A close look at the main portable hard drive models makes it difficult to avoid the conclusion that they are going through a period of stagnation, something very normal when stable and robust designs are reached. However, there is a lot of room for innovation, and Western Digital seeks to offer a different alternative with its WD My Passport Wireless Pro. As the name suggests, we're facing a hard drive with wireless connectivity, WiFi ac support, a USB 3.0 interface for physical links, a card reader, and a giant battery that can charge other devices.
There is no point in denying it: we need more and more space to store files. Personally, I just added an extra SSD to the family, and if the pace continues, I will likely add another in October or November. We recently explored very interesting options such as the Seagate Expansion, and the Silicon Power Armor A80 resistant to impacts and liquids. On the SSD side, our buying guide contains several attractive models, and the SanDisk Extreme Portable SSD is an excellent solution, but there are times when we want more. If we rely heavily on mobile devices that cannot easily accept a portable hard drive, the best route is to incorporate wireless support, and that's how we get to the WD My Passport Wireless Pro.
WD My Passport Wireless Pro: Up to 4 TB with WiFi flexibility
Preparing the WD My Passport Wireless Pro is relatively simple. The first step is to connect to the unit using one of its two networks (it has dual-band support at 2.4 and 5 GHz) and enter the portal "mypassport" or 192.168.0.1. Its web interface reports the total disk usage divided into four categories (video, music, photos, and others), the battery charge, and the WiFi status. The WD My Passport Wireless Pro offers the possibility of automatically importing data stored on SD cards and USB devices (I recommend disabling this at the beginning), or sharing files over other WiFi networks (with several security considerations in between). Among the advanced options you'll find an FTP server and an SSH server, a special performance mode that saves battery (disables the 5 GHz band), and a Plex server to enable direct streaming.
The WD My Passport Wireless Pro delivers one of the best combinations between external hard drive and portable router that the market offers. While some functions require a review of the user manual, I have no doubt that you'll master this unit in minutes. Its 1 TB version costs around 185 euros, but by investing an extra 40 euros you can make the jump to the 3 TB edition.
