WD and SanDisk team up in SSHD effort
WD and SanDisk are collaborating on creating solid-state hybrid drives.
If you were wondering where the solid-state part in WD's new solid-state hybrid drive, the WD Black, comes from, the answer is SanDisk.
The two storage vendors today announced their collaboration in creating solid-state hybrid drives, with the first being the WD Black.
According to both parties, SanDisk is supplying a SanDisk iSSD storage device for the WD Black SSHD. The WD Black comes with up to 32GB of iSSD storage and currently offers a total of 500GB mixed iSSD and platter-based storage.
The drive is superslim, being just 5mm thick while still retaining the 2.5-inch laptop-standard design. It supports the SATA 3 (6Gbp) standard and comes with either a regular SATA connector or the new edge card connector, which eliminates the need for a separate power connection.
WD says the drive takes up almost 50 percent less volume than current standard notebook hard drives thanks to the extremely small size of the SanDisk iSSD, which is built on 19-nanometer process technology.
The WD Black 5mm SSHDs are shipping now to OEMs. It also comes in more-traditional versions that are 7mm and 9.5mm thick, which are also shipping to OEMs.