WD BLACK D30 Review

The WD BLACK D30 Game Drive is a portable external SSD drive offering up to up to 900MB/s read-write speeds.

The D30 Game Drive simply connects via USB-C 3.2 Gen 2, requires no external power or cables, and features a fan-less and silent heatsink for optimal performance. The D30 Game Drive comes in capacities of 500GB, 1TB and 2TB in a stunning all-metal housing.

Although the WD Black D30 is an external SSD aimed at gamers, it is compatible with both PC and next-gen consoles and is backed by a 3-year warranty:

• PlayStation 5 (play and store PS4 games / archive PS5 games)
• Xbox Series X|S (play and store Xbox One games / archive Xbox Series X | S games)

Specifications

Packaging & Design

The WD BLACK D30 Game Drive comes in a glossy cardboard box with a photo of the SSD on the front and details, descriptions on the sides.

Inside the box, The WD BLACK D30 Game Drive is protected by cardboard to prevent damage. The box also includes the WD_BLACK D30 Game Drive SSD, USB Type-C to Type-A cable, a plastic stand and a quick install guide.

The D30 Game Drive measures 96mm x 45.90mm x 60.5mm (LxWxH) and is lightweight at 137g. In terms of design the D30 looks like a miniature army shipping container with its all-black design and metal housing. It has a white LED strip on the side that lights up when it is operational.

Internally the drive uses WD’s own Blue SN550 M.2 NVMe SSDs.

Performance

In order to fully utilize the WD Black D30, it needs to be plugged into a suitable USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 port.

Test Bench

• Thermaltake H200 Case
• ASUS B550-F Wi-Fi Motherboard
• ASUS Ryzen 5 3600
• BeQuiet Dark Rock Pro 3
• MSI 5700 XT Gaming X
• Cougar GX-F AURUM 650W PSU
• Corsair Vengance 16GB DDR4 RAM
• WD Black SN750 SSD (OS)

In our CrystalDiskMark benchmark, the WD30 matches the speed advertised by WD and performs well with reading and writing operations. When copying files during everyday use, the speeds are in the range of 300-600 MB/s. The average bandwidth score during PCMark 10 tests were 242 MB/s.

In our Final Fantasy XIV Shadowbringers test, a benchmark that simulates game load time, the D30 came out with a load time of 14.86 seconds.

The D30 maintained stable temperatures between 40-45 degrees during work tasks. And while gaming it went up to a maximum of 60 degrees, which is way above average but did not seem to affect performance.

WD BLACK D30 Review Conclusion

The D30 is a compact and lightweight external SSD offering up to 2TB of storage for your PC or console games. The WD BLACK D30 Game Drive is an easy to use, plug and play solution, built for those who want additional storage space for their games but lack the support on their current setup. Simply connect the game drive via USB without additional power cables or power supplies and you are ready to go.

However, the D30 can only work as Xbox X/S and PS5 game archiving storage solution. But you can play older games made for Xbox One and PS4 directly on newer consoles.