Product image supplied by the brand
In this guide
The My Passport is WD's plain portable hard drive: a 2.5-inch spinning disk in a slim plastic shell, a Micro-B jack on the short edge, and a USB-A cable supplied. WD sells the 2TB black version direct for $209.99, with 1TB, 4TB, 5TB and 6TB sizes and four colors alongside it. The page lists a three-year term, backup software from Acronis, and hardware encryption unlocked by a Windows password tool.
For years the pitch for a drive like this was obvious: several times the capacity of a flash drive for a fraction of the price of a portable SSD. At today's direct prices that gap has narrowed. SanDisk's Extreme Portable SSD, which this site has already covered, sells for $219.99 at 1TB, so the My Passport buys twice the space for ten dollars less while giving up speed, a drop rating, and a modern connector. That is the trade to weigh, and it is closer than the two product categories suggest.
Our verdict
A conventional, well-documented portable hard drive whose case for existing is capacity per dollar; at WD's current $209.99 direct price that case is thinner than it used to be, so buy it for the 2TB and the three-year term, not because it is a bargain.
- A good fit for
- A cold backup or archive that sits in a drawer or a bag pocket and gets plugged into a Windows or ChromeOS machine once a week, where 2TB matters more than transfer speed.
- We would skip it if
- You edit video or photos off the drive, you use it mainly with a Mac, or you carry it in a way where a drop is likely; a portable SSD costs about the same per drive and answers all three.
Reasons to consider it
- 2TB for $209.99 direct, while WD's own 1TB is $184.99 and the 4TB is $304.99, so the 2TB is the capacity step that costs least per terabyte in the small sizes
- Warranty term of three years shown in WD's listing and datasheet, and direct orders can be sent back in the month that follows shipment
- Hardware 256-bit AES encryption with password software and an included backup application, plus an enclosure WD states is over 50% recycled plastic
The compromises
- The Micro-B jack and USB-A cable are a generation behind the C-type connectors on current laptops, so most buyers will need an adapter or a different cable
- WD publishes only the 5 Gb/s interface rating, not a sustained read or write figure, and a spinning 2.5-inch mechanism will land well below the bus limit
- Password protection is Windows-only, and macOS use requires WD's NTFS driver or a reformat, so the encryption feature is not cross-platform
What we have not verified: The drive was not plugged in for this piece; real transfer rates, noise, heat, and how the mechanism tolerates knocks in a bag were not measured, and WD does not publish a drop or shock rating for it.
The things in this guide
A closer look at the products, who they may suit, and what to check before buying.
My Passport · 2TB Portable HDD (Black)
2TB at $209.99 direct with a three-year term, hardware encryption on Windows, a backup application in the download, and a 0.53-inch, 0.31-pound body that fits a laptop sleeve pocket.
Before you buy: Micro-B and USB-A only, no published sustained speed or drop rating, and the password feature does not work on macOS, which also needs a driver or reformat to write to the drive.
Price checked September 11, 2026. Retailer prices can change.What 2TB costs direct, and where the HDD advantage went
WD's direct store prices the black My Passport at $184.99 for 1TB, $209.99 for 2TB and $304.99 for 4TB, with 5TB and 6TB sizes above that. The step from 1TB to 2TB costs $25, which makes the 2TB the sensible entry point; the 1TB version saves little and halves the space. Sky, red and white shells sit next to black at each capacity, and the part number changes with the color and size, so WDBYVG0020BBK-WESN is specifically the 2TB black unit.
The comparison that matters is with a portable SSD, because that is the other thing a shopper with $200 to spend on external storage is looking at. SanDisk's Extreme Portable SSD lists at $282.99 for 1TB and was selling for $219.99 on its own store on the same day. The My Passport therefore delivers two terabytes for ten dollars less than one terabyte of flash. A few years ago the same money bought four or five times the HDD capacity; the ratio has collapsed to two, and buyers should decide with that number in mind, not the old one.
