Western Digital Has New External SSDs and NVMe Drives

Western Digital has revealed new flash storage drives, including a durable portable SanDisk SSD, a high-performance NVMe drive, and expansion cards for Xbox consoles.

The first new product is the SanDisk Extreme PRO, which uses a USB4 connection. It can read data at speeds of up to 3,800 MB/s and write data at speeds of up to 3,700 MB/s.This drive is designed to be tough, with a silicone outer shell, an aluminum case, protection against water and dust (rated IP65), and the ability to survive drops from up to two meters. It will be available in 2TB and 4TB sizes starting in early 2025 for $279.99 and $429.99, respectively, but can be pre-ordered on the official website.

Additionally, SanDisk has launched an 8TB Extreme Portable SSD, which can read data at speeds up to 1,050 MB/s and write at speeds up to 1,000 MB/s. This model is already available and is great for users handling large amounts of data. It’s available now for $699.99 on the official website.

The new products under the WD_BLACK brand are specifically geared towards gamers. The WD_BLACK SN7100 is a high-performance NVMe SSD that uses PCIe Gen 4 technology. It can read data at speeds up to 7,250 MB/s and write data at speeds up to 6,900 MB/s for the 1-2TB versions, which is a 35% improvement over the last generation.

This drive is designed for laptops and handheld gaming devices and should provide better power efficiency. It comes in 500GB ($59.99), 1TB ($89.99), and 2TB ($149.99) sizes sold on the official website. A 4TB version is expected to be released next year, and is currently unavailable for purchase on the website.

Finally, there’s the 2TB WD_BLACK C50 Expansion Card, intended to add extra storage for Xbox Series X|S consoles. It gives speeds similar to the console’s internal storage and works well with features like Xbox Velocity Architecture and Quick Resume. The 2TB expansion card is available for purchase now on the official website for $199.99. That’s still expensive compared to the standard NVMe drives used in PS5 consoles and PCs, unfortunately.

Source: Western Digital