As a ‘somewhat’ professional photographer, I am pretty sure that my fear of loss of my work is front and center when it comes to those important camera shoots. For most, relying on trust of a single SD or flash card until you can get to a laptop is all too common. Anyone who takes pictures with any frequency can also relate to that feeling of loss, just when you need something most. There is a solution and it landed on our Test Bench not three weeks post its announcement at CES 2018; the Western Digital My Passport Wireless SSD.

Probably the most exciting thing about the My Passport Wireless SSD is that it removes the laptop from the picture. It enables you to backup your pictures from your camera automatically by WiFi, or allows for one touch SD card backup on board, at the time, during or after the shoot. The one touch….. was easier than one might believe, but file transfer from our Canon 5DMkIV to My Passport via FTP… Well let’s just say we are still working on that as are many owners of the previous version (My Passport Wireless Pro). To their benefit, however, is the fact that the device recognizes what you have previously downloaded and only imports new files. It can also be set to import automatically or only through ‘One Touch’.

The Western Digital My Passport Wireless SSD is, at its heart and soul, a quick and easy way to instantly backup your media files via WiFi, and it has a 10 hour battery life. It has a built in SD 3.0 card reader, is durable and even has a removable shock bumper to add to the shock resistance of the SSD within. One can stream 4K videos over WiFi and view photos via either the Android or IOS mobile app. The battery is 6700mAh and also capable of charging devices that require a charge of up to 1.5 amp current. Did we mention that the My Passport Wireless SSD has RAW support including that of our Canon 5D MkIV Digital? That was unexpected.

Packaging includes the My Passport Wireless SSD, a removable ‘bumper’, USB 3.0 cable, power adapter and a very easy to follow ‘Quick Start’. Getting started is simply a matter of downloading the app on your mobile phone, turning on the My Passport, connecting to the My Passport WiFi signal, entering the passport WiFi password and returning to the App; quick and easy. In fact, because the device has its own 802.11ac WiFi source, you can turn this into a PLEX/DLNA server with very little effort, all software loaded in the SSD.

On the top of the My Passport Wireless SSD is an On/Off switch, micro-B USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 slots, and another switch that lets us know remaining battery power, can be used for ‘One Touch’ SD card copying, and also is a WPS button for WiFi initial setup. On the side is a SD 3.0 card port capable of data throughput up to 65MB/s. Also worthy of mention is the fact that, once your smartphone is connected to the device WiFi, your phone is still capable of normal internet use.

The Western Digital My Passport Digital SSD is available in capacities of 250MB, 500MB, 1TB and 2TB, with MSRP pricing of $229, $299, $499 and $799, the latter 2TB sample of which we are testing today. Check out Amazon availability. It comes with a 2-year warranty and a 30-day money back ‘no questions’ guarantee. It weighs 1lb and measures 5.31″ x 5.31″ x 1.18″ and is fully compatible with Win 7, 8.1 and 10, Mac, IOS, and Android.