Skip to main content

Western Digital wades into the PCI Express hard drive arena, and Sandisk debuts a huge SD card

western digital sandisk announcing new high speed storage options wd black pciessd pr graphic no text
More and more people are creating more and more content, exponentially increasing the amount of storage space needed to keep everything safe and secure. Storage device manufacturers are doing their part, with larger, faster, and more reliable storage devices hitting the market, and solid state drives (SSDs) are finally approaching hard disk drives (HDDs) in price and reliability.

CES 2017 is bringing the usual new product announcements, and storage isn’t being left out. Western Digital has a few new products arriving this year, and they’re covering the bases from a new PCIe SSD drive for fast internal storage, to two new external options for those who need to take their storage on the go.

Related Videos

WD Black PCIe SSD

WD is introducing its first-ever branded client PCIe SSDs at CES 2017, adding to the company’s SSD line that already includes the recently introduced WD Blue and WD Green SATA SSDs. Along with WD’s HDDs, the new WD Black PCIe SSDs round out a full portfolio of PC and workstation storage options.

The WD Black PCIe SSD, which is based on PCIe Gen3 x4 NVMe technology, is up to three times as fast in sequential reads as the company’s SATA-based SSDs. The new drives come in 256GB and 512GB capacities to serve as either fast boot drives in dual drive configurations, or as single drives for notebooks and other systems. The drives will offer 2,050 megabytes per second sequential read performance, and 800MB/s sequential write performance.

The new drives come in 256GB and 512GB capacities.

In terms of reliability, the WD Black PCIe SSD offers 1.75 million hours mean time between failure (MTTF), along with thermal and power management algorithms that exceed the NVMe specifications, to provide more consistent performance and power consumption. WD offers the usual Dashboard software with the WD Black PCIe SSD, to allow users to keep up with the drive’s performance, capacity, and firmware updates.

As Eyal Beck, senior director of SD’s client SSD Devices Business Unit, puts it, “We are in the midst of a once-in-a-generation interface change. The WD Black PCIe SSD ramps up performance while delivering worry-free reliability for our customers worldwide. We believe that this will accelerate the transition that is already occurring from SATA to PCIe. Western Digital is uniquely positioned to offer customers a complete storage portfolio—HDD or SSD, and SATA or PCIe form factors for every segment of the market.”

Pricing for the WD Black PCIe SSD will range from $109 for the 256GB version, to $200 for the 512GB version. Both will come with five-year limited warranties and will be available sometime during the first half of 2017.

SanDisk Extreme Pro USB 3.1 SSD

WD’s SanDisk division is introducing what the company calls its fastest USB flash drive in the Extreme Pro USB 3.1 SSD. SanDisk is positioning the 256GB drive as offering true SSD-class performance in an external drive that will be ideal for anyone who creates and transports large files.

The Extreme Pro USB 3.1 SSD offers read performance of up to 420 megabytes per second reads, and write speeds of up to 380MBs. That’s good enough to transfer a full-length 4K movie in less than 15 seconds, according to SanDisk. The USB 3.1 interface provides the interface speed necessary to simply plug in the drive and start working without fussing with a cable.

Sven Rathjen, VP of marketing for WD’s Client Solutions Business Unit, describes the new flash drive. “The combination of SSD performance and a compact USB form factor offers the ultimate performance and convenience for moving files easily and quickly. With its increased capacity and blazing speeds, the SanDisk Extreme PRO USB 3.1 Solid State Flash Drive is our sleekest, most powerful SanDisk USB device yet.”

The 256GB SanDisk Extreme Pro USB 3.1 SSD will be available later in January 2017 at Amazon and Best Buy, for $180. It also comes with SanDisk SecureAccess software for 128-bit file encryption and password protection, and an aggressive limited lifetime warranty.

SanDisk 256 Ultra microSD card with A1

SanDisk is also pushing the performance envelope with the new 256GB Ultra microSD card, the world’s first to meet the Application Performing Class 1 (A1) requirements based on the SD Association’s SD 5.1 specifications. The A1 spec is defined as providing random read input-output access per second (IOPS) of 1,500 and write IOPS of 500, meaning that the new card is capable of switching tasks and opening apps quickly and efficiently.

The new 256 Ultra microSD card can transfer data at up to 95 megabytes per second.

As Brian Kumagai, SDA president, puts it, “SD technology is trusted by consumers around the world for its reliable, backward-compatible and highly interoperable storage, making it the world’s leading memory format with billions of SD memory cards and devices in the market. The A1 specification will help consumers identify the appropriate card to ensure an optimal experience when running and launching apps on their smartphone. We are pleased that SanDisk will release an A1 card, and continues to contribute to breakthrough technologies enabled by the microSD format.”

In terms of throughput, the new 256 Ultra microSD card can transfer data at up to 95 megabytes per second, and it’s compatible with SanDisk’s Memory Zone app for Android, which lets users easily manage and back up contents. The card will be available in January 2017 for $200.

Editors' Recommendations

How to speed up Windows
A Dell XPS laptop sitting on a table.

You probably empty your computer's recycle bin, wipe down the keyboard every now and then, and dust the screen, but there's more you should be doing to keep it in tip-top shape. Windows maintenance is vital to keeping your computer from getting slow. We've put together some easy ways to keep your PC running quickly and efficiently.
Running Windows 11?
Currently, many users are getting accustomed to Windows 11, its new look, and the updated features that it brings. If you are on Windows 11 or thinking about updating Windows 10 to move to 11, these techniques will still be effective for you. The tools we discuss below are either the same on Windows 11 or so similar that our steps will still work for you. If there are any significant differences, we'll note them in the appropriate section.
Optimize your storage devices

Hard disk drives (HDDs) store files as blocks of data that can be scattered around the platters that make up an HDD. Bigger files equate to more blocks, and as you copy, move, and rearrange files, those data blocks are sometimes organized in an inefficient way. Think of it as a messy office, where you opened files from your cabinet and placed them haphazardly around the room. Your memory is awesome, and so you can find all the papers you need, but you waste time moving around looking for them.

Read more
How to transfer files from PC to PC
A USB drive on a keyboard.

Every once in a while, a PC might have a file that you really need on another computer. It could be an important document, a set of photos, or perhaps something that you might want to print on another computer.

If you're confused about how you can do so, then we're here to help. From using a cloud storage service or physical media like a USB drive to using a network transfer, we have you covered with our guide on how to transfer files from PC to PC.

Read more
5 lines of code allowed attackers to wipe tons of data from popular hard drive
surface studio ifixit teardown good repairability and upgradeable upgradable hard drive

Western Digital My Book Live was hit with an attack last week that led to countless drives being factory reset, resulting in petabytes of lost data. Originally, reports showed that the main attack exploited a security vulnerability from 2018, and although that is still one of the attack vectors, there was another one at play. And it came down to only five lines of code.

An investigation by Ars Technica revealed that a second exploit was at work in at least some of the affected drives. This second exploit allowed attackers to factory reset the drives remotely without a password. Curiously, the investigation revealed that five lines of code would have protected the reset command with a password, but they were removed from the running code.

Read more