Compared with the traditional magnetic recording hard disk, the appearance of the product is limited due to the structure of the disk and the magnetic head. The solid-state storage device based on the flash memory can have more design flexibility in the shape, which makes the Storage technology has resulted in a variety of products, such as external flash drives with high portability, embedded memory cards, PCIe SSD interface cards that can be installed in PCs and server chassis, 2.5-inch U.2 solid state drives, M .2 Form Factor Solid State Drive, Ruler Solid State Drive, Storage Class Memory (SCM).
In the application of external storage, in recent years, some manufacturers have begun to launch more diversified products, such as: Seagate released the Lyve Drive Mobile System in January 2020, hoping to cross the data migration from edge to cloud services. Applications, including memory cards and card readers, as well as storage boxes that can be installed with traditional hard drives and solid state drives, mobile storage arrays, and other devices.
WD also released a new product line, SanDisk Professional, in May 2021. Combining the two major brands of SanDisk and G-Technology, WD launched a new top-level storage solution for content creators and professionals, including the memory card Pro-Cinema CFexpress VPG400, Card Reader Pro-Reader Series, Card Reader Expansion Base Pro-Dock 4, Encrypted External Solid State Drive G-Drive ArmorLock SSD; in June, they successively launched the Ultrastar Edge series of portable edge computing servers. Can be used for data transfer between colocation facilities, factories, and remote data centers.
In April of this year, WD exhibited more products from SanDisk Professional during NAB Show 2022, such as G-RAID SHUTTLE 8, and G-Drive Pro Studio SSD with a capacity of 7.68 TB; At the What’s Next Western Digital Event conference, the modular solid-state drive solution Pro-Blade was announced.
Basically, this series of solutions can meet the application requirements of multiple high-speed access portable storage devices, and provide high-resolution digital content with fast absorption, editing, and copying functions. Blade SSDs allow users to switch data storage locations in a convenient and scalable way to bring digital content from various shoots and captures back to the studio without the need to migrate through bulky equipment.
According to WD’s plan, there will be 3 related products for Pro-Blade SSD. The first is the storage box Pro-Blade SSD Mag, and the mobile solid-state hard drive case Pro-Blade Transport, which has been shipped in June, and will be shipped from August 8. The two will also be available in Taiwan along with the rest of the SanDisk Professional lineup starting May 24; the Pro-Blade Station, a desktop external solid-state drive enclosure, will be available in the U.S. later this year.
What are the characteristics of each of the three in terms of actual use? What is the relationship between them? Basically, the Pro-Blade SSD Mag is an NVMe solid-state drive, slightly longer than a lighter, with anti-drop protection ability, can cope with a 3-meter drop and a 4,000-pound rolling, and currently offers 1TB, 2TB , 4TB and other three storage capacity options.
The Pro-Blade Transport with built-in USB-C slot can be inserted into a Pro-Blade SSD Mag to become an external solid-state drive. The matching I/O interface is USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 with a bandwidth of 20 Gbps. The reading speed can reach up to 2000 MB/s, and the writing speed is lower than this data. Users can install it on a video camera that supports USB-C connection, and store high-resolution images directly on the Pro-Blade contained in this case. SSD Mag, which can be replaced in quick rotation afterwards.
As for the Pro-Blade Station, the external interface is Thunderbolt 3, which can provide 40 Gbps I/O bandwidth, can accommodate 4 Pro-Blade SSD Mags at the same time, and provide a maximum storage space of 16 TB. Users can perform 4K/8K/ Real-time editing of 12K videos, and ultra-high-speed data copying, with data read speeds up to 3000 MB/s.
Product Information
SanDisk Professional Pro-Blade SSD Mag
●Original factory: WD
●Suggested selling price: not provided by the manufacturer
●Outline: 109.8 x 28.0 x 7.5 mm
●Storage capacity: 1TB, 2TB, 4TB
●Compatible devices: Pro-Blade Transport, Pro-Blade Station
●Access performance: The read speed with Pro-Blade Transport is 2000 MB/s, and the read speed with Pro-Blade Station is 3000 MB/s
●Warranty period: 5 years limited warranty
[Note: Specifications and prices are provided by the manufacturer, due to changes from time to time, please contact the manufacturer for correct information]