The Bottom Line
I have seen plenty of external hard drives come through the labs along with wireless hard drives for that matter, but what Western Digital has done with their latest solution from the My Passport lineup is simply amazing.
The My Passport Wireless Pro is a unique storage solution. On the outside, it appears to be a simple external hard drive, but internally it houses an SD 3.0 port, a dual-band wireless radio with 802.11ac support, and a 6400 mAh Li-Ion battery that is said to give it 10 hours of battery life while streaming HD video. And if that wasn't enough, it has the option via its USB host port to charge your smart device. Capacity options include 2TB and 3TB solutions, with ours being the latter. Supported platforms include Windows 7, 8 and 10 followed by OS X 10.9 and up.
The MSRP of the 3TB My Passport Wireless Pro comes in at $249.99 with a two-year warranty.
Packaging for this solution is typical for WD. We have an image in the center of the device with just a touch of marketing in the bottom left corner next to capacity.
The backside does go into more detail on the functionality and features of the Passport.
The scope of delivery does include a rather compact charger for the device along with a USB 3.0 cable and setup guide.
While being a bit larger than a typical 2.5" external solution, the device houses several sets of LEDs on the front. Center we have Wi-Fi and activity LEDs while the top left has a set for the battery.
Along the top edge, you will find the power button along with the SD/ battery life button. In the center, we have the host port on the right and data connection to the left.
Spinning the drive around, we have the SD port that supports 3.0 cards.
Like many devices in the same market as the Passport, this solution uses an app for data purposes.
The setup instructions are quite simple to follow, and in a relatively easy three-step process, you will be ready to go.
Automatic backup is an option with this device and as you can see you can choose to do it over USB and SD.
Once you are in the app, it's rather clean looking; we have a tree view of the storage.
In the options menu, you can set cache size along with setting alerts, so you don't use too much mobile data, in addition to a passcode to secure your device.
As you can see, this device has its very own media server powered by Twonky.
On your PC or Mac setup will look a little different. Above, I have the backup app that's included with the Passport.
Being a rather simple application, it allows you to set up backup plans along with restore when needed.
Me being quite curious of the internal components I ran this drive through CDI just to see if it would pick it up and much to my surprise we have a WD30NPRZ inside, which is a drive from the Blue lineup.
Performance isn't so much of a focus with devices like the Passport but alas I did run it through a quick CDM to see what we had. With it having a USB 3.0 connection, we get the full speed of the internal drive, and that is 125 MB/s read and write.
The WD My Passport Wireless Pro is hands down the most unique external hard drive I have seen and that includes both 2.5" and 3.5" solutions. This drive can just do so much including charging devices, offloading data from SD cards and mobile devices both wirelessly and through its onboard SD port, along with just having massive capacity for such a small device. With that said, this drive is heavy but not 3.5" drive heavy, but enough for you to notice it is there. That speaks to build quality because once I had testing done and I opened this unit up, it was quite clear WD wasted no space in designing this solution.
The performance was up to my expectations with this being a hard drive based unit at 125 MB/s read and write. Although, I do wonder with WDs recent acquisition of SanDisk, what they could do regarding performance and battery life if they were to use something like an X400 SSD. They wouldn't have to sacrifice much concerning capacity and I'm certain battery life could be increased substantially.
Overall, as a solution especially for creative professional and the like, this device is a godsend - it can really be your technology based "med kit" allowing you to charge and offload your devices in the field.
Tyler's Test System Specifications
- Motherboard: ASUS Z170 Premium - Buy from Amazon
- CPU: Intel Core i5 6500 - Buy from Amazon
- Cooler: Noctua NH-U12S - Buy from Amazon / Read our review
- Memory: Klevv CRAS 16GB (4x4) DDR4 3000 - Read our review
- Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 - Buy from Amazon / Read our review
- OS Storage: Intel 730 480GB SSD - Buy from Amazon / Read our review
- Secondary Storage: Intel 750 400GB U.2 SSD - Buy from Amazon / Read our review
- Case: Thermaltake P5 - Buy from Amazon / Read our review
- Power Supply: Thermaltake Toughpower Grand 1200 - Buy from Amazon
- OS: Microsoft Windows 10 - Buy from Amazon