Product Description

Technical DataStorage Hard Drive / CapacityGB160Technical DataStorage Hard Drive / Average Seek Timems12Technical DataStorage Hard Drive / Spindle Speedrpm5400Technical DataStorage Hard Drive / Buffer SizeMB2Technical DataDimensions & Weight / Widthcm8Technical DataDimensions & Weight / Depthcm13Technical DataDimensions & Weight / Heightcm1.5Technical DataDimensions & Weight / Weightg105Technical DataStorage Hard Drive / Interface TypeHi-Speed USBTechnical DataStorage / TypeHard driveTechnical DataStorage Hard Drive / Form Factor2.5 "Technical DataHeader / Product LineWD Passport PortableTechnical DataHeader / ModelWDXMS1600Technical DataHeader / CompatibilityPCTechnical DataHeader / ManufacturerWestern DigitalTechnical DataHeader / Packaged Quantity1Technical DataStorage Hard Drive / Hard Drive TypeExternal hard driveTechnical DataExternal Hard Drive / Power SourceUSB bus

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #17193 in Consumer Electronics
• Brand: Western Digital
• Model: WDXMS1600TE
• Released on: 2006-11-20
• Dimensions: 3.15" h x 6.38" w x 7.52" l, .23 pounds
• Hard Disk: 160GB

Features

• Fast 5400 RPM 2.5-inch drive performance - almos
• 160GB Hard Disk Drive
• Easy connection to PC or Macintosh laptops and c
• Compact and light
• Back up your existing notebook hard drive for ex

Manufacturer's Description
Pack up your office files and take them home. Carry thousands of songs or pictures. These drives are simple to use, light and easy to carry, and require no power adapter - they are powered directly through the USB cable.

Installation is a snap because you don't really "install" this drive; you just plug it in and it's ready to use. There is no CD to install; the included software loads from the drive the first time you plug it in. Powered by the USB bus, so no separate power supply needed.

This ultra-portable drive fits easily in your pocket or purse, weighs only a few ounces and holds tons of valuable data.

Box Contents

Customer Reviews

The best portable HDD on the market
I have been a fan of Western Digital Hard Drives for a long time, and this portable offering certainly helps to reinforce my trust in this manufacturer. As a consultant I am regularly travelling between client sites and need a portable storage device that can hold large amounts of data; for virtual PC images, source code and ISO images of CD's and DVD's. The WD passport drive is bus powered so I don't need to lug a power supply with it; and it will fit comfortably in a shirt pocket.

The drive speed is not as fast as an internal drive so running applications from it would not be advisable, but as a storage device it is perfect. Because it relies on bus power the length of USB cable is critical, the shorter the better, so don't lose the provided cable.

a few things to watch out for...
It's a great drive at good price so I bought it without hesitations. But upon reading about this drive from various forums there are a few catches with it.

First "The WD Passport hard drive requires a little over 1000mA of power at spin up" (Answer ID: 1296 from WD knowledge base), so it MIGHT not work if your USB port doesn't have enough power. My PC only has 500mA USB ports but this drive still works, only in some ports though (I got 6 USB ports).

But it does worry me since the drive is essentially under powered, and I don't fancy losing my data on it. They really should supply you with a power booster cable (that provides 1000mA by drawing power from 2 USB ports) in the first place with the package... You can however try to buy it from their website, if you can that is. They only ship to US addresses only, and besides it's always "out of stock".

I have 2 options: one is to buy an USB self-powered hub, but what's the point if this is supposed to be portable without power adapter; So after some google searches (took me a while actually), I managed to find a similar power boosting cable called dual USB power cable by Lindy. Not bought it myself yet but it's worth giving it a try since I don't have much options here.

You should really check if you have the necessary 1000mA USB ports via the device manager before you make any purchase. The WD passport drive will likely work with most computers with only 500mA USB ports, like mine. If you don't have the 1000mA USB ports and you're worried about losing your data then you should consider getting some kind of USB power boosting devices, namely USB self-powered hub or dual USB power cable. Or just get another drive.

Solid product, but slightly misleading
This is a solid portable memory device; I find it to be very quick at transfering data, considering it is solely USB powered. It has a slick attractive, compact design - easily slips into a coat pocket and is very light. The little rubber flap covering the USB connection slot's a little flimsy, but passable. The synchronisation software that comes with it is a little confusing - I prefer to use it just for "drag and drop" purposes.

The drive functions well, without any hitches, and does exactly what it says on the tin... almost. Watch out for the 160GB label when buying this. What Western Digital mean by 160GB is "160Gb in decimal bytes". Unfortunately, practically no PC anywhere pays any attention to "decimal bytes", the they all run off "binary bytes" (naturally). So what you're actually going to get is just over 149GB of storage with this product, which is still a hefty amount, and more than enough for my musical needs. It's a little underhand of WD to be so outwardly deceptive (nowhere on the product will it tell you that you're actually buying 160GB of decimal storage), but it seems to be pretty common practice, even in USB pen drives (check the storage of your 1GB drive, no doubt it'll come out to a little less than expected)

All in all, a decent product, small, compact, and lightweight. The glossy casing is easy to scratch, but other wise it's all top-notch. Loses a star for lying about it's size.