Media on the move
The WD My Passport Wireless lets you backup, carry and stream files to other devices.
I am a frequent traveller who enjoys seeing the world. and whenever I’m about to embark on my journey, the last thing I do before I leave for the airport is check that I have my passport.
Lately, however, I was introduced to a different kind of Passport. It can’t take me out of the country, and it certainly won’t help prove my identity. But like its paper equivalent, it’s a very useful item, which will especially benefit people who are always on the go!
I speak of the WD my Passport Wireless, a portable external hard drive that comes with integrated WiFi. Easy to use, and easy to set up, the Passport effectively lets you backup your files and take them everywhere you go.
But hold on! I hear you say. Isn’t that just like other any external hard drive? What is so special about the my Passport Wireless? apart from your standard connection via USB 3.0 cable, my Passport also allows you to link it up with other devices through its built- in WiFi.
The 1TB drive also comes with a built- in SD card slot – this feature will be especially handy for photographers as they will be able to easily backup their photos.
Simple setup
Setting the Passport up is relatively straightforward: just follow the diagrams on the enclosed user booklet, or read more detailed instructions on the PDF manual saved on the device.
For laptops, users need merely to turn the drive on and then connect to the Passport – after that, they can adjust the settings by going to the my Passport dashboard.
The dashboard is very user friendly – it allows you to do all the standard things ( like setting a password for your connection), and also gives a detailed breakdown of how much space is being taken up by videos, music, photos and other files.
Transferring files was relatively fast. To test it, I decided to move various videos I had on my laptop, which ranged from 800mB to 1.5GB, all at one go: it took me slightly under half an hour to transfer about 15 large files, which wasn’t too bad.
as most computers can only connect to only one network at one time, this means you cannot surf the Internet once you connect them to the Passport but WD has a simple solution for this.
all you have to do is connect the drive to a WiFi network and it will act as a gateway for your computer to connect to the Net.
For mobile devices, the drive works almost the same way – the only difference being that users have to download the MyCloud app from the app store first. I had absolutely no difficultly installing and using this app, which supports both the iOS and android platforms.
Portable player
The streaming also seemed to work well – my uploaded videos played on my mobile phone without any problems. Thanks to it, I was able to watch part of a movie while waiting for a boring meeting to start.
adding to the drive’s portability is the fact that the Passport comes with a built- in battery, allowing it to be charged much like a powerbank. This battery lasts for about six hours of continuous video streaming, and 20 hours on standby, which all in all, is pretty nice.
The device also comes with a USB cable and aC adaptor, and has a light at the top that tells you how much battery it has left. ( a blue light is 100% energy, green is 75%, yellow is 50%, and red is 15%.) Not just convenient, but also pretty cool!
Conclusion
Perhaps the only real flaw I could find with the 1TB version of the Passport is that at 24.4mm, it is slightly thicker than your standard hard drive. Regardless, it’s nothing back- breaking, and should fit into most bags with ease.
all in all, I generally could not find anything to complain about the Passport. Owning a reliable, easy to use, and portable media library is certainly wonderful.