Western Digital team up with SanDisk to launch the ultraslim solid state hybrid drives

Western Digital and SanDisk Corporation on 9th May 2013 announced their collaboration to introduce hybrid storage devices that feature top-notch flash memory technology from SanDisk and superior hard drive technology from WD.

Using SanDisk’s iSSD™ storage device, this WD Black™ solid state hybrid drive (SSHD) is the world’s thinnest 2.5-inch SSHD which utilizes both WD proprietary hybrid technology and industry standard SATA IO technology. The SanDisk iSSD component have a unique combination of performance, power consumption, cost and reliability which offers ample storage to meet consumers’ growing appetite for digital content as well as speed even with this ultra slim form factor.

“I am delighted for SanDisk to team up with WD on these exciting new hybrid products,” said Kevin
Conley, senior vice president and general manager of client storage solutions at SanDisk. “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.”

“Working with SanDisk, WD realized our vision for products that combine the best of both technologies,” said Matt Rutledge, vice president of client computing at WD. “WD’s SSHDs are a significant achievement in the continuing SSHD/flash storage revolution.”

With device volume being a key concern for PC manufacturers who want to design slimmer devices, the WD Black SSHDs are designed to accommodate into market’s thinnest notebooks. The WD Black 5mm SSHD offers 500GB of capacity, while utilizing almost 50 percent less volume than current standard notebook hard drives (which are approximately 9.5mm). The low-profile of the solid state hybrid drive is complemented by the extremely small form factor of the SanDisk iSSD, which is built on 19 nanometer (nm) process technology, the world’s smallest and most advanced semiconductor manufacturing process. The WD Black 5mm SSHDs are already shipping to OEMs. WD is also currently shipping to OEMs ultra-slim, 7mm and 9.5mm SSHDs for portable devices.