It feels like blow after blow for consumers lately. Valve has already confirmed Steam Deck stock issues due to rising RAM and storage costs, and there are also rumors of consoles being delayed over similar price concerns.

Now, to add to that, Western Digital, who have been around for 55 years and is one of the leading providers of HDDs and SSDs, has confirmed through its Chief Executive Officer, Irving Tan, that it has already sold out of hard drives for 2026.

Keeping in mind, we’re just two and a half months into 2026.

Hard drives locked in by data center demand

Western Digital CEO Irving Tan has confirmed that the company has “pretty much sold out for calendar 2026.” Thanks to a transcript provided by Investing.com for the company’s Q2 2026 earnings call. Western Digital went on to confirm they have firm purchase orders in place, locking in most of its supply throughout the year, with agreements already signed through to 2028 for one customer.

On paper, the move makes sense, even if it does not feel great for consumers. Western Digital’s revenue is mostly driven by its Cloud business, which accounts for 89% of total revenue, while its consumer segment makes up just 5%.

LTAs referring to long-term agreements here.

AI is largely to thank for this situation. AI infrastructure is pushing companies to scale en masse, securing storage deals years in advance, which in turn reduces availability for retail and other markets.

Hard drives remain one of the most cost-effective purchases for large-scale storage, especially compared to SSDs, which have become more expensive due to the same AI-driven demand, becoming more than 50% expensive in some cases.

As a result of these long-term deals and supply constraints, consumer HDD pricing has increased by more than 45% since September 2025.

Storage is not the only area being affected. RAM is seeing similar pressure, as multi-year agreements continue to prioritize AI-focused demand over traditional consumer markets.

Perhaps more annoyingly, prior to the AI boom, Kris Sennesael, Chief Financial Officer for Western Digital, confirmed that the price per terabyte was coming down year-over year by 10%, stating:

It’s not that Western Digital is deliberately pivoting away from consumers. From a business perspective, prioritizing its largest source of demand makes sense.

The issue is that consumers across multiple industries are now feeling the pressure of long-term agreements that effectively lock up large portions of available supply.

Are you feeling the impact of rising HDD and storage prices? Let us know your thoughts in the comments and make sure to take part in our poll below:

Join us on Reddit at r/WindowsCentral to share your insights and discuss our latest news, reviews, and more.

If you're anything like me, you probably don't enjoy spending money on PC upgrades, but sometimes, it's less of a luxury and more of a necessity. Most SSDs I've used over the years, both PCIe Gen 3 and 4, never actually died, but one that did had me feeling more conscious of my storage.

I was firmly in the "PCIe 4.0 is fast enough" camp when WD_BLACK offered its Gen 5 SN8100 NVMe SSD, but sure enough, it almost doubled the performance of the Gen 4 Samsung 990 PRO acting as my Windows 11 boot drive.

It was, however, a little too expensive at launch, so anyone looking for Amazon Prime Day PC gaming deals should consider it now that it's dropped to under $210 at Amazon with a Prime membership. 2TB is plenty, too, or at least it always felt that way.. not sure if 2TB is becoming the new normal(?)

• Shop all Prime Day deals at Amazon

Heatsink required, not just recommended

If you're building (or recently built) a gaming desktop PC with a PCIe 5.0 NVMe SSD slot, you probably entertained the idea of picking up a compatible storage drive before noticing how hilariously expensive they are. I know I did, but the proof of how fast these WD_BLACK SN8100 drives can be is almost completely justified by a better "dollar per MB/s" value than my PCIe Gen 4 champion, the Samsung 990 PRO.

Yes, that's 14MB per second. It's a significant jump with the new PCIe generation, but it doesn't come without a trade-off. When the WD_BLACK SN8100 is under stress, say, when installing a game, it gets hot.

I know WD_BLACK says you can, but do not use this SSD without a heatsink. That's my tip.

Plenty of motherboards come with an SSD heatsink these days, but if you haven't finalized your component choices yet, make sure you choose one that does. It's not like it won't work at all, but keeping the temperatures under control ensures that the SN8100 doesn't have to throttle its speeds to maintain healthy operation.

Oh hey, my motherboard is on sale, too

Yep, if you wanted to be a complete copycat and just build the same PC as mine, you could spring for the previously reviewed ASUS ROG STRIX B650-A GAMING WIFI while it's enjoying a similar discount for Amazon Prime Day.

Originally, I used it to test the AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D and, later, to run its successor, the 9800X3D, and it's still going strong. The SSD heatsink has been through a lot, too, as I keep swapping it out to change M.2 drives for data transfer and testing, but it keeps the temperatures lower, and I've never suffered any noticeable data slowdowns.

