SanDisk is launching several new portable storage products including two portable solid state drives with USB Type-C connectors and a few tiny USB 3.0 flash drives that pack a lot of storage.
SanDisk Extreme 900 Portable SSD
This portable solid state drive offers transfer speeds up to 850 MB per second and comes with a USB Type-A cable for connecting to most computers with a USB port as well as a new Type-C connector for devices that support the new more powerful (and reversible) standard.
This portable solid state drive is available in three versions:
- 480GB for $400
- 960GB for $600
- 1.92TB for $1000
SanDisk says the Extreme 900 series comes in an aluminum case and it’s aimed at photographers and other professionals who are willing to pay a premium for fast, durable storage on the go.
SanDisk Extreme 500 Portable SSD
Looking for something a little cheaper? The Extreme 500 is a “pocket-sized” drive that SanDisk says is about half the size of a smartphone. It can handle speeds up to 415 MB/s and features a black case with rubber bumpers and a metal ring that you can use to click the SSD to a bag.
SanDisk will offer three models:
- 120GB for $100
- 240GB for $150
- 480GB for $240
SanDisk Ultra Fit 128GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive
More concerned about portability than performance? This tiny flash drive is about the size of a dime (although it’s obviously a bit thicker) and packs enough storage space for up to 16 hjous of full HD video.
It’s not as fast as the SSD models listed above, with top speeds of 130 MB/s. But that’s still about 10 times faster than what you’d get from a USB 2.0 drive.
SanDisk charges about $120 for this 128GB flash drive.
SanDisk Ultra USB 3.0 Flash Drive
This flash drive has a top speed of 100MB/s and a model with 256GB of storage sells for about $200.
I’m beginning to wonder if I’ve bought my last HDD. Even if my NAS dies, Google Fiber will be arriving here within the next 18 months (I live in Austin, TX, but at the wrong end), and their gigabit service comes with 1TB of cloud storage.
Given the premiums PC manufacturers are still charging for SSD configured laptops, it’s still quite likely I will buy one more HDD along with my next laptop purchase, but aside from that, I find it hard to think why I wouldn’t just by SSDs from now on.