WD 3 TB My Passport Wireless Pro, Black

Product Information

I benchmarked the WD My Passport Wireless SSD using CrystalDiskMark and it turned out that the advertised speed is in fact pretty darn accurate – I was able to reach around 387. Note the ARW RAW format of the A7 III was readable even though it’s not yet on WD’s compatibility list. Being able to stream video to multiple devices simultaneously may not be the most sociable way to travel, but if you have unruly kids like we do, it can certainly avoid premature hair loss! Just the one touch back up in a sturdy, reliable drive would make it an essential piece of kit for me, but the additional ability to view and edit RAW images, to watch movies and documentaries via streaming and to use as an additional power pack for my phone, tablet and camera batteries are absolutely brilliant and anyone who spends any amount of time travelling and photographing or shooting video should have one in their bag.

For example, if you have a Dropbox account, you can install the Dropbox service and browse through your Dropbox content. There’s the main power button on the left which turns the drive on with a quick push and switches it off again with a longer press.Another function I really like about the drive is the ability to use the WiFi connection to connect to an iPad and watch movies or videos while travelling.

Above: BlackMagic’s Disk Speed Test running on a Mac measuring the speed of the WD My Passport Wireless SSD using a cabled USB connection, left, and a wireless connection, right.The WD My Passport Wireless SSD has one more trick up its sleeve: it can be used as a wireless media server, dishing-up photos, music and videos to compatible players. Above: One on side of the drive you’ll find a spring-loaded SD slot which like those in camera bodies will swallow a card whole without any portion sticking out; push it in and it’ll spring out sufficiently for you to grab it. Taking these capabilities and running with them further, the My Passport Wireless drives can also be used as DLNA or Plex media servers, wirelessly streaming content to compatible players like smart TVs, and their batteries can also be used to charge other devices over USB like phones. The slot itself will read at speeds up to 65MB/s, which while not the fastest around is still quicker than the original My Passport Wireless model – it’s also worth remembering you’ll generally push a card in and walk away, leaving the drive to do its thing, so top speed in this regard isn’t essential. See some notes below on abysmal transfer rates when using an external memory card reader…it is pretty bad!

You can also use VLC or any other third party media centre on your smart device to access and view the content of the My Passport, meaning no need to waste time converting your movies to whatever stupid format iTunes support! Of course you could alternatively use a computer to browse, sort and edit the files whether on the road or back at base, and if you’re dealing with a lot of data you’ll almost certainly be connecting the drive over USB 3 to a computer at some point simply to get photos or videos off it in a timely fashion. And when you activate Drive Lock through the device dashboard, you prevent unauthorized USB access to your content if it’s ever lost or stolen. and WD claim up to 65MB/s, and I found when I copied 100GB of data from a 128GB card and it too around 30 minutes. The exceptions are high-end cameras which support FTP over wireless, such as Canon and Nikon’s pro bodies with the appropriate wireless adapters.When I had lots of images in a folder including many similar-looking ones, I often found it hard to pinpoint the exact one I was looking for, switching back and forth between thumbnail and full-screen views.

If this new backup took place on the same day as a previous one, then this new time-stamped folder will be nestled within the existing date folder. At the end of the day, whether I’m staying in the back of my truck, or a hotel, US or otherwise, a laptop and mobile SSD drives are the most efficient backup solution for me. We’ve partnered with Ontrack to provide protection for routine and extreme data loss scenarios such as drive failure, viruses, and software issues. The WD My Passport Wireless SSD is designed to backup the contents of SD memory cards in the field, without the need for a laptop or an AC power supply. Since the drive is capable of FTP transfers, app’s like FileBrowser Biz should deliver higher speeds with iOS, than “default” SMB based connections.

While I was pretty unhappy about how slow Gnarbox backs up images from SD cards, I wondered how WD My Passport Wireless SSD would do in comparison. I've previously managed back up with an iPad (to the device and thence to the cloud if there's adequate wifi) but now I find myself doing more bird photography and taking more bursts, the iPad struggles a bit. And finally on the right side is another button used to initiate SD card backups or to briefly check the battery life, indicated by four blue LEDs on the upper surface of the drive. Sometimes I have my laptop with me at the end of a wedding day, but find that trying to start my backup process with it is inconvenient whilst on the move.