Costco stores are currently clearing out the Western Digital 500 GB 2.5 inch USB 3.0 external hard drives in stores for $39.97. This is an great price for a USB 3.0 drive with a good brand name like Western Digital.
Quantities are extremely limited however, as this is a clearance item that is disappearing fast. Some stores in Ontario still have stock in decent numbers though. I’d highly recommend phoning your store first before going down.
This is the 2.5 inch unit, so it requires no external power, it draws power from the USB port. If you do not have USB 3.0 port on your computer, you can still use this unit at USB 2.0 speeds until such time as you have USB 3.0.
Key Specifications
- Plug n Play Simplicity
- Plug n Play SimplicityUSB powered
- USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 compatible
- Speed 5 Gb/s with USB 3.0
- Speed 480 Mb/s with USB 2.0
The MY Passport line of ext drives have high failure rates, WD service is pretty good overall however servicing these units is impossible due to proprietary interfaces. If your USB connector goes bad you are pooched. This may be a good deal (price point is excellent) and as long as you are capable of ensuring your data is backed up somewhere else this may be your drive. I would recommend going with an external enclosure that you can install a standard SATA drive into, but you will pay significantly more ($100 +-) and that’s no guarantee it wont fail also. On the cheap this looks like a good deal as WD discontinues these drives. check the warranty.
that’s not exactly true…I have the USB 2.0 version of these drives. They are standard USB interfaces (not like the Seagate ones). If the case goes bad, it is really easy to open the case and take out the 500GB hard drive, which is a standard SATA 2.5 drive that you can put into any standard 2.5 SATA case.
They do not have them listed in Scarborough or Richmond Hill locations, nor online.
Not on Merivale rd. the price is $69.70. Only $10.00 off from original price.
I called the stores in Calgary and they are listed as $69 as well.