Amazon Prime Day is in full swing, giving us consumers a chance to buy our most wishlisted products at more affordable prices at our favorite local retailers. One such sought-after item is the WD_Black 1TB Storage Expansion Card for Xbox consoles.

This invaluable gadget gives Xbox players 1TB of extra space to fit in all their favorite games on Xbox consoles, and it is now on special offer for $124.77 $129.99 at Walmart (reduced from its MSRP of $149.99), which is an extra $5 discount over Amazon and Best Buy.

• Shop all Amazon Prime Day deals

Why should you buy the WD_Black C50?

As Xbox games continue to grow in scale and graphical detail, there are going to be times when you will need to add extra storage space for your Xbox Series X|S.

This is because the Xbox Series X|S's default 1TB of storage space is simply not enough anymore to keep up with the storage space needs of modern AAA titles.

For example, games like Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 or Final Fantasy XVI require over 100GB of storage space without DLC. And who knows just how space the hottest upcoming Xbox title in years, Grand Theft Auto 6, is going to take up?

So it's imperative that you get extra storage space for your console, and luckily, Western Digital has got your back with the WD_Black 1TB C50 Storage Expansion Card.

This handy-dandy gaming accessory comes with 1TB of extra storage space, a compact, durable design, and loading time and transfer time performance speeds on par with the Xbox Series X|S' internal storage unit.

The WD_Black is also easy to use, as you simply need to plug it into the back of your Xbox to make it function, and it's easy to carry around in your luggage while traveling, thanks to its small size.

When it first launched in 2023, the WD_Black only came with 512GB or 1TB storage space, but in recent years, there's now a 2TB version of this product to store more of your favourite Xbox titles.

This all sounds well and good, but that being said, there are some drawbacks to consider with the WD_Black C50.

This storage expansion card is a bit overkill if you plan on using it to play backward-compatible titles from the Xbox One, Xbox 360, and original Xbox, as they have much lower storage space requirements.

Plus, if you plan on using this device to store Xbox Series X|S games rather than play them directly from the storage device, you're better off purchasing a traditional external SSD for that purpose, like the Seagate Game Drive for Xbox SSD or the WD_BLACK P40 Game Drive SSD.

If those limitations don't bother you, then this Storage Expansion Card is a must-buy for Xbox players, especially for those looking for a storage device at an affordable price point.

I say this because what makes the WD_Black worth considering buying over its competitors, like the storage expansion cards from Seagate, is its price tag. Its MSRP is $149.99 at most retailers, which makes it $10 cheaper than its more expensive rival, the 1TB Seagate Xbox Storage Expansion.

With this anti-Amazon Prime Day discount deal from Walmart, the WD_Black's price tag has gotten even more affordable as it's now sitting at $124.77 $129.99 for a limited time.

That is over $5 cheaper than the Amazon Prime Day 13% discount offer from Amazon (which is selling it at $129.99) and $5 cheaper than the special deal Best Buy is holding for the Floral Edition of the WD_Black (also at $129.99).

So, if you want to get your hands on one of Xbox's best SSDs at a reasonable price tag, then this deal is for you.

Amazon's new "Gaming Week" deal event is in full swing, and it's bringing mountains upon mountains of discounts for your favorite gaming hardware and accessories.

This expansion card, which adds 2TB of extra storage space to an Xbox Series X or Series S console, usually sells for $229.99 MSRP. However, it's down to a far more affordable $179.99 at Amazon (expired— see the Seagate 2TB at Amazon instead) while stocks last for the time-limited Amazon Gaming Week.

Why should you buy the WD_BLACK C50?

With hundreds of upcoming Xbox titles on the horizon, Xbox fans are on the hunt for ways to expand the storage space of their Xbox Series X|S and combat rising installation sizes. One of the more popular and affordable methods is the WD_BLACK C50 Expansion Card for Xbox Series X|S, now even cheaper.

The C50 has a sleek, compact design with excellent build quality and a straight-to-the-point method of installation; just plug it in and go. Its loading and transfer time performance rate is on par with internal Xbox Series X|S storage, and its small size makes it easy to carry around so you can take your games to other consoles.

When my colleague, Zachary Boddy, reviewed the WD_BLACK C50 Expansion Card, they mentioned that the only major technical issue was that there was no 2TB option when it first launched in 2023.

Thankfully, we now have a 2TB version of the WD_BLACK C50 in addition to its usual 1TB and 512GB versions, so you can store more of the best Xbox games on your prized Xbox Series X|S.

