Category Archives: Technology

Western Digital introduces their new My Passport SSD

Western Digital has launched their new range of My Passport SSD portable data storage drives. During a live virtual event Simon Whitford, Senior Sales Manager Western Digital ANZ, introduced the new range of devices. Aimed at business user, casual users and content creators, the new Western Digital device allows fast access to data from a light and compact portable solid-state drive.

The My Passport SSD is considerably smaller and lighter than other portable external storage devices, measuring only 9mm x 55mm x 100mm. The palm-sized drive has been designed with soft rounded edges and fits nicely in your bag or pocket.

It’s a far cry from the bulky external drives of old. This new drive features fast and on-chip NVMe SSD technology, moving away from the traditional 2.5” hard drive form factor that has dictated enclosure sizes for years.

Western Digital introduces their new My Passport SSD

The stylish-looking, sleek enclosure has a metal top and a plastic underside. It is, apparently, shock proof as well as drop proof up to 1.98m. But it doesn’t really feel that robust. I certainly wouldn’t want anyone to stand on it or to drop it on a concrete floor.

The WD My Passport SSD comes in 500GB, 1TB and 2TB capacities and four colours: grey, blue, red and gold. The pack includes cable for both USB Type-A and the newer USB Type-C sockets. The USB 3.2 Gen 2 SSD also works with USB 3.0 and 2.0 devices, for maximum compatibility.

The drive is pre-formatted to the exFAT file system for PC and Mac compatibility. It can be re-formatted and partitioned, as required, for use with other operating systems and file systems.  A copy of WD Discovery, is pre-loaded on the drive, for Windows and MacOS. As well as monitoring portable drives, the application provides access to further utilities for drive configuration, backups, 256-bit AES hardware encryption and password protection.

Western Digital introduces their new My Passport SSD

The packaging boasts speed of up to 1050MB/s and, with a USB 3.2 Gen 2 compatible device, these speeds are most defiantly achievable. I tested the drive using CrystalDiskMark 7. The 1TB My Passport SSD Western Digital sent to me for review achieved 1063.83 MB/s read speeds and 1018.99 MB/s write speeds.

This is a fantastic and uncompromising data transfer speed. Users can keep their valuable data with them, yet still access and work on it as if it was stored on an internal hard drive. Content creators will have no trouble editing material directly from the drive.

The My Passport SSD is a fast, stylish portable data storage solution. It’s not really that much bigger than a memory stick, but some six times faster and with a much larger storage capacity for our ever-increasing data sizes. Be it for personal back-ups, business data or storage for content creation, the SSD will save you time with the fast transfer speeds. The My Passport SSD will be available from 30th September in grey with the other colours available later this year.

D-Link Covr-1103 seamless mesh Wi-Fi system review

D-Link wants to supercharge your home Internet coverage with their Covr-1103 seamless Mesh Wi-Fi system.

The demand for a robust domestic Wi-Fi network, has exploded as more and more workers are now working from home. Once a handy way to scroll on your phone whilst streaming Netflix wireless home Internet is now, for many, the only way to effectively work remotely. Continue reading D-Link Covr-1103 seamless mesh Wi-Fi system review

Epos Sennheiser GSX 300 USB sound card review

Epos want to turn your 3.5mm wired headphones into a gaming audio powerhouse with their GSX 300 Gaming Series external USB sound card.

The GSX 300 is a desktop soundcard that allows simple wired headsets and microphones with 3.5mm audio jacks to be used with sophisticated modern software. The result is a superior audio experience without having to buy a new headset or mic. Continue reading Epos Sennheiser GSX 300 USB sound card review

Gigabyte Aorus 5 SB laptop review

I check out the Aorus 5 SB gaming laptop from veteran PC vendor Gigabyte.

Gigabyte’s Aorus brand is aimed more towards gamers than business/home office. Whilst the Aorus 5 KB sports an Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 graphics card, the SB version that we were send to review is equipped with the rather more humble-sounding GeForce GTX 1660 Ti. Other than this, both flavours of the Aorus 5 are the same. Continue reading Gigabyte Aorus 5 SB laptop review