Costco B&M $80 Western Digital My Passport Essential 500gb portable (2.5") external hard drive Feb 4-28 limit 5 This is a decent price, you could probably get it w coupon @ Staples for about the same price but you get the Costco warranty/return policy here and no need for coupon hassle. Yes it runs off usb without need for a power supply. And from what I've read online, a BIG NO cannot be harvested to replace laptop/PS3 drives because the new Western Digital design to make it smaller has the usb soldered on and doesn't just pull apart. So, best use is as intended, for portable backup. Costco Item #s 472500 500444
Off of WD site http://www.wdc.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=701 for pic as well. The world's most popular portable drive is now smaller than ever. And it's smarter than ever with automatic, continuous backup software and password protection. Choose your favorite fun color to look smart and stylish.
Product Features Our smallest portable drive ever - We're experts in portable storage, so we designed a smaller, high-quality, integrated USB hard drive inside a stylish package. With a variety of fun colors, there's sure to be one to suit your style. WD SmartWare - See your life safe in one place.
See your backup as it happens – Seeing is believing. Visual backup displays your content in categories and shows the progress of your backup. Protect your data automatically – Relax, your data is secure. Automatic, continuous backup will instantly make a second copy whenever you add or change a file. Bring back lost files effortlessly – Retrieve your valuable data to its original location whether you've lost all your data or just overwritten an important file. Take control – Customize your backup, set drive security, run diagnostics, manage the power settings, and more from the WD SmartWare control center. Drive lock - Gain peace of mind knowing that your data is protected from unauthorized access or theft with password protection and 256-bit hardware-based encryption. Ready to plug-and-play with Windows PCs - if you're a Mac user, check out our Mac version of this product. USB 2.0 interface - Powered directly from the USB port on your PC. No separate power supply is needed. Planet friendly - We designed a small retail box from recycled materials to minimize waste. We encourage you to recycle it.
okay deal, was like $62 including tax(CA) & coupon at Staples last week. Warranty from Costco saves a little hassle w/ mailing back to WD but that's it since the drive itself has a 3yr warranty. W/ either warranty, your data isn't covered though so I like the deal last week from Staples better.
raider73 said: okay deal, was like $62 including tax(CA) & coupon at Staples last week. Warranty from Costco saves a little hassle w/ mailing back to WD but that's it since the drive itself has a 3yr warranty. W/ either warranty, your data isn't covered though so I like the deal last week from Staples better.
The deal last week was a closeout of the previous generation WD Portable, I've never seen the new model below current Staples price which is on sale for $99.99 this week. This one has auto backup, security encryption, and other stuff that the older one didn't have. So unless you have a DeLorean and 1.21 gigawatts of electricity, that price won't be available soon. Agreed, not super hot but a decent price for this and lowest non coupon price.
Western Digital's new design not doing so well. 2.5 stars on Amazon and less than 2.5 on Costco for the 750GB model from customers vs. 4.5 for the old model.
Wa773T
New Member
posted: Feb. 3, 2010 @ 3:59a
not doing well because people dont understand the new encryption
Staples had offered 500GB portable (SimpleTech) for $69 in Jan, 2010. Fry's also offered Seagate's portable version for $69 a week or two later. I know. I bought both. And since I've been around the block a few times, I know it'll be that price again soon enough, even without a DeLorean with a working flux capacitor.
geeksrule said: raider73 said: okay deal, was like $62 including tax(CA) & coupon at Staples last week. Warranty from Costco saves a little hassle w/ mailing back to WD but that's it since the drive itself has a 3yr warranty. W/ either warranty, your data isn't covered though so I like the deal last week from Staples better.
The deal last week was a closeout of the previous generation WD Portable, I've never seen the new model below current Staples price which is on sale for $99.99 this week. This one has auto backup, security encryption, and other stuff that the older one didn't have. So unless you have a DeLorean and 1.21 gigawatts of electricity, that price won't be available soon. Agreed, not super hot but a decent price for this and lowest non coupon price.
The point is that these do get cheaper every now n then. You even said Staples has it on sale right now for $75 ac, which makes it a better deal than this. So, cuteness aside, you dont need a Delorean, all you need is to order at strapless and if you have $30 in ink coups then the price jumps down to $45, $60 in ink coups brings the price down to $15. Whats that you say? You dont have ink coups? Well that's your fault now. Thats like complaining that the strapless deal isnt better because you dont have money. Everyone should have ink coups. Gawd man!
I might add that it is a good idea to use a Y-cable USB to run this HD if you are using it to transfer large amount data. I have had problems while using large capacity portable HD's via just a single USB as having corrupted data etc.
Izpoof said: geeksrule said: raider73 said: okay deal, was like $62 including tax(CA) & coupon at Staples last week. Warranty from Costco saves a little hassle w/ mailing back to WD but that's it since the drive itself has a 3yr warranty. W/ either warranty, your data isn't covered though so I like the deal last week from Staples better.
The deal last week was a closeout of the previous generation WD Portable, I've never seen the new model below current Staples price which is on sale for $99.99 this week. This one has auto backup, security encryption, and other stuff that the older one didn't have. So unless you have a DeLorean and 1.21 gigawatts of electricity, that price won't be available soon. Agreed, not super hot but a decent price for this and lowest non coupon price.
