Western Digital has come up with its first My Passport SSD creation which is compatible with any Apple USB-C-only MacBook Pro and MacBook laptops. Data can be transferred at a striking speed of 515 MB per second, making it the fastest WD portable drive ever released, the company claims.
MacBook compatibility to help expand market
The My Passport SSD, which is more or less the size of the palm, comes in capacities of 256GB, 512GB and 1TB, tagged at $99.99, $199.99 and $333.99, respectively. The prices seem competitive, but they are still more expensive than an external hard drive. The devices come encrypted with 256-bit AES hardware and are also password protected.
Western Digital offers a 3-year limited warranty on the purchase. The drive’s hard body makes it safer from the outside. Moreover, the drive is believed to be sturdy and durable, withstanding 1500G of force, and it can work even after a drop from 6.5 feet.
Sven Rathjen, vice president of marketing and client solutions for Western Digital, said, “The WD brand is focused on delivering fresh, new personal storage devices that offer amazing performance in a beautiful, yet durable design.”
The My Passport SSD is a powerful solution for those looking to transfer content quickly and want a portable solution, Rathjen said.
Its compatibility with the newest MacBook Pro can create a market for the device. Buyers will get a USB cable with an adapter to use with “more traditional USB Type A.” With USB-C to USB-C connections, it can offer USB3.1 Gen 2(10Gb/s) of speed. Although other USB-C cords can also work, for swift data speeds, the best is to use the one that comes in the box.
Western Digital’s My Passport storage is perfect for those looking to manage large photos and video libraries, support large files and important documents, expand their SSD laptop storage or run virtual machines.
SSD – Other recent products from Western Digital
My Passport SSD comes on the heels of Western Digital’s first SSD under its flagship Black lineup launched in January. The company launched two models in the Black line: the WD Black PCIe SSD in 256GB and 512GB models with $109 and $200 price tags, respectively.
The models vary in price and speed of transferring data with the 256 GB model offering around 2050MBps sequential read and 700 MPps sequential write performance. On the other hand, the 512 GB model has a sequential write performance speed of 800MBps, while the sequential read performance is similar.
Western Digital also recently announced the availability of its WD Purple 10TB HDD high capacity hard drive, which can support 24×7 video surveillance systems and up to 64 high-definition (HD) cameras in home and small business security environments. It comes packed with various advanced performance features such as AllFrame 4K technology.
According to IHS Markit, the growth potential of 4K-compliant and high-resolution network cameras over the next few years will increase the demand for surveillance class storage to support the systems that run these technologies.