A 5 Gb/s bus feeding a spinning disk over Micro-B
The drive connects over USB 3.2 Gen 1, which WD also describes as USB 3.0, through a Micro-B jack on the drive and a USB-A plug on the supplied cable. The page lists the transfer rate as up to 5 Gb/s, but that is the bus ceiling, not the drive. WD publishes no sustained read or write number for the My Passport, and a 2.5-inch mechanism at this size will run at a small fraction of the interface limit. SanDisk, by contrast, rates its portable SSD at 1050 MB/s reads and 1000 MB/s writes under stated test conditions.
The connector choice is the other practical issue. Most current laptops have only Type-C sockets, so the included A-plug cable needs an adapter or the buyer needs a separate C-to-Micro-B cable. WD's own My Passport Ultra and My Passport for Mac on the same comparison table are the C-type versions of this design at $199.99 and $214.99 for their listed configurations. If the missing connector bothers you, one of those is the answer within WD's lineup, not a dongle.
Encryption that works on Windows, a driver for Macs
WD bundles two things as downloads: Acronis True Image for Western Digital, which schedules backups and includes ransomware protection, and a password tool that locks the drive's built-in 256-bit AES hardware encryption. WD is explicit that the password protection is Windows only. Both downloads carry footnotes about installation and account registration, so the features are not usable straight out of the box without a setup pass.
The datasheet lists compatibility as Windows 10 and later plus ChromeOS, and the drive carries the Works With Chromebook badge. For macOS 11 and later the stated path is a downloadable NTFS driver to read and write without reformatting, or a reformat to a Mac file system. In both cases the Windows password lock does not travel to a Mac. A household that mixes platforms should treat the encryption as a Windows feature and plan to leave the drive unlocked, or pick the Mac-specific version.
Three years on the hardware, nothing on the data
The product listing and the datasheet both state a three-year term, the datasheet adding that it is worldwide. The page also carries a banner saying direct purchases include an extra year exclusively from WesternDigital.com, and WD's program page explains that qualifying products bought direct get one year added automatically, tied to the serial number, with resellers and business accounts excluded. Whether the three years shown already includes that extra year, or a direct buyer ends up with four, is not stated on either page, and it could not be resolved from the fetched sources.
WD's warranty wording makes the usual point that loss of data is not covered and that data recovery is not part of the returns process. The store sells a separate Data Recovery Plan at $9.99 covering two years or $14.99 covering three, which is a reasonable hedge for a single-copy backup drive. Direct orders qualify for return for a month from shipment in as-new condition with a WD-issued label; the return number expires after ten days, and refunds take 7 to 10 business days after receipt.
Skip it if the drive will be working, not resting
A portable hard drive is the right call when it will mostly sit still. If the plan is to edit photos or video directly from the drive, run a game library off it, or move large project folders several times a day, the unpublished HDD transfer rate and the lack of any drop rating are the two facts that should push you to a portable SSD, and at current pricing the SSD costs about the same per drive.
Mac users have a specific case for passing: the password lock is Windows-only and the drive ships in a format that needs a driver or a reformat on macOS. And if your laptop has only Type-C sockets, the Micro-B cable is a small daily irritation that WD's Ultra and for Mac variants avoid at a similar price. Buy the plain My Passport for a weekly backup of a Windows or Chromebook machine, where 2TB for $209.99 and the three-year term are the complete picture.
How we put this together
Built from the product pages and listings below, without test scores or results we have not measured. Specifications and prices change, so check the original page for the exact model, current price, delivery, and returns.
- WD: My Passport 2TB (Black) product page (opens in a new tab)
- WD: My Passport product overview datasheet (PDF) (opens in a new tab)
- WD: Extended limited warranty program (opens in a new tab)
- WD: Store return policy (opens in a new tab)
- WD: Warranty policy (opens in a new tab)
- SanDisk: Extreme Portable SSD 1TB product page (opens in a new tab)
