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Tech · Western Digital · 2020

WD My Passport SSD

A well-finished everyday drive whose real selling point is the software that ships with it.

No Mac has the port the fastest drives need — #4

Overall

7.8

out of 10

Axis scores

Tech is scored on these 5 axes. The total is their plain average — nothing is weighted.

WD My Passport SSD — axis scores out of 10Horizontal bar chart of editorial scores out of 10 across 5 axes. Bars run from a shared zero baseline; longer is better. WD My Passport SSD: Performance 7.8, Value 7.6, Durability 7.8, Ease of use 7.6, Design 8.2.PerformanceWD My Passport SSD — Performance 7.8 out of 107.8ValueWD My Passport SSD — Value 7.6 out of 107.6DurabilityWD My Passport SSD — Durability 7.8 out of 107.8Ease of useWD My Passport SSD — Ease of use 7.6 out of 107.6DesignWD My Passport SSD — Design 8.2 out of 108.2Editorial score out of 10 — higher is better
  • Performance — How well it does the core job
  • Value — What the same money buys elsewhere
  • Durability — Failure and fade reports past the one-year mark
  • Ease of use — Setup, daily operation, cleaning, maintenance
  • Design — Build quality and how it sits in a room

Specs

Interface
USB 3.2 Gen 2
Shell
Aluminum top, textured
Software
Hardware encryption plus backup tools

As published by the manufacturer. We didn't measure these ourselves.

Is it for you

Buy it if

  • You want scheduled backups without choosing a backup app
  • A drive that looks right next to a laptop on a meeting table
  • AES-256 encryption managed by the drive itself

Skip it if

  • You need class-leading sustained writes
  • You already run your own backup tooling and the bundle is dead weight

Hand this to someone non-technical and the backups will happen. WD ships backup software with scheduling and hardware AES-256 encryption managed through a simple interface, and that combination makes it the easiest drive on the page to set up for someone else. For a household backup drive, the difference between backups happening and not happening usually comes down to a scheduling interface, not a specification.

The design is the nicest of this group too — a machined-look top with a grooved texture that resists fingerprints, and a form factor that sits comfortably in a hand or a jacket pocket. Of everything here, this is the drive most likely to be handed to someone across a meeting table.

Run your own backup tooling and that bundle is dead weight, leaving a mid-pack performer at a mid-pack price.

The interface is USB 3.2 Gen 2, so around 1,050 MB/s sequential, and thermals are adequate rather than notable. Long sustained writes will slow before the metal-bodied alternatives do.

There is no ingress rating and no rubber armor. This is an office and travel drive; treating it as a field one is how people end up with grit in the connector.

Capacities run from 500GB to 4TB. The supplied cable is short, the most common minor complaint, and any USB-C cable rated for the speed works as a replacement.

Last updated . The scoring method is on how we rank.