Do you have a WD My Passport hard drive and use it to store important data? Plan to back up PC data to My Passport? Focusing on My Passport backup, this comprehensive guide from MiniTool helps you easily back up files to that WD drive via top 3 ways.
About WD My Passport
My Passport is a famous series of external hard drives and solid-state drives from Western Digital (WD). Such a WD hard drive offers plenty of space to store a massive amount of documents, photos, videos, and music. Designed to fit in the palm of your hand, you can bring essential content no matter where you go.
According to Western Digital, My Passport drives streamline home backup with intuitive features and encrypt important files with password protection, defending against data loss caused by various threats including viruses, malicious attacks, hard drive failures, system crashes, etc.
Today, we focus on My Passport backup and there is a comprehensive guide to walk you through 3 ways to back up computer data to My Passport for data protection.
Option 1 – My Passport Backup: WD Backup
Usually, WD My Passport backup is implemented by the integrated backup software, WD Backup which is capable of scheduling backups of your photos, music, videos, and documents to keep data secure.
According to the user manual, you notice that WD Backup allows backing up files on internal hard drives or disk partitions, external storage drives, or Dropbox to an external storage drive such as My Passport or Dropbox.
By setting the time and frequency, automatic My Passport backups will be created, without worrying about losing crucial files. In terms of the frequency you can configure, it covers hourly, daily (once a day, on the days of the week at the hour or half-hour you specify), and monthly (once a month on the day you select).
Unfortunately, from the official website, the support for WD Backup has ended and it no longer offers updates and technical support. But, you can still download it for My Passport backup. If you insist on using it, follow these instructions to back up your files to WD My Passport with WD Backup.
Step 1: Get the WD Backup download file via the official link. Then, extract the ZIP file and run the executable file to complete the installation.
Step 2: To set up your backup, click Back up Files.
Step 3: In the new window, choose the backup target device such as your WD device like My Passport or Dropbox (sign in to it) to store backups.
Step 4: After accomplishing the setup, you need to click Edit Schedule to configure automatic backups as per your needs. To choose the backup source, click Edit Files. You can choose My Computer (or Dropbox), then tick the checkboxes for files and folders you wish to back up.
Step 5: Review your backup settings and click Start Backup to begin the backup process.
In short, WD backup automatically protects your files with a backup to My Passport with ease. In case of data loss, click Restore Files and follow the prompts to perform a restoration operation.
Since this Western Digital backup software has been discontinued, the WD company released another software as an alternative such as Acronis True Image for Western Digital. If you turn to this new app for My Passport backup, see the following guide on how to run it.
Option 2 – My Passport Backup: Acronis True Image for Western Digital
Acronis True Image for Western Digital is designed to support storage devices from Western Digital brands, including SanDisk, WD, G-Tech, SanDisk, and a network attached storage by Western Digital. For My Passport backup, this Western Digital backup software will be your good assistant.
It can back up not only documents, photos, emails, and other files, but also the selected partitions or even the entire hard drive including operating system, settings, application, and all the data. In addition, you can run this tool to clone your hard drive to another drive.
In data protection, it plays an important role. Via three backup types such as full backup, incremental backup, and differential backup, your crucial files are protected well, without worrying about data loss. Besides, Acronis True Image for Western Digital allows you to set a scheduled plan for automatic backups (Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Upon event, and Nonstop) and configure a backup scheme to delete old versions.
To back up your computer to My Passport, take these steps:
Step 1: Download and install Acronis True Image for Western Digital for Windows from its official website.
Step 2: Connect your external hard drive to a computer and launch this backup software.
Step 3: On the BACKUP page, select the backup source as per your needs – Entire PC, Disks and partitions, Files and folders, & NAS.
Step 4: In the new window, choose the backup destination such as your My Passport, NAS by Western Digital, or an internal hard drive.
Step 5: To automatically back up your computer to My Passport, go to Options > Schedule and pick an option.
Step 6: Hit Back up now to execute My Passport backup.
Option 3 – WD My Passport Backup via MiniTool ShadowMaker
Aside from these two Western Digital backup software from the WD company, you can seek help from third-party backup software, such as MiniTool ShadowMaker.
Being the PC backup software, it devotes itself to creating a system image for the Windows system, for instance, Windows 11/10/8.1/8/7 and Windows Server 2016/2019/2022, etc., and backing up files, folders, disks, and partitions.
Also, MiniTool ShadowMaker enables you to set a scheduled backup (Daily, Weekly, Monthly, and On Event) to keep data safe. Meanwhile, configure a backup scheme such as incremental, differential, and full backup and delete the old backup versions to free up disk space.
