Western Digital is giving its portable drive line a speed upgrade, but not with a faster hard drive. Instead, the new WD My Passport SSD is the company's first iteration to use a solid state drive, and its first portable SSD.
"The WD brand is focused on delivering fresh, new personal storage devices that offer amazing performance in a beautiful, yet durable design," said Sven Rathjen, vice president of marketing, Client Solutions, Western Digital. "Our fastest portable drive yet, the My Passport SSD is a powerful solution for people who need to move content quickly and easily wherever life takes them."
WD's palm-sized portable drive suits up with a USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-C port and comes with a USB Type-C to Type-C cable. USB Type-C ports aren't real common yet, so WD also tosses in an adapter for use with USB Type-A ports.
The new drive is offered in 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB capacities with speeds of up to 515MB/s. In addition to backing up photos, videos, game libraries, and everything else, WD also pitches the My Passport SSD as a handy drive to run virtual machines from.
Drive contents are kept safe with 256-bit AES hardware encryption and password protection. And from a physical standpoint, WD says the new drive is 6.5-foot drop tested for shock-resistance to withstand 1,500G of force.
The WD My Passport SSD will be available sometime this quarter at $100 for the 256GB model, $200 for 512GB, and $400 for 1TB.
