WD or Sandisk ?, This Argument has literally no end, but some of the products from every Brand stand out in a crowd, and one of it is WD Elements 2.5" External Hard Disk. I Bought one recently after literally 2 minutes of thinking. I have decided to do a full Detailed Hands on Review and Benchmarks of this External Hard Disk and this will help future buyers for sure.
There are many Reviews for this Hard-Drive, but none of them cover all the Points, from the Basic Looks and feel to the Benchmark and Technical stuffs. But be rest assured, that I will be explaining all the Technical stuff in a basic user language.

WD Elements 1 TB 2.5" External Hard Drive Review

Body and Design
WD Elements has a small Profile compared to the its other sibling from WD, My Passport. It is easily pocket-able and seems like a wide Smartphone in Hands. The exact WD Elements dimensions are - 8.2 x 11 x 1.5 cm. Fits snugly in any small pockets of your cargo's and side pockets of your bags.
It has a smooth textured finish, no gloss and doesn't attract any of the Fingerprints that Gadgets like these seem to get. And is lighter than most of the Smartphones, at just 130g.
Elements comes in only Black/Grey Color, which is rather "Functional", and you don't have to worry about it getting scratched if you keep it on Table, as it has 4 Rubber studs that protect it from any scratches.


The Connecting wire is not too Long, but is functional and gives you enough headroom to keep it around, but don't expect long range connectivity like your other connecting wires.

The USB 3.0 Connecting wire is of Good quality and will hold for a long time with rough handling, its USB 2.0 backward compatible too. Some users reported about it being loose and disconnecting.
But in my usage from last two Months i have noticed that its rather securely held and won't disconnect easily, and can take most of the jerks that may happen while traveling or moving around while data Transfer.


Packaging -  Secure packing and nicely done with the help of paper-mash housing for the Hard Drive, no chance of any Damage while shipping.


Bundled Software : There was a one Month WD Smartware trial with this Hard Disk which i didn't bother to install as I am not a big fan of the proprietary software's. I just connected and formatted it, without even a look at the software. Obviously, I was a bit disappointed with it, as the last Hard Drive I used was full of some good Utilities.

WD Elements External Hard Drive Benchmarks

Crystal DiskMark 3.0.3 x64


ATTO Disk Benchmark



1. AIDA 64 Read Test Suite


2. AIDA 64 Disk Benchmark (Average Read Access)


Real Time Benchmark

In this Bench we will Test the Operating speeds using Real time Data Transfer like Movies, Songs and Documents.

Movie Write Transfer speed

Image Transfer Speeds

Conclusion :

WD Elements 2.5" External Hard Drive totally justifies it price with its plus points being, Fast Transfer speeds, Small and Pocketable size, sturdy build among many others. What it lacks is the 128 bit AES encryption provided with some other alternatives at around the same budget, but you wouldn't need that if you are not planning to use it to carry around some confidential data on it.
Comes with a 3 year Full coverage Warranty so that will take care of it for a lot of time, if in case it develops any defects. This is totally a Must buy from me.

Check it out on Flipkart :