WD My Passport SSD Review

Where once portable hard drives were the norm, solid-state storage drives like this from Western Digital (known as WD these days) are becoming more common.

At 100 x 55 x 9mm / 3.94 x 2.17 x 0.35-inches, the WD My Passport SSD is is slim enough to fit into a camera bag or pocket and it weighs less than 50g.

Inside its metal casing, there’s NVMe technology which enables read and write speeds of up to 1050MB/s and 1000MB/s respectively.

WD supplies the My Passport SSD with a USB Type-C to Type-C cable
that supports USB 3.2 Gen 2. There’s also a USB Type-C to Type-A adapter which means that the drive is backwards compatible with older connections.

No drivers are required so you can just connect the My Passport SSD to your computer, Mac or PC, and start using it without reformatting. However, the WD Discovery software is available to install from the drive if you want to set-up password protection or use it as a backup. The My Passport SSD is also compatible with Apple Time Machine.

Although the WD My Passport SSD is very light and the casing feels thin, it’s reassuring to know that the outer skin is made from metal.

As there are no moving parts, SSD memory is more stable than hard drive storage and WD states that the My Passport SSD can withstand a drop from 1.98m or 6.5 feet. Mine has taken a fall from my desk a couple of times and it’s not showing any signs of wear.

With read and write speeds of up to 1050MB/s and 1000MB/s, the WD My Passport SSD should be capable of acting as a working drive when editing video. And sure enough, I’ve used it to house 4K video from the likes of the Sony A7S III and Nikon Z7 II while I edit it and it’s not missed a beat. I was able to watch stutter-free footage.

That speed is also impressive when you’re transferring images. A folder with over 10GB of images from the Nikon Z7 II, for example, copied from my iMac desktop to the drive in under 24 seconds. Nice!

The supplied software is also easy to use and effective.

While the My Passport SSD performed flawlessly, it’s not perfect. The first issue is that the cable that comes with it is very short. It’s a high-quality cable, and it’s fine with a laptop, but it’s far too short to be practical with the average desktop computer.

The second issue with the Passport SSD is that it gets pretty hot when it’s used as a working drive for 4K video editing. It’s not too hot to touch, but it’s hot rather than warm.