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WD adds USB 3.0 and high-speed HDD to Mac external storage solutions

Western Digital announces new portable drives for Macs that support USB 3.0 and a new Thunderbolt drive, the WD VelociRaptor Duo, which uses two VelociRaptor hard drives as its internal storage.

Dong Ngo SF Labs Manager, Editor / Reviews
CNET editor Dong Ngo has been involved with technology since 2000, starting with testing gadgets and writing code for CNET Labs' benchmarks. He now manages CNET San Francisco Labs, reviews 3D printers, networking/storage devices, and also writes about other topics from online security to new gadgets and how technology impacts the life of people around the world.
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Dong Ngo
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The new My Book VelociRaptor Duo comes with two super-fast VelociRaptor hard drives as its internal storage.
The new My Book VelociRaptor Duo comes with two super-fast VelociRaptor hard drives as its internal storage. Dong Ngo

WD has just upgraded its storage solutions for Macs on both USB and Thunderbolt fronts.

The storage vendor today announced its first USB 3.0-based portable drives for Macs, the My Passport for Mac, and a new Thunderbolt drive, the My Book VelociRaptor Duo.

The new My Passport for Mac from WD.
The new My Passport for Mac from WD. WD

Apart from USB 3.0, the My Passport for Mac also increases the capacity to 2TB while remaining compact and portable. The reason WD waited until now to release a Mac portable drive that supports USB 3.0 is because USB 3.0 has just been added to the new version of the MacBook Pro and MacBook Air computers. The drive comes with just one Micro-USB 3.0 port, and an included Micro-USB cable that works for both data and power connections. The new My Passport for Mac also works with USB 2.0 ports.

The My Book VelociRaptor Duo, on the other hand, is the second dual-band Thunderbolt drive from WD, the first being the My Book Thunderbolt Duo. The biggest difference it has from the previous drive is the fact that it uses the top-of-the-line VelociRaptor hard drives to offer much improved performance. The new VelociRaptor Duo Thunderbolt drive is available in only one capacity of 2TB and, for the first time, comes included with a Thunderbolt cable.

Both the new My Passport for Mac and My Book VelociRaptor Duo are available now. The My Passport is slated to cost $100 for 500GB, $130 for 1TB, and $200 for 2TB. The 2TB My Book VelociRaptor Duo is priced at $900.

I had a chance to worked with the new Thunderbolt prior to its release and found that its performance is totally worth its price tag. For more information, check out the full review of the My Book VelociRaptor Duo here.