Some complained that the 4TB model had quite a bit less storage than advertised.

In reviews, many people said that the USB-C connection was a welcomed upgrade over WD's previous models, and that the USB-A adapter was useful. Unfortunately, if you're looking to use the drive to back up your data with macOS's Time Machine, you'll have to reformat the drive. This simple download easily converts the drive into a cross-platform storage workhorse. While the WD My Passport Ultra comes formatted for Windows out of the box, drivers for better macOS compatibility are available through WD's Discovery software. More storage-hungry users might want to opt for the 5TB model. The 4TB of space on the drive will be more than enough to store thousands of precious memories, tons of work documents and even games. Given that it's a mechanical drive using the USB 3.1 interface, it's not going to be as snappy as a portable SSD. While WD doesn't advertise the drive's read or write speeds, it's not going to be blazing fast. Handily, WD has kept compatibility with the older USB connections found on computers of yesteryear by including a USB-A adapter in the box. The My Passport Ultra plugs in via USB-C, making for seamless connections with the latest devices. With a 4.6 out of 5 star rating on Amazon from more than 17,000 reviews globally, it'd be hard to go wrong with the compact drive. If those things don't bother you, this drive is tiny, cheaper, and comes with a padded rubber case.Western Digital's refreshed take on its popular My Passport Ultra drive is our pick for the best external hard drive for most people. I could find no pattern to this sometimes it appeared right away, sometimes it took a couple of minutes.

The other issue is that sometimes it's very slow to be recognized by my PC. If you're trying to work with it in your lap, it can be downright uncomfortable. It's smaller and slightly faster than the OWC, but it has two drawbacks. I also like that you can swap out the drive inside the aluminum casing (it's easy to unscrew), which means two years from now, you can pick up a faster bare SSD and drop it in the Elektron.Īnother indestructible drive: I really like Sabrent's Rocket Nano SSD ($160 for 1 TB).

It's tough to pick a winner here because there are many solid options, but OWC's Elektron drive narrowly beat others in benchmark tests. If you need a drive that can stand up to life in a backpack or camera bag, get wet, or handle a drop onto hard surfaces, OWC drives are your best choice.

External solid state hard drive amazon