WD My Passport Ultra Metal Edition 2TB Review

[section_title title=”Conclusion”]Conclusion

So Christmas is coming fast (already November) and the time of looking for gifts for friends, loved ones, colleagues and of course yourself is upon us.  What relevance does that have do you ask?  Well the Western Digital My Passport Ultra 2TB USB 3.0 External HDD is of course one of those gifts that could be wrapped up in a stocking or placed under the tree.  I mean who doesn’t need storage in this day and age but I think the most important question of all is how good actually is it?  Of course it oozes style and has an elegance you would be hard pushed to find anywhere but with WD but is it a worthy purchase?

Performance wise, it gives everything you could really expect of an USB 3.0 external hard drive with a mechanical 5400RPM drive inside; not blisteringly fast but certainly holds its own and offers a much better £/GB ratio than an SSD for instance.  There are alternatives currently on the market such as higher capacity flash drives but offer nowhere near the storage space of a drive like this one; 2TB is a lot for a pocket sized storage solution.  The USB 3.0 interface does give the best possible transfer speeds (around 105MB/s read and 95MB/s write) which is of course going to be a tad slower via USB 2.0; whilst USB 3.0 isn’t being fully utilised via the mechanical HDD, it is still a very good option.

Focusing on the design, I feel that the gorgeous aesthetics are the strong point with this particular drive and I make a bold statement here by saying that this is the nicest external HDD I have ever had the pleasure of using; in terms of looks and build quality.  With its metal casing, the drive is very robust and although dropping it can cause the mechanical HDD inside to go cuckoo, this is a general thing with all mechanical drives; this is due to the moving parts inside.  That being said, the WD My Passport Ultra Metal Edition External HDD is available in 1TB and 2TB variations with the following colour combinations; navy (blue), silver and champagne (yellowy gold).  Taking all that into consideration, there is everything to please the majority but it would have been nice to have a regular plain black version for the manly men, pink for the girly girls and of course white for me!

Now the price might put a few people off; £105.29 certainly isn’t cheap for a 2TB external hard drive but what the WD My Passport Ultra Metal Edition lacks in value certainly makes up for in style and sophistication.  There are products on the market that are aimed for the budget conscientious among us and there are products like this one that cater to a more regal type user; one with little budget who wants a fashion accessory with purpose.  Of course this is compatible with both Windows and Mac OS so in the grand scheme of things, the My Passport Ultra has a lot going for it.

Overall if you are looking to spend just over £100 on a sleek, stylish and decent performing 2TB external hard drive and want USB 3.0 connectivity, look no further than Western Digital’s stylish pocket rocket, the Metal Edition Ultra.

Huge thanks to WD for sending the sample in for review and I look forward to seeing more in the not too distant future.