My Passport SSD 256GB

Fast and affordable portable storage

$100 Manufacturer WD, wdc.com Features USB-C port/cable, USB-A adapter, hardware encryption

WD’s first solid-state drive is a conveniently small and light affair, with a USB-C port that meets the USB 3.1 Gen 2 spec. WD says it can reach a transfer rate of up to 515MB/sec.

The attractive ridged part might appear metallic, but it’s plastic, like the black section. Though WD says the drive is shock-resistant to 6.5 feet, it still feels a little cheap.

The drive comes with a USB-C cable and a thumb-sized adapter that attaches firmly to one end, so you can connect it to a computer with USB-A ports. It offers 256-bit AES hardware encryption and password protection of any partitions you create on it; an unlock tool is held on a separate partition that appears upon connection.

Our review unit was 256GB – it’s also available as 512GB and 1TB. It gave us a peak transfer rate of 465.4MB/sec and an average of 393.4 in our sequential read test. In our toughest test, randomly writing data, the peak and average were 404.6 and 246.6MB/sec, respectively – 80.8 and 56.1MB/sec ahead of the Samsung T3 we rated highly last year. That’s solid, but lower than quoted peak performance.

THE BOTTOM LINE. My Passport SSD is a good, affordable drive with appealing features.