Concluding thoughts
Performance wise the Western Digital Elements drive does the absolute best it can. Given the USB 2.0 interface naturally limits bandwidth to around the 30MB/s mark, getting speeds of 29-34MB/s for sequential read and write of large files is a solid result. Naturally, smaller block reads and writes are low but this is just the nature of mechanical hard drives and in reality you will never transfer (let alone have) that many small files to move anyway. If you need a compact and portable solution to moving your films, games or music then this drive certainly makes sense.
For a penny under £70 the Western Digital Elements 1TB external hard drive is an economically viable solution. Essentially you are paying roughly the market average price for a 1TB hard drive (maybe even slightly less in some cases) that has portability and a 1 to 3 year warranty depending on your region. Even if don’t move this drive around that much you can simply hide it away behind your PC plugged into a rear USB and use it as a device to stream music and films from easily. At 30MB/s+ this drive will allow for 1080p playback and high quality audio playback quite comfortably.
As mentioned already the only main faults we would draw on are the poor positioning of the hard drive activity light and the fact the drive needs external power. But it is important to note, to avoid the need for external power the drive would of had to have been a lower power 2.5″ form factor drive, and a 1TB 2.5″ drive is Significantly more expensive than the 1TB 3.5″ drive that Western Digital use in this. Hence this drive is a solid balance between price, performance and portability.
Value For Money: 9/10
Performance: 8/10
Functionality: 7/10
Overall: 80%
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