WD 256GB My Passport SSD Portable Storage - USB 3.1 - Black-Gray - WDBK3E2560PSL-WESN

This is the neatest little external drive I've ever owned. I have it formatted with ExFat so that it works both with my Macs and with my Win 10 PC....and can hold files exceeding 4Mb. It is a delight to use and compared to other external drives I've used with laptops....almost weightless. It looks cool and it works flawlessly...what more can I say.ADDENDUM: I was trying to start a new review on the 2Tb version but the Amazon system knows I already bought and reviewed the 512 Gb version and won't let me start a new review. So what follows is about the new 2 Tb version which I just purchased. I bought it to replace a Thunderbolt 2.0 drive that runs hot enough to boil eggs and thus I believe it is only a matter of time until it fails since heat is the enemy of solid-state anything. I was surprised to find that the new 2 Tb SSD is exactly the same (diminutive) size as the 512. I bought the new drive on the strength of my very positive experience with the smaller drive. However, the new drive came formatted with ExFAT (which works well with either Mac or Win 10)...whereas I had to reformat the smaller drive to that format. It is now cloning the Thunderbolt drive (using Carbon Copy Cloner) which contains about 1.5 Tb of data, so I expect it to take much of the night. But I should report that it is fast, well designed (and manufactured), silent, and cool. I expect it to last indefinitely. My MacMini has a native 256Gb SSD which contains the Mac OS and the apps I use on the unit. I keep all data files on this external drive (which also gets backed up weekly)(as well as a Time Machine backup). Using this configuration I have never lost a single byte of data and the MacMini runs fast and efficiently all the time....it is a 2015 model. I expect this new external replacement drive to extend the life of the Mac by another 4 years...or perhaps indefinitely...it does all I need it to do.

I am a graphic designer and photographer with needs for significant amounts of data at hand. I wanted not only to expand the data-file capacity of my MacBook Pro that has a 1TB internal SSD, but also to have an easy way to carry the extra luggage with me on trips to remote locations. Of course, I leave all of my archives and backups at my home base, but I want all of my currently active files available with no need for remote connections to the base station. This little wonder was exactly what I needed. I actually mounted it to the outside of the MacBook's screen/cover with "industrial strength" Velcro, where it is semi-permanent and quite out-of-the-way. (Being a designer, I made sure that this does not look trashy -- looks technical and powerful, instead.) I found online a very short USB3 cable to keep the little drive, that I named "Backpack," constantly connected and available. Being an SSD with a fast connection, it operates plenty-fast enough for me, and never makes any moaning or other complaints. I use it to hold most of my data files, freeing up space on the internal SSD for current operations. Doubles my available drive space to 2TB of SSD! For cloud backup, I use Crash Plan Pro (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!) which backs up this little Backpack, along with the internal drive, at no extra cost to me. I do have to handle my own local hard drive backup, because I have not figured out how to put it into my Time Machine routine, but that is no problem for me and my good backup habits. A bonus for my mobile operations: my little Backpack is so small that I am able to leave it attached to my MacBook's cover when it is zipped into a neoprene sleeve and packed into my larger (real) backpack. (For rough handling, you might want not to use this packing technique, but it is good enough for airline carry-on.)

Immediately out of the box, I was impressed with the small size of this drive for 1TB. I know that storage keeps getting smaller and cheaper, but this drive is impressively small. I actually bought two of them, one as a backup for a Mac laptop, and one as a backup for a Mac desktop. While I've only had the drives for a week or two and the real mark of a good external drive, at least for me, is its longevity and reliability, I am happy with the drives so far. I backed up approximately 500GB of data from a desktop computer using the converter for USB2 that was included, and while the transfer took a few hours, the drive had no issues and the back up went fine. I also did a back up of the laptop, which held much less data, and that process proceeded without incident too. The only thing I will note for Mac users is that if you want to use this drive with Time Machine, you will have to format it using the Disc Utility. When I initially tried to use the drive with Time Machine, I received error messages, and it took a bit of research to figure out what was amiss. The formatting process was easy and quick, but it did cause me to deduct one star for the "Easy to Install" factor of my rating. All told though, in the early days with this drive, it is a largely positive experience.

I have bought this SSD for my Xbox One in order to game with a faster response rate on multiplayer, which did exactly that. No slight delays along with faster loading times, this is a great SSD for gaming.However, it does not work with any cables longer than 6ft in length. I tried using a 6ft ANKER PowerLine+ Type-C to Type-A cable and it would work. Yes, the company's cables were approved to be in spec. Yes, the Xbox did recognize the device. However, the problem is that the signal is too weak and cannot be utilized properly. So if you are going to use a good quality cable for your SSD, be sure to get a cable that is around 3ft in length. Besides the cable issue, the SSD performs as well as I hoped for.UPDATE 05/15/2018:I bought the same cable, but this time it is the 3ft version. There were a bit of software problems when the Xbox loaded it up, but that all had cleared out. I will write an update to this review after I used this SSD for some time.