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Flash drives these days, no matter how fast, are a dime a dozen. A jump drive that does double duty as a wireless streaming dongle? Not so common. SanDisk’s new Connect lineup can pull off the streaming trick whether it’s the flash drives with 16 or 32GB sizes for $50 and $60, respectively, or the Media Drives that pack 32 or 64GB of storage for either $80 or $100. Both sets of devices can stream movies, music or other data to PCs, Macs, iOS and Android devices or even Kindle Fires. All you need to do is grab the SanDisk Connect app for your device, and transferring files is a drag-and-drop affair.

Where the Flash and Media Drives differ, however, is that the latter can serve up to eight devices at a time with regular data, or send out five simultaneous streams of 720p video. Plus, it’s got an SDHC/SDXC slot for further storage expansion, should 64 gigs be insufficient. Sound good? Folks in the US can pre-order either drive today from Amazon, and if you aren’t a Bezos fan, Newegg and Micro Center are taking Flash Drive preorders, too. Save that, you can always go pick one up from Best Buy in August.

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SanDisk hits back by offering you their newest line of SSDs, the Extreme II. Coming in 120GB, 240GB and 480GB capacities, these SSDs are equipped with 19nm chips, a SATA 6.0 Gbps interface, a MTBF of 2.0 million hours and can deliver read and write speeds of up to 550MB/s and 510MB/s, respectively. The 120GB, 240GB and 480GB models are priced at $129.99, $229.99 and $439.99, respectively. [SanDisk]

SanDisk has announced that its portfolio of SSDs is being expanded with three new drives, among them and most notable being the SanDisk Extreme II SSD. As with many of the other devices and hardware we’ve heard about this evening, SanDisk will be showing off the Extreme II and the other two drives, both of which are OEM offerings, at Computex this week.

SanDisk says that all the SSDs are built with 19 nanometer technology, and all feature the company’s flash memory architecture. Zeroing in on the Extreme II SSD, the company hails it as a faster devices that “significantly” speeds up data rates and makes both start up and shutdown faster. SanDisk aims it at gamers, too, saying it makes game loading faster and improves game play.

The Extreme II SSD offers a maximum read rate of 550MB/second and a maximum write speed of 510MB/second, making it faster than the original Extreme SSD. There’s also up to 95,000 in random read IOPS, and 78,000 in random write IOPS. This particular unit falls in SanDisk’s fourth-generation SSD retail lineup, something that provides a foundation of reliability to customers, says the announcement.

The Extreme II SSD has a lifetime write of 80 terabytes, and is shipped with a 5-year limited warranty when purchased new. The SSD has already been launched and can be nabbed now, with the 120GB version being priced at $129.99, the 240GB version at $229.99, and the 480GB version at $439.99.

Said SanDisk’s Kevin Conley: “Today, we again raised the bar by bringing our latest technology innovations to a new generation of SSDs that address the most demanding computing needs. The SanDisk Extreme II SSD, our fastest and most responsive SATA III SSD to date, is a great option for gamers, PC enthusiasts or any consumers who want to get the most from their computing experience. And, we’ve enhanced two of our most popular OEM SSDs to enable PC makers to push the boundaries of computing even further.”

SOURCE: SanDisk

SanDisk expands portfolio with Extreme II SSD is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
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When it comes to storage space on your computer, a couple of names would definitely stand out – for the larger capacity hard drives, you would most probably have one form of Western Digital products lying around, while those who deal with flash based storage might have a slew of SanDisk memory cards lying around somewhere. Well, we are pleased to announce that both Western Digital as well as SanDisk have come together to deliver what they deem to be the world’s thinnest 2.5” Solid State hybrid drive that features best-in-class flash memory technology from SanDisk in addition to best-in-class hard drive technology from Western Digital.

SanDisk would be the supplier of a SanDisk iSSD storage device for the Western Digital Black solid state hybrid drive (SSHD), where it makes use of both Western Digital proprietary hybrid technology and industry standard SATA IO technology. The SanDisk iSSD is there to bring about an elegant balance of performance, low power consumption, cost, reliability, and a compact form factor to this SSHD. In a nutshell, customers will not only get to enjoy ample storage space, but they do not have to sacrifice in terms of style, either.

Kevin Conley, senior vice president and general manager of client storage solutions at SanDisk, said, “I am delighted for SanDisk to team up with WD on these exciting new hybrid products. By combining SanDisk’s unparalleled flash memory expertise and technology with the hard drive know-how of WD, WD Black SSHDs offer outstanding hard drive-like capacity, and the slim form factor and the level of performance that you will only get with flash memory solutions.”

It is said that WD Black SSHDs rely on WD hybrid technology which will blend responsive, intelligent flash memory technology from SanDisk alongside high capacity hard drives from WD, and this particularly powerful combination would greatly improve the PC user experience, where in the end it allows both high capacity and a higher level of performance compared to traditional hard disk drives, and among these characteristics include an increased speed, instant-on and faster application launching.
[ Western Digital and SanDisk work together on Solid State Hybrid Drives copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]

Flash drives are useful, and I always keep one on me in case I need to transfer files, but they are getting so tiny these days that they are easy to lose. I’ve probably lost about four myself, just because they were so small. This flash drive uses a simple system so that you won’t lose it quite so easily, unless you’re the kind of person who constantly loses their keys.

The SanDisk Cruzer Orbit has a special circular design, allowing it to be easily snapped onto key rings, carabiners, lanyards, as well as ring binders. Its swiveling ring mechanism also doubles as a way to protect the USB connector.

The SanDisk Cruzer Orbit costs $30 to $50(USD), and is available in 8, 16 and 32 GB capacities. Like many flash drives, it comes with encryption software to protect your private files, as well as backup software.