WD 5TB My Passport Ultra for Mac Silver, Portable External Hard Drive, backup software with defense against ransomware, and password protection, USB-C and USB 3.1 - WDBPMV0050BSL-WESN

This drive crashed out of the blue, after a year, used only 6 times for Time Machine back-up for my Mac book pro. Although I had a back up to this drive (crazy to need a back up to a back up but a must), unfortunately there was one extra folder that I had not backed up. Long story short.... it ultimately cost me $1200. to retrieve that folder (company in San Diego). There is absolutely no personal support from Western Digital. No one with whom to communicate. Their website is NOT friendly. One would think that a company selling digital hardware in the USA, would have a user friendly support website, but it does NOT. Different passwords for each different product, instructions poorly worded. After retrieving documents from the drive, I returned the drive to WD (to Calexico, on border with Mexico, 97 miles away from San Diego). In detailed report, I asked for monetary reimbursement. No response from WD. Today, I received a replacement drive and cable in a box, in the mail, no other paperwork. Its probably a refurbished drive. I do not trust this product. It will probably crash in short order. Be sure to back up anything you put on this drive. It is not to be trusted. I have spoken with many techs. This drive is not to be trusted.

This thing worked perfectly first time out of the box. Just plugged it in an backed up my I-Mac. I had several Seagate Drives fail on me recently and decided to change brands. The only beef I have with this unit is the indicator light is on the back of the unit where you plug it in. Makes no sense at all

The WD 6TB My Passport Ultra for Mac is a high-capacity, portable external hard drive designed for reliable storage and seamless backup. With USB-C and USB 3.1 connectivity, it offers fast transfer speeds and easy plug-and-play use. Built-in backup software, password protection, and ransomware defense keep your files secure, while the sleek silver design complements any Mac setup. Perfect for large media libraries, work documents, or everyday file storage, this drive combines convenience, performance, and peace of mind. I orders the 6TB to consolidate other smaller drives that had been formatted on MSFT so I can organize and delete on my new Mac. Small and quiet!

I am stupefied; I genuinely am. Media attached. I made this purchase because my laptop broke and I needed to take it somewhere in the hopes of salvaging the terabyte of information I had on there. I've also had 2 Western Digital external HDD's in the past; a one tb elements many years ago & a ten tb elements more recently. This one is for portability rather than desktop replacement. The moment it came in, I didn't even take it out of the box. I went straight to my nearby computer repair place with my old laptop and this drive. When it was all plugged in and my old hdd tested, it looked as if it would transfer over everything, I was thrilled!!! I had a lot of work related items I couldn't risk losing. I should mention, I'll be using this drive specifically for work (video editing, so large 2k and 4k raw video files). Then, when we plugged in this Western Digital 5tb drive, it worked, but the cord didn't fit in properly. It wouldn't go in all the way, barely half way and it kept disconnecting. It was extremely stressful for me and it was irritating the tech who was helping me because he had other business to attend to. We ended up using one of his spare cords (a usb-c to usb-c) and it fit properly and worked perfectly. In the video I posted, I thought the cord was defective at first, but when I compared it to my phone cable (usb-c to usb-c) it looked completely different!!! (See attached pic). My phone cable works with this drive, it fits securely. I had another cable that was a usb-c to usb 3a and that usb-c fit snug. Also, the cord I was given was pathetically small. 6 inches. What is the point of having a 6 inch cord? Even if you're using this on a desk, it barely gets out of your way. I'm using it with a laptop, I travel, it's extremely inconvenient to have this thing dangling because there's no length to place it nearby. This is just wrong. I mean, what is Western Digital thinking? It's completely irrational. Provide a respectable cord, and the proper one would be nice as well. Lastly, and this makes me very nervous! When you go to 'safely unplug' your peripherals from your computer by clicking on your taskbar and clicking to safely remove hardware and eject media, this always says that it can't close while a window is open or while it's in use (even when it's not in use). I had no windows open, I wasn't connected to the drive in any way other than the cord (by which I mean, I didn't have a music player open or video player or file location window accessing the unit) but when I tried to safely remove it, it began spinning or "being active". ??? I double checked everything, it wasn't being used, but the light was solid and you could feel it at unrest, if you will. I tried to wait it out, 5 minutes, 10, 20, 30... It wasn't stopping. so I restarted my computer. I should also mention that I'm using a brand new Lenovo Legion 7i less than 2 weeks old. After the restart, the only thing I tried to do was 'safely remove the Western Digital HDD and the exact same thing happened! It's clearly NOT being used!!! So I just unplugged it. I hate doing that. I plugged it back in just to be sure that everything was still on there, and it was, but now I'm unsure of the device as a whole. I have very little confidence in it. Is this going to be a recurring issue? It better not be!!! The entire point of the purchase was to SAVE information, not to lose it! When I have clients that have invested tens of thousands of dollars on a commercial, and then I'm sent the media to begin the post production process, I need to have confidence in all my gear, my computer, my headphones, and ESPECIALLY my HARD DRIVES!!! Needless to say, I'm weary and uncomfortable with my purchase to this point. At these prices, one would think you would be buying a quality piece of equipment, as of right now, this isn't worth half of what I spent. I don't mind spending for quality, for sturdiness, practicality & longevity. It does work, but I have to say, if I'm being totally honest... just barely. I'm considering returning it; it's just going to be such a chore to have to re-transfer a terabyte of information from this drive to another. This whole experience has been a real pain, and I am dissatisfied and unhappy.

I've been using Western Digital passport drives since way back in 2005. In fact, I still have an old 40? GB that still works - they're pretty durable, but I get a new one every 7-8 years to make sure I don't have one go bad, and to keep up with any technology advancements like USB 3 speeds. This little guy lived up to my expectations; it was fast, it seems just as well-made and durable as prior versions, and the space let me put on all the episodes of bluey (for my kids) and most of the marvel movies as well (also for my kids), and still have some space to stick on some fun comedy and action flicks (... also for my kids, eventually). It's light weight, fast, durable, and what's not to like? It's a great little drive.

It worked well for 4 years (since 2022) and now just got corrupted (won't unmount, failing drive test in WD Drive utilities, Mac first aid won't work). Trying to get all the files off of it before it croaks completely.

I can’t complain about this hard drive at all it’s portable, easy installation, does get hot after being plugged in all day I got 5 TB so storage is unbelievable. It doesn’t make loud noise or any I hear at all and it fits perfectly you can use the c port or use connector that comes with it .

UPDATE- This drive that I first reviewed failed within two months. I gave it a 5-star review. So, I bought a second one - and it began having problems almost immediately. I called their tech support, was handed off to a text messaging tech and explained what was happening (the drive LED was constantly flashing) and after trying a few things, they finally said to use my Disk Utility. After I did that, it found numerous errors, once the utility was finished the drive began working properly and I haven't had another issue yet. It was good to know that their tech support was available to resolve my issue. FIRST DRIVE REVIEW: I was using a WD 1T Passport with the original USB connection from practically the dark ages and it was performing so slowly, taking hours to back up. I finally bought this 5T model and it backs up in bare minutes. It plugs directly into my MacBook Pro with USB C. No complaints, it works seamlessly with Time Machine.