The only usual drawback to the WD_BLACK C50 2TB Expansion Card is its steep $229.99 MSRP. However, this problem has been temporarily halted by Amazon Gaming Week, which is discounting a wealth of gaming-related accessories.

Thanks to this event, one of the best SSDs for Xbox is now being sold at a 22% discount, bringing it down to a sounder, more inexpensive price tag of $179.99 on Amazon (EXPIRED) and saving you $50 in the process. Don't miss out!

In today's gaming market, there are tons of external Solid State Drives (SSD for short) available from various companies that can upgrade your Xbox console or PC rig with the extra storage space necessary to download your favorite video games. But what if you wanted an SSD that's not only fitted with a lot of storage space but with some stylish RGB lighting as an added bonus?

Enter the WD_BLACK P40 Game Drive SSD. This device is one of Western Digital's critically-acclaimed SSDs that not only provides 2TB of storage space with fast 2000MB/s read spaces, but it also comes with RGB lighting to brighten your gaming during late evenings. This gadget normally costs a staggeringly high MSRP of $329.99, but with this early Black Friday discount, it's now been reduced by 46% to a more affordable price tag of $178 at Amazon.

🎃The best early Black Friday deals🦃

• 🎮ASUS ROG Ally (Ryzen Z1) | $349.99 at Best Buy (Save $150!)
• 💽Seagate Xbox Series X|S Card (2TB) | $199.99 at Best Buy (Save $160!)
• 📱iPad 9th Generation (64GB) | $199.99 at Best Buy (Save $130!)
• 🎮Xbox Series X (1TB) | $449.99 at Best Buy (Save $50!)
• 🖥️ABS Cyclone Desktop (RTX 4060) | $1,099.99 at Newegg (Save $400!)
• 📺HP Curved Ultrawide (34-inches) | $349.99 at Best Buy (Save $130!)
• 💽WD_Black Xbox Series X|S Card (1TB) | $99.99 at Best Buy (Save $50!)
• ⌨️Razer BlackWidow V3 Mini Wireless | $101.99 at Best Buy (Save $98!)
• 🖱️Razer Basilisk V3 Wired | $39.99 at Best Buy (Save $30!)
• 💽WD_BLACK Handheld SSD (2TB) | $179.99 at Best Buy (Save $60!)
• 🎧Astro A50 Wireless (Xbox & PC) | $149.99 at Best Buy (Save $100!)

Why should you buy the WD_BLACK P40 Game Drive SSD?

Western Digital gaming brand, WD_BLACK has produced a fine line of high-quality gaming accessories over the years from Solid State Drives, External Hard Drives, and microSDs to name a few. The WD_BLACK P40 Game Drive SSD is no exception, as our tech expert Zachary Boddy believes that this device is one of the best External Solid State Drives for gaming. They even stated during their review of the WD_BLACK P40 Game Drive SSD that "Western Digital's P40 Game Drive SSD is a stellar external storage upgrade for Xbox Series X|S consoles, and is even better on PC with RGB customization and faster speeds."

So what makes the WD_BLACK P40 Game Drive SSD worth the price of admission? To begin with, it comes with over 2TB of storage space (there are also 1TB and 500GB variants) so you can download and store a ton of your favorite videogames inside it whether they be PC, Xbox, or PlayStation games.

To complement this massive storage space, the WD_BLACK P40 Game Drive SSD is outfitted with a USB-C 3.2 (Gen 2x2) capable of performing reading speeds up to 2,000MB/s. This will ensure that you will be able to download PC and Xbox One games onto the WD_BLACK P40 Game Drive SSD super quickly and run them directly through the device to achieve incredibly stable performances with reduced loading times compared to running from the console's internal storage systems.

Other notable features of the WD_BLACK P40 Game Drive SSD include a small, compact, and durable design, and RGB light strips that are easily customizable and provide subtle yet comforting light shows to brighten your room during late evenings while playing PC games.

However, you can't launch Xbox Series X|S titles directly through the WD_BLACK P40 Game Drive SSD and there's currently no console with Gen 2x2 USB-C standards that can take full advantage of the WD_BLACK P40 Game Drive SSD's capabilities. Not to mention that the RGB light strips only activate when you plug into a PC, not home consoles.

That being said, the WD_BLACK P40 Game Drive SSD is still a good SSD to store the best Xbox games the Xbox Series X|S has to offer thanks to its lightning-fast read speeds, especially if you're planning on transferring them (along with other apps and save data) onto another console.

