Plex Media Server Goes Mobile With Western Digital

The portable My Passport Wireless Pro has a built-in Plex server.

Long the go-to choice for home theater enthusiasts who don't want to tinker with software and settings, the Plex home media server software is now built in to a Western Digital portable hard drive.

Although marketed to creative professionals, the new Western Digital My Passport Wireless Pro will be just at home on long family road trips and in the living room, where it can stream video via its own ad-hoc Wi-Fi hotspot. It has up to 10 hours of battery life and a built-in battery pack that can charge phones and other mobile devices.

Other wireless portable drives can do all this too, but the addition of the PCMag Editors' Choice award-winning Plex software means a familiar interface that we think is the best choice for a home media server with no headaches.

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Of course, this much flexibility and user-friendliness comes at a price. The My Passport Wireless Pro currently costs $200 for a 2TB version or $230 for 3TB at Western Digital's online store. There's also a non-portable NAS option, the My Cloud Pro Series NAS, which starts at $400 with no drives included.

Unless you're already in the market for a NAS or are intrigued by the possibility of a mobile Plex server, remember that Plex, which formerly required a dedicated computer to act as a media server, is now available on several consumer devices in addition to the My Passport drives.

Earlier this month, the Nvidia Shield Pro became the first non-desktop-PC all-in-one Plex box. And if you're looking to hedge your home theater bets, you can also officially stream Plex to the Apple TV via an app, which means you'll have access to Apple's vast streaming options side-by-side with your own library.