The Western Digital Elements may be the most bare bones portable hard drive on our best external hard drive reviews lineup, but that doesn’t mean the device isn’t worth a look. The drive boasts easy plug-and-play operation right out of the box. Although it lacks most of the features common to top-notch external hard drives, it delivers the performance and excellent reliability Western Digital is known for.
These days, most external hard drives are outfitted with a USB 3.0 port, and the Elements drive is no exception. The drive has maximum transfer speeds of up to 5120 megabits per second. It comes in a convenient array of storage capacities, including 500GB, 750GB and 1TB. We were less than thrilled with the drive’s overall functionality. It lacks many of the features we looked for in external hard drives, including backup software and any type of encryption.
The portable hard drive’s exterior seems unexceptional, but upon closer inspection, the device boasts a few notable design aspects. To begin, the matte plastic casing is more scratch resistant and less prone to smudges than other external hard drives on our lineup. Additionally, the base of the drive has small rubber pads attached to it to keep the drive securely in place. While it’s not the lightest device among those on our external hard drive reviews, the Western Digital Elements hard drive is still quite portable.
One area we were less than thrilled with is the portable hard drive’s supplementary help and support – namely its insufficient one-year warranty. We feel that external hard drives should have a warranty no less than two years to ensure that they can hold up against the minor abuse incurred through daily transport and heavy use. It is also disappointing considering the prominence of the Western Digital brand and the fact that many of the manufacturer’s other external hard drives have two-, three- and even five-year warranties.
The Element’s lack of warranty notwithstanding, Western Digital offers several comprehensive and informative resources on its website, including FAQs and product guides tailored specifically for this external hard drive. If you need troubleshooting assistance with the external USB hard drive, Western Digital also offers one-on-one customer support via email and toll-free telephone.