While the WD_BLACK P40 Game Drive SSD may not have much value for the Xbox Series X|S compared to other SSDs like the WD_Black C50 Expansion Card (which is also currently on an early Black Friday sale for less than $100), it's an absolute must for PC gamers looking for a 'solid' device to store and run the best PC games.

WD_BLACK P40 Game Drive SSD is currently available for $178 at Amazon thanks to this huge 46% Black Friday discount deal that will save you $151.99 upon purchasing it.

As someone who uses my computer for over 40 hours every week, I often find myself running out of storage space or needing to delete data and make room for more. While I could upgrade to a larger internal solid-state drive (SSD) or hard disk drive (HDD), being able to simply plug an external device into my desktop is a whole lot easier. 

There are plenty of HDDs and SSDs on the market, and either type of storage device can be a good fit for someone, depending on what they want to do with it (for more info, check out our SSD vs HDD guide).

I've spent time testing and using the SanDisk Professional G-DRIVE ArmorATD, which just recently upped its largest capacity to 6TB. It's proved to be a useful accessory, but only once I was able to get it to work with Windows. Here's why it's such a good storage choice for laptops and desktops. 

This review was made possible with a review sample provided by Western Digital. The company did not see the contents of the review before publishing.

My Passport Ultra: Price, availability, and specs

Western Digital acquired SanDisk a few years back, which is why this device is attributed to both companies. The G-DRIVE ArmorATD is available in five different capacities and can be found selling at most major retailers, including Walmart, Best Buy, Newegg, Amazon, and the Western Digital website. 

The 1TB sells for $99.99 MSRP, 2TB sells for $119.99 MSRP, 4TB sells for $164.99 MSRP, 5TB sells for $189.99, and the new 6TB sells for $229.99 MSRP. These are all at a good price point, considering this device's extra protections that other HDDs don't tend to have. 

You can connect it to your laptop or desktop using either the included USB-C to USB-C cable or the included USB-C to USB-A cable. It's compatible with Thunderbolt 3 and USB 3.2 Gen 1. 

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My Passport Ultra: Design and compatibility

The SanDisk Profesional G-DRIVE ArmorATD stands out from other HDDs thanks to its obvious rugged design. Its edges are encased in thick rubber, which Western Digital says is not only IP54 rain and dust-resistant but also crush-resistant up to 1,000 pounds. This being the case, it's better suited to travel than your average HDD. However, that doesn't mean you should chuck it around. 

Hard drives are far more fragile than SSDs because they operate using mechanical parts. As such, you'll always want to handle this HDD gently. The rugged casing simply increases this HDD's resistance to damage but doesn't completely shield it.

As part of making it more rugged, the USB-C port on the bottom of the HDD has a rubber flap that plugs into it to keep the port clean and protected from the elements. This stays in place brilliantly, so you won't have to worry about the hinged door coming out and exposing the connection point. 

Meanwhile, the overall rubber casing also makes the device more "grippable," so it's less likely to slip from your hands. Altogether, it makes for a good-looking hard drive that isn't as at risk in the elements as some competitors. 

As you can see, the rubber casing makes this hard drive a bit thicker than many others out there. The larger the capacity you go with, the thicker the main metal casing will be. This shouldn't cause any problems with your average travel bag, though. The HDD is still small enough to easily slip inside laptop bags and backpacks. 

To make using the G-DRIVE ArmorATD easier, this HDD comes with both a USB-C to USB-C cable as well as a USB-C to USB-A cable. That way, it should be easy to connect it with more devices right out of the box. The port itself is compatible with both Thunderbolt 3 and USB 3.2 Gen 1.

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My Passport Ultra: Transfer speed tests

Before I was able to start using the G-DRIVE ArmorATD, I had to reformat it for Windows 11 since it comes formatted for macOS out of the box. Thankfully, Western Digital has a handy step-by-step HDD reformatting guide, which makes this process easy. 

Prior to running a CrystalDiskMark test to verify the G-DRIVE ArmorATD's read and write speeds, I checked the device's box, and it claimed that the hard drive could reach transfer speeds up to 130 MB/s. As such, I was a bit surprised when I found that the CrystalDiskMark benchmark actually showed that the HDD had hit a significantly higher 199 MB/s read speed and 180 MB/s write speed. I ran the test again just to be sure, and I got the same results. 

