Product 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.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #6964 in Consumer Electronics
• Brand: Western Digital
• Model: WDXMS2500TN
• Platform: Windows
• Format: CD
• Dimensions: .59" h x 3.14" w x 5.10" l, 2.75 pounds
• Hard Disk: 250GB

Features

• 250 GB USB 2.0 2.5-inch external hard drive ideal storage solution for Mac or PC
• USB connection; requires no external power source;128-bit encryption for data security
• Included Google software for searching and managing files
• Features glossy black design
• Measures a 0.59 x 5.1 x 3.14 inches (HxLxW); weighs less than 4 ounces

Customer Reviews

ACTUAL OWNER OF 250GB WD PASSPORT!!
Being a medical student, its my nature to want to help others out. So this review is to help out all my friends here on Amazon interested in an 250GB Passport like I once was. Now that I own one, let me be the first ACTUAL OWNER of one to give you all an heads up about it. If you have any further questions after this review, feel free to message me on Yahoo Messenger (my ID is amitd0c2b - thats a zero in 'd0c' not the letter O).

Why do I give this external hard-drive 5 stars?

#1: As of July 11, 2007 - this was the only external hard drive that was 250GB which does not require an external adaptor and only 3x5 in size. Its so small and good looking!! It hardly weighs anything (less than 1/3 of a 12 oz pepsi can). The next highest portable drive of this stature by any other brand is 160GB. What is also amazing is, its the same size and weight as other old Western Digital Passports (i.e. 120gb and 160gb models) despite twice the capacity.

#2: I have owned a Maxtor One Touch external hard drive in the past, and after 2 years it spontaneously stopped working. The warranty was over, and they wanted $1000 to recover my lost memories! This Western Digital Passport comes WITH a 3 year warantee. I read a rumor somewhere that the box says 3 years but they only give you 1 year when you register - this claim is FALSE! I registered it and I got 3 years and 1 month additional (through August 2010). This alone was an amazing deal, it shows how much faith they have in their product that they are willing to give you such a long warantee (as it costs the company, not us).

#3: I also read rumors that this drive does not work unless you purchase the optional Y-USB (dual USB connection cable). So just in case, I purchased the additional Y-USB cable. Well, I didn't need it. I have tried this drive in 3 laptops: mine and two of my classmate's computers. There has not been any issues with ANY of these laptops. I own an HP laptop, my friends own a Toshiba and Dell, respectively. All our laptops are about 2 years old (I'm about to get a new one this Fall when I see the new line of laptops with fingerprint readers, built-in webcams, and all these other cool features). Just in case, I recommend getting the Y-USB cable just so you have it if you ever decide to use the Passport on someoene elses laptop and it does not power up. But again, I personally have not had any problems.

#4: Yes, its true the Passport does not come with a case. But it seems very durable. So if you want a case just to prevent any scratches to it, I recommend picking up one from Western Digital (the sack case for only $5!). Its a sufficient amount of space to throw in the short USB cable and stuff the entire thing in your pocket (just make sure to put the cable behind the Passport so you don't scratch the drive with the cable itself). If you want something more premium, Western Digital offers a very protective case for $25 (which is available on eBay for half the price with free shipping). I went ahead and got both the sack case and the premium case - one for lugging around in my pocket when I need the Passport, and one for travelling and protecting it when I put it in a suitcase.

#5: The convenience of a light-weight and tiny drive, the beautiful looks and form factor (black gloss with blue light), and the lack of long cables and not requiring an AC adaptor, make this the reason to purchase a 250GB external hard drive of its nature. I always wanted a 500GB external, but those things are so huge and require an adaptor, the convenience of this makes this the better value. Plus, laptops such as HP are already coming out with 500GB hard drives. So now I am just going to put all my very important data in this Passport, and anything else will go in the 500GB hard drive laptop. Thats more than enough storage for me as a medical student, but I understand everyone has their own needs and requirements.

Again, if you have any questions, my contact information is in the first paragraph of this review. I hope this review was helpful to you, as its my own personal opinion and we all may vary in our thoughts. I tried to be as accurate as possible though for you all. Good luck on your search for the next portable hard-drive in your life; nonetheless, from my end, I give this Western Digital 250GB Passport 5 stars!!

Take care,
Amit

Good drive but does not work on some computers
This might be a good drive, but it is not usable on some computers. To power up, drive requires ~ 650 mA, which is more than USB on my HP laptop can provide.

USB 2.0 Power Booster cable can be used to solve that problem. It combines power from 2 USB ports, but it is currently out of stock on Western Digital store. I am not aware of any alternative solution and I could not find similar cable on the Net.

Before purchase, I would recommend:

1. Check USB settings on computer
2. Check availability of USB 2.0 Power Boost cable

No Power Booster Cable
This is a very good drive but be aware that it does not work with all USB ports - a lot of them will not supply enough power to run the drive so you will need the power booster cable WDCA029RNN which connects to 2 USB ports to get enough power to the drive. The pity is that WD do not include this as standard since quite a number people buying this item will actually need it to run the drive. Would have got 5 stars were it not for this.Western Digital WDXMS2500TN Passport Portable 250GB Hard Drive ( Black )