Review: WD My Passport SSD refresh brings zippy NVMe to the table

If you picked up an M1-equipped Mac mini or MacBook Air, expanding storage capacity is one of the things that will be a problem. Since there are no upgrade options available, consumers would rather have to look at external storage options, and this usually means a portable hard drive with a description.

Western Digital’s My Passport line is long lasting and aims to provide storage that can move anywhere with the user. My Passport SSD has been updated for 2020, which improves speed and refreshes the appearance of the portable disk.

• Options for up to 2 TB in capacity
• 256-bit AES hardware encryption
• USB-C 3.1 Gen 2 ready
• USB Type-C to USB Type-A converter included
• Up to 1,050 MB / s read speed and 1000 MB / s write speed
• Fall protection up to 6.5 feet
• 3.94 inches by 2.17 inches by 0.35 inches
• 5-year warranty

The case of My Passport SSD is small, only 0.35 inches thick, 3.94 inches long and 2.17 inches wide. It is also quite light with a weight of 45.7 grams (1.6 ounces).

Although slightly larger than the previous generation and slightly thinner, it is still extremely pocket-sized and can be easily carried in a bag.

The two-tone casing of the previous version has been modified for a metal housing with a comprehensive motif and is available in a range of five colors. Although the last version was a bit greedy, the new version is underrated, but it is still stylish on its own.

The metal casing also helps keep it protected, with its shock and vibration resistance accompanied by fall resistance up to a height of up to 6.5 feet. This means that the disk will easily take up daily use without too much effort.

One good design choice is the use of a separate USB-C cable, which is easily replaceable by the user. It does offer the possibility of losing the cable itself, but it will still work with any USB Type-C cable.

In addition to having a (too short) USB Type-C to Type-C cable, WD also includes a USB Type-C to Type-A adapter in the box. It gives the ability to work automatically with USB-A 3.0 and USB 2.0 ports at lower speeds.

We do not like this cable, and the stiffness of the cable is not great. Fortunately, better replacement cables are cheap and plentiful.

The disk is supported as USB 3.2 Gen 2 with up to 10Gb / s. Since it is a USB drive, it is backward compatible with the right cable.

As part of the refresh, WD updated the type of storage in the disk itself and moved the line to NVMe at higher speeds. WD claims read speeds up to 1 050 MB / s and write speeds up to 1 000 MB / s on USB-C 3.2 gen 2.

WD offers the disk in three capacities, covering 500 GB, 1 TB and 2 TB, with the 1 TB version used for this review.

We regularly saw speeds of about 930 megabytes per second and read 910 megabytes per second in the real world. With an extended hammer of the zipper test, the thermal acceleration speed read and write up to about 720 megabytes per second – even faster than a single SATA-based SSD can deliver.

WD My Passport SSD 1TB speed

When connected to the USB 3.0 port USB 3.0, the speed was limited to about 410 megabytes per second for reading and 400 megabytes per second. These speeds are about what we expected, given the constraints of the port.

Like the previous version, WD includes 256-bit AES hardware encryption in the disk, which enables users to encrypt the data with a minimal performance hit. The encoding element depends on the use of the embedded WD Discovery software, which can also be used to automate backups, but requires Internet activation beforehand.

The WD Discovery for Mac software is sufficient, but here we are not going to go into it too much. When encryption is enabled, the speed is limited to about 700 megabytes per second, and 550 megabytes per second on a 15-inch i9 2018 MacBook Pro or an M1 Mac mini, and a hair less on a 2016 15- inch MacBook Pro.

While WD has its own backup software, Mac users have better options. For starters, not even third-party cloning software, the station also supports MacOS ‘Time Machine. However, it needs to be pre-formatted – which most Mac users do anyway, unless their cross-platform is working.

WD says that the drive will work directly outside the box with exFAT formatting on both computers and Macs. On the PC side, it supports Windows 10 and Windows 8.1, and can do the same for other operating systems, with reformatting.

For those who need external storage, you can not really go wrong with the WD My Passport SSD. Using NVMe means it’s faster than ever before, along with the metal housing and built-in hardware encryption can help keep your precious data safe.

The small size and high capacity make it a problem for MacBook Air and MacBook Pro users to take with them. The drive is also reasonably priced for what it offers and is a great option to expand storage space – albeit externally – on Macs that can sometimes have very high prices for extra storage space internally.

The WD My Passport SSD is a solid, uninspiring external USB-C drive, a product that is readily available from most electronic manufacturers. Not everything needs to do groundbreaking work or have record-breaking speeds. Sometimes you need a $ 10 hammer to do the job instead of a $ 120 ergonomic design, tailored to fit your hand.

The WD My Passport SSD is the epitome of the right tool to do the job without breaking the bank.

• Compact size and lightweight.
• Separate USB Type-C cable.
• Shock and fall resistance.
• Adequate, but not an excellent encryption suite.
• Fast transfer speed

• The enclosed cable is quite short.
• Reformatting required for Time Machine.

The WD My Passport SSD can be purchased at Amazon, with prices starting at $ 89 for the 500GB model, $ 139.99 for the 1TB version and $ 239 for the 2TB variant with $ 119, $ 199 and $ 379 respectively It is available in gray, gold, red, silver and blue colors.