Michal Ždanský Western Digital is currently the world's largest manufacturer of hard drives. Its portfolio also includes the My Passport Studio external drive, which is available in 500GB, 1TB and 2TB capacities. We received the highest version in the editorial office, so we could test it in detail.
Processing and equipment
My Passport Studio is very unique in its processing, its body is made of two pieces of aluminum in a combination of silver and black, which corresponds to the appearance of Apple computers. If you place it next to a MacBook Pro, for example, you will feel as if the drive is an integral part of it. Under the aluminum body is a 2,5″ Western Digital WD10TPVT Scorpio Blue drive with 5200 revolutions per minute, 8 MB cache and a SATA 3Gb/s interface. The drive is relatively easy to disassemble, making the My Passport Studio one of the few drives that theoretically allows you to replace the drive inside.
Although the disk is intended for stationary use, its compact dimensions (125 × 83 × 22,9 mm) resemble a portable version. Even the weight of 371 g certainly does not prevent it from being carried, it will not put a particular burden on your backpack or bag, and the metal chassis protects it from possible damage. In addition, My Passport Studio does not need an external source for power, it is sufficient with a proprietary power supply via a connected USB or FireWire cable.
There are three ports on the side, one micro-USB port and two nine-pin FireWire 800. It is the presence of FireWire that gives the impression that the drive is intended primarily for Mac computers, which, with the exception of the MacBook Air, are equipped with this port, after all, Apple developed this interface. FireWire is generally faster than USB 2.0, offering a theoretical speed of just under 100 MB/s, while USB is only 60 MB/s. Thanks to three ports, it will be possible to work with the disk from several computers at the same time, and thanks to two FireWire ports, even at higher speeds. It's just a shame that the drive doesn't also have Thunderbolt, which we would expect given the price of the drive. Working with the disk is then indicated by a small diode located to the left of the ports.
The drive also comes with two high-quality half-meter cables, one with Micro-USB - USB and 9-pin FireWire - 9-pin Firewire. The length of the cables is sufficient for a portable disk, for normal use we may have to reach for a longer version at the nearest electronics store. I will also mention that there are four rubber pads on the bottom of the drive on which the My Passport Studio stands.
Speed test
The drive was factory-formatted to the HFS+ journal file system, so we only performed the test on a Mac. We tested the read and write speed on a MacBook Pro 13″ (mid-2010) using the programs Aja System test a Black Magic Disk Speed test. The resulting numbers are average values from several tests from both applications.
[ws_table id=”6″]
As you can see from the measured values, My Passport Studio is not exactly among the fastest, both in the case of USB 2.0 and FireWire. Rather, given the speeds of competing drives, we would rank it slightly above average, which is quite disappointing given the excellent processing and high price. We definitely expected more from this piece, especially with the FireWire connection.
Supplied software
On the disk you will also find a DMG file containing several additional programs directly from the manufacturer. The first one is called WD Drive Utilities and it is a simple disk management tool. It includes basic diagnostic programs such as SMART status check and also repair bad sectors of the disk. Another function is setting the disk to turn off automatically after a certain period of time, which can be set directly in the OS X system. The last function can completely erase the disk, which Disk Utility can also do.
The second application is WD Security, which can secure the drive with a password. It's not straight up disk encryption like File Vault 2 offers, you'll just be prompted for a password of your choice every time you access the disk. This is especially handy if you want to use My Passport Studio as a portable drive. However, if you forget your password, you will no longer be able to access your data. At least you can choose a hint to help you remember the password in case of a memory lapse.
záver
The My Passport Studio is without a doubt one of the nicest drives on the market, especially if you're trying to match the accessories with the Apple style. However, the disc has several disadvantages. The first of them is the already mentioned speed, which we would expect at a slightly different level. Another is the relatively high operating temperature of the disk, even when idle. The third is the quite high price, which is also a consequence of the floods in Thailand. The official selling price is CZK 6, which is, for example, only CZK 490 less than what you will pay in the Apple Online Store for a Time Capsule of the same capacity.
What pleases, on the other hand, is the extended three-year warranty. So, if you're looking for a durable external drive with a FireWire interface that will work well with your Mac, the My Passport Studio might be the one for you. Thank you for lending it the Czech representation of Western Digital.
Gallery
Gallery
please fix the "theoretical transfer rate up to 400MB/s while USB only 60MB/s" nonsense
True, I was a little confused by the English Wikipedia, which states a theoretical speed of 1394 Mbit/s for the IEEE 3200b specification, but in the case of FireWire 800 it is "only" less than 800 Mbit/s. Thanks for the warning.
Are you sure that you will be actively connecting two different computers to said drive via FireWire at the same time? I never thought of that. I thought that the 2 FW ports are for connecting another disk or other peripherals (scanner, printer) through, as was the case with the good old SCSI or GPIB interface in the last millennium.
Yes, I read it better, it meant via USB & FW. That might work. Pardon.
Anyway, FireWire & FireWire should also work, at least the manufacturer says so. I can't try it unfortunately, my desktop PC doesn't have FireWire.
You write that you expected more from this piece, do you have any examples of HDDs that give more than 38 MB/s on USB, on FW800 more than 68 MB/s? Under Mac OS?
According to my experience, this is really the maximum interface. But I would like to discover such a hdd.