After that, I transferred roughly 4TB of data in one go onto the HDD (made up mostly of small game files, large PSD drawing files, and high-resolution wedding photos) and watched its transfer performance. As is expected with HDDs, transfer speeds started really high, dropped for a second, but then boosted back up. The lowest speed I saw was 17 MB/s for only a split second, but after that, the speeds shot up and stayed well above 200 MB/s. I even noted that it was as high as 312 MB/s, which is excellent. As such, it didn't take long at all for the 4TB of data to transfer to the hard drive. 

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My Passport Ultra: Competition

If you want an HDD but don't need it to be as protected as the G-DRIVE ArmorATD, then you should check out my My Passport Ultra review. This is another Western Digital HDD that comes in 1TB, 2TB, 4TB, 5TB, or the new 6TB capacities. In my testing, it showed a 118 MB/s read speed and a 116 MB/s write speed, which isn't as fast as the G-DRIVE ArmorATD but steady and reliable nonetheless. At the time of writing, the My Passport Ultra 1TB is selling for $69.99 at Western Digital, while the largest 6TB is selling for $204.99 at Amazon.

Anyone who specifically wants an HDD for gaming should look at my colleague Ben Wilson's WD_BLACK P10 review. This device works with PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5. It offers read and write speeds up to 130 MB/s and is the perfect option for running old game data or storing modern games for later access. Just note that you cannot run games for Xbox Series X|S or PlayStation 5 on this HDD. 

Of course, you might also want to check out our list of the best external SSDs. For my number one pick, I suggest you take a look at our Samsung T7 Shield review. This SSD comes in either blue, black, or beige casing with capacity options of 1TB, 2TB, or 4TB. It's notably faster than the HDDs previously listed, as it reaches read speeds up to 1,050 MB/s. The 1TB capacity sells for $99.00 at Amazon, while the 4TB option sells for $318.39 at Amazon.

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My Passport Ultra: Should you buy it?

You should buy it if ...

✅ You tend to travel and want a more rugged hard drive to keep up with you

While it isn't immune to damage, being rain, dust, and crush-resistant means this device is a bit more hearty than the average HDD.

You shouldn't buy it if ...

❌ You want an SSD because it's less fragile than an HDD

There's no denying that SSDs are less fragile and faster than HDDs. So, if you're willing to pay more for an SSD, it might be a better choice for you. Otherwise, sticking with an HDD lets you get a lot more storage for less money.

Anyone who wants a more damage-resistant HDD should definitely consider the SanDisk Professional G-Drive ArmorATD. The rugged rubber casing around the edge helps protect against bumps, drops, and pressure up to a certain point, while the rubber covering over the USB-C port protects the connection from potential water and dust damage. You'll still want to handle this drive carefully since HDDs are more fragile than SSDs, but it should be heartier for travel than other HDDs. 

Because of its rugged design, this hard drive isn't as slim and compact as some competitors, but it's still small enough to easily fit in your travel bag or work bag. You'll just need to make sure you reformat it for Windows since it comes formatted for macOS, but reformatting is an easy process. 

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If there's one thing I've learned in my years playing video games, it's that game files can take up a lot of space on whatever platform I'm playing on. For this reason, it's helpful to have additional storage space so I can keep my game files in one place while still having enough room for more games on my main system. Using an external storage device like the WD_BLACK P10 Game Drive (which works for PC, Xbox, and PlayStation), makes the game data transfer process extremely easy since it's good to go from the moment you plug it in and doesn't require any internal installation. Right now, the 4TB capacity for this hard disk drive (HDD) is only $108.99 at Walmart making it a whole lot more affordable.

Why I recommend it 

We at Windows Central know from our own experiences with Western Digital and its WD_BLACK gaming subbrand that this company produces several quality storage devices. When our own Ben Wilson tested this HDD for his WD_BLACK P10 Game Drive review, he found that the hard drive was able to reach the 130 MB/s read and write speeds that the company claimed it could. As such, he confirmed that it is a high-end hard drive that works reliably with gaming whether you want to use it with Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PC, PlayStation 4, or PlayStation 5.

The WD_BLACK P10 Game Drive is available in 2TB, 4TB, 5TB, and 6TB capacities. But currently, the 4TB option has the best discount.

Of course, there are also ways of increasing internal storage space on various platforms, but being able to easily connect an external HDD with an included USB cable makes the process a whole lot faster and simpler. Oddly enough, the P10 Game Drive connects to other devices via an outdated micro USB to USB-A cable rather than the modern USB-C cable, but it's still a steady and reliable device despite this. You'll just want to make sure to be careful with the connection area on the P10 Game Drive so as not to damage it, but that's the case with all external storage devices. 

