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Western Digital Blue SSD review: A solid SSD

WD Blue SSD review

For decades, Western Digital has been recognized as one of the very few leaders in the world of storage and hard drives. If you open up that pre-built computer you bought, there's a good chance that on the inside you'll find a Western Digital-branded drive. If you're building your own, you likely purchased (or at least considered) going with Western Digital for your internal storage solution.

Where this might now have been the case is if you wanted to be a part of the growing trend of users switching to solid state drives. SSDs allow for faster speeds, both in read and write times, as well as the benefit of having no moving parts. They are faster, quieter, and more durable. When they were first released, they were prohibitively expensive, but as time has gone on, prices have dropped substantially as they do with any new form of technology.

The problem that Western Digital had was that it's class-leading hard disk drive prowess didn't mean that it was prepared for the new age of SSDs, and it had nothing to offer customers who wanted to go this route. It's solution was to purchase SanDisk in March 2016, a company that excels at flash storage solutions, and 8 months later we have the first results in the Western Digital Blue SSD.

Click to continue reading Western Digital Blue SSD review: A solid SSD


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Unboxing Live 184: 12TB Western Digital My Book Pro

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Accessories, Apple, Features, PC, Videocasts,

Western Digital's My Book Pro Professional RAID line offers super-fast external storage at really high capacities. The unit itself is a two-drive enclosure and ships with two WD Black hard drives with up to 350MB/s transfer rate. The best part is that it's packing Thunderbolt 2.0 - these two ports allow for 20 Gb/s high-speed workflow. Additionally, you can connect it to your computer with USB 3.0 instead, and it also has a pair of USB 3.0 ports on front for charging and syncing devices!

The WD My Book Pro is RAID-optimized, allowing you to choose between RAID 1, RAID 1, or JBOD, and ships pre-formatted for Mac OS X in RAID 0 config, but can easily be reformatted for PC.

You can order the Western Digital My Book Pro now.

Don't forget to subscribe to Gear Live's YouTube channel, and also--we are giving away awesome perks for our Patreon backers - thanks for your support!

 

Click to continue reading Unboxing Live 184: 12TB Western Digital My Book Pro


Western Digital My Passport Pro Thunderbolt RAID drive announced

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Accessories, PC / Laptop, Storage,

Western Digital My Passport Pro

Western Digital has announced its new My Passport Pro external Thunderbolt storage drive. The new device features two internal drives with user-selectable RAID functionality, making it perfect for those working with high-end graphics and video, and those who need more reliable mirroring.

On the inside, you'll find two 2.5-inch drives, with one model totaling 2 TB, and another providing 4 TB of storage. As the drive used Thunderbolt for connectivity, there's no separate power cable--the Thunderbolt cable is all you need to power the 233 MBps My Passport Pro. The 2 TB model sells for $299.99, while the 4 TB version is available for $429.99.

Read More | My Passport Pro

2013 Holiday Gift Guide: Western Digital My Passport Slim

Western Digital My Passport Slim

If you know someone who needs some fast portable storage that also compact and portable, look no further than the My Passport Slim from Western Digital, our next featured item in our 2013 Holiday Gift Guide. I have one, and it does it's job at my desk where I typically work, but when I need the storage on the go, I can easily slip it into a bag or pocket, and I've got a terabyte at USB 3.0 with me. For the data hogs in your life.

You can pick up the WD My Passport Slim now from Amazon for $86.

Click to continue reading 2013 Holiday Gift Guide: Western Digital My Passport Slim

Read More | WD My Passport Slim

Top 10 Gear Live Videos of 2012

2012 is set to come to a close in just a few hours, and we are just in time with our annual top 10 list of the most-watched Gear Live video episodes. Over the past year, as expected, there was a bunch of gear that made the list, and it's dominated by smartphones and tablets, with the exception of two Monster headphones, a look at the Boeing 787, and a USB 3.0 hard drive.

Oh, and if you wanna be sure to get our new video episodes as they come out in 2013, be sure to subscribe to us in iTunes, on YouTube, or in your RSS reader!

Also, you can check out the top ten videos from 201120102009, 2008, and 2007 - and when you're done, be sure to check out the top 10 most popular Gear Live stories of 2012 as well!

Click to continue reading Top 10 Gear Live Videos of 2012


Western Digital My Net AC1300 brings 802.11ac Wi-Fi to the home for $189

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Wireless / WiFi,

Western Digital AC1300 802.11ac router

Western Digital is following up on its recent entry into the home router market with its new AC1300, bringing the new 802.11ac standard into the fold. While a lot of router companies are releasing 802.11ac hardware, there are still no computers that come with the standard built-in, but that isn't stopping Western Digital from proclaiming that the AC1300 outperforms competing routers, thanks to the unique 3-by-3 antenna layout. It's got 4 Ethernet ports (we were hoping for 7, like the WD N900 has!) and 2 USB ports for connecting things like external hard drives and printers. You can pick up the Western Digital AC1300 router now for $190, and the company has also released the My Net AC Bridge for $150, which will allow you to connect up to four Ethernet-enabled devices and get them operating at 802.11ac speeds.

Read More | Western Digital AC1300

Western Digital My Passport for Mac 3.0 review

Western Digital My Passport for Mac USB 3.0

Western Digital recently released its updated My Passport for Mac 3.0 portable hard drive, which now offers increased storage capacity, a redesigned look, and the welcome addition of USB 3.0 compatibility. Western Digital wants this to be the drive you turn to if you want a drive that offers fast speeds, secure encryption, and a level of fashion. Does it live up to its promise? That's what we aim to cover in our My Passport for Mac review.

Click to continue reading Western Digital My Passport for Mac 3.0 review


Western Digital My Passport Edge packs 500GB into a tiny package with USB 3.0

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Accessories, USB, PC / Laptop, Storage,

Western Digital My Passport Edge

Western Digital has announced another external hard drive, this one called the My Passport Edge. Available in both Mac and PC flavors, the My Passport Edge is all about compact portability. the drives are about the size of a deck of cards and can hold up to 500GB of data, passed back and forth over speedy USB 3.0. The Mac version is configured with out-of-the-box Time Machine compatibility and sports a brushed aluminum finish for $119, while the PC version includes custom backup SmartWare backup software and black exterior for $109. Both are available now.


Western Digital MyBook VelociRaptor Duo: 2TB, Thunderbolt, 10K RPM, $900

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, PC / Laptop, Storage,

Western Digital MyBok VelociRaptor Duo

Alongside the new My Passport for Mac, Western Digital also released its MyBook VelociRaptor Duo today, a monster setup that offers two 1TB 10,000 RPM hard drives and dual Thunderbolt ports so you can daisy-chain multiples together if you're rich, or connect other Thunderbolt-compatible devices. That's 2TB of storage that can be configured in a RAID 0 or RAID 1 configuration with speeds of up to 400 MBps. That's fast. Time Machine compatibility is built-in right out of the box, and a Thunderbolt cable is thrown in as well. Ready to make the purchase? Expect to drop $899.99 on these bad boys.


Western Digital My Passport for Mac offers 2TB, USB 3.0 external storage

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Accessories, USB, Apple, PC / Laptop, Storage,

Western Digital My Passport for Mac USB 3.0

Western Digital announced an update to its My Passport line of portable hard drives today with the My Passport for Mac, which top out at 2TB of storage space and include USB 3.0. It also offers out-of-the-box Time Machine computability, and rugged WD Nomad casing. They start at $99 for a 500GB model, and top out at $199 for the 2TB drives.


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