Western Digital Passport WDXMS3200TN Hard Drive - WDXMS3200TN
Western Digital Passport Portable 320GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive

The drive is very small, easy to use. The lack of power cable and adapter was very appealing. Its very easy to use, works fairly quickly and is very portable. I formatted the drive to NTFS from FAT32 to make it be more efficient. I really love this little drive. After using this for more than a year now i am satisfied i made the right choice. The software is easy to use and the drive is quiet.
 
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Super Product...320gb in a wallet size package..FAST,QUIET. Best feature is the bus powered usb power source,No power brick and cord to lug around or lose. My family has purchased 3 for backup and file transfer from our laptops to pcs. Wish it was available when I was an on-the-move consultant for 10 years!! Hint: Caselogic makes a good case for it that carries/protects the drive and cord. Consider getting one with the drive. Several colors are available to keep drives identified.
 
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I already had an 80 GB internal HDD which I converted to external HDD using an external casing. But was not satisfied with is specially because it was bulky and needed a power source to start. So bought this one -- right from the buying, delivery to the use of the product, I have found it convenient. Its very slim and installs automatically on my XP based system. The data transmission is fast. Though I had apprehensions about using a dual USB cable reading other reviews but this HDD performed well with the one supplied along.. the cord provided with the HDD is a small one, hence I had to use another for increased mobility of my laptop. overall a great buy!
 
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The Passport 320 GB performs just it is advertised. Utility software is convenient to use too.
 
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I've bought 320 GB passport drive 2 weeks ago. I feel its very good and worthy for the price. Its performing good with no issues.
 
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Purchased as a drive upgrade for my Macbook. Followed the video on how to disassemble - available on the internet - (pretty easy, just need fingernails) and popped the drive into my laptop. No problems so far. Only minus is that the drive has a small 2MB cache, unlike some of the more expensive 2.5 320GB drives out there.
 
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This drive is large, and very portable. Sure you can get bigger drives cheaper, but the great thing about this one is that it does not require a power supply. You just plug it in to a USB port, it powers up, and it works great. I had another drive but it was a pain to carry around that power brick as well. The great thing about this one, is that I can stick it in my pocket, and I barely know it is there. I use it to back up files between my home and office. It holds all my documents, my mp3s, my pictures, my videos, and even full backup images of my home, and work computer hard drives. It's a breeze, and since it is made by a trusted brand like Western Digital it should be as dependable as the other drives I have used from them in the past. It is a great buy! As always Buy.com provided fast shipping and incredible service. I chose the free shipping option. I ordered it on Friday afternoon, and had it at my door by the following Tuesday. I wish I could buy everything from Buy.com.
 
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I have previously purchased the Passport in sizes of 120, 160 and 250GBs. I still use them but as usual, more space is needed and wanted by all! This drive works just like all the others - plug and play. Haven't had any issues with my computers recognizing it as soon as I plug it in the USB drive. The backup software that comes with it is very user friendly and does the job. Buy.com had the best sale price at the time I got it so it was worth taking the stab at increasing my storage space. Now if they could only increase the storage to 500GB or more and keep it portable. Anyway, this is a great external hard drive that does not require it's own power source. I back up all my music and two computers' documents to it and have no problems.
 
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I have used this product for 2 weeks and am completely happy. For those with Windows I suggest doing a (quick) NTFS reformatting allowing the storage of LARGE files. Small, attractive, easy to use. Excellent value
 
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it's a snazzy little drive with big storage space, but doesn't mount properly most of the time on my dell inspiron laptop. in order for it to mount, I need to uninstall all of my usb drivers each time and then manually search for new usb drivers and devices with it plugged in. hardly practical. I'm purchasing (for an additional 20$) a usb booster cable in hopes that this will allow it to connect consistently. it's a nice enough drive for the price but not really recommended.
 
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I ordered two of these drives for use with my MacBook Pro. One is a dedicated SuperDuper drive (nightly bootable backups), and the other is dedicated to movies/TV shows/storage on the go (Aperture vaults, BitTorrents, et cetera). Now, instead of lugging around large desktop drives, I can grab my laptop and two of these, and I've got 890 GB of storage with me. Fantastic form factor, works great on powered & daisy-chained USB hubs (one is on a powered hub that connects to the MBP, the other is on a hub chained off of the first hub. Both work fine). Good performance for USB (I still miss FireWire drives). Unsure if 2 or 8 MB cache, have not opened the cases to look.
 
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A great external hard drive. Plenty of GB...actual space available is 300GB. I use this for my laptop, my gf's Mac & my PS3. Performance is good even for USB 2.0. The hard drive is super portable.
 
