Storage forum: is there a backup drive that shows a simple file structure?

I don't think backup software should look like explorer, which is what you are asking. It should have a shell that allows disk storage operations to be performed.

I'm not familiar with WD MyPassport; I use Acronis True Image. I've been happy with this. You have to use their software to inspect the stored backup, but it does look like an explorer view. Your choices are somewhat limited; you can restore to original location, or to a different location which you get to specify. In other words, this is a copy function. It must be outside the file which contains the backup, of course. You aren't allowed to modify the backup itself, only move files out.

True Image allows for scheduled backups which can be total, incremental, or differential. I like this last one as only two files are needed for a restore of the latest info: the original and the last one. It also backs up all the operating system files, so you can re-generate your entire disk to a new one if you have a bad failure.

Try Bitser (http://www.bitser.org) its simple and free and uses an explorer style backup interface. Also allows you to compress and encrypt your backups.