WD's New Wireless Hard Drive Has Your Back (Ups)

The new versions of WD’s My Passport Wireless hard drive and My Cloud Pro network attached storage (NAS) drives are getting cozy with Adobe’s Creative Cloud.

Both products will work with a new version of the free My Cloud app, which has been updated to add compatibility with Adobe’s Creative Cloud. Using the app, contents stored on either of the new WD drives can be uploaded directly to Creative Cloud, where they can be edited in Adobe’s suite of software tools.

My Passport Wireless Pro

Like its predecessor, the My Passport Wireless Pro Wi-Fi sports a built-in SD card reader, USB 3.0 port for transfers to PCs, and Wi-Fi to backup files from wireless cameras. It can establish its own 802.11ac Wi-Fi network or piggyback on an existing network connection. If you opt for the latter, any device that’s wirelessly connected to the Wireless Pro Wi-Fi drive will retain Internet access. The My Passport can serve as a hotspot for up to eight connected devices and uses a dual-band connection to improve speed and operating distance.

The drive will be sold in 2TB ($230) and 3TB ($250) capacities and has 10 hours of battery life, depending on use. You can also use the battery to charge devices such as mobile phones via USB.

The My Passport isn’t simply a backup device. It’s also a mini entertainment hub, capable of streaming an HD video signal to up to eight devices. It’s also compatible with the Plex Media Server, where it can deliver four streams of video content to connected devices. It’s PC and Mac compatible out of the box.

My Cloud Pro NAS (PR4100)

The My Cloud Pro Series network attached storage is available in capacities up to 32TB with multiple RAID options. It features a front USB port for one-touch data transfers from USB devices.

The NAS boasts 4GB of RAM and a hardware accelerated video processor so that it can ingest and store and transcode various video formats for editing and streaming, including 4K content. Contents stored on the My Cloud Pro are secured via 256-bit AES encryption. It’s compatible with the Plex Media Server and Adobe’s Creative Cloud via the My Cloud app.

Prices start at $500 for a two-bay diskless configuration up to $1,700 for a four-bay 32TB drive.