What is the Difference between the different types of Western Digital My Passport External Drives?

[Avik Basu]

A year or so ago I had bought a Western Digital My Passport 1TB drive after checking TopTenReviews.com and some other places. I want to buy another one but now whenever I check Amazon or other online stores I only find My Passport Ultra and, recently, My Passport X. I have checked their reviews but they don't say what's the difference between the the different drives. So I wanna know what the difference is between the Basic, Ultra and X? Is Ultra better than the Basic one? And is X better than Ultra. Or is it just rebranding with the same performance? Also, which one is preferred for home use?

 

[mudpuppet]

My Passport X is sold as a gaming drive, targeted at Xbox One and Xbox 360 though it can be used with PCs and Mac OS. Its 2 TB and USB 3/2 compatible.

My Passport Ultra ranges from 500GB-2TB and has different color options. It works with Windows and Macs and is also USB 3/2 compatible.

My Passport Basic I can't find anything about the Basic, but imagine it's an older model that is probably slightly larger as the newer drives are smaller.

For you, the Ultra is probably fine as I couldn't turn up a Basic to shop for while here at work. Ultra is probably slimmer/smaller and weighs less than a Basic but Ultra. Ultra has options like size and color which would be more beneficial than having it work with your xbox (unless that is why you are looking to get it). It's not much but I hope this little bit helps you out!

 

[Avik Basu]

My Passport Ultra ranges from 500GB-2TB and has different color options. It works with Windows and Macs and is also USB 3/2 compatible.

My Passport Basic I can't find anything about the Basic, but imagine it's an older model that is probably slightly larger as the newer drives are smaller.

For you, the Ultra is probably fine as I couldn't turn up a Basic to shop for while here at work. Ultra is probably slimmer/smaller and weighs less than a Basic but Ultra. Ultra has options like size and color which would be more beneficial than having it work with your xbox (unless that is why you are looking to get it). It's not much but I hope this little bit helps you out!

Here's a link for the Basic drive - http://www.flipkart.com/wd-my-passport-1-tb-external-hard-disk/p/itme9qx2ppdfbvgu?pid=ACCDBEF5BJWM5JBX

You'll see that there's not much of a dimensional difference and they both support USB 3.0. Does this mean that Ultra is an upgrade for the Basic drive? And no, I'm not looking for a gaming drive. My purpose is only backing up my files monthly.

 

[SuperSoph_WD]

Hey there, Avik Basu!

@mudpuppet pretty much said it all. The external WD My Passport you refer to as 'Basic' is an older model back from 2012 according to my research. You can type the model number of the product here and find more details about it: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=qURkhS

The My Passport X as you can see here: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=IO3xU7 is an external we came up with recently to expand the storage and gaming experience for the console and PC gamers out there, it comes only in 2 TB storage capacity and it's easy to setup on any Xbox or PlayStation console.

As for the WD My Passport Ultra, it's a rather popular external HDD and the new models offer from 500 GB up to 3 TB storage capacity. It comes with 3-year limited warranty and various backup utilities and options. You can check more details about the WD Passport Ultra drives here:
500 GB - 2 TB models: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=EUYse3
500 GB - 3 TB models: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=yHz55w

If you want to know more about all the other External Portable Hard Drives that we have to offer you can check the comparison page here as well: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=CwY6q6

Hope this helps you! Let me know if you've got more questions!
SuperSoph_WD

 

[Avik Basu]

Alright. This was helpful. Thank you both for responses.