There are a bunch of companies that offer external storage today that connects to your computer with USB. Most of those drives are still USB 2.0 and if you have a new computer that supports the much faster USB 3.0, you will want a new drive that can back up large data sets faster using USB 3.0 connectivity. WD has announced that it has expanded its line of external storage solutions with new capacities and USB 3.0 connectivity.

The drives with updated USB 3.0 support include the My Passport Essential, My Passport Essential SE, and the My Book Essential. All of updated drives will support USB 3.0 at up to 5Gb/s and are backwards compatible with USB 2.0 for older machines as well. The drives also ship with WD SmartWave visual backup software for automated backups of important files and software.

The biggest news is that the My Book Essential drive now comes in a 3TB capacity in addition to the 1TB and 2TB versions that have already been offered. The My Passport Essential is the smallest portable drive from WD and can be had in 500GB in five colors. The Passport Essential SE portable drive is available in 750GB and 1TB versions in several colors. All of the external storage solutions are available to purchase right now with the My Passport Essential for $99.99, the Essential SE starting at $129.99 and going to $169.99, and the My Book Essential going up to $249.99 for the 3TB version.