WD Elements have same hard drive as My Passports?

WD External Drives WD Portable Drives
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I really didn’t expect all the hassles involved with SES, VCD, SmartWare, etc.  I only chose the My Passport lineup because it has a 3 year warranty.

Would anyone have authoritative answers to the following that they would share?

1.  Do the Elements portables have the same hard drive inside as the My Passport models?

2.  Do the Elements portables have standard USB 3.0/2.0 enclosures so that if a failure occurs after the warranty has expired I’ll be able to remove the drive and install the drive into another standard USB enclosure?

3.  If the Elements product line has the same drive inside, why does it get only a 1 year warranty while the My Passport product line gets a 3 year warranty?

Thank you all.

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Hello, note that using Smartware or installing the SES drivers is optional, you can also hide the VCD. 

How to remove (disable / hide) the Virtual CD (VCD) for Windows or Mac OSX on a WD My Book or WD My Passport 

1- What kind of hard drive is inside a Western Digital external product? 

2-This can change depending on the model.

3-The average price for the same capacity on a Passport is higher than the price of the Elements line. 

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Ichigo wrote:

Hello, note that using Smartware or installing the SES drivers is optional, you can also hide the VCD. 

 

How to remove (disable / hide) the Virtual CD (VCD) for Windows or Mac OSX on a WD My Book or WD My Passport 

 

1- What kind of hard drive is inside a Western Digital external product?  (That’s not helpful. That’s evasive.)

 

2-This can change depending on the model. (I know that.  That’s why I asked.)

 

3-The average price for the same capacity on a Passport is higher than the price of the Elements line. (I’m sorry, but, that’s not true.  At 3 major online vendors and at 2 brick and mortar stores, as I viewed their order screens just before I have written this line,  I have verified that the Passports are selling for the same or less than an Elements.)

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  1. Yes
  2. No and yes. Both of them (passports and elements) has two different types . So, both of them could be designed with native USB PCB and with usual sata pcb + usb pcb .
  3. Thats only marketing politics . Wd passport drives has hardware encryption by default, elements doesn’t but can be switched on.
    The price for My passport should be greater, but seems people started to afraid hardware encryption due some FW bugs can lead to data loss easy. Possible, Element drives sells better, thats why price politics is very strange and price for my passports drive decreased.
    Warranty period has nothing to do with what the drive are inside, for sure.
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