First order of business: I ordered this drive (WD Elements 5tb) and received it in about 18 hours. I checked the shipping label, and it is their proprietary delivery service. USPS, take note.

The box it came in was pretty regular, no fancy presentation. Which is fine. I don't like paying for felt lining.

It has one port on the back, and comes with a USB cable. I plugged it into my laptop and checked it out.

Drive capacity actually reads 4.54 Tb. Which isn't unusual for larger volumes. It came formatted as NTFS. Which is great, because FAT32 has a file size limit of 4gb.

Next test: I plugged it into a 3.0 Anker USB Data Hub. The drive revved up, then started clicking. I recognized those clicks as motor failures from a power drop, so the USB hub is not going to do it. This beast of a portable drive needs a main-line. It can be used in USB 3.0 or 2.0 But I highly encourage 3 for faster speeds. Especially with a volume this size (You are buying it for a reason, right?)

Next test: A phone mount. Similar to a Samsung Dex setup, the device I used is a Baseus USB C mount. It connects my Note10+ phone to HDMI, and...for this test...a USB 3.0 port. I wasn't sure if it would work, because the hub charges the phone, and would have to "lend" some power to the 3.0 port to power the drive. It worked. I plugged it in, and my exFAT/NTFS app fired right up. It recognized the drive, mounted it, and was ready to go. For the technical folks out there, this was by powering the phone dock with a samsung travel adapter that came with my phone. It has a variable output, but can pack a whopping 11v-2.25a (24 watts) at its highest. This 24 watts was enough to fast charge my phone, AND have the drive running.

Final test: Directly into the note10+. I used a USB C - USB A adapter that came with my phone and connected them together. It worked. My phone was powering the darn thing.

So there we have it. This little pocket sized drive (seriously, my wallet is larger) can be plugged into 3.0, 2.0 or directly into my phone. It came formatted NTFS, just the way I prefer.

Description: I purchased a black one. As I said, it is wallet-sized. It has one port for the cable, and a small status light. The light appears to stay a solid color for both standby and active. A power failure results in a blinking status light. When the drive is spinning, you can feel a humming purr, barely audible. The casing is plastic, but solid and sleek looking. It has four non-slip dots on the bottom.

Pros: Huge storage for the price, powered through USB only, NTFS formatted, small.

Cons: None discovered yet.

Recommended Uses: This would be a perfect drive for home network storage, office/school/home work. It would also be ideal for gaming consoles even as modern as the XBox One X. Or a handy volume for torrents. Or a handy volume for backing up a system or family photos.

Possible Uses: It runs on 3.0. While Pro Gamers might chuckle at the idea, it could be used as a Steam Library. Initial load times might be slower than a built in solid state drive, sure. But so what? This is 5Tb. Portable. For under 120. It could also be used for beginner-level production. Again, it is slower than a dedicated solid state drive, of course. But for a new youtuber, or designer, or developer...this can store a lot of content.

We bought the REFURBISHED 4TB version of this hard drive. The description says the drive may come with small imperfections, missing manuals, and original packaging. We found no cosmetic damage whatsoever. The drive also comes with a USB-A adapter for connections. After connecting it to a PC, the drive does come with WD software installed, but a quick reformat will empty it completely.

I recommend installing CrystalDiskInfo (if on Windows) to check drive health. Ours had only been on for 6 hours, so we got a basically BRAND NEW hard drive at 2/3ths of the price. The product works fantastic and there are no compatibility issues with Windows or Mac. Read/Write speed is great and it is perfect for dumping all our photos into a portable box the size of a phone.

While there may not be much that differentiates it from its competitors, I highly recommend this product for its price, portability, and value.

The Western Digital 2TB Elements Portable HDD has proven to be a reliable companion for my storage needs. Its compact design, combined with an impressive 2TB capacity, makes it an excellent choice for those on the go.

What stands out is the simplicity of use. The plug-and-play functionality ensures quick setup without the need for additional software. Transferring and storing large files is a breeze, thanks to its USB 3.0 compatibility, offering fast data transfer speeds.

The durability of the device is notable, with the sleek black exterior providing both style and protection. It has endured travels and daily use without a hitch, reaffirming its robust build quality.
For those seeking a straightforward, high-capacity external hard drive, the Western Digital 2TB Elements Portable HDD is a solid investment. It has become an essential part of my digital life, offering convenience and peace of mind for all my storage needs. Highly recommended!

Came with a sturdy USB A 3.0 male to Micro B Male cable. Been using it since mid August of last year, so almost 9 months-ish at the time of review. I've practically left it running on 95% of the time, because I often use this drive to torrent and seed "Linux ISOs".

Health:
It hasn't failed me yet. A smartctl test was done and overall pretty positive, despite it being used constantly, but I might be overstepping on how much wear and tear mass torrenting does to a drive.

Usage:
Currently using it as a media storage drive, formatted under the EXT4 file system and encrypted with LUKS. I personally wouldn't use this hard drive for any medium or heavy load games like Rust or CoD, unless you want to deal with subpar loading speeds. If you want an external drive that can handle such games, invest your money in a fine external SSD, and make sure your computer's USB connections are USB 3.1 Gen 2 (also inaccurately described as USB 3.2) as they offer the best speeds as of writing. So speaking of speed-

Speed:
The speed is of typical USB 3.0 speeds, 60 megabytes a second, at least for transfer rate, but your mileage will vary. I've experienced slower speeds, but again it'll vary between what you're dealing with. It's definitely fast enough to watch full 1080p videos off of, I haven't tried any higher resolution but it shouldn't be different.

Physical Drive Itself:
Finicky. It feels cheap, like its one 6 inch drop away from being made into an unusable drive. Definitely don't get this drive if you're looking to move around a lot with it and are a clumsy person. There are definitely better suited external drives that exist that can take punishment, not that I know for certain though for this one in particular but I am not risking anything, it just feels that vulnerable.

Final Thoughts:
It's WD quality, besides the physical drive itself, it's capable and it should definitely be fine suited for anyone doing simple media storage. You can definitely play a light load game off it, like 2D pixel games and whatnot. Its simple plug n use, runs fine if you're looking to use it on a *nix machine. If you want certified WD storage quality, just get it, whatever works for you. Certainly has been working fine for me.

I've been a Western Digital hard drive customer since 1994. They are the most bulletproof drives built on the market, in my honest opinion. Hard drives DO fail over time, NO one brand is 100% immune to this fact. While I've had the occasional WD go bad, WD has ALWAYS honored their manufacturer's warranty and taken care of me. Also, I've tried other drives upon recommendations by others, and have been left SERIOUSLY wanting. I can't tell you all HOW many times I've had brand new drives of other origin come DEAD IN BOX! VERY DISAPPOINTING. Western Digital just is the BEST drive manufacturer out there.

I'm using this drive as an additional unit for media storage and playback. We are on DISH Network for TV Services, and they allow customers to hookup External Media Devices for greater movie and TV show storage. My primary External Device is a WD Black P10, 5TB Drive. The greater combined storage of these two drives allow me to offload media from the Hopper3 DVR and free up that device for others in the house. The Hopper3 is "Whole Home" capable and even the External WD Drives are allowed to play movies and TV shows on ANY of the Joey-4 Boxes in the home.

I HIGHLY recommend the WD 2TB Elements Portable HDD. ymmv