14 DAY TRIAL // Western Digital has recently announced their Passport Portable Drive, to carry 320 GB in the palm of your hand. The small-form factor is the largest 1.8-inch drive on the market and promises you true plug-and-play capabilities in an ultra-portable design.
External storage is a mandatory prerequisite for the mobile world, especially for the back-up fanatic or for the users who like to always have their music files handy. Western Digital's small drive is powered through the computer's USB bus. No extra adapters or wires, just plug it in and use it.
The drive, when plugged into a USB 2.0 port, promises a data transfer rate around 480 Mbps. The disc's case has a nice piano finish and resembles a visit-card holder rather than a sophisticated device. Its small dimensions - 1.45 (H) x 12.7 (L) x 7.85 (W) cm and the 104 grams weight renders the drive rather unnoticeable. Of course, you must be extremely attentive, since the size makes the disk easy to lose or misplace.
"The need for travel-friendly storage devices continues to be an area that is growing immensely with the advent of rich media content generated by consumers," said Jim Welsh, vice president and general manager of WD's branded products group. "It's not only music that's consuming space on desktops. Higher resolution pictures and HD videos eat up storage very quickly so we're excited to make a portable 320 GB solution available for consumers on the move."
The disc comes with its own software, that adds extra functionality such as seamless data synchronization of essential personal files as well as of Outlook Mail files. Any portable device may get lost or stolen, and the Passport Portable Drive is no exception to the rule. A hard drive usually contains important data, either for personal (photos or email messages) or for corporate (classified documents etc.) use, and the producers have included a 128-bit encryption utility, to minimize the impact should such situations occur.
The drive can be used both on Windows and Mac platforms, but the additional software is for Windows platforms only. Western Digital's Passport Portable Drive is already on sale and retails for $230.
You can read here a complete review of the Western Digital Passport hard drive.