Now, you might be wondering why you should get an HDD when there are much faster solid-state drives (SSDs) out there. The biggest pull is that you can get significantly more storage space for your buck when going with an HDD over an SSD. However, a hard disk drive definitely isn't as fast as an SSD, but it is still ideal for holding game data that doesn't actively need to be accessed and run (you can learn more in our HDD vs SSD guide). 

As further explained in his P10 Game Drive review, Ben said, "You can't play Xbox Series X|S games directly from an external drive, but you can back them up to make space on your internal drive or play backward-compatible games from the Xbox 360 era, which have a lower minimum drive speed requirement." As such, if you have a large classic Xbox game library or have a bunch of Xbox Series X|S game data you want to transfer to an external device to free up room on your main gaming system, then the P10 Game Drive is a great external drive to do this with. Alternatively, 

Otherwise, if you are more interested in adding more storage to your Xbox so that you can run game files right from the device, then you'll want to check out our Xbox Series X|S storage guide. 

When it comes to increasing storage space on your laptop or desktop, one of the easiest means available to you is with either an external solid-state drive (SSD) or a hard disk drive (HDD). There are a lot of pros and cons for either option (you can dive into that more in our SSD vs HDD guide), but HDDs tend to cost less while still providing a large storage capacity for you to use. This makes them an especially good choice for people who want a lot of storage space without spending a bunch for it. 

Recently, Western Digital upped its highest My Passport Ultra HDD to a 6TB capacity. I had the opportunity to evaluate this new option over the course of the last week. Let's dive into what makes this little device so useful. 

This review was made possible with a review sample provided by Western Digital. The company did not see the contents of the review before publishing.

My Passport Ultra: Price, availability, and specs

Western Digital is a well-known manufacturer of data storage devices and drives. As such, its products, including the My Passport Ultra, are available at various retailers, including Amazon, Best Buy, Walmart, Newegg, and more. You can also purchase the My Passport Ultra directly from the Western Digital website. This device is available in different colors, with the most prevalent options being black, blue, silver, or gold. However, some color choices are only available at specific stores.

This hard drive currently comes in five capacities, and each one has a different value — 1TB has a $69.99 MSRP, 2TB has a $89.99 MSRP, 4TB has a $129.99 MSRP, 5TB has a $139.99 MSRP, and the 6TB has a $204.99 MSRP. These are good prices compared to other HDD competitors.

It's also possible to find some or all of these capacities selling at lower prices during retailer sales events. 

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My Passport Ultra: Design and compatibility

While it isn't the slimmest HDD on the market, the My Passport Ultra does look nice and fits in my hand. Since it is less than an inch thick, it's compact enough for easy travel. I also appreciate that it is sturdy enough for me to feel comfortable throwing it into my laptop bag or backpack without feeling like it will break in transit. Of course, you don't want to throw it around intentionally, but it should handle general travel well.

Depending on the capacity you choose, there are several different color options, and each one has rubber footpads on the underside to prevent the device from sliding around on a desk. The 6TB HDD I received has an attractive blue casing on the front that turns into a black matte casing on the back. It looks good in both formal and relaxed settings, which makes it a great option for work or personal use. 

By default, the My Passport Ultra works with Windows 10 and Windows 11 devices. However, the Western Digital website also explains that it can be used with macOS 11+ if you reformat the device and download the appropriate NTFS driver. 

After looking around a bit online, I discovered that there are two versions of this HDD—one with an outdated micro-B USB port and one with a much more modern USB-C port. The version I received has the latter, and I advise anyone looking to buy this HDD to make sure to get this USB-C version. It will make the HDD compatible with more modern devices out of the box. 

The My Passport Ultra I received also comes with a USB-C to USB-C cable and a USB-C to USB-A adapter to ensure that I'll be able to connect it to whatever computer I need to. The minute it gets plugged in, a small white light comes on, and the HDD is ready to be used. It's very convenient and works well. 

Security-wise, this HDD offers 256-bit AES hardware encryption and also comes with a five-year license for Acronis True Image, a program that not only protects against ransomware attacks but also allows you to backup and restore files. Basically, this adds an extra level of security and assurance to My Passport Ultra that some other HDDs on the market do not have. 

In order to activate Acronis, I simply had to connect the My Passport Ultra to my computer, open the drive, and click on the preinstalled program labeled "Install Western Digital Software for Windows." This program then brought up a page that took me to the Acronis download. After installing that, I was able to use the program to clone the disk, clean the disk, and adjust active protections.

