The Western Digital My Passport SSD: Tiny Yet Fast and Substantial Storage

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If you need to carry a high-capacity external drive with you when you travel or go to work, you’ll likely be interested in making that memory device as small as possible. Take a look at the Western Digital My Passport SSD; it’s 1 Terabyte, rated for 515MB/s, and it measures just 3.6″ long by 1.8″ wide by 0.4″ thick.

The Western Digital My Passport SSD: Tiny Yet Fast and Substantial Storage

The box seems a normal enough size, but when you open it you’ll see that the My Passport SSD is really small, and it weighs about an ounce. In other words, you can slip this little guy into your pocket, briefcase, purse, backpack, or just about anywhere without adding any weight. It’s crazy!

Included in the package are the My Passport SSD, a USB Type-C to Type-C cable, a USB to Type-C adapter, and a warranty guide.

The Western Digital My Passport SSD: Tiny Yet Fast and Substantial Storage

Here’s a picture of the SSD on top of my BlackBerry KEYone to give you an idea of how small it is.

The Western Digital My Passport SSD: Tiny Yet Fast and Substantial Storage

The Western Digital My Passport SSD is available in 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB capacities. Its shock-resistant body is composed of a matte black plastic top with a wavy-textured aluminum bottom; the SSD is built to be able to “withstand a drop of up to 6.5 feet.” It has a single Type-C port on the bottom, and it will work with both PC and Mac computers.

The My Passport SSD will get quite warm when it is being used, but don’t let that alarm you. There are no lights to show you that it’s working,

The Western Digital My Passport SSD: Tiny Yet Fast and Substantial Storage

The Western Digital My Passport SSD features:

• USB 3.1 Gen 2 interface
• Offers an easy-to-use connection to devices. Backward compatible with USB 2.0 for simple connection to your computer.
• Automatic backup options
• Allows you to use compatible software to back up your files to the server.
• Password protection and 256-bit AES hardware encryption
• Solid state drive with no moving parts
We’ve covered the many benefits of using an SSD versus a hard drive before, but here’s a speed test that shows how special this one is …

My Passport SSD is the fastest My Passport drive to date with speeds up to 515MB/s using the USB Type-C port to rapidly transfer data. Its speed gives great performance to help run virtual machines on your computer.

These are the files included on the disk. They allow you to erase the SSD, encrypt the SSD, and do checks to make sure that everything is running smoothly. There is also an included suite of links to various partner apps that offer discounts for their various services.

Store growing content on My Passport SSD to alleviate limited internal storage space. You can set a password to help keep it protected with built-in 256-bit AES Hardware Encryption with WD Security software.

If you’re on a Mac, you can also use this drive for your Time Machine backups. You’ll have to reformat it before using it that way, so be sure to download the Western Digital Discovery app first.

The largest capacity drive is $400; while that might seem steep for a device that is so small, if you want a fast, tiny, and extremely portable SSD, this is the one. Come to think of it, this would be an excellent Graduation or Back to School gift … just sayin’!

The Western Digital My Passport SSD is available in 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB capacities; it retails for $99.99, $199.99, and $399.99 respectively, and it is available exclusively from Best Buy.

Source: Manufacturer supplied review sample

What I Like: It’s so tiny (!); It’s fast; Large capacity; Included software for checking disk health and easy formatting; Included links to special offers on various apps

What Needs Improvement: Expensive, but you get what you pay for

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About the Author

Judie Lipsett Stanford
Judie is the co-owner and Editor-in-Chief of Gear Diary, which she founded in September 2006. She got her start in 1999 writing software reviews at the now-defunct smaller.com; from mid-2000 through 2006, she wrote hardware reviews for and co-edited at The Gadgeteer. A recipient of the Sigma Kappa Colby Award for Technology, Judie has written for or been profiled by nationally known sites and magazines, and she has served on multiple industry hardware and software award panels. She is best known for her device-agnostic approach, enjoyment of exploring tech, gadgets, and gear, and her deep-diving, jargon-free reviews.

1 Comment on "The Western Digital My Passport SSD: Tiny Yet Fast and Substantial Storage"

  1. Very cool. It would be a good drive for me to edit video with. Maybe spend the bucks one of these for my next drive.

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