If you've been following this site, you know that I am frequently preaching the importance of backing up your images. You are also aware that I am a big fan of using the little for this purpose. They are small, light, highly-reliable, available in high capacities and they are very reasonably priced. Those qualities have resulted in over two dozen of these drives being currently deployed here with my current primary WD My Passport external drive having logged over 10,000 hours. That I still have some 256GB models purchased when 256GB was the max capacity available hints at how long I've been using these drives. When I'm traveling for more than a day and there is a remote chance that I might get an image I care about, my laptop along with at least one (usually two) of these drives typically accompanies me.

Bottom Line: We recommend the 2TB version of the WD My Passport for most use cases. The 2TB model offers the best Terabyte-per-dollar according to the current prices on Amazon. The 2TB model offers the best Terabyte-per-dollar according to the current prices on Amazon. EAN: 01 WD My Passport For MAC 2TB USB 3.0 External HDD ( With USB-C Cable )WD My Passport For MacDesigned for Mac and ready to be used with Time Machine, the 2TB My Passport for Mac USB 3.0 Type-C External Hard Drive from WD can be used to create system backups, store your photos and videos and much more.

And, sometimes I take backup capability even for important sub-day shoots. However, it is not always convenient to take my computer with me and even if I have it with me, it is not always convenient to set it up and potentially connect an external drive. Not too long ago, WD introduced their My Passport Wireless Pro drives. I checked them out at the following Photo Plus Expo in New York City and for over a year, have had one of these drives high on my shopping list. Before I got around to checking that line item off of my list, WD introduced an SSD version of this device, the WD My Passport Wireless SSD. Before proceeding with the review, let's clear up the big question. What are the benefits of an SSD over an HDD?

The primary benefits of an SSD (Solid State Drive) over an HDD (Hard Disk Drive) are increased speed and durability. With no platters to spin up, no read/write arms to move into place and no file fragmentation issues to be concerned about, an SSD can access files significantly faster.

Boot time is much faster, applications load much faster, etc. With no moving parts to wear, fail and generate heat, durability is increased. With no read/write heads flying a few nanometers over disk platters, impact is far less likely to cause drive damage, again giving SSDs the strong durability advantage especially welcomed in a portable device that is likely to be moved while in use.

Another benefit arising from the lack of moving parts is silent operation. The My Passport Wireless SSD is completely silent and that is a very nice feature at quiet events. When you are trying to sleep.

SSDs are potentially available in a smaller physical size and their lower power consumption means longer battery life and lower usage cost. What are the benefits of an HDD over an SSD? SSDs do not hold all of the advantages and the primary HDD advantage is price. The price per GB/TB of HDD storage is significantly lower than that of SSDs. Related is that HDDs are high-volume retail-available in higher per-unit capacities.

Quicken basic for os mac. For this device, the review-time max-available capacity My Passport Wireless drives is 4TB for HDD vs. 2TB for SSD – and the price differential for those two drives is 4x for an 8x per GB difference. I work exclusively on a laptop computer and I have been using SSDs in my laptops since SSDs were first available. The performance difference I experienced with the HDD-to-SSD change was very significant.

But, to this point, all of my external drives were HDDs due to price and available capacities (I have memory cards that hold as much or more than some of the early/affordable external SSDs). Now, with (currently) up to 2TB of capacity available in the My Passport Wireless SSD, very large quantities of even ultra-high resolution images can be stored. Not long after the My Passport Wireless SSD drives were introduced, I received an invite offering a 2TB version of this drive in return for an analysis and published review. The only stipulation was that I produced an 'honest accounting.' Well, that arrangement worked for me.