WD is one of the most active storage company to push the cloud concept to consumers with their port folio of cloud storage solutions. While it is a great concept, the technologies involved would almost always leave some room for potential problems in this not-so-perfect world specifically for those lacking the network capacity for their own private cloud. What if you could bring that personal cloud with you physically? WD wants just that with their recently launched WD My Passport Wireless, featuring cable-free connectivity for the mobile professional.
Specifications
Model # | Interface | Capacity | Operating System | |
WDBDAF0020BBK | Wi-Fi, SD card slot, USB 3.0 | 2 TB | Windows/Mac | |
WDBK8Z0010BBK | Wi-Fi, SD card slot, USB 3.0 | 1 TB | Windows/Mac | |
WDBLJT5000ABK | Wi-Fi, SD card slot, USB 3.0 | 500 GB | Windows/Mac |
Closer Look
Like many of WD’s MyCloud product, the My Passport Wireless adopts the packaging style from that family instead of the MyPassport styling we’ve seen very often in our reviews of of that series. The box sports a shot of the My Passport Wireless with the back highlighting some major features. Our retail sample particularly comes with a full-year data recovery service from WD’s data recovery partner. This may vary by region so please note that your variant may not have this service included.
Inside the packaging we have the main unit, documentation, a USB3.0 cable and a power adaptor which comes with 2 plug options.
The WD My Passport bears a the typical My Passport styling: curved edges rounding out the sides and a contrasting top and bottom cover. One thing to note though is that our sample bears heavy resemblance to the MyPassport for Mac line although the full metal body of the Mac line is not present in the Wireless variant.
Flipping the My Passport Wireless over we see the silver-toned shell. The metallic paint tries hard to make due for the absence of a real metal body. Rubber feet give the My Passport Wireless some grip over surfaces when laid flat.
A unique feature of the WD My Passport Wireless is its built-in SD Card slot. This gives you the option to copy files off the card for or sync it with the My Passport Wireless for backup purposes.
The My Passport Wireless has two buttons: a power Button and a WPS/Battery status button.
The WD My Passport Wireless indicator LEDs for both WIFI and Battery status.
Software
The WD My Passport Wireless once turned on acts as a hotspot allowing any WIFI-capable device to connect to it without a passkey out of the box. Once connected you can use the web interface to set up the unit first. Once setup, the web-based interface allows access to the hotspot options, power status, user rights and various other administrative options.
Once setup, you can now download the WD MyCloud App to access your files conveniently. The MyCloud app is available for both iOSÂ and Android. You can also access the MyPassport drive via other file management apps and Windows networking via its default IP (192.168.60.1 by default) or its local LAN IP if you have it connected to the same network and not via hotspot.
Conclusion
First off, we tested out the drive using our standard copy test (3.1GB of misc files and a large 12GB file). Connecting straight to the WD My Passport Wireless using our WIFI-AC system, we managed to draw an average of 2MB/s copy from the device and peak at around 5MB/s. This made us curious at streaming off device particularly our large 12GB mkv video. Streaming off the WD My Passport was a bit underwhelming although we wouldn’t surprised as the intention of the device is to serve up files for productivity usage though a revision in the hardware could pump the connection to higher bandwidth in the future.
In terms of usability though, the My Passport Wireless is very flexible and gives mobile professionals unrestricted access to their data when needed especially for those that want to travel light. Photographers can bring only a tablet and the WD My Passport Wireless to share their hi-resolution port folio and share with clients or even send it to the clients directly in a meeting via the shared hotspot feature.
Overall the WD My Passport Wireless is a really flexible product and if you fall into the userbase that need a cable-free solution to share files specially in very mobile scenarios. The option of sharing with multiple devices and allowing pass-through to a main router to server as an AP, simultaneous sharing files and net access is a nice touch. Lastly, the SD card slot gives multimedia content pros a direct backup option. Battery life is very good and the capacities available offer a good range of options for anyone that needs a certain amount only. WD still has some room for improvement though primarily in build construction and transfer speeds. Prices are a bit high in our opinion but given the growing market we expect it to drop in a while.
If you are a content professional always on the road and want to travel light, then the WD My Passport Wireless is an excellent storage solution to light your load.
WD backs the My Passport Wireless with a solid 2-year warranty, 1-year data recovery service (may vary by region). We give it our B2G Silver Award and B2G Recommend Award.
2 Comments
Funny we got the same device :v
Mine has vibrate functions