WD has announced the launch of a new external hard drive called My Passport Slim. The new drive is already available in 1TB, and a 2TB model will be following shortly. The 1TB model is priced at Rs. 6,999, but the price of the 2TB model has not yet been announced. The drive has a metal case and uses 256-bit hardware-level encryption.
WD includes software with every drive that automatically sends a backup copy of a user's data to his or her Dropbox account, and can also back up the contents of the Dropbox account to the drive. As with most modern external hard drives, the My Passport Slim uses a USB 3.0 connection.
WD is positioning the My Passport Slim as the "ultimate storage device for today's mobile consumers", according to Subroto Das, Director - India and South Asia at WD. The lightweight, slim design and premium finish are designed to appeal to buyers of high-end modern laptops which also now tend to have extremely thin, metal bodies. With a general shift towards lower-capacity solid-state drives, users find themselves in need of a high-capacity external storage device for all their movies, music, photos and personal data.
The My Passport Slim's cloud backup feature requires users to register for a Dropbox account. Dropbox is one of the world's most popular online file storage services, and is available on multiple PC and mobile platforms. WD's bundled software backs data up silently and in the background. Another companion app from WD for Windows 8 lets users easily browse through their stored media.
WD offers a standard 3-year warranty with the My Passport Slim, and claims that it is designed to demanding standards for durability and long-term reliability.