The Western Digital My Passport Wireless Pro is a wireless, battery-powered hard drive that can unload your SD cards while on the go, alleviating the need for more SD cards. To boot, its 6,400 mAh battery will charge your devices over USB.
The Wireless Pro is a little black square with some blue lights, a SD card slot, a power button, a unload button, USB and micro USB 3.0 type B inputs/outputs. The unit we reviewed has a capacity of 2TB.
Tests
We tested the claims from the marketing material and specs from the manufacturer to either prove or disprove them. Being a hard drive, we feel it necessary to verify its data read and write speeds. If you intend to buy a hard drive to edit off of or for moving big files from here to there, you will require fast rates. Testing with Blackmagic Speed Disk Test, we found that, via USB 3.0, the Wireless Pro had a write speed of 880 Mb/s — that’s megabits per second. Megabits are eight times smaller than megabytes. The read speed test showed speeds of 904 Mb/s. Those results beat the manufacturer’s promised read/write speeds of 800 Mb/s. That’s saying a lot. Typically, hard drive manufacturers publish best-case numbers, and this drive exceeded those.
Typically, hard drive manufacturers publish best-case numbers, and this drive exceeded those.
To test the battery, we took our trusty Apple iPad 2 and drained it of power. With the Wireless Pro fully charged, we began the charging test. The iPad we used doesn't charge very quickly. In fact, it took most of an eight hour day and came up short of a full charge — 67%. This can be explained by the smaller battery from the Wireless Pro at 6,400 mAh versus the iPad’s 6,930 mAh battery.
Just like with any portable battery, you should know what size batteries you’ll need in order to charge with it. That way you can see how well it will get you out of a bind. Just because it doesn't charge the device fully shouldn’t be an indicator that it's a poor battery. It is just not as big as the battery in this particular iPad.
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Battery charging is a handy feature that the Wireless Pro offers, but it’s hardly the stand out feature you’d make a purchasing decision over — notably because portable batteries can be bought for under $20. The downside to using it to charge a mobile device is if you completely drain it, you won’t be able to use it to unload your SD card.
Our Experience
The Wireless Pro can unload SD cards without a computer. We had the perfect real world situation to test this. When testing the Nikon D500 for its review, we took the camera to Hot August Nights in Reno, Nevada. It is a week long car show, and the whole city is heavy with nostalgia for old cars. Testing out three different lenses, we needed a way to keep each lenses footage separate from one another for easy identification. We went out shooting for the week with three Sony 64GB UHS-I SDXC U3 Class 10 SD Cards, so each lens would have its own card
At the end of each day of shooting, we unloaded the SD cards to the Wireless Pro. The first time we tried to unload a card, it took a bit of searching to find the import option. Once we found it, it gave us the option to automatically import the inserted SD cards. This made it convenient so that you wouldn't need anything other than the Wireless Pro and the SD card to offload your data. The only negative part is that you will need to trust that it is working. Despite the ability to transfer without a peripheral, we used one anyway for data verification.
Who’s it for?
Any shooter who could find themselves in a situation where they need to unload an SD card on location without a computer would benefit from the Wireless Pro. Event videographers, documentarians, travel videographers and journalists would all be perfect candidates for this product.
Depending on the camera you shoot on, it can also be used as a portable battery for your camera or at least your phone.
Recommendation
A typical portable USB 3.0 2TB drive will set you back between $80-$100 so getting 2TB’s for $200 isn't a bargain. That means that you pay $100 more for Wi-Fi, a portable battery and a computerless SD card offload. Is it worth the extra $100? Overall it would be very handy for some and pure novelty to others. Your own workflow and needs will determine if it’s worth the extra money. Overall, it’s a good product that works as promised.
Western Digital
www.wdc.com
PRICE: MSRP $230
STRENGTHS:
- Easy SD offload
- Portable battery
- Wireless connectivity
WEAKNESSES:
- Battery drains completely if used with common tablets
SUMMARY:
The My Passport Wireless Pro has some unique features that, depending on your workflow and needs, could be either useful or a novelty. The product is not too expensive, unless you can’t use all of its offerings. We would recommend the WD My Passport Wireless Pro.
RECOMMENDED USERS:
- Event Videographers
- Documentarians
- Travel Videographers
- Journalists
TECH SPECS:
Model # : WDBP2P0020BBK
System Requirements :
- Windows 10, 8, or 7
- Mac OS X El Capitan, Yosemite, Mavericks, or Mountain Lion
Drive: 256 MB of cache memory
Capacity: 2 TB
Interfaces
- 1 x USB 2.0 (host port)
- 1 x USB 3.0
- 1 x SD card slot
- Integrated 1×1 Wireless-AC
Data Transfer Rate:
- USB 3.0: up to 800 Mb/s
- USB 2.0: up to 480 Mb/s
- SD 3.0: up to 800 Mb/s
- 802.11ac: up to 433 Mb/s
Memory: 512 MB
Processor: RealTek RTD1195PN
Temperature Operating: 32 to 95°F / 0 to 35°C
Storage: -4 to 140°F / -20 to 60°C
Power: 90 to 260 VAC, 47/63 Hz
Dimensions: (L x W x H): 5.0 x 5.0 x 0.9" / 12.7 x 12.7 x 2.3 cm
Weight: 1.0 lb / 0.5 kg
Chris Monlux is not a hard drive. But if he was, he would be a fast yet small disk. He is also Videomaker’s Multimedia Editor.