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My Passport Ultra: Transfer speed tests

During my time with My Passport Ultra, I transferred a lot of data onto it and also used it with a few different laptops and desktops. Each time I plugged it in, the My Passport Ultra immediately became ready for use, and I never had any major issues with its performance. 

I ran a CystalDiskMark test using the My Passport Ultra, which showed a 118 MB/s read speed and a 116 MB/s write speed. This isn't the fastest HDD out there, but it is solid and steady. 

In addition to the CrystalDiskMark test, I also transferred roughly 4GB of data (comprised of a few small games, several big PSD files of digital drawings, and large wedding photos) onto the HDD in one go and kept an eye on the HDD's speed. As is usually the case, the HDD started off really fast but slowed down a bit as the minutes ticked by. There were a few stretches where the read speed dipped down and got as low as 20.7 MB/s, but the HDD recovered and picked back up. Overall, the read speed mostly stuck between 119 MB/s and 91 MB/s, which is good. 

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My Passport Ultra: Competition

When considering other external storage devices, you have your pick of either the best external SSDs or the best external HDDs. In general, SSDs are faster, but they tend to cost more. So, it really just depends on what you want from your storage device. 

When it comes to SSDs, I suggest you take a look at our Samsung T7 Shield review. This SSD is available in 1TB, 2TB, and 4TB capacities with your choice of a black, beige, or blue rugged casing. It reaches read speeds up to 1050 MB/s, making it significantly faster than the My Passport Ultra HDD. The 1TB sells for $99.00 at Amazon, while the 4TB sells for $318.39 at Amazon. 

If you're specifically looking for a good Xbox gaming HDD, then you should look at our WD_BLACK P10 review. This game drive supports up to 130 MB/s transfers and comes in 2TB, 4TB, 5TB, or 6TB capacities. It's compatible with Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One. The 2 TB model costs $94.99 at Best Buy, while the largest 6TB option sells for $189.99 at Amazon.

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My Passport Ultra: Should you buy it?

You should buy it if ...

✅ You want to expand your storage without having to open your laptop or desktop up

External HDDs like the My Passport Ultra simply require you to plug them into your laptop or desktop and then you have more room for files and programs. There are no extra steps for upgrading your computer in order to gain more storage space. 

You shouldn't buy it if ...

❌ You'd really prefer an external SSD to an external HDD

HDDs and SSDs are both helpful storage devices. However, there's no denying that SSDs are a lot faster as long as you're willing to pay more to get one. 

If you need additional storage space on your laptop or desktop, then this external HDD is a great choice. My Passport Ultra has plenty of storage capacities to choose from to help meet your needs, and they're all well-priced and within a reasonable range. Plus, this HDD offers solid performance to handle whatever files you need it to hold. Of course, getting a five-year license for Acronis True Image with this purchase also adds to this device's security while making maintenance easier. 

It's not the sleekest or slimmest HDD out there, but it is hearty and should travel well without getting damaged too easily. If you do decide to purchase My Passport Ultra, just make sure you buy one with a USB-C port rather than the outdated micro USB.

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What you need to know

• Western Digital is a well-known computer hardware company that produces SSDs, HDDs, and other devices. 
• Today, Western Digital revealed a next-gen WD Blue SN5000 NVMe SSD that the company says is intended for creators and professionals.
• This WD Blue SN5000 features Western Digital nCache 4.0 Technology to help the SSD copy data and files extremely fast with the help of AI.
• The SSD is available to order now and comes in 500GB, 1TB, 2TB, and 4TB capacities. 

For many, Western Digital is the go-to tech company for computer storage devices and that's not surprising given the quality and variety of its offerings. Today, Western Digital announced a brand new next-generation line of NVMe SSDs known as WD Blue SN5000. These come in 500GB, 1TB, 2TB, or 4TB capacities. This is 2x more storage capacity over the previous SSD generation. These SSDs are available for purchase right now, with a starting price of $79.99 at Western Digital.

New SSDs from a quality manufacturer

Western Digital produces hard drives and solid-state drives for various devices including laptops, desktops, and gaming handhelds (see our ROG Ally SSD upgrade guide for more info). As time goes on, we keep seeing the company produce larger capacity options to better suit our growing storage needs. But these SSDs don't just provide plenty of storage space, they're also fast and reliable, too. That's why Western Digital is found on our list of the best SSDs.

In the case of the new WD Blue SN5000 NVME PCIe Gen 4 SSD, you will need to have an M.2 2280 slot on your computer in order to accommodate it. The 4TB model can reach read speeds up to 5,500MB/s, which is a solid pace that should serve most computer users well. You should even be able to multitask with it at a smooth rate. In case you didn't know, the faster the read speed, the faster your computer will load and the more responsive it will be. This translates to a smoother user experience.

