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Western Digital WDXMS2500TN Passport 250 GB USB Portable Hard Drive | 
 enlarge | Brand: Western Digital
Category: CE
List Price: $199.99
Buy New: $89.00
You Save: $110.99 (55%)
New (10) Used (1) Refurbished (1) from $89.00
Avg. Customer Rating:  142 reviews
Sales Rank: 4173
Format: Cd
Platforms: Macintosh, Windows
Media: Electronics
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Batteries Included: No
Operating System: Windows & Macintosh
Hard Drive Size: 250
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 5.1 x 3.1 x 0.6
Warranty: 3 years warranty
MPN: WDXMS2500TN
Model: WDXMS2500TN
UPC: 718037120287
EAN: 0718037120287
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Features:
| • | 250 GB USB 2.0 2.5-inch external hard drive ideal storage solution for Mac or PC | | • | USB connection; requires no external power source;128-bit encryption for data security | | • | Included Google software for searching and managing files | | • | Features glossy black design | | • | Measures a 0.59 x 5.1 x 3.14 inches (HxLxW); weighs less than 4 ounces |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Light and rugged, the Passport USB Portable Hard Drive is easy to carry and no external power adapter is needed. Sync & encryption and Google software is included. Carry important files and e-mail between work and home or on the road Share large files between office and home, between PC and Mac Back up your existing notebook hard drive for extra data safety
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| Customer Reviews: Read 137 more reviews...
 ACTUAL OWNER OF 250GB WD PASSPORT!! July 13, 2007
306 out of 319 found this review helpful
Being a medical student, its my nature to want to help others out. So this review is to help out all my friends here on Amazon interested in an 250GB Passport like I once was. Now that I own one, let me be the first ACTUAL OWNER of one to give you all an heads up about it. If you have any further questions after this review, feel free to message me on Yahoo Messenger (my ID is amitd0c2b - thats a zero in 'd0c' not the letter O).
Why do I give this external hard-drive 5 stars?
#1: As of July 11, 2007 - this was the only external hard drive that was 250GB which does not require an external adaptor and only 3x5 in size. Its so small and good looking!! It hardly weighs anything (less than 1/3 of a 12 oz pepsi can). The next highest portable drive of this stature by any other brand is 160GB. What is also amazing is, its the same size and weight as other old Western Digital Passports (i.e. 120gb and 160gb models) despite twice the capacity.
#2: I have owned a Maxtor One Touch external hard drive in the past, and after 2 years it spontaneously stopped working. The warranty was over, and they wanted $1000 to recover my lost memories! This Western Digital Passport comes WITH a 3 year warantee. I read a rumor somewhere that the box says 3 years but they only give you 1 year when you register - this claim is FALSE! I registered it and I got 3 years and 1 month additional (through August 2010). This alone was an amazing deal, it shows how much faith they have in their product that they are willing to give you such a long warantee (as it costs the company, not us).
#3: I also read rumors that this drive does not work unless you purchase the optional Y-USB (dual USB connection cable). So just in case, I purchased the additional Y-USB cable. Well, I didn't need it. I have tried this drive in 3 laptops: mine and two of my classmate's computers. There has not been any issues with ANY of these laptops. I own an HP laptop, my friends own a Toshiba and Dell, respectively. All our laptops are about 2 years old (I'm about to get a new one this Fall when I see the new line of laptops with fingerprint readers, built-in webcams, and all these other cool features). Just in case, I recommend getting the Y-USB cable just so you have it if you ever decide to use the Passport on someoene elses laptop and it does not power up. But again, I personally have not had any problems.
#4: Yes, its true the Passport does not come with a case. But it seems very durable. So if you want a case just to prevent any scratches to it, I recommend picking up one from Western Digital (the sack case for only $5!). Its a sufficient amount of space to throw in the short USB cable and stuff the entire thing in your pocket (just make sure to put the cable behind the Passport so you don't scratch the drive with the cable itself). If you want something more premium, Western Digital offers a very protective case for $25 (which is available on eBay for half the price with free shipping). I went ahead and got both the sack case and the premium case - one for lugging around in my pocket when I need the Passport, and one for travelling and protecting it when I put it in a suitcase.
#5: The convenience of a light-weight and tiny drive, the beautiful looks and form factor (black gloss with blue light), and the lack of long cables and not requiring an AC adaptor, make this the reason to purchase a 250GB external hard drive of its nature. I always wanted a 500GB external, but those things are so huge and require an adaptor, the convenience of this makes this the better value. Plus, laptops such as HP are already coming out with 500GB hard drives. So now I am just going to put all my very important data in this Passport, and anything else will go in the 500GB hard drive laptop. Thats more than enough storage for me as a medical student, but I understand everyone has their own needs and requirements.
