Customer Ratings & Reviews

After integrating the WD Black Game Drive into my gaming setup, it's time to share some insights on this external storage powerhouse. Let's kick off with the storage – it's capacious, giving my game library room to breathe. No more juggling games like a digital Tetris master – a genuine boon for any gamer. Performance-wise, the WD Black Game Drive lives up to its name. Data zips around like it's on a mission, resulting in snappy loading times and an overall smooth gaming experience, especially with those resource-heavy titles. Design-wise, it's a looker, but beyond aesthetics, the robust build exudes durability. It's not just eye candy; it feels like it could shrug off a few accidental bumps – not that I'm putting that to the test. A standout feature is its compatibility across gaming platforms. Seamless integration with both my gaming PC and console is a game-changer, adding a layer of versatility to the mix. To sum it up, the WD Black Game Drive is a solid choice for those who crave both storage space and performance. With its generous capacity, impressive speed, and sturdy design, it's a savvy investment for any gamer looking to level up their storage game.

I bought this because I was having texture loading issues for Warzone, I read that the resolve was moving from hdd to ssd. This did fix it for me! Reading some of the reviews I observed that it runs warm even sometimes hot, I intend on using this for a long time hopefully! In order to do that I did the following: bought a NEVEIKA phone cooler from Amazon since I couldn’t find something specific for external hard drive cooling. Then I applied thermal paste and a piece of foil for the heat sink. I also used the WD dashboard and turned off the RGB feature. The temperature difference on the dashboard is 10 degrees F but the to the touch it’s a literal hot and cold.

I really like this product, I had one already so I knew what to expect. I use it on an Xbox Series X for storage of backwards compatible games. It’s SSD, so its speed is where you want it. Having this device helps me use my main storages for Xbox Series X games. Just as a warning: Xbox Series X games will not run if you put them on this device. The only reason I didn’t give this product a five star review is because the cable that came with the product was not compatible with my Xbox. I don’t know why it came with an inferior cable, but I had to buy a faster cable on Amazon to get it to work. Other than that problem, it is an excellent product.

Works great loads my games fast ash also crazy download speeds and all you need is usb c

Great SSD! Small and very portable. Awesome RGB lights too

I absolutely love it. Lights are customizable and come with great software. Data transfer speeds are insane and it works on all USB-C devices like my iPhone. Coolest SSD I’ve ever had!!

Very fast external drive. Make sure to connect to usb 3.2 2x2 connection for optimum speed.

Super fast and reliable storage. It also looks great next to the console with all of the cool lights on it.

Perfect candy bar style SSD. WD Black is a reputable brand and this SSD is so light and portable. Love the RGB color. Only issue wish it was compatible with MacOS for software loaded on SSD. Overall still satisfied. Will buy more and more space for the next purchase.

Amazing drive. This is the second identical drive I bought, also own the 4 TB mechanical drive. This SSD is sleek, light and extremely fast. I have been using it for 1-2 years without faliure. Read/Write speed is as advertised (to/from internal SSD obviously)

Works exceptionally! Have been able to play a few games on my laptop with no lag!

You should definitely go for this external SSD if you want to enjoy really fast reading/writing speeds, really happy with the performance using it with my PC.

Came quick and works perfect. Highly recommend this

The WD Black P40 is a super fast portable SSD geared towards gamers and creators (photography, video editing, etc.). The WD Black P40 comes with the drive itself, a USB C to USB C cable, and a USB C to USB A adapter (regular retangular USB connector). The drive has a metal feel and is lightweight. It is very small and can conveniently be placed inside your pocket or somewhere without worrying it will take up much space. When connected, the LEDs on its sides power on. They add a nice visual touch and aren't too bright. The great thing about SSDs are not only their speed, but the ability for you to use it on the go. Since it has no moving parts inside of it, it being bounced around or moved around while in use and will not damage any internal parts of the drive. The real world speed of the drive really depends on your hardware and what you are connecting it to. To attain faster speeds, use and connect it to a USB C port. If your computer supports USB 3.2 Gen 2x2, then you will be able to get the fastest read and write speeds offered. On my personal computer, I was able to get read speeds averaging 1000MBps and write speeds around 700MBps or so. If you don't have USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 capable hardware, it is backwards compatible and will work on USB 3.0 ports and below as well. Note, the PS5 supports speeds for USB 3.2 Gen 2x1 (10Gbps theoretical) while the Xbox Series X supports USB 3.2 Gen 1 (5Gbps theoretical). It is also important to note that the WD P40 can be used on computers and consoles alike although can only be used on one at a time. If you would like to use it on one then on the other, the drive will have to be formatted (data on it will be erased) for it to work on the other. In other words, if it will be used to store games on a Playstation or Xbox, it should stay connected to it unless you would like to switch to completely using it for a computer (again, the data on it will need to be formatted and deleted to use the drive). This is not WD P40 specific, but something to know for everyone. I would also like to add that inside of the USB enclosure, WD added a WD SN730 Black Nvme SSD. It offers very similar performance to the popular SN750 Nvme SSD. Overall, the WD P40 offers very good performance and is recommended for anyone looking to store their games and have quick load times as well as content creators wanting a drive for on the go.

