Anyone else having problem with the latest crop of WD Passports?

[muzzy996]

I've always liked the WD Passport line but it's been a while since I've gotten a new one.

This latest crop of drives has micro USB ports that appear to be permanently soldered to the drive's circuit board to save space. I'm guessing they've condensed things down to make the drive smaller and eliminate the need for a SATA to mini-USB converter.

I appreciate the effort WD made to reduce size but the reliability of the micro usb connection, especially with how stiff the included cables are, is terrible.

In the first week of ownership I found myself having to fiddle around with the cable's position to keep the drive from dismounting. Eventually I decided to just hot glue the cable to the enclosure.

Are the mini-usb female ports really that large that one couldn't have been used in place of the micro-usb female port inside these enclosures?

 

[r_manic]

Wait, the new Passports use microUSB? Link please.

 

[biffyg]

I agree, these cables and connectors are terrible, I read on amazon theat someone had a proper push fit on their drive but that is the only one case I have seen. Is it possible that these are a faulty batch because its really starting to annoy me!!

 

[biffyg]

Wait, the new Passports use microUSB? Link please.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Western-Digital-Passport-Essential-Portable/dp/B002KPW5IS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1259313213&sr=1-1

This is the one I have, check out the reviews!!

 

[sminlal]

Wait, the new Passports use microUSB? Link please.

I suspect he's referring to a 2.5" USB-powered "portable" drive - all of the ones I've seen use the micro connectors. It's usually the full-size 3.5" drives that use the full-size USB "B" connector.