WD Elements vs WD Passport... Which is better?

[Tickler]

So I have never bought a hard disk before. Never needed but my laptop is quickly getting full now so I had to. I have ordered a Western Digital Elemts 2 TB. I read that Western Digital Passport is somewhat smaller in size and comes with same features but also has Automatic backup and encryption software with it.

 

So my question was did I mistake by ordering elements instead of passport? Should I cancel the order of WD Elements and get a WD Passport instead?

Also is there a chance that since Passport is slightly smaller, it may heat up more than Elements?

Thanks.

[exodius]

as my knowledge, my passport is better, smaller and support latest mobo with usb 3.2. i've bought wd my passport new edition.

 

 

I have blue.

 

[andy2004]

The only question i have where did you buy it.. I bought a WD 1.5 from ebuyer.com probably the worst i've ever decided..

3months had to return it.. the replacement returned after 6months.. the 3rd replacement i've still got as it came direct from WD..

so the only question i had what the hell where ebuyer doing to the drives.. the 3rd one is still going strong.

All my other drives where samsung before seagate bought them.. so i switched to toshibha and there going strong aswell..

[hawk007]

WD Element: If you don't need the built-in Hardware Encryption features. Will cost you extra.

WD My Passport: Additional Hardware encryption to safeguard of sensitive data.

 

Both are available up to 5TB Now. I own two My Passport Drives and the oldest one is 10 years old (500 GB). Still working fine.

 

Addition: Mechanical HDD are generating very little profits for the last three remaining HDD manufacturers. Therefore, to make the profit a little more, they are presently selling hdd products with SMR (Shingled magnetic recording) HDD in most cases. Consequently, a user will found less performing and less durable HDD compared to earlier CMR drives. A workaround is to buy a good quality HDD enclosure and a bare HDD with CMR HDD technology. I have couple more drives in this configuration, all are 3.5" though.

 

Fortunately, CMR drives are still available while buying bare HDD.

 

[sefton22]

"WD Elements is basic drive and doesn't come with any fancy software with it. ... WD Passport Ultra comes with software support from WD including WDsmartware pro (lets you automatic backup and keeps data synced from your system), cloud backup feature, password protection and data encryption utilities all preloaded"

 

The auto encryption WD is good for sensitive business documents but for a daily user its a catch 22 situation. if the drive or enclosure fails, data recovery is virtually impossible and you cannot turn it off.

 

Google drive can also do automatic backups. Select what folders you want to back up, select a location for offline storage (the ext drive) and that's it. GDrive collects the data, uploads to the cloud and then re-downloads to the ext HDD, making for a 2nd backup location. GDrive can also backup your phone and tablet media and send that to the ext HDD too, which WDSmartware cannot.

 

As for heat distribution, Elements will have better airflow than a Passport drive

 

 

[keyman]

I use both and I'm quite pleased with them. My Passport is smaller and somewhat more 'modern' than Elements, but in the end I think it's more a question of taste than anything.  I like Elements' airflow - on the other hand, I've never had My Passport overheating, although I use it intensively every day.

[Threepwood]

Buy a Western Digital Red drive or Western Digital Black (or maybe even Western Digital Gold) and put it in a decent HDD enclosure.

[ersonateo]

If your laptop offers a second 2.5" or M.2 slot you might also want to think about getting an additional internal drive. Maybe even a SSD as there are not that expensive anymore in comparison to HDDs. Also they consume less power and are lighter which could be an important factor when using it with a laptop.