Western Digital

WD My Passport SSD Review

Reviews
18
Score
74/100
From
$170
Released
January 2021

We've aggregated 18 high-signal reviews and 3 live retailer prices below.

WD My Passport SSD
Available
Our take
Worth consideringPreliminary

Our editorial take on the WD My Passport SSD

Western Digital's My Passport SSD successfully modernizes a classic name, trading the bulk and fragility of spinning hard drives for the speed and durability of solid-state storage. Its performance is a massive leap forward from the portable HDDs that share its branding, offering snappy NVMe-powered transfer speeds in a compact, stylish, and pocketable enclosure. It's a dependable workhorse for creators who need to move large files quickly in the field, with a design that is both attractive and rugged enough for a travel bag.

While its speeds are respectable and a significant upgrade for most users, it doesn't always top the charts when benchmarked against the absolute fastest drives in its class. More importantly, recent history has seen Western Digital (and its subsidiary SanDisk) push firmware updates to fix significant reliability problems on their portable SSDs. Although the issues seem to be resolved, this episode gives us pause. The drive is a solid performer, but buyers should be aware of this context when weighing it against a competitive market.

Best for: Photographers and traveling professionals who need a fast, durable, and pocket-sized drive for quick backups and file transfers on the go.
What's great
  • Fast data transfer speeds over USB-C
  • Compact, lightweight, and durable design
  • Shock and vibration resistant build
  • Password protection with 256-bit AES hardware encryption
  • Reputable brand with a range of capacity options
Watch outs
  • Brand's recent history of portable SSD firmware issues
  • Performance is solid but not class-leading
  • Branding can be confused with slower HDD or feature-different Wireless models

Synthesized by Geared editors from early expert reviews.

What reviewers say

Best reviews

The highest-signal reviews from creators and editorial blogs.

Editorial reviews

Imaging-resource·
western digital Archives - Imaging Resource

Western Digital has announced a new, upgraded version of their My Passport Wireless portable hard drive this morning, sporting a…

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Newsshooter·
CES 2018: Western Digital My Passport Wireless SSD Drive

Western Digital aims to take this one step further with their new My Passport Wireless SSD Drive by letting you transfer files to the drive directly without even booting up a computer.

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Nofilmschool·
Western Digital Releases Firmware Updates for Afflicted SanDisk ...

This article discusses firmware updates for the afflicted SanDisk and Western Digital portable SSDs.

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Bhphotovideo·
Three Weeks in China with Three Zeiss Batis Lenses - B&H Photo

A big problem when traveling in China is that access to the Internet and cloud storage, something we take for granted most everywhere else in the world, is severely compromised the moment you step off the plane. For this reason, I packed a 500GB Western Digital My Passport Wireless SSD mobile storage device.

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Petapixel·
Western Digital Just Unveiled Its First Portable SSD - PetaPixel

Western Digital today unveiled its first portable SSD. The My Passport SSD features blazing-fast data transfer speeds in a pint-sized drive that photographers can easily slip into a small camera bag.

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Theverge·
Western Digital's new portable SSDs are faster than ever - The Verge

Western Digital's new My Passport SSDs borrow from the overall design language from the current hard drive models, but replace the angular corners and waves with a more rounded design to tell the two lines apart. The idea is that the hard drive lineup — with its larger capacities of up to 5TBs on a single device — will serve customers looking for sheer storage, while the new SSDs will offer better speed and durability.

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Engadget·
Engadget giveaway: Win a 1TB My Passport SSD courtesy of ...

Western Digital's My Passport series now offers the fastest speeds of a WD-branded portable drive to date, with its My Passport SSD providing transfer rates of up to 515MB/s over USB-C.

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Dpreview·
Accessory review: Western Digital My Passport Wireless Pro

This is an accessory review for the Western Digital My Passport Wireless Pro, not the WD My Passport SSD. The article does not contain a review of the WD My Passport SSD.

Read review
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Overview

About this product

This is a product from Western Digital. The provided text does not offer specific details about the WD My Passport SSD, but it is listed within the Western Digital brand offerings.

Specs

Body
Weight Grams
45.7 g
Dimensions Mm
100 x 55 x 9mm
Spec
Capacity
4TB
Connector
USB-C
Interface
USB 3.2 Gen 2
Drive Type
Portable SSD
Encryption
256-bit AES hardware encryption
Drop Rating
up to 6.5' / 1.98m
Max Read Mb S
1050 MB/s
Max Write Mb S
1000 MB/s
Extras
Material
metal design
Power Source
Bus Powered
Internal Drive Type
Solid-State Drive
System Compatibility
Windows 10+, macOS 11+
Release
Launch Price Usd
719.99 (4TB)
Live prices

Where to buy

Live prices from retailers. We earn a small commission when you click through - never affects ranking.

  • Amazon
    new● In stockBest price
    $170
    Buy
  • Adorama
    new● In stock
    $390
    Buy
  • B&H Photo
    new● In stock
    -
    Buy
In the wild

Creators who use this

Filmmakers and YouTubers we've spotted using the WD My Passport SSD in their kit.