I've now used this drive for about half a week and so far it is working well. It was already formatted for the Mac, so when I plugged it in there was nothing to do - it mounted automatically (I am running macOS High Sierra, version 10.13.6). I like that there is no separate power supply - it runs off of the power from the USB port. I've connected it both to USB-C on a new Mac and USB-A on an older one, and it works well on both.
I am running TimeMachine backups to it, plus I also use CrashPlan and set up the drive as a local destination. In addition, I've copied some large files to a folder on the drive. I've even set up sharing for a folder on the drive to save the TimeMachine backup for another Mac on my home network (see Apple's website for how to do that - you use Sharing in System Preferences). It all works.
I did have one issue: the drive has a built-in sleep timer to power down the drive when not in use. This seemed to cause a problem with TimeMachine, which failed when making a backup overnight. I suspected the sleep timer because it is a common feature on many drives, and I've found it can cause problems. I used the WD Drive Utilities app and turned off the sleep timer, and the problem with TimeMachine hasn't recurred. I suspect that the drive's sleep timer is the cause of the many complaints I've seen here about the drive failing almost immediately after the first backup.
By the way, the Mac itself has a setting under Energy Saver in System Preferences to put hard disks to sleep, and that is turned on. This setting does put the drive to sleep when not in use, and TimeMachine has no problem waking it up, even when the Mac connected over the network is running a TimeMachine backup. Maybe the real problem is that the Mac's setting to put hard drives to sleep and the drive's sleep timer don't play well together. Western Digital should look into this.
The drive comes with an app called WD Discovery, and with that you can download other apps, including WD Drive Utilities. Other than using WD Drive Utilities to turn off the sleep timer, I didn't want to use the other features, and I've set WD Discovery not to run when I boot up.
I love that it works for my Mac straight out of the box. The installation software was straightforward too. I also like that there are two adapters, for both usb-c and the regular USB port. I haven't experienced any issues yet, but that's because I've only accessed it twice to offload files onto it.
I was a little concerned on how it was packaged though, because it came through a bubble envelope, and I would think the merchants would want to keep products like an external hard drive from suffering from any impact caused to it that could impair it's performance. The cardboard packaging containing the hard drive was dented, but the hard drive itself seemed fine. It should have been shipped in a cardboard box with air pockets to minimise potential impact damage.
This is the fourth WD portable I've purchased. The first two were flawless. This one is meant to replace one I bought a couple months ago because I was getting error messages when it tried to back-up. The replacement is having the same problem. I've run a disc utility, but had to dismount it myself first so it could check for errors. Not sure what this is about. Hardware or software: If the problem persists I'll be on to WD to find out why I keep getting error messages. So, four stars because I've found WD reliable in the past. But withholding one star because two in a row have been problematic.
This product works flawlessly. I am not sure what Mac problems the one star rather had, but I had no problems. It backs up my MacBook Pro using Time Machine without problems!
Will it work with your Mac?
When I read the box and paperwork accompanying this device, it made no distinction between Apple devices or operating systems, so for that reason, I thought it was certainly worth a try.
Fortunately, I have a current OSX operating system. If you have an earlier system, you will have to reformat the drive.
Feature Product
- Designed for Mac and Time Machine ready
- Password protection with hardware encryption
- Trusted drive built with WD reliability
- USB 3.0 port; USB 2.0 compatible
- 3-year manufacturer's limited warranty
- Formatted for Mac OS X
Description
My Passport for Mac is trusted, portable storage that perfectly complements your on-the-go lifestyle. Designed to fit in the palm of your hand, there’s plenty of space to store a massive amount of photos, videos, music and documents. Perfectly paired with Apple’s Time Machine backup software and password protection, the My Passport for Mac drive helps keep your files safe.
I now own and use five different WD My Passport external hard drives. Each is a different size and were purchased in different years. My oldest is now 4 years old. So far, all have performed flawlessly and none (knock wood) have failed. Two are used as my Time Machine computer back-ups; one holds my considerable music library (so I can keep the media off my computer) and two hold back-ups to my 30,000+ photo archives. I am a Mac user and buy the ones pre-formatted for Mac, though it is quite easy to reformat a non-Mac version. I find the value and performance to be excellent all around and until one fails me, will always buy WD drives.
I partitioned the drive. 500gb for external storage and 1.5tb for time machine. I completely reformatted the drive and encrypted both partitions. I do not know why everyone is giving this item 1 star I have had nothing but a good experience . No mounting issues, no failed back ups, no failed data transfers. I am using a MacBook Pro 13.3 2018 with Touch Bar. very good bang for buck hard drive. keep in mind it is not SSD so there are moving parts (as in spinning HD). As for durability it does not seem like it would dent fairly easily, but It not like I'm going to go rock climbing with it...
I needed a backup system for my iMacs. I did have a time capsule, but I wanted something independent for both Macs. Also, I had the other system for 9 years and needed an update.
This was great because it was already set up for the Mac. (Other hard drives need to be reformatted for the Mac, this wasn’t the case on this hard drive)
I highly recommend this.
I own four of these and have carried them all over the world to store video and photo files. If you are using a Mac, make sure you order the drive pre-formatted for Mac. I personally recommend them as I have found them to be reliable and easy to use.
I purchased this product as I have a MacBook. It’s very fast. Comes with a regular USB cable and a USB-C cable. This helps with the new MacBooks as you don’t need an adapter. Data transfer speed is great. The price and quality are satisfying! I do really enjoy using this product. Mostly all my data is on this device. It’s lightweight. The WD app helps making a better connection with it. I’ve read a lot of articles and reviews about this product before I purchased it, yet I am very satisfied.
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