Again, if you have any questions, my contact information is in the first paragraph of this review. I hope this review was helpful to you, as its my own personal opinion and we all may vary in our thoughts. I tried to be as accurate as possible though for you all. Good luck on your search for the next portable hard-drive in your life; nonetheless, from my end, I give this Western Digital 250GB Passport 5 stars!!
Take care,
Amit
Compact size with a large capacity September 19, 2007
19 out of 19 found this review helpful
The Western Digital Passport line of hard drives is excellent. After using a 160 GB hard drive for 6 months, I realized that the reliability and ease of use of this drive was hard to resist. Priced competitively to other manufacturers, it has a great value.
I purchased the 250 GB hard drive to augment my portable storage to keep all of my necessary files without having to resort to finding an outlet that most external hard drives require.
The most important thing to do before using this drive is to Quick Format it in NTFS to handle larger files (> 4GB). It comes from the factory in FAT 32.
It is a quiet drive and runs without the heat that most plug-in externals have.
Constructed of lightweight plastic it is portable but not 'fragile'. I have accidentally dropped mine a few times without adverse effects.
It's big use is for laptop users and academics who need large amounts of space in a small footprint. With the low key glossy black finish, it's simple styling is not an eyesore. A USB cable is provided.
Highly recommend this line of external hard drives.
Don't believe the doubters about power consumption issues December 31, 2007
14 out of 14 found this review helpful
All good reviews, but don't believe the issues with power. WinXP SP2 blocks the use of the drive because it thinks it draws too much power. But there is a simple procedure to override this (from WD site):
"Problem:
Under Windows XP, an error message of "Power Surge on Hub Port" or "USB device has exceeded the power limits of it's hub port" is displayed when connecting a USB device to a USB port on a computer or Hub.
Cause:
Under some computers, USB devices are only allowed to draw a maximum of 500 milliamps (mA) per connection from the USB port on the computer system or from a USB hub. Under the Windows XP Operating System, with the release of Service Pack 2, if a device attempts to draw more than this (500 milliamps), a USB port balloon message is displayed to indicate this over current condition. When connecting a USB device that draws power from the USB bus, a very brief over current condition is sometimes detected by the OS, and the warning message is displayed.
Resolution:
This message has no affect on the functionality of the USB port. The USB hard drive should still function correctly on the USB port regardless of the error message. To prevent the USB Power Surge Alert message from displaying, please complete the following steps:
Click on Start.
Click on Control Panel.
Double-click on the System Icon.
Click on the Hardware Tab.
Click on the Device Manager button.
Click on the + next to Universal Serial Bus Controllers to expand the selection.
Right-click and select Properties on any listing that displays USB UNIVERSAL HOST CONTROLLER.
Click on the Advanced Tab.
Check the box that says: Don't tell me about USB errors."
This works fine, and the drive works fine afterwards. I suspect it actually draws less power than they say. Maybe it has a brief power draw spike on startup, but it's running power seems less. In any case, it works fine without the Y cable. I do think it is tacky that WD doesn't give the cable for free, since my $7 Sabrent 2.5" Hard drive enclosure came with a y cable.
But most likely the drive will work fine for you. It is a lovely quiet drive, and takes up no space at all.
PS I just tried it on my IBM X31, which is several years old, and it worked fine. So I think the power issue is really a non-issue, but if you really are worried about frying your usb port, then buy the Y-cable.
iPod-like Sleekness, Huge Drive- Just Plug and Save! September 22, 2007
11 out of 11 found this review helpful
I'm using the 250GB Western Digital Passport to back-up files on my Macbook, which only has a 100G drive, so this is 2 1/2 times bigger.
I read a lot of reviews on different websites before purchasing this drive.
PROS:
1. Portability: The Passport is just slightly bigger than my iPod.
2. Piano black finish looks: This will be sitting on my desk most of the time and looks great next to my black Macbook.
3. Does not need an additional power block: This portable drive takes its power from the included USB cord.
4. Plug-and-Save: I was saving files onto this external hard drive within minutes of opening the package. Pops up as a drive on the desktop.
I saved about 50G worth of files, movies and music onto the drive. It took about 10-15 minutes, so it definitely wasn't super-fast.
The direct playback of a movie from the drive was excellent. I ran both movies simultaneously from the MAC HD and the WD HD, and they looked and sounded identical with no skipping.
CONS:
1. Too bad it doesn't come with a carrying case, which you can buy separately.
2. Takes a while to save files. But this is my first external hard drive, so I have no point of reference. Maybe they all take a while...
3. No software to sync the WD passport to your Mac so that you can have it automatically back-up files when it's plugged in. I just manually drag and drop. It does have software for PCs.
Nonetheless, I highly recommend.
Small, light and reasonable speed - powered by USB July 18, 2007
9 out of 9 found this review helpful
This drive works really well. I have two of them that I use with my MacBook Pro. I did a striped raid with them for a total of 500GB and I'm very pleased with the results (and the speed).
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