Using WD My Passport for many devices.......linux, smart phones, Mac, Linux, Andriod Smartpad

Somehow I was not able to get emails from WD Forum.

So I create another account and repost this:

 

This question is mainly for WD tech support:

I have not use portable USB WD hard drive before.

I want go buy several My Passport portable USB drives.

I read it only has auto system backup with its Windows software.

Can I assume I can use it like a USB thumb flash drive.

than means I can manually copy files from Mac, windows PC, smart phone, Linux,  and smart pad to the drive.

How does it affect manually copying files to the drive from my devices, when I also use the WD’s system backup software on Windows?

 

For example, If I run the WD auto-backup windows software, can I also manually copy files from laptop to the portable drive at the same time?

 

aNOTHER example:

With the WD portable drive configured for WIndows with its WD backup software, can I manually also copy files from non-windows platform just like I can with other USB flash drive and not corrupt the backup created by WD’s auto Backup software?    This is like multiple devices sharing the same portable drive.

With the system backup done, and in the future my entire laptop stop working, as in it is not useable anymore, how to I recover data files and software from the system backup to another laptop while not recovering the entire sytem backup since my prvious laptop is no longer useable?

 

In addition, nice to have:

Is there a user’s guide I can download also From My Passport 1TB and 1,5TB size?

Here are my interests:

WD My Passport 1.5TB Portable Storage Hard Drive Storage USB 3.0

Item model number: WDBY8L0015BBK-NESN

WD My Passport 1TB PoItem model number: WDBBEP0010BBK-NESNrtable External Hard Drive Storage USB 3.0

Thanks.

Hi, for the model you are talking about yes, it only supports Smartware (WD backup software) for Mac’s, but you can use Time Machine instead. Yes you can use it to transfer, copy, paste files from one computer to another, but for example if you wish to transfer files from a Mac to a PC you need to format it in a way that is compatible with both computers, for example using the FAT or exFat file system. In the case were you use Smartware to backup your files, you can explore the backup folder and copy the files that you want to recover manually or install smartware and recover specific files from there. Check the link below for your models manual.

http://www.wdc.com/wdproducts/library/?id=315&type=25 

Thank you for helping.

I got more questions to clear up confusion since I am new to WD tools.

I search the My Passport user’s manual for Time Machine.  It looks like it is some kind of backup software for Mac…

So based on what yoiu said here:

"Yes you can use it to transfer, copy, paste files from

one computer to another, but for example if you wish to

transfer files from a Mac to a PC you need to format

it in a way that is compatible with both computers,

for example using the FAT or exFat file system.

In the case were you use Smartware to backup your files,

you can explore the backup folder and copy the files that

you want to recover manually or install smartware and recover specific files from there."

So if I want to My Passport USB drive to be compatible with Mac and WIndows, I have to reformat it as FAT or exFAT.

So my next question is does the Smartware still work in WIndows 7 when the drive has been formated as FAT or exFAT?

i also notice exFAT it is not supported in Linux.
 If nayone who have the drive formatted as exFAT, and it works in Mac, WIndows, iihone/iPad, Andriod, and Linux, I like to know their experiencce.

If nayone who has formated My Passport in FAT, I like to hear about their expereince using it for Mac, WIndows, iihone/iPad, Andriod, and Linux.  Not sure if I will loose any storage when using FAT foramt since My Passport

I got is 2 TB.

Thanks.