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Question: Compatible w/ Linux Ubuntu? Has anyone loaded Ubuntu on the Western Digital Passport HD?  Any issues?
Document: This Western Digital "My Passport Essential" 500 GB is ideal for incremental backup of my MacBook Pro (320 GB, 2.53 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo w/ 4 GB DDR3).Reformatting was simple and quick using Mac OS X v10.5.Speed is not a problem. Initial backup of about 200 GB was tedious using Time Machine. However, subsequent incremental backup has been fast.
The Western Digital 500GB Passport Essential arrived before I expected it using standard free shipping and it was truly a plug and play operation. I formatted it to NTFS so it would handle file sizes lager than 4GB and then loaded it with over 400GB of video and pictures which it plays perfectly on three different computers and a Wd media box.It's tiny, runs very cool and comes with a USB cable.Couldn't be happier.
I am a fan of Western Digital! I have My Book as backup for my computer system and files and I use My Passport when traveling with my laptop. It holds the same amount of info as My Book (500GB) but much smaller and great for traveling. This is a great investment for me. I am a photographer and always on the run and working on my pictures where ever I go. This has been an answer to handling space issues and easy for an "on the go" life style.
The size is just right for the HD and the USB cable. The Passport HD is well protected. And it does not need to be removed from the case when connected via USB.I am very satisfied with the price and fast free shipping from Amazon.I can recommend the Western Digital "My Passport Essential" 500 GB external hard drive to other Mac users, without hesitation.
Loaded well, but just last week had a one year old Western Digital 500GB Pro Edition hard drive fail completely... so, we'll see how this one holds up, but I worry just a bit.
Out of the box the drive was very slow (1.6 GB/30 min.!) in Windows 2000. E-mail support from Western Digital was useless. But, under Ubuntu 8.10 the drive is fast and operated flawlessly right out of the box.
All it was used for was backups for my macbook. Damn thing died two days ago and I am steamed. You can feel the drive cycling and a very small click, REPEATEDLY! It will not show up on any machine I tried, windows, linux(ubuntu) and of course, my macbook. Now, I have to buy another one.
This external hard drive works great for me. I use it to store photos, music, audiobooks, digital scrapbooking elements, and home videos. The one problem is the slow transfer of data. If you are trying to clean up your computer's hard drive, it can take quite a bit a time to transfer all you files over.The plus side is that it is perfectly compatible with my Western Digital Media Center, allowing for seamless playback of movies on my tv.
I have had this hard drive for a couple of years now and use it on a daily basis with my mac book pro. I have not had any issues with it and it's nice to be able to keep all of my files in one portable device. I like that it's mac and pc compatible so the files are easily accessible on any computer that i plug it into.
In addition, Western Digital should do a better job for shock absorption. Makes me wonder if this was manufactured wrong or if it had issues during transportation. This product was well packaged by Amazon with bubble wrap for the shock absorption. So I am going to guess its a WD defect. Hint to Western Digital: Build them Better. I ended up buying a G drive slim to replaced this lemon.
Answer: Relax. I have a smaller capacity passport and works with Ubuntu (and Kubuntu, Mandriva and several other Linux distros) flawlessly. Right out of the box.