Hi WD Team,
I recently purchased the WD Passport Pro 4TB as it seemed to be the perfect solution for me. Capacity wise, safety (Raid1), portability and speed (TB) combined in one product was just as if someone read my mind! The Ideal solution!
The problem is the fan inside. When this little ■■■■■■ starts to turn it brings up a high pitched whistle sound which is not only annoying, it makes the whole drive unusable in a pro environment!
I mostly produce for the J-Pop top artists and record music and vocals as a pro. I travel a lot to different countries for co-writes etc. With a drive this loud, I can’t record anything thats in the same room. I’m getting a headache when exposed to this annoying whistle tone and surely, if you listen to it over a long time, it might cause you a tinitus.
So I did the only possible thing and returned the drive. Then I went on the net to read about it, if I was the only one with this problem, but NO! There’s not much out on the web yet, as the drive is pretty new, but theres a lot of reports, also in almost every Hardware test I saw or read,they were talking about an unnormal noisy fan.
So dear WD Team, I know it’s stupid to think my post would change anything, but I will say it anyways. A revision 2 modell with a SILENT fan would be very much appreciated and I believe more people would buy it. I know a lot of music production guys like me who thought this might be the holy grail for portable storage, but I tested and it just isnt so they wont buy it. I guess the same goes for video guys and photo guys.
To perfect the product for pro needs:
Please think of a solution how to have access to the data in case the cable breaks. If the cable breaks the whole drive and all the data is useless and cant be accessed easily. In my business, this data means tens - hundreds of thousands of euros. Fast service for the client is everything.
Solution 1: make the TB cable detachable
Solution 2: (even better) add a second TB port! The drive wouldn’t terminate the TB chain which is a very important thing when working on a Macbook Pro with the need of an audio interface etc…
I don’t know if anyone from the WD staff will read this or consider this important. But if you work for WD and really want to have an ear for the customer, you strive to make the best product possible, please send this to someone who can really make a change.
PS. just so you know: I’ve been a WD user since day 1 of my pro carreer. Started with MyBook Studios and now my Passport Studios store several #1 hits
Please feel free to contact me via e-mail.
Best regards
Tommy