Rank #6 in Best 2TB External Hard Drive: 8 Ranked, and the Speeds That Don't Add Up
WD 2TB Elements AE Portable External Hard Drive
Price and rating as shown on Amazon when we collected them. Both change.
The WD 2TB Elements AE is a 2.5-inch portable hard drive from Western Digital, priced at £104.99 and sitting sixth in this guide. It is a plug-and-play unit formatted for Windows, rated 4.3 out of 5 from 1,008 Amazon ratings, and it arrives with backup software that you download separately and schedule hourly, daily or monthly. Western Digital lists it under model number WDBD2B0020BBK-WESN.
What the listing cannot agree with itself about is capacity and speed. The title and the capacity fields say 2TB; a bullet on the same page advertises "up to 6TB capacity". The only transfer figure given anywhere is a Data Transfer Rate of 5 Gigabits Per Second — that is the USB 3.2 Gen 1 bus, roughly 625 MB/s — while the same listing describes the drive as a Mechanical Hard Disk in a 2.5-inch form factor, a spinning platter that will not come close to that. Two further fields sit awkwardly beside the copy: Enclosure Material reads "Aluminum/Glass" while the bullet text says the enclosure is over 50% post-consumer recycled plastic, and the colour field reads "Version 2025", which is not a colour. Everything on this page comes from the Amazon listing for this drive — its price, its specs, its ratings. We have not benchmarked it, opened it or timed a file transfer, so where the advert gives two answers we show you both.
How those 1,008 ratings break down
An average hides its own shape. This is the spread behind the 4.3 stars.
Specification
Exactly as published on the Amazon listing, field for field.
| Price | £104.99 |
|---|---|
| Rating | 4.3 out of 5 from 1,008 ratings |
| Data Transfer Rate | 5 Gigabits Per Second (as listed) |
| Hard Disk Description | Mechanical Hard Disk |
| Hard Disk Form Factor | 2.5 Inches |
| Digital Storage Capacity | 2 TB |
| Capacity quoted in bullet text | "up to 6TB" (as listed) |
| Enclosure Material | Aluminum/Glass (as listed; bullet text says over 50% recycled plastic) |
What buyers actually say
Quoted from customer reviews on Amazon
Verified purchase“I had an old 2TB hard drive. When I decided to upgrade my operating system and transfer all my data to it, the drive kept shutting down during the process. I bought this new one WD, which cost twice cheaper than my old and the entire terabyte of data was transferred from my computer to the drive in just a few hours. I am very pleased with its fast performance and pocket-sized design.”
Verified purchase“Western Digital seems to be the leading HD manufacturer in the world, closely followed by Toshiba and Seagate.My previous WD hard is still working well after a good few years.As neither SSDs or USB memory sticks are reliable for unpowered data storage, it's still important to keep a traditional hard drive or two for archiving.Like most hard drives, this one will not run off an unpowered USB hub and needs to be directly plugged into a port on a laptop or PC.You can buy powered USB ports and docks but they can have issues of their own.”
What it is up against
The rivals it was ranked against in Best 2TB External Hard Drive: 8 Ranked, and the Speeds That Don't Add Up.
Questions people ask
What transfer speed does this WD Elements drive actually run at?
The listing gives no read or write speed for the disk itself. Its only figure is a Data Transfer Rate of 5 Gigabits Per Second, which describes USB 3.2 Gen 1, roughly 625 MB/s, while the drive is listed as a Mechanical Hard Disk in a 2.5-inch form factor.
How much can this drive hold?
The listing is for the 2TB version at £104.99, and the storage capacity and hard-drive size fields both say 2 TB. The bullet text mentioning "up to 6TB capacity" describes the range across the WD Elements family rather than this drive.
Will it work with a games console?
The listing names Microsoft Xbox One, Xbox One S, Xbox One X, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X, Nintendo Switch, Switch OLED, Switch 2, Switch Lite, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 4 Pro, PlayStation 4 Slim and PlayStation 5 among its compatible video game console models.
Is the case metal or plastic?
The listing carries both answers. The Enclosure Material field says "Aluminum/Glass"; the bullet text says the enclosure is composed of more than 50% post-consumer recycled plastic, with packaging from over 50% recycled pulp.
Do I need to install anything to use it?
No software is needed to store files — Western Digital describes it as plug-and-play and formatted for Windows. The backup software is a separate download: plug in the drive, then set an hourly, daily or monthly schedule.
How is it rated by buyers?
4.3 out of 5 from 1,008 ratings. Be aware the star breakdown shown with the listing adds up to 100 ratings rather than 1,008, so treat that split with some care.
Comments
Reader comments are not checked against the manufacturer's claims above.
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