Western Digital today announced its fastest, high-capacity USB flash drive to date with the launch of its 256GB SanDisk Extreme PRO USB 3.1 Solid State Flash Drive.

The company also announced the first microSD card that meets the Application Performance Class 1 (A1) requirements from the latest SD Association's SD 5.1 specifications.

The new 256GB SanDisk Extreme PRO USB 3.1 Solid State Flash drive is capable of read speeds up to 420MB/s and write speeds up to 380MB/s. The new drive also features an aluminum metal casing and a retractable connector.

The SanDisk Extreme PRO Solid State Flash Drive is available up to 256GB. For added file protection, it includes the SanDisk SecureAccess software, which offers 128-bit file encryption and password protection. The drive also comes with a limited lifetime warranty.

The 256GB SanDisk Extreme PRO USB 3.1 Solid State Flash Drive will be available in late January 2017 at Amazon.com and Best Buy at an MSRP of $179.99.

The first microSD card that meets the Application Performance Class 1 (A1) requirements from the latest SD Association's SD 5.1 specifications is the 256GB SanDisk Ultra microSDXC UHS-I card, Premium Edition.

Today, approximately 75 percent of smartphone models on the market contain microSD slots, according to data from Strategy Analytics. The 256GB SanDisk Ultra microSD card can hold up to 24 hours of Full HD video and with transfer speeds of up to 95MB/s. With A1 performance, the card can launch and run apps at fast speeds.

With the introduction of the Android Marshmallow 6 operating system, users can expand storage capacity on smartphones by selecting the microSD card as preferred or adoptable storage, which means apps can now be loaded and launched directly from the A1 microSD card.

The A1 spec allows the new card to manage random read input-output access per second (IOPS) of 1,500 and write IOPS of 500, so it can quickly open apps and process accompanying tasks.

The SanDisk Ultra microSD card with A1 is compatible with the SanDisk Memory Zone app for Android, giving users an easy way to manage and back up content on their device. The app is available for free through the Google Play Store. The card will be available worldwide in January 2017 with a U.S. MSRP of $199.99.