
There are quite a few in-depth, well-written reviews about this hard drive, so there's no need to repeat that information. However, I want to make it clear how I've used this drive.
I have a MacBook Pro using OS X 10.5.6, and I've been using Time Machine (supplied software) with Apple's Time Capsule (wireless router and backup system) to wirelessly backup my laptop automatically. I've been using this backup approach for about six months, and it worked great when I used Time Machine's restore function (I installed a new internal hard drive).
But the one thing that I didn't have was an off-site backup. It seems that every time people are interviewed on the news about their house burning down, assuming everyone was safe, they wish that they could have saved their photos since they're irreplaceable. So for me, an off-site backup is of great importance, since my family's photos are priceless.
And that's where the Western Digital Passport Essential drive comes in. I almost always buy LaCie drives since they've worked so well for me, but I decided to try out the WD drive, to see how it would work. To get the drive to work with Time Machine, all I had to do was 1) reformat the drive in the Mac OS format (and this may not be required), 2) in Time Machine's preferences, change to this drive as the backup drive, 3) wait for Time Machine to fully back up to the external WD drive, and 4) change back to Time Capsule as my backup drive.
Or said perhaps more simply, I told Time Machine to use the WD drive, and once done, told it to use the Time Capsule drive again. Time Machine simply picked up where it had left off on my "main" backup drive. I expect that I'll bring home my WD, off-site drive about once a month, and do the switch and switch back.
So a little bit of manual work, but for a lot of benefit. And in case you're wondering, the drive is very quiet, seems very well built, and the silver/white finish nicely complements my MacBook Pro.Get more detail about
Western Digital My Passport Essential 500 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive WDME5000TN (Midnight Black).