Product Reviews

Western Digital's rubber-bottomed Passport looks like expensive diving equipment, but we suggest you keep it above sea level so no harm comes to the enclosed 80GB hard disk. It's little bigger than a PDA and weighs just 238g so it's easy to carry in your pocket, but it doesn't have an integrated USB lead so you'll have to carry one of those too.

The rubber base mutes operational noise from the drive and provides a modicum of protection against knocks and drops, although we'd still advise you to exercise caution when handling the unit. When tested, file transfer times were what we expected. Large file read and write transfer rates were 22.7MB/s and 22.8MB/s, while small file read and write transfer rates were 8.3MB/s and 6.3MB/s. While slower than LaCie's 60GB Mobile Hard Disk in our Hotlist below, the Passport provides more storage for your money at only £1.25 per GB.

This is a great drive, combining excellent transfer times, a solid build, visual appeal and good value