WD Elements SE 5TB Portable External HDD - Black

For context I haven't touched a Seagate in over a decade, but needed some media storage and decided to buy two FireCuda drives and this Western Digital. To be fair, I knew not to expect much of the Seagates, but also expected things to have improved over the past 10 years. Marketed as gaming storage drives, perfect, storage, don't need performance, just need a place to store data, right? Wrong. The write speed of the FireCuda drives were god awful. Running winsat, I conducted a test of 2x 7 year old MyBook drives resulting in 120MB/s read and write. Next I tested the first FireCuda drive... 100MB/s read, 5.5MB/s write. 5.5MB/s!! Surely...view more For context I haven't touched a Seagate in over a decade, but needed some media storage and decided to buy two FireCuda drives and this Western Digital. To be fair, I knew not to expect much of the Seagates, but also expected things to have improved over the past 10 years. Marketed as gaming storage drives, perfect, storage, don't need performance, just need a place to store data, right? Wrong. The write speed of the FireCuda drives were god awful. Running winsat, I conducted a test of 2x 7 year old MyBook drives resulting in 120MB/s read and write. Next I tested the first FireCuda drive... 100MB/s read, 5.5MB/s write. 5.5MB/s!! Surely not, I thought to myself as I ran the test again... same result. I bought two, the Luke version and the Black Panther version, so I plugged the other in and conducted the same test... same result. In the same order I also purchased this WD Elements SE... 243MB/s Read, 116MB/s Write. TL;DR - Invest your money in Western Digital (WD), always, keep away from Seagate.

Competitive price: Yes
Product functioned as promised: Yes
Product met all my requirements: Yes
Build quality: Excellent
Promptness of service: Very Good
Would recommend product to others?: Yes
Would recommend reseller to others?: Yes Competitive price: Yes
Product functioned as promised: Yes
Product met all my requirements: Yes
Build quality: Excellent
Promptness of service: Very Good
Would recommend product to others?: Yes
Would recommend reseller to others?: Yes

Does what it says on the tin. Make sure you connect it to a USB 3.0 port (for maximum read/write speeds), format it correctly, and you're good to go. Does what it says on the tin. Make sure you connect it to a USB 3.0 port (for maximum read/write speeds), format it correctly, and you're good to go.

I have bought 3 of these already (this is the 4th) and they just do the job and great insurance if you ever lose your data and need to restore. Fortunately I haven't to date but have peace of mind. I have bought 3 of these already (this is the 4th) and they just do the job and great insurance if you ever lose your data and need to restore. Fortunately I haven't to date but have peace of mind.

Works as expected. Never had problems with WD hard drives. Works as expected. Never had problems with WD hard drives.

This drive works great. Great amount of storage size for the price. Good transfer rates. I needed to move many large files to clear space on my main drives and this did the trick. This drive works great. Great amount of storage size for the price. Good transfer rates. I needed to move many large files to clear space on my main drives and this did the trick.

WD have always been compact, robust and fast drives and this one doesn't disappoint either, hence adding yet another one to my collection. Great value for money.

The only let down was the software that came with it. Most Mac and PCS now have their own disk utility software and the supplied did not really add much to it. Easy to install and pretty easy to remove. It was good that you were given the option to install or not. If you do use the software, part of it insists on running on start up (on a Mac) which cannot be turned off , but that just might be Macs.

Overall would definitely buy again. WD have always been compact, robust and fast drives and this one doesn't disappoint either, hence adding yet another one to my collection. Great value for money.

The only let down was the software that came with it. Most Mac and PCS now have their own disk utility software and the supplied did not really add much to it. Easy to install and pretty easy to remove. It was good that you were given the option to install or not. If you do use the software, part of it insists on running on start up (on a Mac) which cannot be turned off , but that just might be Macs.

Overall would definitely buy again.

very happy with quality and it is quite light too very happy with quality and it is quite light too

Plugged it in and it worked, what more could you want? Plugged it in and it worked, what more could you want?

does what it should. been using WD for a decade and havent encountered any problem. does what it should. been using WD for a decade and havent encountered any problem.

By: GemarTech 04/01/25

Just what the doctor ordered for back up and storage capacity...and so compact. Just what the doctor ordered for back up and storage capacity...and so compact.

My old Seagate external drive died so I was after a replacement. This unit is a lot more compact and doesn't need an external power supply like the old one did. Just a matter of plugging it into a USB and you're done. My old Seagate external drive died so I was after a replacement. This unit is a lot more compact and doesn't need an external power supply like the old one did. Just a matter of plugging it into a USB and you're done.