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I took it on vacation with me and downloaded all my photos ... pretty fast and durable... love the size and love the powered by usb feature... buy it
 
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I've been using the WD Passport 320gb for a few weeks now, and I love it, it hasn't given me any problems, and its great to be able to pick up 320gb of data and stick it into my pocket.
 
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Though I didn't think I would need all of the 320gb this external hard drive affords just to back up my laptop computer, considering the technology which may be upcoming in the future in music and videos, who knows--perhaps more is better than less and the price was right. But upon its receipt, I was most amazed at the true "Passport" size of this huge external hard drive, since it is honestly just about the size of a passport, though slightly thicker. It was very easy to install and use, and gives me confidence that I am backing up everything on my laptop for retrieval in the event of a crash.
 
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This portable drive is excellent. For all the travel and work I do on the road it's worth it's weight in gold for it's vesatility and allowing me to keep the work data separate from my multifuction computer. The disc boots up quickly and does not require any software unless you want security, totally PnP. It will however drag your battery down on a laptop which all external drives will do if powered via the USB. The size is about as small as you are going to get and the price is absoulutely right.
 
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I was looking for a way to keep my mp3 files with me...This drive really did the trick. I've heard some complaints that it's usb only connection doesn't always work with laptops, but it works great on my Dell 6400. It's amazingly light and the access time is quite good too. Highly recommended.
 
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It's great to have 320GB in such a small and portable unit. I love it. I can't wait until the 500GB or even a 1TB is as small and portable.
 
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Very Good
 
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I haven't used this drive much since I've had it but I have had my fair share of experience with hard drives, both internal and external. I've also used other competing brands, but have always had a good experience with Western Digital for the most part. The drive is extremely small. It really is as portable as one might think. The lack of a separate power adapter is both a pro and in itself a con. The 320GB model requires more power than most of the other USB-powered external drives, the USB cable must meet the requirements and the drive must be plugged directly into the back of the PC to the motherboard (not an add-on USB card, or a USB hub). If they had included a longer cable, this probably wouldn't even be of concern, but it's literally like 1-foot. If I try using one of the many other cables I have, it won't receive enough power, and Windows will constantly detect and lose its detection. This occurred on both XP and Vista. Aside from the short cable, the drive is quiet, sleek, and ultra portable. You can't go wrong.
 
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I had a 500 GB external hard drive that crapped out on me. I was very distraught and needed a better quality drive that was very portable at the same time. I saw this WD Passport on Buy.com and couldn't resist. It is an awesome drive. It matches just about any computer with its sleek black style. It has plenty of storage at 320GB. Also, it runs like a champ. It doesn't produce much heat at all. It is definitely the best external drive I have ever owned! Pick one up and enjoy!
 
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I wanted an external drive for my MacBook. Music collection in iTunes is quite large and was filling the HD fast. Moved my music library to the new drive. iTunes runs fine. HD space reclaimed. External drive runs great. No issues, No drama, no power supply required. Plug into usb port and BAM it works. Extremely portable. Love it.
 
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If you are running Leopard (MacOS 1.5) on your portable computer, this is an ideal disk for Time Machine because no external power is required for operation. Therefore, you can run this vital backup tool where ever you are; a highly reliable and efficient external device.
 
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When I first connected this on my MacBook Pro, it did not mount to the desktop. Not only not through a USB hub, but also not through one of computer's USB 2.0 port. This, to me, means it is by definition *not* "plug 'n play." Fair enough. I opened Mac's 'Disk Utility' app and did see this drive there. There was no workable option under the opening "First Aid" tab, so I decided to try to partition it. Under the partition tab, once you select something under "volume scheme," you will then be able to name the volume and select the file type and it's as simple as that. THIS IS THE ACTION THAT FINALLY RESULTED IN THE DRIVE MOUNTING TO THE DESKTOP. So . . . I deduct a point for it not being plug n play and requiring this extra step, but overall, not that big of an inconvenience and I managed to move 40gb worth of photo files to this drive immediately. I'm satisfied. And now I hope to get a few years of good reliability out of this. Another note: I was not able to transfer files from my computer to this drive when it was connected through a USB hub. I had to hook it up to my MacBook Pro's USB port to do that. However, I can access files on this disk when it's connected through the USB hub. A little odd, but I can live with that.
 
