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I got this drive 15 months ago, and have been using it primarily for twice-weekly automatic rdiff backups (which involve intensive reading and writing). Absolutely no problems that I know of yet. Rock solid and reliable.The form factor is also nice - it can fit into pretty much any nook.The length of the tiny USB cable it comes with is a bit obnoxious, but mine just lives on top of my mid-tower case, so it's not an issue (and not worth knocking any stars off, imho)
WARNING: Do not think that the your WD Passport, using the WD Sync software, is a backup drive; it is NOT.As per the documentation with this device:"synchronization software is intended to synchronize the data from a computer to the drive (WD Passport) and SHOULD NOT be used as backup software. To use this software properly, we advise that you do not wipe orerase the data from the internal hard drive (computer) and resynchronize, as this will cause the data that WD Sync stored to the Passport to be deleted."This is why you are hearing so many people saying that they are deleting the WD Sync software, reformatting, and using the WC Passport as a true backup drive where you can actually see the files that you are backing up, ratherthan a bunch of unrecognizable sync files that likely don't have all the files that you thought you "backed up".
DO NOT BUY ANYTHING from Western Digital. They told me that it wasn't their fault and refused to help. Unreliable and they have the horrible customer service. I bought a hard drive (500G) from them that broke down after 5 days. HORRIBLE experience. I lost 500 gigs of data.
I brought my Passport for backing up my computer and using for "portable office files" that I need to do business. I would not buy this product again, because it is not a durable product and it doesn't hold up to being moved around a lot. I kept it in a padded lap top case and it still didn't hold up with all the moving around of the luggage.
If you are buying to use for travel, it sucks. The first thing they try to do is get you to buy a "power boost" cable. The device works fine if you are just leaving it sitting on a desk.
The customer service support from Western Digital is poor. After 4 days on the road the Passport stopped working. It is not has tough and cannot handle on the road travel.
After researching the problem of the device not being recognized by Windows, I found out that a whole lot of other people end up with the same problem after using the Passport for a while. The data retrievable cost is ridicule, the cheapest quote was $550.
I'm pretty sure this is the computers' faults, not the drive, though.Conclusion:The current price for the 250gb Passport (this page) is ~$130; the 250gb Passport Essential is ~$90. I can't tell from the official product picture if the model is the same, but mine has the slightly-slanted casing, so that each of the thin faces look like parallelograms rather than rectangles. Also, the 500gb passport essential is ~$160 now. You can sort of see this in the 1st, 2nd, and 4th customer photos. I attempted to use the trial version of Paragon Partition Manager to reformat it without destroying the data, but it didn't work (fwiw, Paragon successfully reformatted the internal WD Scorpio Blue hdd that had my OS on it, so there must be something going on here).I just wanted to use this for as extra storage, so I deleted the stuff pre-programmed on the drive. The model I have has a little rubber flap that covers up the mini usb port, but I *think* the Passport Essential scorns that sort of thing. is fine as far as length goes (unless there's no surface to put the thing on, I don't know why you'd *need* a longer cable), but small as it is I find that I dislike carrying it around.
ANYWAY, the point is that my review may be slightly obsolete. There's an even newer version out (WDME2500TN), the Passport Essential, which is squared off and has moved the WD logo from the center of the top face to one corner. :D.Pros: small, stylish, usb-powered (may require a y-cable to draw from 2 ports if you have an older laptop, but I've run mine on an Acer Travelmate C204TMi while it was plugged into the passthrough for the Antec usb-powered notebook cooler set on hi), quiet (slight audible click when the disk starts spinning), runs cool (you might be able to feel that it's above room temp after it's been on for a while, but it's a non-issue), fast enough, large capacity, etc etc etc.Cons and nitpicks:There is a shiny side (top) and a matte side (bottom), and both pick up fingerprints and smudge like crazy.At one point, the matte and shiny sides of mine parted slightly at one edge; I tried to pop it back together but it wouldn't go. (The Lacie Little Disk has a cover that comes off, but the Aegis avoids detachable parts altogether.
I bought this drive about a year ago (12/2007); the model number on the label on bottom of the drive is WD2500XMS-00, which is ever so slightly different from the model number here (WDXMS2500TN). Integrated cables, like on the Lacie Little Disk or the Apricorn Aegis Portable, are probably a good idea, and don't add much bulk (all the 2.5" portables are about the same size anyway).It comes formatted as FAT32. I put some data on it, and decided I wanted to format it to NTFS, but I didn't have anywhere to move the data. It doesn't come with a software disk, though, so I wouldn't know how to recover that.A few computers I've plugged this into don't really recognize it, and go looking for installation software and drivers (unsuccessfully). >.> I don't know, maybe the glue or whatever held it in place warmed enough to hold it together again. To that end, I bought the Apricorn Aegis Portable when I was in the market for a 500gb portable, rather than the Passport Essential. The 3rd and 5th look like they are squared off, and may be a newer generation than what I have. You do the math.
Later, the drive randomly healed itself. It was a bit odd, but I didn't have to worry about it for long.The rubber flap to protect the usb port from dust or from getting wet or whatever is a good sentiment, but doesn't look slick enough to fit with the rest of the drive, which is probably why they didn't keep it for the Passport Essential.The included cable (8in). There is nothing very wrong with this drive; only the non-integrated cable is a material issue for me. It's a little more expensive, though).
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