Moreover, it allows cloning HDD to SSD or migrating Windows to another drive for disk backup or upgrade, without reinstalling the operating system and apps.
Importantly, this program supports all storage devices, not limited to WD drives like My Passport. That is, you can run MiniTool ShadowMaker to back up your computer to an external hard drive or USB flash drive from WD, SanDisk, Samsung, Toshiba, Crucial, Seagate, etc. Of course, you are allowed to back up an external hard drive to a safe location for data protection.
Now, begin My Passport backup with MiniTool ShadowMaker via these steps.
Step 1: Download and install its Trial Edition to enjoy a 30-day free trial with most features.
MiniTool ShadowMaker TrialClick to Download100%Clean & Safe
Step 2: Connect your WD drive to a computer and launch this My Passport backup software to enter its main interface.
Step 3: In the Backup page, choose the backup source as per your situation. By default, MiniTool ShadowMaker backs up the operating system. For data backup, hit SOURCE > Folders and Files, open a drive, check the boxes of files/folders, and click OK.
Step 4: To pick WD My Passport to save the backup files, click DESTINATION to proceed.
Step 5: To make advanced options for your backup, click:
Backup Options – enable passport protection, change a compression level, enable email notification, add a comment for the backup, etc.
Backup Scheme – enable Full, Incremental, or Differential backup scheme, and at the same time, delete old backup versions to free up disk space.
Schedule Settings – set a time interval to automatically create backups, such as every day, every week, every month, or on an event.
Step 6: At last, execute the backup task by clicking Back Up Now.
Back up My Passport to Another Drive
In the above paragraphs, we introduce how to back up the PC to My Passport using three Western Digital external hard drive backup software. Other than backing up the PC, an external hard drive is also likely to malfunction, resulting in data loss, thereby creating a backup for My Passport is essential.
In WD Backup or Acronis True Image for Western Digital, choose files on your My Passport as the backup source and select another WD drive to save the backup.
If you use MiniTool ShadowMaker, you are allowed to choose the data on the WD My Passport as the backup source, then specify a drive from any brand to save the backup and begin the backup process. Even you can clone the WD drive to a drive that has enough disk space to hold all the contents for disk backup.
Cloud Backup My Passport
Apart from local backup, you can choose to back up your WD My Passport to a cloud platform like Dropbox. In WD Backup, choose Dropbox as the target and WD drive as the source, then begin the backup.
At times, you fail to perform the cloud backup in WD Backup. For this task, use the Dropbox desktop app. Just connect your My Passport to a computer, run Dropbox, and upload files saved in the external hard drive to Dropbox.
A Full Comparison
Which one should you use for My Passport backup? When comparing WD Backup, Acronis True Image for Western Digital, and MiniTool ShadowMaker, you can find many differences, helping you find the answer.
Backup Source
WD Backup has been discontinued and it only supports file backup. But its alternative, Acronis True Image for Western Digital and MiniTool ShadowMaker allows backing up files, the operating system, the entire hard drive, and partitions. Aside from the backup feature, they support disk cloning. In terms of backup types, automatic, incremental, differential, and full backups are supported.
Besides, MiniTool ShadowMaker lets you sync files and folders to a safe location.
Supported Devices
Two WD utilities have a limitation in supported devices – only WD drives are recognized.
MiniTool ShadowMaker can detect hard drives and other storage devices such as SD cards, USB drives, etc. from any brand as long as they are recognized by Disk Management.
Fails to Work
Some users complain about WD Backup not working, Acronis True Image for Western Digital backup errors or clone failed.
At most times, MiniTool ShadowMaker works properly and plays an important role, especially when WD software fails to work. In short, it is more powerful than WD software, without any restrictions on supported devices and backup sources.
So why still hesitate? Act now.
MiniTool ShadowMaker TrialClick to Download100%Clean & Safe
The End
That’s all the information on My Passport backup. To back up a computer to My Passport or backup your external hard drive, three options are for you and pick a proper one as per your needs. By comparison, we strongly suggest using MiniTool ShadowMaker which has rich features and has no limitations.
My Passport Backup FAQ
2. Run WD Backup, Acronis True Image for Western Digital or MiniTool ShadowMaker.
3. Choose the backup source such as files, pick My Passport as the backup target, and begin the process.
About The Author
Position: Columnist
Vera is an editor of the MiniTool Team since 2016 who has more than 7 years’ writing experiences in the field of technical articles. Her articles mainly focus on disk & partition management, PC data recovery, video conversion, as well as PC backup & restore, helping users to solve some errors and issues when using their computers. In her spare times, she likes shopping, playing games and reading some articles.
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