A durable travel partner that ensures you always have storage space.
If there is one thing I really dread about working on computers, it is running out of hard drive space. I always have a variety of spare external hard drives standing by just in case I need to copy files off to one, but I rarely carry one with me. This is something I really need to get into a better habit of especially since I have the Western Digital (WD) My Passport SSD. It’s perfect for traveling and since we live in a world of working remotely now, having more than one of these magical devices on hand is ideal.
DETAILS
The Western Digital My Passport SSD is designed to be compact, portable, and fast. It connects to computers using USB-C (USB 3.2 Gen-2) so it’s read speeds can reach up to 1050MB/s and write speeds can reach up to 1000 MB/s. This hard drive also features 256-bit AES hardware encryption and it’s secured inside a metal case that has a drop resistance up to 6.5 feet. The hard drive is packaged with a USB-C to USB-C cable and a USB-C to USB-A adapter. The SSD is available in five different colors (certain colors only available with certain capacities) – Blue, Gold, Gray, Red, and Silver – and four different capacities – 500GB, 1TB, 2TB, and 4TB. The price ranges from $119.99 to $679.99 (MSRP from WD; other retailers may offer at lower prices) depending on the capacity size chosen. Apple users can use this hard drive in cooperation with Apple Time Machine or users can take advantage of the simple backup software included on the hard drive. There is no set-up needed and the hard drive is ready to use out of the box.
USER EXPERIENCE
The WD My Passport SSD ships in a WD branded box. There is a picture of the product on the front and some of the main details are highlighted on the box. The hard drive is surprisingly small. It’s actually smaller than the palm of my hand. There is one port on it for connectivity — USB-C, which keeps things simple. As mentioned above, there are several color choices available. The 1TB version of the hard drive has five different colors to choose from. I have the gold version. It’s a very subtle, elegant gold color. It’s not too flashy and it just looks classy. I’ve also seen the gray version, which is a darker color that I believe is made to match Apple’s Space Gray.
When I first connected the hard drive to my MacBook Pro, I was asked if I wanted to use it for Time Machine backups. This is, of course, an optional choice, but also something that this tiny SSD is completely capable of handling. I intend on using this hard drive as a travel drive, but could see myself getting a second one specifically for Time Machine. They are just that versatile.
When you open up the finder window for the hard drive you will see two files. These are the installer files for WD Discovery, the hard drive utility. I’ve used it before with my MyCloud drives, but haven’t had it installed in a long time. Even though you don’t have to install it, one of the benefits of doing so is being able to see all the WD drives you have connected and what their statuses are. After I completed the installation process the utility appeared in the menu bar. I opened it up, logged into my MyCloud account, and was able to see both that account and the My Passport drive.
After checking out the WD Discovery utility, I ran some speed tests using Blackmagic Disk Speed Test and AJA System Test Lite. Both apps check the read and write speeds of a selected drive. Both tests showed that the WD My Passport SSD did not quite meet the expectation that the specs outlined (1000 MB/s write & 1050 MB/s read). The tests did show that the percentage difference between the read and write speed was accurate — about 5% according to the specs. The screenshots below show the speed test results. After I ran the speed tests, which didn’t take very long, I noticed that the hard drive case was noticeably warm to the touch. I took a temperature reading using an infrared thermometer and got a measurement of 102º F. Most companies will state that anything under 140º F is safe, but 102º F is definitely warmer than I expected. The hard drive did cool off quickly.
CONCLUSION
The WD My Passport SSD is a great hard drive that has many purposes. I have trusted WD for many years and I love being able to use their products. The SSD is very durable and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it to others. World Backup Day is just around the corner. You should strongly consider picking this My Passport SSD up from Western Digital today.
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