One of WD’s more interesting products, the My Passport Wireless drive offers over the air transfers and an SD card slot. It’s fast, its light and its portable. Our full review is up.
WD My Passport Wireless key specs:
- 1TB
- Wireless-N with MIMO
- SD card slot
- USB 3.0
- Dimensions: 5.0 in. x 3.39 in. x 0.96 in.
- Weight: 0.60 lbs.
Package Contents:
- Wi-Fi mobile storage
- USB cable
- USB power adapter
- Quick install guide
The Review:
The My Passport Wireless has similar design elements from its wired cousins. It features a matte silver plastic body with curved edges and a black plastic top. The top panel has the WD logo and product name, and beside it are the LED status indicators for power and Wi-Fi. The front panel has the power button, the USB 3.0 port and the WPS button.
On one side you will find a feature unique to the My Passport Wireless, an SD card slot. This would allow people (like mabe photographers) to quickly backup photos and videos on the go, to free up some storage space.
On hand, the portable drive feels very solid. The build quality is very good. You know just by holding it that the device is well made. During testing, I found that the top sinks a bit when pressed, but the plastic body is solid as I poked and prodded the device.
There are two ways to access the My Passport device: wired or wireless. Through the wired method, the storage device works just like any other storage device. Just plug it in using the USB cable and you’re good to go. Through the wireless method, you would need to install software on your smartphone to access. The app is available for both Android and iOS.
For this article, I only reviewed the Android app, WD My Cloud, which is available for free in Google Play. The app is easy to use and has a straightforward interface. Each type of media (photos, music and videos) is separated by its own tab. Clicking on a file, like a movie or an MP3, will open it on its corresponding player. You can even sync the drive to popular Cloud services that you use.
Performance wise, I was pleasantly surprised at the transfer speed of the app using a USB3 connection. Transferring a 1.44GB file from My Passport to PC took just 18 seconds, with transfer speeds of up to 73MBPS. While transferring the same file from PC to the My Passport took around 29 seconds with speeds of up to 52MBPS.
Transferring the same 1.44GB file wirelessly was another matter. Uploading the file from a mobile device to the My Passport took a bit over 5 minutes. It may be vastly different from the results of the USB3 wired transfer, but that number is not at all that bad.
The Verdict:
The My Passport Wireless is a reliable way to back up and store media files, without the hassle of wires and cables. Thanks to the SD card slot, most photographers and videographers will find that it’s a quick way to easily backup their photos and videos. It is also good way to watch movies and videos without having to save the files locally on your mobile device or computer.
The My Passport Wireless drive is currently available at select retailers and distributed by EA Global Supply Chain Solutions, Inc. and Iontech, Inc. in the Philippines. MSRP is P7,590 for 500GB, P9,590 for 1 TB and P11,990 for 2 TB.