Western Digital extended its My Book family of external drives with the introduction of the new My Passport Essential Portable USB drive. Designed in a new form factor that fits in a pocket or purse, the drive comes in WD’s trademark glossy black finish. At less than 5 oz, it is easy to carry around. No external power supply is needed as it runs off the USB connection. Google tools such as the Desktop Search, Picasa and Toolbar are bundled with the drive.

The drive is compatible with Windows 2000/XP/Vista and Mac OS X 10.4.8 onwards. It comes bundled with WD Sync synchronization/encryption software. It measures just 15mm x 126.15mm x 79.5mm.

For data security, it is comforting to know that the drive uses 128-bit encryption. The WD My Passport Essential Portable USB drive is now available. A 320GB model - that can hold up to 80,000 songs or 38 hours of HD video - costs US $199.99. All it needs is a USB port.

Available from the WD Store.

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