The first drive I received (purchased from Amazon) was defective and did not synch up with my new MacBook Pro. After 45 minutes on the phone with a Western Digital (WD) technical support rep, he was unable to determine the cause (I suspected it might be a cable connection problem). I returned the drive to Amazon and received a replacement (same model-- WDBAAB3200ACH-NESN) that worked intermittently. The cable connection into the drive was not secure and the slightest movement disrupted the backup process.
I returned the second defective drive to Amazon for a refund and decided to revisit the description of the drive on Amazon's site where I discovered DOZENS OF REVIEWS OF THIS MODEL THAT WERE posted after my purchase. MOST WERE NEGATIVE, criticizing WD's "proprietary" cable design (and WD SmartWare software, in some instances) for problems purchasers were having with this model.
What's puzzling is that as I write this (Nov. 23, 2009) there are ONLY FOUR (4) REVIEWS of this model and virtually ALL THE NEGATIVE REVIEWS INCLUDING COMMENTS HAVE DISAPPEARED!
Unless WD changes the design of this model to fix the connection problem, I can't recommend it. Western Digital My Passport for Mac 500 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive (Charcoal)
It could not have been easier to install this drive... plug in the USB cable! No power cord... just the USB cable, which is great. You are quickly prompted to make a decision... as to whether or not you wish to use the Mac Time Machine application or the drive's "WD SmartWare". I don't know of a reason why a person buying a Mac drive, would not also use Time Machine... it works incredible well and seamlessly while using your Mac. That's it... that's the install process. I chose to use Time Machine and my Mac immediately began to create the first backup session. So cool... to never have to be concerned about archiving files or deleting a file in error... just window back through the change file visual interface to find the file and bring it forward to today. I would have given this item FIVE stars, except for some reason, even though I made the decision to use the Time Machine application and not the included WD SmartWare... the SmartWare VCD (virtual CD) continues to remain on the desktop. Apparently it's part of the firmware of the drive and cannot be unmounted or removed. There should be an option not to have this remain on the desktop... if you've decided not to use the software. You learn to live with seeing the two icons... the one for the "My Passport" drive itself (which you would expect to see remain on the desktop)... the VCD icon (essentially a folder with various WD applications inside. Perhaps WD will rethink this function... as it is NOT necessary! Otherwise... you should buy this drive... perfectly married to a Mac!
This drive is a huge headache. Luckily it is the backup to my backup to my backup (yeah I have issues), but still annoying. The smartware software popping up as a disk image is not that bad. The cable is not proprietary folks, but the connection is bad. If you breath on it wrong it will eject the disk. My first backup of 400GBs hangs every 10-20GB and I have to manually restart the backup to trick it into continuing. Day 4 and still not done even with setting my iMac to not sleep. 70GB to go, thus why I have time to write this review while I wait for the progress to freeze again. I have an older 100 GB that has always worked flawlessly.
Wait a few weeks or months for them to fix the bugs with this. Definitely not worth it now, but I really didn't see a good 2nd choice after researching for weeks. If only I could carry my drobo around with me.
The physical back drive itself is fine. The software that came with it is a piece of sh--. It is made for a MAC and for my operating system. When the page necessary to begin the back-up appears on screen, it is cut off at the bottom so it is absolutely IMPOSSIBLE to click on the "begin back-up" button at the bottom of the page because it is IMPOSSIBLE to scroll down to that part of the page. I worked at this along with my computer-geek friend for several hours and was ready to toss the whole thing in the garbage. Eventually I realized that my MAC has the time=machine back-up program built into it, so I used the Passport physical hard drive and the Apple Time Machine program to back up my computer. They should trash the software that comes with it. IT IS CRAP!!!!
Western Digital gets even more creepy about its bloatware.
I genuinely believed that the new firmware would allow access to the entire drive, and allow removal of WDSmartWare. No such luck. You can hide the thing, but the only way to remove it is crack the case and stick the drive into a direct SATA interface, then reformat it. This voids the warranty.
My drive is going back. Going to get a Seagate.
Shame, Western Digital, shame. You claim to listen to your customers but you must think we're stupid if "hiding" things addresses our concerns in your mind. - External Hard Drive - 500gb - Portable - Portable Hard Drive'
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