Western Digital 500GB My Passport Portable SSD, 1050MB/s R, 1000MB/s W, Upto 2 Meter Drop Protection, HW Encryption, Type-C Cable & Type-A Adaptor,…

Compact and light

I’m very happy with this device. I use it as a backup for my desktop’s hard-drive. Its easy to use straight out the box and quick.

One word of caution (and why its 4 stars not 5). I’m using this to replace my current back up disk (a 2TB WD ‘My Book’), which is now over 9 years old. The old drive is about 80% full, but I struggled to copy all of this to the new drive, which is also 2TB. All disk drives divide their storage space into fixed size blocks. A file smaller than this block size, occupies 1 block, a larger file occupies two or more. The issue is that each file will occupy at least one block. I happen to have a lot of small files and it appears that the SSD has a bigger block size than the old drive, so I can’t get as many files on the new drive as the old. Its not really an issue – its just forced me to get rid of junk, but it did come as a surprise.

Fast, stable

Overall, it seems to be a solid piece of hardware but there are issues with the cable and especially the software.

Motivation for buying:
I have a 10 years old 2 TB Passport HDD that is still working but that I wanted to replace. Because it’s old and very slow. What I liked about the Passport was the option to encrypt the drive and run it “stand-alone” without any software on other computers (except Linux). When you plug it in, a small partition is mounted which contains the “WD Unlocker” software that allows you to mount and decrypt the drive. I was looking for exactly the same just in SSD and smaller.

PRO:
(P1) Its tiny – The drive is half an inch longer than a credit card (and of course thicker; 0.35 inch) but its really tiny compared to the old hard drive.

(P2) Speed – The speed is appropriate as you can see in the first image. It does not quite reach the “up to 1000MB/s” but it says, “up to”. The speed was tested with CrystalDiskMark 8.0.4, USB 3.2 gen 2 port and the USB C connector. If you use the Type A connector and a corresponding 3.0 port the speed is lower (see second image).

(P3) No fake – Not really a pro but with so many fake SSD with incorrect sizes worth mentioning. It was tested with h2testw 1.4.

NEUTRAL:
(N1) Disk size – Its not actually a 2TB hard disk as you can see in image 3. Yes, it does give you 2 trillion bytes but that is only 1.81 TB. Unfortunately, this is common and other vendors do the same. Just be aware that “2TB” is not actually 2 TB.

(N2) Heat – The drive gets warm when in use. That is common for SSD and it does not get dangerously hot. But it can be uncomfortable if you touch the drive during use or shortly after.

CON:
(C1) Cable – The provided cable is really short – 6.3 inch including the plugs. And while that might be nice for transport and when you connect it to a notebook, it’s terrible when connecting to a desktop computer. Your drive will literally be dangling down on the cord. Or you pile up some books in front of your computer to create a place to lay down the disk.

(C2) Software – Just a big mess. While the cable is a small issue and can be easily replaced, the provided software is a big issue. When plugging in the drive, it has two installers for WD Discovery (Windows, Mac) on it.
The Windows story: First thing after start of the installer, it asked you to be allowed to phone home (send data to WD). If you disagree it will start installation and hang at 18%. If you google it you will find it’s a well known issue and solution according to WD support is … just allow it to phone home. If you do that, the installation will finish – but it will not recognize the Passport. Even after restarting or trying different USB ports. So deinstalled and download WD Security from the western website. Installation works and it will recognize the drive. You can now set a password and encrypt the drive. After re-plugging the drive, the small partition with the WD Unlocker software shows up and … it does not work (see image 4). It complains that we should start the WD Unlocker from the partition associated with the USB drive … which we just did. It seems similar to WD Discovery the WD Unlocker does not recognize the drive. When googling you find its again a known issue and solution is … use WD Security instead. Which means you must install WD Security on each and every computer you want to use the encrypted drive. That was tested on two different Windows systems with different hardware components.
The Mac story: Using the installer from the USB drive and allowing it to phone home will actually work and it does recognize the drive afterwards. You can now set the password from WD Discovery. However, when re-plugging the drive and trying to unlock using the WD Unlocker we are running into the same issue as on Windows. Here too, you have to install WD Discovery or WD security on all computers that you want to use the drive.

