WD My Passport SSD 1TB Review

1. Introduction2. WD My Passport SSD 1TB3. ATTO/CrystalDiskMark/AS SSD4. Backup / Restore5. Throughput6. PCMark 10 Data Drive Benchmark7. Real Life File Transfers8. Closing Thoughts9. View All Pages

The My Passport SSD is the latest member of a large portfolio of external drives produced by WD. With an NVMe SSD (WD Blue SN550) inside it and a USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C interface it's a giant leap in performance over previous My Passport SSDs and is, needless to say, the fastest My Passport drive to date. It is available in three capacities; 500GB, 1TB and 2TB.

The official performance transfer rate figures for the drive are up to 1,050MB/s for reads and up to 1,000MB/s for writes. We couldn't quite reach those maximums under testing although we came pretty close, hitting 1,025MB/s read and 963MB/s write in ATTO and 1,027MB/s read, and 959MB/s write in the default CrystalDiskMark 7 test.

Real-life file transfers when transferring data to and from a SATA SSD saw write performance go beyond the 500MB/s mark when dealing with large file sizes. However, switching over to another NVMe drive saw read speeds over 900MB/s and write speeds over or close to 700MB/s when dealing with the same large file sizes.

The drive has an anodised aluminium top cover and has been designed to survive drops of up to 1.98m, and all three capacities will be available in four colours eventually (Grey, Blue, Gold and Red) but at the time of writing this review, Grey is the only one available.

The drive also comes with the latest version of WD's Discovery app. This gives you access to WD's Drive, Security and Backup Utilities, though be aware you have to download these via the app. Another useful feature, especially for a drive that can be carried around and could be prone to be either lost or stolen, is the 256-bit hardware encryption which is set up via WD’s Security app.

We found the 1TB WD Passport SSD on WD's UK store for £221.99 (inc VAT) HERE.

Pros

• Performance.
• Encryption.
• 5-year warranty.

Cons

• Data cable is a bit on the short side.
• Pricey.

KitGuru says:  WD regularly update the My Passport range of drives as technology advances come along and now the My Passport SSD gets an NVMe SSD to go along with the USB 3.2 Gen 2 interface. But the price tag could do with a bit of tinkering with to make it a bit more competitive.

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