WD today introduced its smaller, smarter and more secure My Passport Essential and My Passport for Mac ultra-portable external hard drives featuring WD's new WD SmartWare software and equipped with hardware-based encryption.

The new My Passport drives are more than 20 percent smaller than the previous generation My Passport.

Available now at select retailers and the WD online store (shopwd.com), the new My Passport Essential and My Passport for Mac drives are offered in capacities ranging from 320 GB to 1 TB and come in a range of colors including Blue, Red, Silver and Black.

When the My Passport Essential drive is plugged in for the first time, the simple first backup process launches automatically. After the first backup, users' files are backed up automatically every time they change or add a file.

My Passport Essential and My Passport for Mac drives also feature user-selected password protection combined with military-grade 256-bit hardware encryption, which scrambles files before they are stored.

WD My Passport Essential hard drives are designed for Windows-based PCs while WD My Passport for Mac drives are formatted for Mac computers and are compatible with Apple TimeMachine, Apple's integrated backup solution. WD SmartWare works on Windows PCs and Mac computers and offers a seamlessly integrated option for Mac users who want an alternative to Time Machine or Mac OS 10.4 users who don't have TimeMachine compatibility.

The new My Passport Essential drives are offered in capacities of 320 GB, 500 GB and 640 GB; My Passport Essential SE drives are offered in capacities of 750 GB and 1 TB. My Passport for Mac drives are available with 320 GB and 500 GB. My Passport Essential and My Passport for Mac drives are available now at select retailers and online at www.shopwd.com. MSRP ranges from $109.99 to $249.99 USD depending on model.

The My Passport for Mac drives are plug-and-play ready for Mac computer users and compatible with Apple Time Machine.