I kind of like the industrial design of this SSD. The case is made of plastic and quite light in the hand but seems rugged enough for constant handling. The included USB-C to USB-C cable is thick, somewhat stiff, and sticks out quite far from the port. I don’t like to keep the cable plugged in when carrying it, so I do wish there was a silicone plug or cap to protect the USB-C port. Fortunately, I had an old USB-C cap around I could use. Once plugged in, the RGB lighting came on nice and bright, making this an “official” gaming device. By the way, just in case you do not have a USB-C port available, WD included a convenient USB-C to USB-A adapter. In speed tests, using a common PC with a traditional Thunderbolt 4, I maxed at 912 Read/924 Write. This, of course, does not come close to the claimed 2GB speed. When plugged to a 3.2 USB-A, this SSD performed rather well at 468R/465W. However, one must keep in mind that speeds vary depending on the type of port you have (you need a USB-C 2x2 superspeed port for max speed). In real world applications, I downloaded and transferred several games: from simple 1-2GB, to 80GB plus AAA games. The transfer speeds were very good using USB-C. All games were fully playable and loaded fairly fast, which means the random read/write speeds are great. I also worked on some video rendering, and it did OK (I will always recommend using NVMe internal SS for such applications). The WD Black keeps cool when idle at about 34c. The SSD got a bit warm at around 55c during certain games, especially ones that require real-time graphics loading, but I was never alarmed. However, when rendering, it did get up to the 70’s. Again, I would not recommend it for video editing. There is a very useful dashboard app which is included in the SSD and is highly recommended to install. There, you can see all the SSD information such as space, temperature, health, and life expectancy. You can also do some performance tests, update the firmware, and even change the RGB lights (which by the way, is compatible with many 3rd party RGB software). As a bonus, you can check the status for all installed drives as well. You can use this SSD as a supplementary drive on your gaming console. Unfortunately, because of the port limitations in current-gen consoles, you can only play legacy games directly from it, or use as storage and then transfer to the internal SSD when needed for newer games.

This is my first time seeing an external SSD with RGB lights which I thought was neat. This gaming drive can be used as an external drive for your PC, PlayStation console, or XBOX console. I have both a gaming PC and a PS5 and tested this drive out with both. *TLDR on the bottom ========= IN THE BOX/DESIGN: First off, in the box, you get a hard-shell game drive, a USC-C to USB-C cable, a USB-A adapter, and some paperwork. Design-wise, I do like how it looks and how well-built the game drive is. The hard-shell case should protect it from a fall and debris. RGB is only located on the underside of the drive. These lights can be customized by using the software that WD provides with the game drive. ========= PERFORMANCE: Transfer speeds depend on what hardware you have. My current gaming rig doesn’t have the latest USB 3.2 Gen ports which are required to have the marketed 2000 MB/s speeds that this drive is capable of. I was only able to get about 470 MB/s with both read and write speeds. I still think this is fast compared HDD’s but I am sure with the latest USB 3.2 Gen ports this gaming drive is capable of even faster speeds. Gaming from the drive is possible on the PC. I tested a couple of games I installed on the drive, and all ran exceptionally well. On the other hand, this is not possible with the PS5. I was only able to store games and later install them if I was wanting to play them. ========= OTHER FEATURES AND NOTES: I’ve mentioned before that this game drive has RGB which can be customized in WD’s dashboard app. There are various colorways to choose from. The app also contains other tools that are helpful when using your drive. Capacity, temperature, life remaining, and drive health are some of the statistics that are present within the app. The game drive does run hot when in use. Heat is what damages SSD’s the most and does affect performance. I hope the aluminum case does its job and dissipates heat enough so it won’t reduce the drive's lifetime significantly. Also, while I do think the cable length is good, I would’ve liked a cable that is less “stiff” to make it easier with setting down the drive while in use. ========= CONCLUSION: Overall, this is a solid gaming drive. Transfer speeds are entirely dependent on your hardware but even without the latest USB gen 3.2 ports, I still found speeds to be decently fast. The drive does run hot so I would be aware of that. Regardless, this drive works well for storing games if you need some extra storage. On PC and older consoles, one is also able to directly play games from the drive.

