’ve included some benchmarks in Other Thoughts for reference.

Cons: - This is a common shortcoming concerning portable external hard drives and even WD–quite literally–fell short. The included USB 3.0 cable is short, 18” long. It’s not terribly short, and since External Hard Drives are meant to be portable, it’s hard to find a good balance when it comes to cable length. The cable will be fine for use with laptops and portable situations, but placement of the drive will be more limited in a desktop scenario.

- The WD Backup App will run in the background and you can maximize it if you want, but doing this doesn’t provide much information. The only information on the status of your running backup that’s available is to right-click on the toolbar icon. It would be nice if the WD Backup provided some more information when maximized; rather than just an icon.

- To be honest, there are plenty of programs out there, including free ones, that will accomplish the same tasks as the WD programs bundled with this drive. What WD did here with the included apps is more a matter of convenience than an intuitive stroke of genius.

Other Thoughts: * Overall, the WD My Passport Ultra is a well-performing, bells and whistles external hard drive. If you’re looking for some included apps to make your life a little easier for security or backup reasons, the Ultra is a good choice. *

- Below are some subjective benchmarks I observed and documented using real-usage scenarios, as well as ATTO Disk and CrystalDiskMark.

* Real Usage *

USB 3.0-- Moving a 8.24GB Video file from PC's HDD (WD Caviar Black) onto drive.
Time: 2 minutes 1 seconds. Peak: 70MB/sec. Average: 69.15MB/sec.

USB 3.0-- Moving 2.09GB to HDD from 3.0 drive.
Time: 17 seconds. Peak 150MB/sec.

* ATTO Disk Benchmark *
With a QD of 8, at 32KB to 8MB, the Read/Write speed was consistent and negligible.
32KB – 8MB Write: 111.7MB/sec.
32KB – 8MB Read: 111.9MB/sec.

* CrystalDiskMark *
At 6 runs, 4000MB.
Sequential Read: 112.9MB/sec. -- Write: 112.3MB/sec.
512k Read: 41.4MB/sec. -- Write: 51.54MB/sec.
4K Read: 0.515MB/sec. -- Write: 1.168MB/sec.