Sleek new look for My Passport

Western Digital has unveiled the My Passport Ultra – Metal Edition and Anniversary edition drives that feature an aluminium enclosure with both hardware and software encryption.

To commemorate the 10th anniversary of its My Passport line of portable external hard drives Western Digital has introduced a new design for its external hard drive lines. More than 60 million My Passport drives have been sold in the past 10 years, providing approximately 42,000 petabytes of content protection for consumers worldwide. The My Passport Ultra – Metal Edition drive and My Passport Ultra – Anniversary Edition drive represent a decade of refinement for WD’s enduring portable drive line. They feature elegant metal exteriors, up to 2 TB capacities in smaller enclosures, content protection, including backup, and cloud integration for anywhere access to personal content.

The My Passport Ultra – Metal Edition and Anniversary Edition drives incorporate a radial-spin-design aluminium enclosure, which provides attractive styling and extra protection against the everyday knocks experienced in the hands of today’s mobile consumer. In addition, the drive offers users hardware encryption and password protection to prevent unauthorised use of the drive in the event of loss or theft. For additional content protection and remote sharing, the My Passport Ultra – Metal Edition drive includes WD SmartWare Pro software with Dropbox integration, allowing users to back up content from their computer to the drive and from the drive to the cloud, and retrieve content from their Dropbox account to the My Passport drive. These features make the My Passport drive an ideal choice for backing up, protecting, storing and enjoying digital content on the go.

Says Anamika Budree, WD Branded Sales Manager – South Africa, “This latest iteration of the My Passport combines a sleek, ultra appealing portable design with the highest functionality for users to store and backup content on the go – an essential for the South African market. Local users are increasingly looking towards additional features such as remote sharing of content and supplementary backup to public cloud platforms, making the My Passport Metal and Anniversary editions a coveted ‘must have’.

“Ten years is a milestone by any consumer technology standard, and having the opportunity to consistently reinvent a product line like My Passport to suit the changing needs of consumers and creative professionals is something we are especially proud of,” said Tony Tate, vice president and general manager of WD’s Content Solutions unit. “We thank all of our customers for their ongoing feedback over the years, which has helped make My Passport the most popular external hard drives ever.

Pricing and Availability

My Passport Ultra – Metal Edition drive is available from selected distributors, resellers and retailers. My Passport Ultra – Anniversary Edition drive is anticipated to be available in limited quantities beginning early October 2014.

My Passport Ultra – Metal Edition 1 TB drive will be available in the month of October and will retail for approximately R1 299.00 inclusive of V.A.T. The 2 TB version will retail for approximately R1 999.00 inclusive of V.A.T. Both drives will offer a regional 3-year limited warranty.

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