Almost everyone these days owns an external hard drive where they store their personal files from their entire music library to their collection of movies or TV series. While most storage solutions offer larger capacities or faster transfer rates, there are those who venture a different route.
WD’s My Passport Wireless is one such device that’s trying to fill the void for wireless external hard drives in the market. The hard drive is one of a few drives in the market that provides users with a way to transfer their files from their computers and laptops to a portable solution without the need to plug the drive into the PC using a cable.
Although it’s easy to assume that a wireless hard drive is a far superior option to the wired alternative, these storage solutions have features that are built with a specific consumer in mind and might not offer the best experience to everyone. In case you’re on the hunt for an external hard drive (to get yourself especially this holiday season) and you’re on the fence on spending more for a wireless drive, here’s our review of the WD My Passport Wirelessto help you out in making that decision whether to go wireless or not.
WHAT’S IN THE BOX
Compared to a typical wired external hard drive, the My Passport Wireless comes with a few more accessories out of the box. The device comes with the usual USB to micro USB type B cable for syncing and charging as well as the usual set of paper works. On top of these, the My Passport Wireless also comes with its own charger with two adapters that’s great if you’re always traveling out of the country.
DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION
The My Passport Wireless sports the same design language that has been in use with some of the company’s recent products. The hard drive is made completely out of plastic and sports a two-tone design. The bottom and sides of the device are made from a single piece of gray plastic while the top plate is colored in black.
A small plate at the top of the device bears the company’s logo as well as two LED indicator lights for the battery and the Wi-Fi connection. Adjacent to this plate is where you’ll find an SD card slot, which has a spring-loaded mechanism. The top edge features two buttons and the USB connector. The button at the top-right edge powers up/down the device while the other button at the top-left edge activates the drive’s wireless capabilities.
The drive has a built-in battery that supports its Wi-Fi functions so the My Passport Wireless is a tad thicker than most wired hard drives. There are also four rubber feet at the bottom of the device making sure that it stays in place when you place it on a flat surface.
WIRELESS SETUP AND OPERATION
There are several ways to move files wirelessly using the WD My Passport Wireless. When using a PC or Mac, users need to first connect to the wireless network that the device automatically creates before accessing the contents of the drive. It’s important to note that because of this process, internet connection may temporarily be disabled until the drive has been properly configured to allow your laptop or Mac to connect to another network.
To access the device settings using a laptop, users need to open a browser and type the URL of the drive (http://mypassport) or the IP address of the device. Once there, users can easily adjust various settings of the device including setting up a password, connecting to another wireless network and locking the USB port on the device to name a few (a feature called Drive Lock).
Accessing the contents of the drive can be done in a number of ways. Once the device is connected, the contents can be viewed using Windows Explorer or Mac’s Finder. Based on our test, it appears this option only allows for moving files back and forth and doesn’t really allow streaming of content. The My Passport Wireless also appears in the Network section, which is where users will be able to stream content.
For those planning to use the Wireless Passport to move files back and forth from a mobile device, an App is required before anything can be done on the device. The settings are pretty much the same as in the Web/Explorer/Finder GUI on Windows and Mac but are arranged in a more finger-friendly manner.
PERFORMANCE
As a wireless external hard drive, there are two things we’d like to know about the WD My Passport Wireless: how fast is it in transferring data (either wired or wirelessly) and how well and stable it performs when using Wi-Fi.
We had the Wireless Passport for several weeks and we put the drive to the test by running some benchmarking software to know how fast it is as a storage device. We used ATTO’s app as well as Crystal Disk and got these values.
We also tried transferring a 3GB file thru a wired connection and it took the drive under two minutes for the file to be completely copied from our laptop to the drive.
When it comes to wireless transfer speeds, the My Passport Wireless is a bit of a hit and miss. During our test, the drive was able to stream a 3GB Full HD movie without issues. The app was able to render the video without any noticeable compression though there were instances that the screen goes gray while images become pixelated for a short time.
While video streaming is okay for the most part, transferring large files wirelessly is a different story. Images and music files can be wirelessly transferred from one source to another without much difficulty, larger files tend to take a considerable amount of time. We tried transferring a couple of mkv files to the drive and we literally didn’t had the time to wait hours for the transfer to finish.
Our biggest gripe about the WD My Passport Wireless is its battery life. We’re not sure if there was an issue with the review unit that we got, but the device’s battery only lasted a few hours especially when doing video streaming. Although, you can connect the drive directly into a wall outlet using the included charger, it actually defeats the purpose of having a wireless storage device.
FINAL WORDS
When it comes to portable storage, only a few brands can match WD in terms of reliability, innovation and of course years of experience. The WD My Passport Wireless is a great representation of WD’s expertise, which improves their already trusted line of external hard drives.
We really like how the drive is designed, despite the larger than usual dimensions. The My Passport Wireless is an excellent product if you’re planning to do some wireless streaming to your mobile device or your laptop. The built-in card reader is also great for those who like a convenient way of moving files from their cameras to their computer or mobile device.
The WD My Passport Wireless also had issues with transferring large files from one location to another. Having said this, we feel that the Wireless Passport is a product mostly for people who want convenience over utility.
Its wireless function is mostly useful for streaming content and not really for transferring files over the air (although you can sometimes get away with it). We can see the My Passport Wireless serving as a content hub for family use where members of the family can store and access content.
At around $150 for the 1TB version, the WD My Passport Wireless is a bit pricey compared to ordinary 1TB drives in the market. But for those who value convenience above everything, this product will certainly be a great deal.
