Western Digital Launches New My Passport Wireless And SanDisk Extreme Portable SSDs At CES
Western Digital might be best known for its mechanical hard drives, but the company has not ignored the solid state drive movement. Proving that to be the case, WD unveiled a couple of SSD products at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, including the My Passport Wireless SSD under its own branding, and the Extreme Portable SSD under its SanDisk label, which it purchased in 2015 for $19 billion.
Interestingly, WD is pitching both products at "avid photographers and drone enthusiasts" who are in need of durable and high-performance media capture solutions. Starting with the My Passport Wireless SSD, it is available in 250GB ($229.99), 500GB ($299.99), 1TB ($499.99), and 2TB ($799.99) capacities. Each one houses an SSD inside a shock-resistant chassis with a protective bumper. According to WD, it can survive shock, vibrations, and drops up to 1 meter (tested on a carpeted concrete floor), even while the drive is in operation.
The My Passport Wireless SSD sports a built-in SD card reader with a one-touch copy button. It also has a USB 3.0 port for transferring files to and from a PC, is able to wireless streawm 4K videos and photos, offers RAW file preview support, and has a built-in power bank to charge mobile devices.
All four capacities are available now direct from WD.
As for the SanDisk Extreme Portable SSD, it's intended to give users fast storage for high resolution photos and videos. It comes in the same capacity options, priced at $99.99 for 250GB, $169.99 for 500GB, $349.99 for 1TB, and $699.99 for 2TB.
Each capacity boasts read speeds of up to 550MB/s, via USB 3.1 Gen 2. They're also compact and IP55 rated for water and dust resistance, are shock resistant (up to 1500G) and vibration resistant, and can withstand temperatures from 32F (0C) to 113F (45C).
The new drives are listed on SanDisk's website but are not yet in stock.
