Compatability for the WD My Passport Ultra 3.0 usb External Hard Drive (and previous version)?

I am sure this has been talked about sometime during the past, I briefly looked for someone’s post but couldn’t find one. I appreciate you taking the time to help me.

I am in need of a good small 3.0 usb external hard drive (1TB), preferably a small one, and currently I am looking at the WD My Passport Portable (original - WDBBEP0010BBK-NESN) and more-so the WD My Passport Ultra Portable Hard Drives (WDBZFP0010BBK-NESN). I plan on using it more for a storage device but would like to use it also use it to play some movies on my WD TV Live.

I researched the known external hard drives that are compatable with my WD TV Live media player and the updated list. However, they only mention the My Passport Essentials, not the newer Passports or Ultra (none of the product codes match).

I understand that it all depends on the power source of the external hard drive, especially since the both Passports I am looking at only uses an usb 3.0 cord to power it and transfer files.

Could someone please tell me if both of the Passports work with the WD TV Live media player, despite it only being powered by the usb 3.0 cord?

If it does not, is there another portable 1tb 3.0 usb hard drive that is known to work with it? I would prefer to own a smaller hard drive that doesn’t overheat and has a long life. I briefly looked at the Seagate Expansion 1 TB Desktop 3.0 hard drive, but it is known to overheat, which everyone knows can limit the life of the hard drive.

Thank you for taking the time to read this, even if you weren’t able to help. I hope this can also help anyone in the future who may ask the same question.

Bus powered drives are usually no problem, I’ve been using them since forever with my WDTVs. However, there’s this bug with USB3 that might be a problem, haven’t heard of any Passport drives though, yet.

I am using the WD My Passport USB 3 drive (WDBBEP0010BBK-NESN) with my WD TV Live SMP and it seems to perform just fine.

I have the WD My Passport 2TB model WDBY8L0020BBK-NESN, USB 3.0, powered via the USB cable only (no wall transformer).

It works perfectly with the WD My TV Live SMP.

Thank you all for your answers. I hope this helps anyone who has the same question that is interested in purchasing a My Passport for their WD TV Media Player.

I bought a 1tb Passport Ultra and can confirm that it is fully operational despite missing a power outlet.