(Old Model) WD My Passport Ultra 2 TB Portable External USB 3.0 Hard Drive with Auto Backup, Black

I recently started going through all old home videos and pictures, and aggregating them onto my home (RAID mirrored) server. I bought this little (physical size) hard drive for one reason: to backup that data on the server. While the data is mirrored on the servers hard drives, those two hard drives are in close proximity and are susceptible to failure from external sources (electrical/thunder, water, fire, etc). The reason why I paid more and went with a small hard drive (2.5") as opposed to a full-sized hard drive (3.5") was for the ability to store the hard drive into a safety deposit box. Now if you do some research, hard drives aren't great for long term storage that is disconnected. If you attempt this method I add the caveat that you should connect the hard drive to a machine once in a while. I personally plan on updating the files every 4-6 months."But C.Rogers, why would you do this when there is cloud storage!?". Simple, privacy and speed. Cloud storage is over the internet and subsequently is limited by the fastest upload speed your internet provider gives you. It is further limited by any bottle-necks the data hits along the way to it's destination. When you're talking about backing up terabytes of data, this is already a turn off as it would take a huge amount of time (a week or more?) to upload initially. Granted after that it can do incremental back up's that won't take nearly as long, that leads me to my next problem, privacy. There are two aspects I worry about, non-encrypted transmission and legality/security of the service (who really owns the data on their servers, and how secure is it really?). Does the service provide the ability to encrypt the uploads and downloads so no one in between can look at my data? Does the data stay encrypted on their servers? When push comes to shove, who owns the data once it's on their servers? Finally how secure is the service from being hacked? While all these questions have answers that would probably sway me toward cloud storage, the fact that they exist at all means there are far more variables than I'm comfortable with. More variables mean higher percentage of problems arising from unforeseen scenarios. You know whose going to hack this hard drive when its not in my possession? A bank robber. Done."You said it's fast? How fast?". To that I can't comment fully as I don't have a machine with USB 3.0. Best I can offer is USB 2.0. To that end I can mention that I'm getting an average of 20 megabytes (not megabits*) per second writing and about 27 megabytes per second reading.Compatibility: Confirmed working on Windows 7 and Windows Server 2007 without issue.Construction: Feels solid, nice little rubber pads on the bottom. Still a hard drive though, I wouldn't go dropping it.Noise: Church Mouse statusBloatware: Minimal. It comes with Western Digital's management and back up software installed (totaling 254 MB on the hard drive). I imagine I could delete it, but I see no need. In fact I might need some of it in the future. Additionally, it's not "in your face" as soon as you plug it in. There if you want it, but silent if you don't.Other notes: The wire it comes with is about 12 inches long. If this is your first USB 3.0 device, be aware that it is a different wire than USB 2.0 1.1 and 1.0. While I believe USB 2.0 and previous micro wires will work, you will not get USB 3.0 speeds. Thus if you need a longer cable and want USB 3.0 speeds, you will need to order one separately.tl;dr:+Great hard drive for a reasonable price.+Small enough to store in a safety deposit box.+Speeds of 27 MB/s read and 20 MB/s write on USB 2.0.+No real bloatware, just additional utilities included on the hard drive totaling 254 MB's.*+Pretty quiet.-USB 3.0 cable provided is only 12" long.*did not use the auto or cloud backup options, can not comment.

I'm a big digital media junkie. I damn near have every show, movie, music, or piece of data on an extra hard drive. For the longest, I relied on 2 AC powered hard drives that I had gotten from NewEgg about 3 years ago. One was a 1TB the other a 500GB. These are nice options if you don't need to carry them around, which I did some times.It was a pain in the butt. Not to mention the added weight from a desktop sized hard drive, the case, cables, and the need to have a power outlet nearby. I began looking into USB 3.0 powered drives a few months back. I wanted it to be atleast 1TB, slim form, and of course, powered over USB.By chance, I found this hard drive while randomly searching around on Amazon. I purchased it instantly. Once it arrived, I hooked it up, wiped it clean and began transferring everything over to this bad boy. The transfer speeds were slow, I think that is my fault due to my USB 2.0 ports, but I didn't mind and I did this while I was asleep. This thing is awesome. I rarely remember that I'm even carrying it, it's really that light. The indicator light on this is located on the back(where you plug the cable in it) and isn't bothersome or insanely bright. During idle, it does a slow pulsating with more off then on. During load it blinks and flashes quickly.I haven't heard any random clicks or sounds from the drive, which is really nice. The rubberized feet serve their purpose, but I can see them not having a sturdy grip. But, as long as you're stationary, I don't see that being a problem. The case itself has a nice texture that has some grip to it, feels sturdy and well put together.I got the black color, it matches my setups more than the other colors would have. The texturing gives it some depth and makes it pop, but not to much.All-in-all, I'm very happy with this drive and will definitely look into another one in the future or a much larger one.