Conclusion

With so many choices in the marketplace, external hard disk drives have become somewhat of a commodity, differentiated mainly by their storage capacity and price. When that happens - it becomes a race to the bottom. The emphasis shifts from making better products to making cheaper products. Performance and quality suffer as a result. That's why it's always nice to see any attempt to arrest, if not reverse, this downward spiral.

The 1 TB Western Digital My Passport Slim (WDBGMT0010BAL) is a new attempt to create a sexier image for portable hard disk drives. While it has to retain the same basic shape, it is much slimmer and lighter than the typical portable hard disk drive. This should appeal to a new generation of users who are used to gadgets getting thinner and lighter all the time - from mobile phones to laptops.

This is partly due to Western Digital's move from the ubiquitous plastic case to an all-metal case that is not only thinner but also lighter. As a bonus, the metal case will help to better dissipate heat from the hard disk drive inside. The other reason for the thinner and lighter drive is Western Digital's use of a thinner internal drive with a single platter. Thanks to the use of this drive, you can have your cake and eat it too!

Even though the new My Passport Slim drive is lighter and thinner than any portable hard disk drive you have encountered so far, it is also one of the fastest portable hard disk drives in the market. It basically ties with the 2 TB Western Digital My Passport in performance, with an edge in write speed. It is so fast than even when used with a slower USB 2.0 port, it is actually faster than cheap "commodity-grade" drives like Western Digital's own Elements drive.

In addition to all those features, Western Digital also provides the drive with their useful SmartWare software. The latest version doesn't just perform simple backups - it can actually perform automatic, continuous backup of files that change as you work. It can also be used to backup your files to the cloud. Unfortunately, at this point in time, they only support Dropbox. We hope they will eventually support other cloud storage providers like Copy.

Right now, this drive commands a price premium because it is the slimmest and lightest 2.5" portable hard disk drive in the market that is also one of the fastest. Its nearest competitor as far as performance is concerned is the 2 TB Western Digital My Passport, which is a much larger and heavier drive.

To be frank, we are very leery of commodity-grade drives, because high-speed drives like the My Passport Slim can be as much as 3x faster to read or write. We think that their much better performance is well worth the price premium. So if you want something slim, light and very fast, get the new Western Digital My Passport Slim.

We like it so much that we are giving it our Editor's Choice Award! Congratulations, Western Digital!

For the lowest current prices on Western Digital My Passport Slim external USB 3.0 hard disk drives, click here!

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