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I bought my first WD Passport last year for my office laptop when 120 GB was the biggest available. Earlier this year I bought the 320 GB to replace the 120 GB that was getting a little cramped. Today, I'm going to order my second 320 GB Passport to replace a 250 GB My Book since my home machine has changed from a desktop to a laptop. There are others at work who have purchased different brands of external USB drives, and I think that the WD is superior to anything else I've seen in both capacity and ease of use. It looks pretty dang good, too.
 
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It appears that the USB "drive current" requirement for this unit exceeds the capabilities of most available USB 2.0 drives. Western Digital's lower capacity units such as the 120 GB unit works fine. When WD Support was asked what drive current is required by the 320 GB unit, they stated that anywhere from 600 to 1000 milliamperes is needed. Where standard specifications of USB drivers are examined, they state a maximum specification of 500 milliamperes per port. This explains why 4 of 5 computers I tried failed to work with this drive. WD offers for $10 plus shipping a USB Booster which essentially parallels 2 USB ports for double the available drive current. I am angry that nowhere is this problem ever mentioned when adverising this product.
 
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The drive looks great ... small, light and compact. The only problem is that it will not power up on my G4 PowerBook 15". I think WD should list the laptops that need either a USB Y cable or a powered hub!!! It should not be that hard to compile the info !!! Hey how about including the Y cable with the drive ..... I guess they don't want to reduce their profits .....
 
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I love Western Digital products, and the new Passport external hard drives are awesome. No moving disk, and wonderfully small.
 
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This WD portable drive is both small and mighty. Smaller than a little paperback book. Awesome amount of storage and great speed!
 
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I am a software developer and been interested in using VMWare to test out new open source apps. It's difficult at my place of work to procure entire servers for test purposes so this little drive is fantastic for housing the many VMWare images I tend to use. I have a Windows 2003 Server, multiple flavors of Linux, and a few JumpBoxes installed so far and only using 100 gigabytes. The portability and lack of a separate power cable makes this an easy choice no matter the intent.
 
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Looks like it functions well on WINDOWS XP, but when I plug it in my machine that runs Vista Ultimate it doesn't work. It could be a Vista issue and probably not a WD Passport issue. In any case, it's annoying that it's not working on my Vista Ultimate.
 
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I use this hard drive to hold all of my multimedia. This hard drive is faster than what i expected in terms of file transfer. It is portable and is not much thicker than the 120 or 250 GB versions of it. I think it would have been better if it came with a free bag but this is a good buy.
 
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Had the 250Gb, wanted a bigger drive they came out with the 320GB Model. Works just like the other model. The drive is a 5400rpm, so it's not the fastest thing out there, but hey NO Power Adapter, just USB! The backup software is OK, I have used better, but again it's free and comes with the drive and will meet most users needs and it has encryption. They dropped the little carry case, too bad as it kept the unit from getting messed up and had a spot for the USB cable (guess they saved a dime). I like the drive and carry it with me so I have my home data in case the house burns down (think CA people). Backups at home only protect you from a bad Harddrive, not a fire. Also, it comes with software that they say you can use on any computer and get your Outlook mail, have your Bookmarks/Favs and data. In todays world, still don't think I would plug into a shared computer, but for the office to home thing guess it would work for some. The only thing I would like to see is 7200rpm model still using only USB, that would speed things up!
 
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This little package is fantastic. I like that it doesn't require an outside power source. It makes it easy to use and transport. Back up is easy. Because it is so small and there isn't an extra power cord I prefer it to my other external hard drives. I highly recommend it.
 
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I bought the drive to use with Time Machine on a 20" iMac. The Mac and my Win2k laptop initially had difficulty recognizing the drive. The Mac didn't see it at all and the PC started the found new hardware wizard, but was unable to install the drive. (My Win2k desktop had no problem.) After finding a generic driver on the Internet, I was able to successfully install the drive on my laptop. After deleting the files that Western Digital had stored on the drive, the Mac also immediately recognized it. Without this glitch, I would have scored the drive a perfect 5 across the board because it's so versatile that it works with my Mac as well as my older (USB 1.0) laptop and desktop PC.
 
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Very good experience. Competitive price, delivered on time, product new and works.
 
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Sleek, lightweight case. 320GB drive is actually 298GB formatted, but who can argue with that? Had it for three weeks, and am quite happy with it. Fast enough to stream my DVD & DivX files. Room for ALL my music & photos!
 
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I've been using this little gem for just over a few weeks, and it's traveled with me as well. It appears to be relatively rugged, quick on data access, and simple to use. The add-on software that comes with it is pretty cool too, for a free piece of software anyway. I'd recommend it, great value.
 