my sister loves her new USB extended storage for her PlayStation five the instructions were not very clear but I think we got it figured out

Very fast external Nvme-SSD drive. I love the enclosure, very sturdy metal (must serve also as heat dissipation as SSD drives can get very hot) and very compact. They include a short USB Type C to type C cable and also an adaptor for one end to Type A USB. This external drive is super fast and it uses a solid state drive inside, so there is no noise and transfer speeds are way faster than any mechanical external drive. You must have a USB 3.2 Gen 2 connector on your computer (I don't think any consoles have these, probably just USB 3.0, but that is still fast) for maximum speeds. Read your motherboard's manual if you can to see which port is a 3.2 Gen 2 for maximum speed. I have a Gigabyte x570 Aorus Master motherboard and it does have that port on the back (type C) and the speeds are incredible. It also has one on the front to connect my case's front panel connector, however my case's connector is just Gen 1, so I plug the drive on the back. If you don't have a 3.2 Gen 2 connector, it will still work with any USB port (I would recommend minimum a 3.0 one) way faster than any mechanical external drive. On the PC you can also install Western digital's dashboard software to check on the drive's health and also you can control its RGB lighting (it does have it, although very unobtrusive, and you can turn it off if you want with the software). Highly recommend this drive if you are a gamer and want super fast and reliable external storage!

Awesome little hard drive. It’s fast, half the size of my cell phone, holds 1 TB, and even has really cool lights that I didn’t realize I’d like. I have it connected to my PC through the USB-C port and it was zippy both moving large files and playing games. I have Borderlands 2 saved to it for Steam and it didn’t lag the game down or get hot. I believe it’s basically a 1TB NVME hard drive in a rugged external case that has really cool, programmable lights. You can even program the light colors and patterns with the supplied app that offers a fair amount of customization. I think more than anything, I was surprised that it was only warm after playing Borderland on it for a few hours. I’ve tried out a few NVME external hard drive cases with my own NVME drive and they all got pretty hot, so the case seems to have a good cooling system. I highly recommend the Black P40 Game Drive both as a gaming and general use external hard drive. It transfers big files quickly, is fast enough to game from, has a rugged case, and is small enough to comfortably fit in your pocket. Get this.

The new Western Digital Black 1TB P40 NVMe Solid State Game drive is a great all-around option for gamers on the go as well as a lightweight portable option for storing any other files you wish to back up. I love the military-style look and feel of the drive itself with the forged aluminum matte black finish combined with the picatinny rail look that looks like it could be mounted on your favorite piece when not in use on with any of your gaming consoles or rigs. One of the best things about this portable SSD is that it is compatible with your Sony PlayStation 4/5, Microsoft Xbox and PC. Although it won’t work to run PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X games on it, you can still store game saves on the drive and store and play PlayStation 4 or Xbox One games on it. I ran benchmarks on the SSD and it performed very well in comparison to other drives I have used in the past with speeds near 2000 mb/s. It also comes pre-loaded with the WD_Black Dashboard to control and review the performance of the drive as well as other tools and settings to tweak with including the customizable RGB lighting which gives the drive even more curb appeal. The SSD comes with a USB-C to USB-C cable and a USB-C to USB-A adapter. In my opinion, 1 TB of game storage is plenty of drive to keep your favorite games, game saves and files in a portable, compact design.