The point is that these do get cheaper every now n then. You even said Staples has it on sale right now for $75 ac, which makes it a better deal than this. So, cuteness aside, you dont need a Delorean, all you need is to order at strapless and if you have $30 in ink coups then the price jumps down to $45, $60 in ink coups brings the price down to $15. Whats that you say? You dont have ink coups? Well that's your fault now. Thats like complaining that the strapless deal isnt better because you dont have money. Everyone should have ink coups. Gawd man!
My reply to raider73 was meant to correct his reply that the same drive was available last week for a lower price (not apple to apple), when it was effectively the clearance price of the previous model that sold out and isn't on Staples website anymore, hence the delorean comment. As acknowledged in my original post and the post you quoted, it's not the hottest price but a decent price for this drive, and is the lowest without coupon. After you spend a couple of bucks @ ej the price ac at Staples is negligible to costco and personally an extra $2 not having to buy a coupon and getting Costco's return policy on an electronics item is worth it imho. I won't even get into the ethical or legal issues of purchasing ej coupons, which is why fatwallet doesn't allow it to be posted. As for ink coupons being applied, not everyone has those, and your statement that everyone should and it's their fault if they don't is silly and pointless. You mention using $30 or $60 in ink coupons, why not say you have $100 in ink and can get it for free at Staples, that's not repeatable for everyone. Not everyone uses ink, or has that much stockpiled in coupons.
As for the software that WD forces you to install, it can be easily removed (if you're a computer professional). You just have to find that one techy friend or co-worker to do it for you. It's very easy and they shouldn't charge you anything for it. If I were your coworker, I'd gladly, do it for you as it'll only take about 10 minutes. What I'd do is install the Free version of Easus that can be found here http://www.partition-tool.com/personal.htm and reformat the ENTIRE hard drive (just make sure you don't reformat your currently running hard drive!) in NTFS or FAT32 format. FAT32 format is old and not recommended but if you need to connect the drive to a Windows 98 machine or even to a PS3 or Xbox 360 game console, FAT32 is best.
After reading the OP's post that you can't use the drive inside to upgrade one's laptop hard drive, I'm disappointed. I just purchased the model before this one and used it to upgrade my laptop hard drive. I spent 20 minutes looking for details on this fact and couldn't find any supporting evidence. Hmmmmm...
Wa773T said: not doing well because people dont understand the new encryption
hddy
Member
posted: Feb. 5, 2010 @ 9:43p
ShakuniMama said: I might add that it is a good idea to use a Y-cable USB to run this HD if you are using it to transfer large amount data. I have had problems while using large capacity portable HD's via just a single USB as having corrupted data etc.
just curious, why would a Y cable be more efficient than a single usb cable?
hddy said: ShakuniMama said: I might add that it is a good idea to use a Y-cable USB to run this HD if you are using it to transfer large amount data. I have had problems while using large capacity portable HD's via just a single USB as having corrupted data etc.
just curious, why would a Y cable be more efficient than a single usb cable?
It's not quite about the efficiency, but more like safety of the data. See, in certain cases, either the motherboard, the drive's controller board or either of the ports ran out of power (over-current) and the hard drive would simply shuts down and thus, the data would get corrupted due to sudden interruption of power to the drive. Sometimes the drive would recover and Windows will try to correct the problem by check and rewrite, but if it happens often then it's not only shorten's the drive's life, it's also going to damage the data if it was not corrected.
However in my experiences the new drives doesn't have this problem, most of the old ones that were supplied with a Y-cable, well, those will require you to use them.
cybercho said: As for the software that WD forces you to install, it can be easily removed (if you're a computer professional). You just have to find that one techy friend or co-worker to do it for you. It's very easy and they shouldn't charge you anything for it. If I were your coworker, I'd gladly, do it for you as it'll only take about 10 minutes. What I'd do is install the Free version of Easus that can be found here http://www.partition-tool.com/personal.htm and reformat the ENTIRE hard drive in NTFS or FAT32 format.
How will that work since he newer firmwares have a backup utility that's built on the EEPROM which can only be removed by UV light.
It is similar to the U3 software that was included in some Cruser flash memory disks.
The difference is that the U3 actually had an uninstaller...
EPROMs can't be erased electrically, and are programmed via hot carrier injection onto the floating gate. Erase is via an ultraviolet light source, although in practice many EPROMs are encapsulated in plastic that is opaque to UV light, and are "one-time programmable".
deadgnat
New Member
posted: Feb. 9, 2010 @ 5:22a
Item #500444 is the older WD My Passport Elite. It comes formatted FAT32 and all you need to do to get rid of all the included software is drag it to the recycle bin or reformat the drive. Uses a mini-usb interface.
Item #472500 is the newer version with the WD smartware included. You also get a dock as well as the drive, cable, and case. It uses a micro-usb interface. If you want to remove the smartware, it's not possible-you can disable it from auto-running when you plug it in, but it does require that you install the smartware onto your computer. You can remove it after you disable the smartware. It comes formatted NTFS. You can easily download Acronis True Image WD Edition free from the WD website if you don't already have the tools to reformat to FAT32.
The Elite is being cleared out, so they might have it for a cheaper price if there are only a few left.
petethemathman
New Member
posted: Feb. 17, 2010 @ 1:19p
deadgnat touched on it but didn't elaborate. It has a MICRO USB connection (not MINI USB) on the drive unit that mates to the docking station. The MICRO USB is different the MINI USB found on cameras and other protable drives. This OK if you are only using it for backups. If you are using it to move files from one computer to another (e.g. home to work) you will need to carry the cable or have the MICRO USB at both locations.
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