Big things store in small packages

We live in a world where we all seem to have way too much data to store,

and no way to tote it on-the-run that offers quick access..

Now I’m not talking about a few measly gigabytes (GB) here and there.

I’m talking terabytes (TB); each of which is a thousand gigabytes.

(We’re talking a pocket full of thumb drives.)

The Gadget Zone

Fortunately, the helpful people at WD/Western Digital have boosted the

capacity of their popular My Passport portable drives all the way up to

4 TB; that’s 4,000 GB. This is the size you need if you are shooting and

editing long-form videos or even movies, and want to keep all your

footage in one place. (Yes, you can store your video in the cloud, but

can you imagine how long it would take to download/upload 4 TB to the

cloud? And don’t even try to download it using your phone.)

Available in data storage sizes of 1TB to 4TB, My Passport portable

drives are small (about the size of a paperback book). Each portable

drive can automatically back up documents, music, photos, and videos

from your computer onto the My Passport using the unit’s included WD

Backup software.

“The My Passport drive has got quick transfer time,” said our Gadget

Zone testing team. “It boots quickly when plugged in; even with a lot of

data on it. It also comes preloaded with some useful apps, such as one

that sets up backups to the drive, and another that lets you password-

protect it.”

If this isn’t enough, My Passport drives come in a range of colours such

as yellow, orange, red and blue; as well as white and black. The My

Passport Drive we tested is “very yellow, and the cable is also yellow;

which is a nice touch,” our team leader said.

For security’s sake, My Passport drives come with built-in 256-bit AES

Hardware Encryption with WD Security software. This keeps your data safe

if you lose the drive, but wait: You can add a “return-if-found” message

as the drive’s password prompt if the My Passport drive goes astray.

“Even great minds like yours can accidentally leave things behind,” say

the folks at Western Digital. Find it at www.wdc.com.

— James Careless