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The storage capacity is what I needed for my photos. However I found that it took two USB ports to power the drive on my Mac PowerBook G4. Fortunately I had a dual cable that I used on my older 100GB Seagate. Backing up photos is a little tricky since I moved my iPhoto folder to the WD 320GB drive and I have only one of the dual USB cables. I backup to the older 100GB Seagate. The $149.99 price and free shipping was a great price.
 
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As hard drive technology improves, pocket size drive continue to increase in capacity and decrease in physical size. At 320 GBs, most users can use this as a full system backup drive or a backup of all documents and media. I've owned earlier WD Passport drives - the case on this one is even smaller than previous models. For universal connectivity, there only a USB-2 port - ok for most uses. The glossy enclosure is attractive, but shows finger prints and smudges - a non-glossy finish would have been better. WD makes excellent drives - I don't expect any problems. The included software is Windows only, but Macs come with 3 separate backup applications already: Backup, Time Machine, and Disk Utility.
 
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This is a great "little" drive that fits in your shirt pocket although at 320 Gig there is nothing little about it. I plugged it in to my Lattitude and worked fine right away, no problems whatsoever.
 
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A friend owns the 250 GB model and I waited for the 320 GB. His came with a case, mine did not though I found a generic one for $10. Cable is about 4" longer, great for allowing room around the computer. All in all, a good solid product.
 
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I bought this mobile drive to use for a dedicated backup drive (Time Machine). It fits the purpose quite well. It doesn't take up much more room than my wireless mouse, runs off of USB power and is barely audible when it is active. An external version of your laptop hard drive.
 
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I purchased this to replace a clunky 80GB external backup I purchased a few years ago. The biggest selling point for me was capacity and size. With 320GB, I can backup everything I have on my PC and laptop quickly and easily. With a carrying case, this is no larger than a small hardcover book. The best feature is no power supply, as it draws its power from the USB connection. Great value!
 
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I needed something for transporting large files when traveling, and I use both Macs and PC's. This is exactly what I was looking for. I've had it for a few weeks now and no problems. My only complaint is that it doesn't come with a case since I do have to pack it up when traveling. So I went to a video game store and bought Nintendo DS case for $5, and it's good to go. The short cable bothers some but personally, I am very happy with it. The WD is always going to be next to whatever computer I'm using and I hate having long cables all over my desk. A great buy!
 
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Works perfectly with my IBM T43 laptop. Every Saturday I take a ghost image of my laptop hard drive for backup and store it on a full-sized external HD at home. With this mini drive I can also take the six most recent images on the road with me just in case I drop my laptop or the hard drive fails when I'm traveling. I haven't tried the included software, but the hardware is great. Small, fast, and cheap - I didn't think that it was possible to get all three at the same time. :)
 
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This is my second Western Digital Portable External HD purchase. The other one was 160 GB and has worked flawlessly. This latest drive installed instantly without a hitch, is smaller than the 160 GB WD drive I already had, and performs perfectly so far. I highly recommend.
 
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This is a great product - easy to use and holds large amounts of data - great for a backup!
 
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You can't go wrong with this product! Definitely the best bang for your buck. I picked it up from Buy.com at $149.99 w/FREE shipping! The only thing you need to be aware of is the product will not work with older Mac laptops, or PC laptops, using USB v1. This version of USB simply does not supply the power necessary for the drive. The result is when you plug the drive in, it will click like a defective drive. However, the drive is not defective, but simply not receiving enough power. Once you plug it into a USB v2 system, the drive works phenomenally! I own the 160GB, 250GB, and now the 320GB. The power issue with the USB version is the same on all of them. So, as long as you have a newer system with USB v2, these drives ROCK! P.S. The initial MacBook Pro Core Duo's have USB v2, but due to a glitched logic board design, can not provide power for this drive. However, any Mac with a Core 2 processor works fine.
 
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Worked great right out of the box. I zipped up the included software and stored it on my desktop before reformatting it NTFS so I could store large files. Later my AVG-Free antivirus reported a trojan horse in that zip file. It could have been a false positive from AVG but be careful!
 
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This hard drive is a great accessory to have, expecially if you have a laptop with limited storage. I have both, a laptop and a desktop. When I opened the packet, I couldn't believe how tiny it was. And the best thing is that it works on the power from the USB cord....certainly beats my 120GB external hard drive that needs an external power source and is bulky, not to mention the cables that I need to keep plugging in and the loud whirring noise it makes while writing data. The WD just needs a mini USB cable and is good to go....Both Vista and XP recognized it instantly! I plan to purchase two more for my media collections. The only downside is that 2 days after I bought it, Buy.com reduced the price by another $20 but I was too happy with my new toy to complain
 
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