WD My Passport SSD review: 7 years in, super-lightweight SSD is still class

The WD My Passport SSD offers great read and write speeds, pretty design, and... the shortest USB cable in the world?

A red WD My Passport SSD
(Image: © Jacob Little)

Our Verdict

The latest WD My Passport SSD is a neat upgrade from WD’s first My Passport device, and it looks the part too, with neat styling and ultra-lightweight credentials, making it eminently portable. It does a fine job of transferring files quickly and safely, but the USB cable provided is about as short as the laws of physics allow.

For

  • Lightweight
  • Sleek design
  • Fast use and easy to set up

Against

  • Cable is too short
  • Gets warm when used for long periods
  • Didn’t always see peak transfer rates when using larger files

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Western Digital (WD) has long been a trusted name in the world of portable storage solutions. Most people reading this review will likely have once owned at least one device made by WD, either stuffed full of school or university work, crammed with backups of photos of loved ones or simply acting as an extension to your internal hard drive to store music, films and other documents.

For decades now, there’s no denying the attraction of an external hard drive to extend your storage capability. Western Digital has been at the forefront of this, largely thanks to their reliability, durability and portable designs that have become a byword for safe, reliable and fuss-free storage extension. In this review, we’ll be taking a look at the new WD My Passport SSD, an updated incarnation of their original portable SSD many of us are still using that was released back in 2017, and still sets the benchmark for among the best out there.

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Compatibility:Windows 10+, MacOS 11+
Read Write Performance (stated)1050MB/s and 1000MB/s
Capacity options:500GB - 4TB
Weight:45.7g
Dimensions:100 x 55.1 x 8.8mm
Operating temperature:5-35°C
Interface:USB-C 3.2 Gen 2
The Verdict
8

out of 10

WD My Passport SSD

The latest WD My Passport SSD is a neat upgrade from WD’s first My Passport device, and it looks the part too, with neat styling and ultra-lightweight credentials, making it eminently portable. It does a fine job of transferring files quickly and safely, but the USB cable provided is about as short as the laws of physics allow.

Jacob Little

Jacob Little is a freelance writer and photographer and over the past ten years, has written for several national publications and brands. Based near Bristol, technology and the creative industries form the basis of his work, and he also provides content planning and project scoping services for agencies and businesses.