One thing is noticeable about Western Digital’s My Passport Pro – “portable raid” hard drive, its size and weight. The 2TB version we received to retrieve data from has a pair of 2.5-inch 5400-rpm drives, pre-configured in a RAID 0 for the greatest capacity and speed. It’s portable, but nowhere as portable as Seagate’s Backup Plus Fast, another bus-powered 2TB drive. However, compared to a the same Seagate model, Western Digital’s My Passport Pro is far more “sophisticated”. Although My Passport Pro’s tiny fan makes a lot more noise than you’d think its aluminum enclosure is solidly built, and rubber bumpers on the inside help protect the drives from sudden impacts.
Using RAID technology, several physical drives are integrated into a single storage unit, which is most often used as a server. RAID (or redundant array of independent disks) are complex and with far greater potential for component failure, compared to regular drives. While RAID 1 offers redundancy through mirroring where data is copied identically on two or more drives. RAID 0 does not provide redundancy but splits the data across all drives. RAID 0 exists because it is faster, though offers more risk for data recovery.
In a RAID 0 configuration, the My Passport Pro is about twice as fast as a single 2.5-inch 5400-rpm drive. However, those speeds are well within the performance range of USB 3.0, making fancy Thunderbolt connection rather overblown?
Following the correct process can help minimize future data loss, and with the right expert, you could have a successful RAID repair. In this case, with failure a RAID 0 it operates at a degraded mode. With this situation, recovering just the data may not be possible because you have to rebuild the disk image, which is cumbersome. Searching for a technician with the proper qualifications in this area can be an intimidating task. Experts from Data Analyzers offer RAID data recovery services that increases your chances of a successful repair. Contact us with any questions you have and keep our phone number handy in case of emergency – 1-866-456-DATA.
We think it is cool that there’s a portable software RAID solution available, and bus-powered storage options with 2 or 4TB capacities somewhat better choice than Seagate’s Backup Plus Fast.
