WD My Passport Wireless SSD 500GB review

OVERVIEW : AN ALL-IN-ONE PORTABLE BACKUP DRIVE + MEDIA HUB + POWER BANK

My Passport Wireless SSD is aimed at photographers and drone-pilots (enthusiasts and professionals), so we are able to backup our precious works hassle-free on the field.

After each of my pets / wildlife photo shoot / drone shoot, I just directly insert my SD card to My Passport Wireless SSD, press the one-touch copy button on the top of the drive and viola, it’s settled! The laptop is totally out of the picture! *sigh of relief* (Note, you can connect a card-reader for CF card or other card types)

My Passport Wireless SSD also creates it’s own fast Wi-Fi network – connect wirelessly with the free My Cloud app on mobile phone/tablet to view backed up photos JPEG / RAW and stream 4K videos. It can also act as a Wi-Fi hub for up to eight devices. Last but not least, it can double duty as both a media drive and a power bank!

SLEEK DESIGN AND EASY TO SETUP

At first glance, it looks pretty big, with a 1:1 squarish design and rounded corners. But once I hold it on hand, it feels pretty lightweight, stable and easy to hold and carry.

It’s build is solid, sleek and has a well-designed slot for SD card and 2 USB 3.0 ports (for card readers and battery charging).
The front of the My Passport Wireless SSD features 2 sets of LED lights. The Primary set is located below the WD logo indicate the wireless and transfer status. The secondary set is located on the top left, that indicates the amount of power it has left when you press the one-touch SD copy button right above it.

A tiny detail that I thought is awesome – that bright orange accents design on the WD My Passport Wireless SSD rubber bumper. I tend to forget or lose things that are not brightly coloured. I guess at times when i am in a rush, i tend to miss things that do not catch my visual attention. Now if only that orange band glows in the dark, that would be perfect! 😛

My Passport Wireless SSD also comes with security features, including a drive lock that prevents access in case you ever lose it.

Setup is pretty straightforward, and all summed up in a small piece of instruction card found when you unbox My Passport Wireless SSD.

RUGGED AND DURABLE – SSD vs HDD

I’ve had issue in the past with portable HDD drive corrupting for some unknown reasons. I also know of a few friends who had lost data due to dropping of their portable HDD drives. The pain of losing months or even years of data is just heart-breaking. (remember to double/triple backup your works, my dear friends!)

Personally, i don’t intend to drop my new My Passport Wireless SSD to test the durability and effectiveness of the rubber bumper that wraps snugly around the drive. But according to WD, it can survive shock, vibrations, and drops up to 1 meter (tested on a carpeted concrete floor), even while the drive is in operation! This will definitely save a lot of tears and heartbreaks for sure!

In a nutshell, an SSD is flash storage and has no moving parts whatsoever. Thus, no need to worry about file fragmentation or corrupted data issues. A SSD such as My Passport Wireless SSD can access files significantly faster and applications load much faster as well. (e.g. run a Lightroom catalog, or edit videos directly from accessing the files on My Passport Wireless SSD)

COMPLETELY SILENT TRANSFERS / BACKUPS

1GB of RAW photo files from SD card via built-in SD 3.0 card slot – approx 15 secs
Just insert the SD card into the built-in SD 3.0 card slot on My Passport Wireless SSD and press the one-touch copy button.
The files will automatically be saved under My Passport > Storage > SD Card Imports > Todays’ Date

1GB of media files from Mobile Phone / Tablet > wirelessly to My Passport via My Cloud App – approx 5min
One thing to note, when backing up media files from your mobile to My Passport, you will need to set phone’s screen timeout to a longer duration. Else it will keep disconnecting the file transfer to My Passport Wireless SSD. I have to delete my partial transfer to My Passport Wireless SSD and try again, this time ensuring my phone screen does not time out. Anyway, no fault of My Passport Wireless SSD, just something to take note of regarding your phone’s setting for a smoother transfer via My Cloud App. You can check the status of the transfer by clicking on “My Activity” tab and it will show you the files that are still transferring in progress.

Just 1 tiny feature I would like to see on the next My Cloud app update
– Show the number of files in a folder. Just a simple – My Folder Name (100 files / 1GB) will be great!

My mobile phone is filled with Luna (my cat)’s photos, and they are now transfered from my mobile phone to My Passport Wireless SSD for backup. Here’s Luna at my photo studio, sleeping on the chair beside me as i work on photo processing on Lightroom – directly accessing the RAW files from My Passport Wireless SSD.

PHOTOGRAPHY WORKFLOW PROCESS
To ensure that you can read, write, copy, edit all your files and folders on My Passport Wireless SSD :
For Mac desktop/laptop, install Paragon NTFS driver, which is under My Passport > Storage > WD Apps for Mac
For Windows desktop/laptop, install WD SES Device Driver, which is under My Passport > Storage > WD Apps for Windows

NOTE: If you store your Lightroom Catalogs in My Passport Wireless SSD, you will have to access them via USB.

Each photographer have different photography workflow process to best fit their working style and needs.
For myself, I prefer to have separate standalone Catalog for each of my photo sessions / projects.
My overall “Work” Catalog is then used to manage the final exported JPEG files of all my photo sessions / projects.

To put it in simple point forms :
– Current projects’ Lightroom CC Catalogs (with Smart Previews) + accompanying final-edit JPEG exports on my work laptop (for ease of printing & social media)
– Current projects’ RAW files on My Passport Wireless SSD
– Once a client project is fully completed, triple-backup Catalog with accompanying RAW + final-edit JPEG exports – on my other portable drives, my 2nd computer and 5-bay network-attached storage (NAS) device.
– A “Work” Catalog of all the final-edit JPEG exports of each client will then be saved on My Passport Wireless SSD. So that I will always have a copy of my finish works with me whenever i travel.

CONCLUSION
In the past, I used to bring several portable HDDs overseas during my photography assignments / travels and 25% of those portable HDDs failed me due to drive corruption. Trust me, it’s a nightmare when you are abroad and couldn’t access your important works for clients. Thankfully, I always triple-back my works. Nowadays, i only bring portable SSDs on my trips as they are much more reliable and durable for travels. I am very happy and thankful to add the amazing My Passport Wireless SSD to my travel to-pack list. 🙂

MORE INFO ON MY PASSPORT WIRELESS SSD

Comes in : 256GB, 500GB, 1TB and 2TB
Limited Warranty : 2 year worldwide
Find out more at WD My Passport Wireless SSD Microsite

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