Photography and videography have never been this close to consumers than ever. With all the basic necessities for shooting and manipulation are digital (camera, computer), more and more people have access to it.
But, common question lies after the shoot, being everything digital, the immediate output is a data or computer file. Now comes the scenario of storage. As for me, I have been using my 2TB WD Elements Desktop in storing my photos, documents, music and videos.
So the interest in seeing some of the professionals use their portable hard drive in action, is a thing I shouldn’t miss especially with the new WD My Passport Pro.
My concerns in considering my external storage are:
- I keep storing so many things in my hard drive (both internal my Mac and my external HDD – a WD Elements Desktop)
- I love taking photos and videos during trips, blog events and most of the time I find it hard to sort things out, so I just dump them on my WD Elements)
- Not as much as before when I was still working in broadcast, but, I still use HDDs for video editing on Final Cut Pro. So HDD performance is much of a concern
So, I went, and checked how the pros are using the setting up their system and gearing up for their travel and photo sessions.
First up was veteran travel and art photographer Arnel Murillo. He shared his thoughts on photography as an art. He showed several of his photos with principles of photography that he has been using through the years.
And honestly, it made me realize, again, how I used to love shooting for the sake of shooting. Hahaha! Kinda lost that side a bit, since I am more of shooting out of necessity, not out of passion. But, then again, it helps seeing his photos – made me think that I have to shoot for myself.
Plus, Arnel gave us a sneak peak of what he usually brings during his travels:
- Cameras and accessories (filters, lenses, tripod, batteries)
- MacBook Pro
- lots of portable hard drives
Being always on the go, he is carrying at least 6 external hard drives.
Yes, SIX! Quite a lot. Well, he is shooting in raw format, so most likely, he will be needing a lot of space in his hard drives.
Can’t imagine how many hard drives does this guy has. Hahaha!
Next was Nino Carandang, former editor-in-chief of Digital Photography Magazine, as he showed how he uses his WD My Passport Pro in editing photos in Adobe Lightroom.
To be honest, I never used Adobe Lightroom before, since I am used to using Photoshop in almost every digital manipulation that I do on my photos. And I seldom use RAW in shooting photos. I just don’t like the idea before of having to add more to the conversion process of RAW to JPEG.
But, after seeing the advantages, over few more processes, I decided to do two things on my next shoots using DSLR:
- Take photos in RAW format
- Use Adobe Lightroom
And boy oh boy! I was surprised on how the WD My Passport Pro was able to manage the instantaneous photo editing – without a frizz. It was as if the photos are being processed via internal hard drive.
The fast transfer rate of the Thunderbolt was maximized in using WD My Passport Pro. Based on data, it has a transfer speed of up to 233MB per second.
Whew! Call that speed. Obviously faster than USB 3.0 and Firewire.
Though, Of course, I have see this Thunderbolt portable drive in video editing, which, what I have been doing for years.
Now, that makes sense digital artists, non-linear editors and even photographers to use this one.
For those who are not familiar, the Thunderbolt interface limited to Mac computers starting 2011 models of MacBook Pro.
On a technical standpoint, WD My Passport Pro offers more than just portable RAID storage.
It can be configured in three different ways, depending on the preference of the user:
- Stripe – using both drives to maximize speed (RAID 0)
- Mirror – maximum data protection (RAID 1)
- Individual Drives – JBOD
The mirror technology feature, automatically backs up files (separating the internal storage), at the expense of storage. So it means that the 4TB capacity, when mirrored, uses only 2TB as main drive, while the other 2TB being used to mirror the files.
Honestly, after the event, I was drooling for a lot of things. —- Leica system, I believe, and his accessories, the WD My Cloud and of course the WD My Passport Pro 4TB
I know the performance of the WD My Passport Pro still depends on many considerations.
I haven’t tried it yet personally. I will soon update you if I get my hands on a WD My Passport Pro and put it to the real test – non-linear editing.
QUICK LOOK on WD My Passport Pro:
- Thunderbolt interface
- up to 233 MB/s transfer rate
- RAID system
- Formatted HFS + J for Mac OS Mavericks and Mountain Lion
- Power-adapter-less
- Annodized aluminum enclosure
WD My Passport Pro now is available in the Philippines:
- 2 TB WD My Passport Pro – Php 15,990
- 4TB WD My Passport Pro – Php 21,990
