I bought this
Western Digital My Passport Essential SE 1 TB USB 3.0/2.0 Ultra Portable External Hard Drive (Black)
strictly to store and play videos.
The first thing I did was to reformat the drive (in its native NTFS format); this immediately deleted the Western Digital software for which I have no need.
Then I copied two videos to the drive: one, an HD [720p] video of about 4 GB and another of 600 MB (SD). I played both of them through my new
LG HX350T 720p Front Projector - Black
and I will soon be playing them in my home theater via my
OPPO BDP-93 Universal Network 3D Blu-ray Disc Player
and my
Panasonic PT-AE4000U 1600 Lumen LCD Home Theater Projector
.
Via the LG projector, the video looks fantastic as would be expected.
Storing music on external hard drives is already a de facto standard. Storing videos in this way is rapidly becoming practical too as hard drives' capacities increase dramatically and their prices fall just as dramatically.
If all of my video could be compressed to 4 GB, I could store 250 full-length movies on this drive - which I could carry in my pocket! (I am using an
AmazonBasics Hard Carrying Case for My Passport Essential - Black
which I highly recommend.) However, most of my movies can be compressed to far smaller files, thus increasing the number of titles this drive will hold.
I do not yet have a computer with USB 3.0 ports. Mine has only USB 2.0. But the transfer of the 4 GB file took only about 10 minutes. (Obviously the 600 MB files took much less time.) Once USB 3.0-equipped computers become widely available, that transfer time should drop considerably.
All in all, if you are looking for a portable external hard drive on which to store movies, I believe that this is the one you should buy now. Its capacity, its physical size, its price, and its overall quality just can't be beat.
I am planning to buy more of these drives. I will want additional ones for films (I own a LOT of films) as well as backups (in other words I want two drives carrying the same data in case one were to break down). Once I have placed all of my films on drives (and that will take many years, mostly due to lethargy on my part), I can get rid of my physical media. Think of the space that can be saved!
Storing music, movies, and maybe even books on drives is definitely the wave of the future, at least in my opinion.
Thank you for reading this. I hope it has been of some interest to you.
==================================================================================================================================
Update: August 5, 2012
A person made a comment (on another review I wrote of a different WD hard drive) which impelled me to revisit this review and tell you that I now DO own a computer with two USB 3.0 ports. Thus I can now take full advantage of these drives' capabilities. Let me tell you: USB 3.0 is FAST. I am noting, in the real world, transfer speeds about four times faster than what I was able to get using these drives with USB 2.0 ports. I transferred 625 GB of data FROM one of these hard drives TO another one via my computer's USB 3.0 ports and the process took slightly under two hours. That translates to about 85 MB/s. I continue to HIGHLY recommend this particular drive and Western Digital external hard drives in general.
Lawrence H. Bulk
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This Item  WD My Passport Essential SE 1 TB USB 3.0 Portable External Hard Drive (Black) |  |  |  |  |  | |
| Price | — | $60.99 | $52.99 | $67.99 | $129.99 | $112.99 |
| Delivery | — | Get it as soon as Monday, May 6 | — | Get it as soon as Monday, May 6 | — | — |
| Customer Ratings | ||||||
| Portability | ||||||
| Storage Capacity | ||||||
| Tech Support | ||||||
| Easy to install | ||||||
| Durability | ||||||
| Sold By | — | Amazon.com | Amazon.com | Amazon.com | HDD Shop | Amazon.com |
| storage capacity | 1 TB | 1 TB | 1 TB | 1 TB | 1 TB | 1 TB |
| hardware interface | usb | usb | usb | usb | usb | usb c |
| compatible devices | usb 3.0 and usb 2.0 connectivity | Laptop | Desktop | Desktop | Desktop | Gaming Console, Laptop, Camera, Tablet |
| form factor | Portable | Portable | Portable | Portable | Portable | Portable |
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Reviews with images
A TRUE LOVE STORY
I wanted a TB Drive to put movies on for my PS3, I have a lot of movies, and I have 2 PS3s One Phat and One Slim. Although this device does not list being PS3 compatible, I gave it a shot anyway, for the price, and Considering there aren't a lot of options yet. Initially I got it formatted it and tried it to no avail. I then Read everything I could Find about this drive vs PS3 on Google everyone said no way, except this one site had a thread recently about this and two people said it would work different ways. They were both wrong. I have this and it now works plug n play with PS3 with NO ADDITIONAL hardware..... I formatted the drive installed 300 + GB of movies then set up the security for the drive (don't worry). Copied Western Digital Software off the drive to a folder I created in my downloads folder. Deleted the software files off the drive except for the Smartware WD Application file. After that disconnect it, then reconnect go back in, click the app and disable the security. Now plug the drive into your Favorite PS3 and in a couple seconds the world is as it should be for just a moment. For the formatting I didn't even bother with the WD software I went here ([...] ) Just click on the pic and it downloads safely to you comp and it formats the entire drive to fat 32 in about 12-20 seconds. When doing so don't neglect to give your drive a Kool Custom Name, Mine is MEGA MOVIES. Anyway Hope this helps any PS3 fans.
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