Western Digital Announces New Consumer SSDs

News
By Marcus Yam
published

WD launches new SSDs.

Western Digital today announced a new line of solid state drives aimed at the consumer as part of the SiliconEdge 2.5-inch SSD family.

The new drives, dubbed the WD SiliconEdge Blue SSDs, come in capacities up to 256GB with a SATA 3.0Gb/s interface and have read speeds up to 250MB/s and write transfer rates up to 170MB/s.

WD boasts that its new multi-level cell (MLC) -based SSDs feature patented and patent-pending technologies, such as advanced wear-leveling and error correction control, though the company didn't explain how they differ from other SSD makers. The SiliconEdge Blue drives also support TRIM and NCQ (Native Command Queuing).

While these are consumer level drives, they're not going to be cheap. The MSRP for the 64GB model capacity is $279, the 128GB capacity is $529.00 and the 256GB capacity is $999.00 USD.

Marcus Yam
Marcus Yam
Marcus Yam served as Tom's Hardware News Director during 2008-2014. He entered tech media in the late 90s and fondly remembers the days when an overclocked Celeron 300A and Voodoo2 SLI comprised a gaming rig with the ultimate street cred.
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44 Comments Comment from the forums
  • volks1470
    Seems kinda pricey to me
    Reply
  • beatcoaster
    doesn't sound like consumer level pricing to me either!!
    Reply
  • redplanet_returns
    it uses JMicro controller supposedly, along with unimpressive performance for top-dollar...no thanks WD
    Reply
  • nforce4max
    Let me check if I can afford this

    Job...... There are none
    Loans.... Needed for general living expenses
    Lotto winnings... Dream on

    Priceless
    Reply
  • dark_lord69
    I think OCZ sells 64GB drives cheaper than these.
    Reply
  • This review shows not only below-average performance but also points to some potentially serious issues with garbage collection.

    http://www.storagereview.com/western_digital_siliconedge_blue_ssd_review
    Reply
  • docimian
    210$ for the proven IOPS of an 80GB intel... why even look at this?
    Reply
  • meat81
    its good to see a main stream manufacture get on the ssd bandwagon. Even though their prices seem high now, I am hoping htis will start the price war on these drives.
    Reply
  • igot1forya
    What's the purpose of NCQ in an SSD? There's no rotating platter or a need to prioritize landing zones. Is this feature for real?
    Reply
  • brendano257
    dark_lord69I think OCZ sells 64GB drives cheaper than these.
    Yeah, of course a 64GB would sell for less than a 128GB or 256GB? But yes they are VERY pricey.

    Reply