On Tuesday Western Digital said that it has shipped the "world's first" 2 TB portable hard drive, the latest addition to its My Passport line of pocket-sized HDDs. Now consumers can shove seemingly tons of on-the-go music, movies, TV shows and whatnot into their pants in five different premium colors of white, black, silver, blue and red, depending on their fancy.
The new My Passport 2 TB model costs $249.99 USD, and is available online at the WD store at www.wdstore.com and at select retailers and distributors. It joins the current 500 GB model costing $129.99 USD, the 750 GB model for $149.99 USD, the 1 TB model for $179.99 USD, and the 1.5 TB model for $199.99 USD.
According to WD, all My Passport models sport WD SmartWare automatic backup software and WD Security for password protection and hardware encryption. The included software allows the user to customize the drive to his/her storage preferences by installing all the listed features, just the components needed, or using the drive without the software.
"Given the small form factor and easy portability of My Passport drives, the built-in security features of password protection and hardware encryption help protect files from unauthorized use, making the drives safe data repositories for data while offering peace of mind to busy consumers on the go," the company said.
As seen on this spec list, the 2 TB model (WDBY8L0020BBK) is currently available only in black -- the 1.5 TB version is nowhere to be found, and the white model only comes in a 500 GB capacity. However the new 2 TB model announced on Tuesday is compatible with both USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 ports, and offers a max transfer speed via USB 3.0 of 4.8 Gb/s (WD says 5 Gb/s). The actual size is 0.820 x 4.4 x 3.2-inches, and it weighs a mere 0.51 pounds.
A limited number of My Passport models, including the new 2 TB version, can be purchased directly from WD's online store here.
