Western Digital today announced the new My Passport Pro, the company's first thunderbolt-powered, dual-drive storage solution. With user-selectable RAID functionality, the drive is suitable for graphics professionals looking for high performance or consumers who need reliable mirroring.

mypassport-pro
The aluminum enclosure accommodates two 2.5-inch drives, providing a total of 2 TB or 4 TB of storage space. Because it connects via Thunderbolt, the drive is powered by the bus itself and requires no extra cables and no external power source. It also delivers transfer speeds of up to 233 MB/s.

Superior to both FireWire 800 and USB 3.0, the integrated Thunderbolt technology of My Passport Pro makes video manipulation quick and easy—with the ability to copy a 22 GB high-definition video file in half the time typically required by a USB 3.0 drive working in RAID 0 format.

The My Passport Pro is available now at other major electronics retailers, including Apple, and online from Western Digital. The 2 TB My Passport Pro costs $299.99, while the 4 TB model is priced at $429.99.

Top Rated Comments

cmChimera Avatar
cmChimera
140 months ago
I wish thunderbolt was cheaper.
Score: 21 Votes (Like | Disagree)
BornAgainMac Avatar
BornAgainMac
140 months ago
So after several years the first thunderbolt powered drive is announced.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
nzalog Avatar
nzalog
140 months ago
It's nice, but I'm always concerned by drives even SSD's that require power from a Logic Board....I know, It works, but my own theory is that it shortens the life of the PSU. If they release a version with an external PSU I'm in.

Turning no your computer also shortens it's life, so does using it and so does letting it sit there. Sounds like your best bet is not buying a computer if you want the longest life out of it.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
mojolicious Avatar
mojolicious
140 months ago
I wish thunderbolt was cheaper.
I do wonder what the price of a plain old diskless Thunderbolt enclosure would come down to if a few companies started producing them in 2.5" and 3.5" flavours.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Kobayagi Avatar
Kobayagi
140 months ago
Insane prices, I understand it's faster than usb 3.0 but come on...
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
GSPice Avatar
GSPice
140 months ago
Seagate Backup Plus Fast --> 2x 2TB drives inside, USB 3.0, and faster than this Thunderbolt drive; $269.99

http://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Backup-Portable-External-STDA4000100/dp/B00HXAV0X6

Also bus powered.

Except,

a) The WD can be configured for RAID 1.
b) For heavy, heavy-duty multicam video editing, thunderbolt streaming protocol wins over USB 3.0's data burst protocol
c) Seagates gonna Seagate.


Most people may not even care, though.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
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