WD 2TB My Passport, Portable External Hard Drive, Blue, backup software with defense against ransomware, and password protection, USB 3.1/USB 3.0 compatible - WDBYVG0020BBL-WESN

You can't go wrong with Western Digital. Very small package for huge storage. Plug and Play - connected the USB cable, (included) and my computer immediately recognized it. The portable drive is larger than the drive on my laptop, so I partitioned it into 2 virtual drives. One partition for an Image/Backup and a second partition for file backup & storage. The partitioning process was flawless and now my computer recognizes two separate drives. I am super happy with the WD SSD portable drive. I would highly recommend to anyone wanting a portable drive. I'm even thinking about buying another larger drive and partitioning into more virtual drives for backup of other computers.My only complaint and major disappointment with WD, is that the free "WD Backup" software is no longer supported by WD and hasn't been for a few years. They offer a free version of Acronis, which doesn't work. Installed the Acronis software, created a bootable disk on a USB Flash (thumb) drive, then rebooted the computer from the thumb drive and created a full backup/ disk image to the new WD drive. The software seemed to run perfectly, and said the backup was successfully created. I felt really good that I had a full backup of my 2015 laptop, in case I ever need to replace the mechanical HDD. But it was a false peace of mind.Only 2 weeks after using the Acronis backup software, my computer was crashing shortly after bootup, which it had never done before. So I thought I would test the new drive and backup. After rebooting with the Acronis USB Boot drive, it asked for the location of the image file. The computer recognized the WD drive with all of the Acronis backup folders. But then the Acronis software said all of the folders were empty and there was No Image found. WTF?! Acronis said it successfully made a full disk copy. But then the software could not find its own image.DO NOT USE the ACRONIS software.I was fortunately able to fix the boot/crash problem using other software. But if my hard drive had completely failed, I would not have a usable backup copy to restore to a new drive. I would have been screwed. It would have been better if I never attempting to create a backup. At least I would known that I didn't have a backup copy to rely on, rather than falsely thinking I was protected.In addition, the "free" software isn't really free. It's only a 30 day free Trial version. So if you make a full backup within 30 days, and later have a critical problem, you will be forced to purchase the full version to perform the restore. The backup file versions are propitiatory, so you can't use another brand of software to do the restore. They've got you! You can make a free backup/copy (if you can even get the software to work properly). But then you have to pay for the software to actually use the Backup in order to Restore. This is akin Ransomware.I have since purchased other backup/imaging software and made a full (working) backup to my new WD drive. I'm very happy about that.

I Downloaded 5 1/2GB with no issues. I’d purchased their product before in the larger version, and this one was much easier to use.It’s significantly smaller, but much better quality and performance.

Fast, light weight, and easy to use with MacBook

I purchased this on 08/05/2021.As an IT Professional, I owned several HDDs and SSDs, both internal and external. This was a very nice option, very elegant, portable and with 2TB of storage which was more than enough for my needs.I even purchased a UGREEN 2.5 Inch External Hard Drive Case Cover Shockproof (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B072HJ4FTX/).I was about to give this product a 2-3 star review since while I was writing this (11/28/2023), I was unable to format my drive to repurpose it for some newer storage needs. I had access to the drive, I could add or delete files, but I was unable to format. It was giving me sector errors and the drive was never dropped, hit or damaged in any way. Actually it was stored in the hardcase for more than a year.Fortunately I used a tool called Mini Tool Partition (not promoting it) and after some time, it was able to format it and apparently correct the sector errors. So at this point, instead of the complaint I was writing, I decided to finish my review by saying that up until now it seems a very robust HDD in terms of functionality. Let's see if it was actually fixed or if I would need to update my review later on.

I have purchased many drives from internal hard drives as a replacement hard drive or a slave drive for repairing and upgrading and building computers as well as external hard drives and Western Digital has always been super user friendly and i have never had a complaint from a client.This product is no exception to the ease of use Ive come to expect and the quality of the product and its functionality. You can literally plug it in and start copying files without installing anything and it is very compact yet has a very large 5tb storage capacityI had 2 disappointments with the software.Firstly I feel an external drive is the best way to protect privacy as opposed to online storage and clouds that can be hacked. However their auto back up utility stores online and is only permitted to be used for a maximum of 5 years. I think software should last as long as the product actually lasts but i wasn't planning on using the auto back up anyway because it would defeat the purpose of trying to protect my privacy. To me storing online exposes private files to who knows how many employees that may or may not be trust worthy and companies that may or may not secretly sell a persons information.Secondly the password protection can only be used on devices that the user / owner of the external hard drive has administrative privileges on so this would not be the best device to take to the library or an acquaintance to print a copy of a drivers license or social security card from being that there would be no admin privileges on those computers so every file on your external hard drive would be exposed. In those cases a small flash drive with only that one file on it would be best if that was the only place you could go to print it.For this product it would be best to only use on your own devices like desktop, laptop, etc. where you have admin privileges that nobody else has the authority to revoke.I am glad I have this so i don't lose or jeopardize important personal records and business documents, my art creations and my music library for my radio station and i don't need internet access to view, print, copy the contents, I can unplug this device and clean the hard drive before going online and Im fine with doing my own periodic back ups.