SUMMERY
If you are just interested in the hardware … you are good. Don’t be surprised that it’s not actually 2TB and that the drive gets warm. That will be no different for other vendors. Be prepared to get a longer cable to fit your needs.
If you were hoping to get an encrypted drive that “stand alone” can run on any computer you will be disappointed. You will have to install WD software on each of the computers and live with the fact that they are phoning home. At that point its worth considering free software solutions (such as VeraCrypt) that also need to be installed but at least don’t send data away + also work on Linux.

En definitiva un producto que otorga lo que publicita: velocidad y seguridad en respaldo de información.
Por otro lado la protección cifrada de los datos almacenados con tu propia contraseña, da tranquilidad.
Un producto que parece increíble lo que puede contener en ese tamaño y peso, fantástico.

Pros
1. Fastness- It’s more than 3 times faster than my Toshiba 2TB HDD and gives me write speed of 272MBps vs 78MBps when used with USB 3.0 port in my DELL SSD laptop but at the same time it gives me weirdly same speed of 36MBps when used with USB 2.0 port via Type A to Type C. It has been detected by my Moto Z2 Play and given 47MBps speed via Type C to Type C. All these files in all the above cases are of Video only.
2. Weightless- Believe me, holding this in hand after holding a normal mobile is simply amazing and you feel nothing.
3. Working- You don’t need to install any software and the device is detected even in my mobile very fast.
4. Password- It has optional password protection with 256-bit AES hardware encryption which might be very useful to professionals.
5. Warranty- Against 3years warranty offered by some other companies like Samsung, WD offered 5years which is good.
6. Contest- There is buy, share and win contest going on, so it’s an added luck benefit.

Cons-
1. Heating- It is heating a little more while using which might be common for all SSDs even though it concerns me.
2. Port- The port for connecting cable is given to a side, however if they have given it in centre it could have been nicer.
3. Build- It seems to be very delicate even though company mentioned it is drop resistant, expected company to provide a rubber case just like for a mobile for added strength. I didn’t dare to do any drop or scratch test though. In addition, there is no waterproof, so be careful and also they didn’t provide any LED notification.
4. Color- Company simply omitted mass choice of black color which is quite disappointing.
5. Size- Even though it seems to be weightless, the size seems to be on larger side and can’t fit in my purse.
6. Memory- Out of 500GB only 465GB it is showing, are you serious 35GB just for software and other stuff?
7. Cable- Cable (Type c to Type c) length is short, may be just 4 inches (will be sufficient for many) and in addition they have given adapter of Type C to Type A, at least they could have provided a separate cable for Type C to Type A just like Samsung.

Also, it is mentioned as Product of China (backside of SSD) but Manufacture in Ireland by SanDisk (backside of Box).

So, 5TB hard disk at 8899 or 500GB SSD at 6999 (without discount or cashback) which one I have to choose? After several deliberations, I have opted this SSD! Don’t make same mistake…

Verdict- You can very well go with 5TB HDD (or 2x2TB HDDs for more safety) instead of this 500GB SSD because you will get 10 times more memory with acceptable speeds, however if you are a professional or you desperately need super speeds or you want to show off or more specifically if you have a PC or laptop with USB 3.2 (Gen2) or Thunderbolt 3 port then only go with this SSD.

Nearest competitor for this WD My Passport SSD is Samsung T7 which is available at same price with slightly better specifications and in addition if you choose 1TB version then you will get extra 1000rs off coupon (12999-1000 coupon discount-10% card discount) on T7 as of now which is cheaper than WD.

Bought at 6300 on 24.10.2020.
Another 300rs special discount coupon given on the next sale till 13.11.2020
Now from 14.11.2020, price increased to 9839 which is clearly not worth your money too!

Il ne pèse rien, il est ultra fini, le cable USB-C / USB-C a même un convertisseur USB 1/2/3
Du SSD, donc ultra rapide, l’idéal pour tout !