CES: SanDisk Introduces New Affordable SSDs, USB Flash Drive for Android Devices
SanDisk today at CES SanDisk announced a new entry-level member to its client SSD family, called the SSD Plus. The company also introduced the Ultra Dual USB Drive 3.0 for fast file transfers between On The Go (OTG)-enabled Android devices, PC and Mac computers. The SanDisk SSD Plus is a 2.5" entry-level drive and the SanDisk Ultra II mSATA SSD is a new form factor for the SanDisk Ultra II SSD product line.
Quite surprisingly, the SSD Plus isn't based on TLC NAND, but uses SanDisk's second generation 19nm MLC NAND instead, similar to the high-end Extreme Pro. The controller remains a secret, although given SanDisk's history it's most probably a Marvell silicon with SanDisk's in-house firmware.
Availability is slated for this quarter (Q1'15) and the SSD Plus will only be available in capacities of 120GB and 240GB due to the entry-level focus. MSRPs are $70 and $110 respective with a warranty of three years.
In addition to the SSD Plus, SanDisk announced an mSATA version of the Ultra II. The core architecture remains unchanged as it's just a different form factor, although interestingly enough the mSATA flavor features less over-provisioning and is available in capacities of 128GB, 256GB and 512GB (whereas the 2.5" Ultra II is 120GB, 240GB, etc...). MSRPs are $74, $116 and $221 respectively and availability is Q1'15.
The SanDisk Ultra II mSATA SSD delivers read speeds of up to 550MB/s, while adding up to 512GB of capacity so users can get more out of their mSATA-enabled notebooks and tablets.
As an added benefit, the SanDisk SSD Plus and SanDisk Ultra II mSATA SSD include a downloadable SanDisk SSD Dashboard application, which provides management tools such as drive performance and health monitoring, manual or scheduled TRIM, notifications for firmware updates, and tips on how to maintain the drive at its peak operation.
SanDisk also today announced SanDisk Ultra Dual USB Drive 3.0, a USB flash drive featuring both a micro-USB and a high-speed USB 3.0 connector for super-fast file transfers between On The Go (OTG)-enabled Android devices, PC and Mac computers.
The drive simply connects via micro-USB to a compatible Android device and gives users up to 64GB of extra storage instantly.
The SanDisk Ultra Dual USB Drive 3.0 is available worldwide in 16GB to 64GB capacities with MSRPs of $22.99 to $64.99, respectively, at www.SanDisk.com.