Western Digital spine tingler

With most households storing their photos, video, music, domestic budgets and accounts across several hard drives, locating what you want is just as haphazard as in the bad ole days when important paperwork and personal effects were filed in myriad shoe boxes.

The e-label used in Western Digital’s My Passport Studio drives helps makes sense of all your digital stuff, by allowing you to identify and update the contents of the drive from your computer using the WD SmartWare software included with the drive. And because the display uses the same e-paper technology as the some e-book readers, like the Kindle, the information is clearly visible, even when there’s no power going to the drive. Previously available only on the company’s costlier My Book Elite drives, the e-label also provides a read-out on how much capacity remains on the drive.

Ideal for photographers and creative specialists, the $240 500GB and $270 640GB My Passport Studio drives also provide a super-fast FireWire 800 port for speedy data transfers, are formattted for Mac computers, compatible with Apple TimeMachine software, and feature automatic and continuous backup that you can check onscreen, as it happens.