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The previous model of the My Passport Studio, which was released more than a year ago, made one of the most versatile portable storage solutions of its time. Because of the current popularity of USB 3.0, the new yet still FireWire- and USB 2.0-only My Passport Studio is now rather limited in terms of connections. The drive, however, still manages to remain original by coming in a sturdy and scratch-resistant all-metal casing that's also very good-looking. Most importantly, it offers very good performance.
Preformatted for Mac and costing $180 for 1TB (or $160 and $130 for the 750GB and 500GB versions, respectively), the new My Passport Studio is comparatively expensive and suited mostly for Mac users. With a nice design and large amount of storage, it will likely offer power users who travel frequently what they need. Windows users, however, should check out other drives such as the Seagate GoFlex Turbo or the Hitachi Touro for both the faster USB 3.0 connection and better prices.
| Drive type | 2.5-inch external USB hard drive |
| Connector options | FireWire 800, USB 2.0 |
| Available capacities | 500GB, 750GB, 1TB |
| Capacity of test unit | 1TB |
| Drive size | 2.5-inch |
| Dimensions (LWH) | 5 inches x 3.3 inches x 0.7 inch (0.9 inch for the 1TB) |
| Weight | .56 pound |
| Notable design features | Sleek all-metal casing |
| OSes supported | Mac OS X 10.4 and later |
| Software included | WD Utility, WD Security |
| Service and support | Two-year warranty |
Design and features
The new My Passport Studio looks great. The drive's housing is made entirely of metal in two colors: black on top, and the rest in white. On the top side, the drive has two FireWire 800 ports and one USB 2.0 port. There's also a tiny blue indicator light that's visible only when lit up. The drive also works with FireWire 400, but you'll need a cable for that. The Studio comes with just one USB 2.0 and one FireWire 800 cable. It's bus-powered with either, meaning you won't need a separate power adapter.
Unlike the previous model, the new My Passport Studio doesn't come with an electric label or a storage gauge. It's just a simple, yet very good-looking, portable drive. Preformatted using HFS+, it works immediately with a Mac, running OS X 10.4 or later. On the drive, you'll find the installer of the WD Drive Utilities and WD Security applications. The former is a set of tools for diagnosing, reformatting, or setting up the sleep timer with the drive; with the latter you can create a password to enable the drive's encryption to protect data from unauthorized access.
While the new My Passport Studio can be easily reformatted using NTFS to work with Windows, the fact that it lacks USB 3.0 means that Windows users should look for other options. The reason the drive doesn't support USB 3.0 is likely because Mac computers generally don't support this peripheral connection.
