The return trip from the My Passport Studio to the Mini was faster at 4.5 minutes. I didn't have to wait too long, just 5.4 minutes, for the transfer to complete from my Mini, across the USB cable and on to the My Passport Studio. It was with a heavy heart and a tendency to nod off that I started the transfer of my standard 8.05GB collection of 4,661 files and folders via USB 2.0. How slow is it? Unfortunately, I have only a MacBook and a Mac Mini, and neither supports FW800. by quite a bit and leaves both USB 2.0's 480Mbit/sec.
This outstrips FireWire800 and its 800Mbit/sec. Somewhere out on the horizon (late 2009 or early 2010) is USB 3.0 that promises to be 10 times faster than the current 480Mbit/sec. Currently, the fastest external interface is eSATA at 3.0Gbit/sec. However, don't count on finding speed with the My Passport Studio. (To be fair, the drive is also available in 400GB and 320GB models - if you really must.)
And the iMac doesn't have 500GB until you get to the top-of-the-line, hyper-priced 24-in.
It's fully Mac-formatted, and Time Machine wants to gobble it up as soon as it's detected.Īnd make no mistake, 500GB is a major upgrade if you're starting life with a 120GB MacBook (standard on the MacBook Air) or an 80GB Mac Mini. As for the new drive, the little silver My Passport Studio is completely awesome just for what it is: a tiny (0.7 by 5 by 3.2 inches and only 0.4 pounds) 500GB module that you plug into your Mac, sit back and watch as the drive icon pops up on the screen.