With flash-based memory technology so inexpensive these days, bargain external solid-state-drives (SSDs) can be found in every corner of the internet. As a result, manufacturers are brainstorming creative ways to differentiate their drives beyond just price, such as adding new interface technologies and unique styling that appeals to certain demographics—especially gamers. Western Digital takes this route with the WD Black P50 Game Drive SSD ($191.99 for 1TB). Besides looking like a loot container your avatar might snarf up and add to an inventory box, the P50 offers a shock-resistant enclosure and blazing-fast transfer speeds, thanks to bleeding-edge USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 support.
Container Chic
Since you can now pick up high-quality external SSDs for less than 15 cents per gigabyte, the P50’s list prices might initially give you pause. In addition to our 1TB test unit, there’s a 500GB model for $114.99 and a 2TB version for $349. But the P50 isn’t trying to compete on price, so the true measures of its value are whether or not you appreciate the durability and styling, and whether or not you can take advantage of the maximum speeds that the USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 interface offers.
The first measure is subjective, but I think that WD pulls off the proposition quite nicely. The P50 takes its design cues from a shipping container, something that’s clearly in vogue right now. Not only are they frequently used as cover in post-apocalyptic-wasteland FPS games, but people even want to live in them in real life! The drive is a small, thick, black rectangle with ribbed sides and prominent hex screws in each corner. The branding is consistent with the shipping-container theme, with a stylized font and a layout that evokes a utilitarian label of contents.
The drive is bulky for an SSD, measuring 0.55 by 4.7 by 2.4 inches (HWD). The Samsung Portable SSD T7 Touch measures 0.3 by 3.3 by 2.2 inches by comparison. But the added heft could help the drive better survive occasional drops and bumps unscathed. WD isn’t claiming that the P50 meets MIL-SPEC durability tests, but the company does describe the enclosure as “durable and shock-resistant.” Sure, game files aren’t as irreplaceable as family photos or home movies, but everyone who carries around a portable drive risks dropping it, so paying extra for a bit of durability is justifiable to me.
The best part of the P50’s physical design is that its uniqueness looks intentional, similar to the way that LaCie’s rugged drives have embraced the industrial-chic aesthetic. This is opposed to many other ruggedized drives, some of which have MIL-SPEC certifications but lack any features that could be described as stylish.
If you like the P50’s aesthetic, WD also offers other peripherals with the same shipping-container styling, including the P10 external hard drive and the D50 dock, which combines an SSD and a Thunderbolt dock for connecting other peripherals.
USB Cables Included
In the P50’s box, you’ll find a USB Type-C to Type-C cable, a USB Type-C to Type-A cable, and the Quick Install Guide. It’s nice that WD includes both types of cables, which means that no adapters will be required for connecting to PCs or game consoles. In addition to PCs and Macs, the P50 is also compatible with the Sony PlayStation 4 and the Microsoft Xbox One.
Setup with a PC is plug-and-play simple, although advanced users can download additional utilities like the WD Drive Utilities app and WD Security app to set passwords, check the drive’s health, and perform other maintenance tasks.
WD includes a generous five-year warranty with the P50, which is the longest period we typically see for external drives. Like most warranties, it applies to the drive itself, but it won’t cover data recovery if your drive malfunctions.
Testing the WD Black P50: Speedy Performance, Even as SSDs Go
The P50’s drive internals employ the PCI Express bus and support NVMe, which makes it similar to the company’s internal SSDs aimed at gamers and power users, like the WD Black SN750. The P50 is rated for maximum read speeds of 2,000MBps, but in order to achieve that, the PC you’re connecting it to needs to have a spare USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 port with a USB-C style connector. Sometimes referred to as “20GBps USB” ports, these are few and far between. Many new desktops and laptops currently support the slower USB 3.2 Gen 2 standard, which has a maximum speed of 10GBps. Both of these interfaces use the same USB-C oval-shaped port. Just about all PCs also have USB ports that support the slower USB 3.2 Gen 1 (formerly known as USB 3.0), with 5Gbps top speeds.
Since the USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 interface is so new, and so infrequently found on PCs, there are still a few kinks to be worked out. The first such drive we tested, the Seagate FireCuda Gaming SSD, proved unstable when transferring data over this interface, and frequently needed to revert back to the slower 10GBps speed (via a software toggle). We experienced no such issues during testing with the P50, however. Our storage testbed was recently outfitted with an Orico PCI Express card that adds USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 support, and we used the 2×2 port on that device.
To judge the P50’s performance, I compared its results on our benchmark tests to those of a few other similar drives, including the 1TB versions of the OWC Envoy Pro EX, the Crucial X8, the SanDisk Extreme Pro, the Samsung Portable SSD T7 Touch, the ADATA SE800, and the aforementioned Seagate FireCuda Gaming SSD. Except for the Seagate, none of these drives supports Gen 2×2 speeds. (The latest version of the SanDisk Extreme Pro does now have a Gen 2×2 version, but we haven’t reviewed it yet.)
It’s immediately apparent from the results of the Crystal DiskMark sequential read and write tests that the P50 is in rare company. The results are not far from the rated maximum, and only the Gen 2×2-capable FireCuda comes close to 2,000MBps. All of the other drives have sequential read and write speeds that are roughly half this amount, around 1,000MBps, indicating PCI Express internals on USB 3.2 Gen 2. As you can see from the Blackmagic Disk Speed Test results, the P50 bounces down to this speed when it’s connected to a Mac or other system that doesn’t have a Gen 2×2 port.
Sequential data access speeds are useful for gauging theoretical performance and comparing manufacturers’ ratings, and they’re also what you can expect when you’re transferring games or other large files between your PC’s drive and the P50.
The WD Black posted excellent times on our in-house folder transfer test. It took 2 seconds to transfer a 1.2GB folder full of various file types from one location on the drive to another. Curiously, its score of 1,311 on the PCMark 10 storage test was much slower than that of the FireCuda, though in keeping with what we expect from external SSDs. PCMark 10 is a trace-based test based on real-world tasks like web browsing and editing documents.
If You Can Do 2×2, Incomparable External-SSD Speed
The value proposition of the WD Black P50 for PC users comes wholly down to whether you have access to a USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 port on your gaming rig. With a stylish, sturdy exterior designed to appeal to gamers, the P50 might be worth spending a bit more than you otherwise would on a 1TB external SSD if you can leverage the speeds. Assuming your PC supports Gen 2×2 (and, alas, it probably doesn’t), you’ve got an excellent receptacle that can hold several games to make more room on the internal drive of your computer or game console. Otherwise, you’re paying for a drive with cool aesthetics that’s “just” fast.
Outside those concerns, if you’re looking for a truly rugged external drive that isn’t necessarily focused on gamers, we recommend the LaCie Rugged drives, which come with more robust protection and still offer an aesthetically pleasing design.
