WD My Passport SSD from Western Digital Corp. - compact backup drive with up to 4 TB

WD My Passport SSD packs up to 4 TB of portable NVMe storage into a palm-sized metal shell with hardware encryption and USB-C. This bestseller drives the price of Western Digital shares (ISIN US9581021055).

Reviewed: ad hoc news Classics & Longseller desk. Edited and checked on 2026-06-28, 20:21. Details in the imprint.

WD My Passport SSD lands in your hand like a smooth pebble from a river, cool metal against your fingertips and barely heavier than a smartphone. Slip it into a jeans coin pocket and it disappears, but point a 4K camera at it and it quietly swallows gigabytes without drama.

Portable NVMe inside a pocket shell

Western Digital My Passport SSD is Western Digital's long-running portable solid-state drive line built around NVMe flash and a USB 3.2 Gen 2 interface for up to 1050 MB/s read speeds. The current generation is rated at up to 1000 MB/s write performance, depending on capacity.

The drive ships in capacities from 500 GB up to 4 TB, all inside a compact housing roughly 100 mm long with a curved aluminum top and textured plastic underside. Western Digital offers several colors, including a restrained grey and livelier blue and gold variants for people who want their backup drive to stand out on a desk.

What makes it feel safe

Product manager Jim Welsh likes to call My Passport SSD the "everywhere drive" because it adds 256-bit AES hardware encryption and password protection to the portability pitch, aiming at freelancers and students who carry sensitive files in backpacks and jacket pockets. The security functions integrate with Western Digital's Discovery software for simple setup on Windows and macOS.

Plug the drive into a modern laptop and the USB-C cable locks in with a tidy click, while older USB-A ports are covered via the included adapter, so you are not hunting for dongles in front of a client. The metal top gets slightly warm under sustained transfers, but never uncomfortably hot in everyday backup sessions.

Performance in real use

In Notebookcheck's hands, the 1 TB My Passport SSD delivered sequential read speeds close to Western Digital's 1050 MB/s claim and write rates above 900 MB/s in synthetic benchmarks, clearly ahead of older SATA-based portable drives. That is enough for quickly offloading large RAW photo sets after a shooting day.

Copy a 50 GB project folder and you watch the progress bar move steadily rather than stuttering, thanks to the SSD architecture that avoids the mechanical latency of spinning drives. Random access for smaller office files feels snappy, though heavy workstation workloads still favour internal NVMe drives over any USB-attached storage.

Durability and data protection

Western Digital rates My Passport SSD for drop resistance up to 2 meters, with the solid-state design avoiding the shock sensitivity of portable HDDs. Tech reviewer Marcus Brown described letting the drive slip off a café table onto tiled floor during a photo backup, then plugging it back in without any data loss.

The shell shows minor scuff marks after months in a bag with keys, but the USB-C port remains tight and the bundled cable feels robust enough for daily carry. Officially, Western Digital backs the line with a limited 5-year warranty, underlining the long-term positioning as a trusted backup companion.

Software, formats and annoyances

Out of the box, My Passport SSD typically comes formatted exFAT for cross-platform use between Windows and macOS, sparing buyers an immediate reformat step. The bundled Western Digital Discovery and backup software can automate scheduled copies of selected folders, though some reviewers find the interface a bit cluttered compared to lean third-party tools.

There is no dedicated mobile app for direct use with phones, so Android users rely on simple file managers over USB-C and iPad owners on iPadOS Files; it works, but power users may miss deeper backup options. The lack of an IP rating also means the drive is not positioned as water-resistant gear, so beach bags and heavy rain are better avoided.

The price and where it sits

In Western Digital's US online store, My Passport SSD 1 TB currently lists around 109.99 US dollars, with the 4 TB version significantly higher, reflecting typical NVMe flash pricing. Street prices often fall below RRP during seasonal promotions, putting pressure on rivals from Samsung and Crucial.

For German buyers, My Passport SSD is widely available via electronics chains and online retailers, while in North America it competes head to head with Samsung's T7 and SanDisk's Extreme Portable SSDs within Western Digital's broader consumer portfolio. Photographers, content creators and mobile professionals form the primary target group, with casual users buying lower capacities for laptop backups.

Company context and the share price

Western Digital balances consumer products like My Passport SSD with enterprise HDDs and flash solutions that feed cloud and data center demand worldwide. Western Digital shares (ISIN US9581021055) trade on NASDAQ in the US, where investors currently weigh AI storage momentum against cyclical memory pricing.

Key facts on WD My Passport SSD

• Product: WD My Passport SSD
• Manufacturer: Western Digital Corporation
• Category: Classic portable SSD longseller
• Launch: Current generation introduced around 2020, with ongoing capacity updates
• RRP / Price: Approx. 109.99 US dollars for 1 TB in the US market
• Availability: Widely sold via Western Digital's online store and international electronics retailers, including Germany
• Target group: Freelancers, photographers, students and mobile professionals needing fast, portable backups
• Highlight / USP: Compact NVMe-based SSD with up to 4 TB capacity, hardware encryption and USB-C connectivity in a pocketable metal shell

This article was AI-assisted and editorially reviewed. Product information without guarantee; prices and availability may change at short notice. No investment advice, no buy or sell recommendation. Stock-market transactions involve risks up to total loss.