By Mark Holder
What carries up to 400,000 photos, half a million songs or 150 hours of video (DV format), and is compact enough to fit easily in your shirt pocket? Why, Western Digitals new My Passport 2TB portable hard drive of course! Anyone who works with high res photos and HD video knows the importance of having ample storage capacity. Easy enough when youre at home or in the office, safely snuggled up next to your RAID 5. But what about when youre out on the road or employ a workflow that requires you to carry large files between multiple systems? High capacity storage in a mobile format is essential for those with requirements such as these. Equally important in a mobile environment are security and versatility.
The My Passport 2TB drive utilizes a security utility that makes use of password protection and hardware encryption to protect its precious cargo from unauthorized access. While on the road, it may be necessary to connect to a variety of systems. This drive gives you added flexibility as it is compatible with both USB 2.0 and USB 3.0. Whenever you have the opportunity to connect using USB 3.0, do so. Its transfer rates are three times faster than those of USB 2.0 and when youre working with monster file sizes, every micro-second counts. And of course, power is delivered through the USB cable so you dont have to pack around an additional power supply.
More than just a digital-cargo carrier, the My Passport 2TB portable drive provides a perfect backup solution for protecting all your data. Many types of files can be reconstructed. Its a lot of work and a pain to do so, but it can be done. Others, such as the kids pictures and home videos, are priceless. Once they're gone, theres no bringing them back. WD SmartWare is backup and retrieval software that comes already on the drive, ready to be installed to your computer. Once installed and configured, it runs automatically in the background, backing up your files each time a change is made or file is added. With a retail price of $250 and street prices around $200, the Western Digital My Passport 2TB portable drive delivers both portability and peace of mind.
Mark Holder is a video producer and trainer.
