WD Delivers USB 3.0 and 3 Terabytes With Its New External Hard Drive Product Lines

WD introduced its new My Passport Essential portable hard drive, My Passport Essential SE portable hard drive, and My Book Essential external hard drive. All three drive families come in a variety of capacities and offer USB 3.0 connectivity. Highest industry capacity is another key feature for the My Book Essential drive, which is now available in 3 TB capacity, in addition to 1 and 2 TB capacities. Equipped with WD SmartWare visual backup software for automatic, continuous backup, these drives provide users the extra space they need to store or back up all of their digital memories, such as high-resolution photos and videos, along with music and other critical files, all in one place.

The drives not only take advantage of the latest USB 3.0 technology, but are also fully compatible with USB 2.0 connections for those who have yet to upgrade their computers to USB 3.0. When connected to a SuperSpeed USB 3.0 port, consumers can transfer data at speeds up to 150 MB/s. At that rate, a two-hour HD video will transfer in as little as three minutes. The same two-hour video would take approximately 13 minutes to transfer on a USB 2.0 port.

The My Passport Essential portable hard drive is available in 500 GB capacity. The My Passport Essential SE portable hard drive is available in 750 GB and 1 TB capacities. The My Book Essential external hard drive is available in 1 TB, 1.5 TB, 2 TB and 3 TB capacities. The drives are formatted NTFS for Windows XP, Windows Vista, or Windows 7. These drives require reformatting for Mac OS X Leopard or Snow Leopard.

MSRP for the My Passport Essential portable drive is $99.99 USD. MSRP for My Passport Essential SE drives ranges from $129.99 USD to $169.99 USD. MSRP for My Book Essential drives ranges from $129.99 USD to $249.99 USD.