The WD Blue SN5000 also features Western Digital nCache 4.0 Technology, which allows the SSD to copy data and files extremely fast with the help of AI. The 4TB model also has 1,200TBW (Terabytes Written) endurance, this basically tells you that it will last a very long time, roughly to the point of writing 1,200TB worth of data over its life time before needing to be replaced — so that's a pretty long estimated lifespan. As creators and busy professionals know, several terabytes of data containing your work often need to be written onto an SSD as time goes on, so having a more durable device with a long lifespan is especially helpful. 

What's more, Western Digital offers a 5-year limited warranty and you can use the Western Digital Dashboard to monitor the SSDs performance on your computer. Whether you're needing to upgrade your current computer, are looking to upgrade your PC, or have another use for an SSD, the new WD Blue SN5000 is a fantastic option to go with. 

It's easy to fall into a "designed for gamers" trap when looking for PC and console accessories, as plenty of manufacturers use this tagline as a catch-all to imply fast enough speeds and high enough capacity to hold today's AAA titles.

Western Digital, at least, is a well-known manufacturer in the hard drive category. Its WD_BLACK subbrand, aimed at gamers, has been around for a few years, manufacturing a range of storage solutions. I've used a few of its offerings and found that some differ in real-world testing from their advertisements.

So, if you're considering buying the WD_BLACK P10 Game Drive at a $99.99 starting price from places like Best Buy, how do you know it's worth the investment? I took a 6TB variant of the drive for a test run with some game installation transfers and storage benchmarks to see if it's worth the money.

This review was made possible with a review sample provided by Western Digital. The company did not see the contents of the review before publishing.

WD_BLACK P10: Price, availability, and specs

Western Digital sells the WD_BLACK P10 Game Drive external 2.5" hard drive through its official storefront at $89.99 for a 2TB model and offers 4TB, 5TB, and 6TB variants.

Third-party retailers carry a handful of capacity models of the P10, with Best Buy offering 2TB for $99.99 and 5TB for $149.99. In addition to the Western Digital official store, Amazon also offers the 6TB model for $189.99.

Western Digital includes a 46cm USB-A to USB Micro-B cable and a small quick-install booklet in the box with the WD_BLACK P10. However, no extraordinary setup instructions are necessary for most devices. Essentially a 2.5-inch hard drive in a USB-powered enclosure, the P10 weighs precisely 239g, matching its specifications.

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WD_BLACK P10: Design and compatibility

Even with a rugged-looking enclosure, the WD_BLACK P10 is nothing fancier than a 2.5-inch hard drive adapted to be portable storage. Nevertheless, it feels solid and is light enough to travel thanks to its ultra-tight shell design around the internal drive. Besides a small LED that pulses white during transfers, there aren't any other frills outside of the almost military stylings of Western Digital's gaming subbrand. It's subtle enough to avoid looking garish, assembled with a set of four accessible hex screws along the top side, should you ever need to disassemble it and shuck the drive.

My only genuine concern with the design of the WB_BLACK P10 is that the USB Micro-B connector isn't completely flush when connected. It's already an ugly cable, trumped in every way by USB-C 3.2 Gen 1 alternatives, but they're pretty standard with external hard drive enclosures. If you plan to regularly disconnect this drive from your gaming PC or Xbox Series X|S, please don't bend or twist the chassis or cable when handling the P10; it doesn't have the most robust port in the world. If treated with common sense and care, you won't have any issues with this drive.

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WD_BLACK P10: Transfer speed tests

So, what's actually inside the WD_BLACK P10? Investigating the hardware shows a 2.5-inch WDC WD60NPZW-59C1LS0 mechanical drive running at up to 4800 RPM with a reported capacity of 5,723,134 MB (6,001 GB.) The enclosure supports up to USB 3.2 Gen 1 ports to enable its fastest transfers, claiming 130 MB/s on the box, and PC testing proved that to be accurate. Western Digital isn't pushing any unrealistic metrics on its advertising and tells no lies with the P10, though console performance usually fares slightly worse than desktop PCs and laptops.

Setting up the WD_BLACK P10 on an Xbox Series X allows for media or game transfer, with the latter generally the primary reason for buying a backup drive like this. You can't play Xbox Series X|S games directly from an external drive, but you can back them up to make space on your internal drive or play backward-compatible games from the Xbox 360 era, which have a lower minimum drive speed requirement. Copying 80.79GB of Alan Wake 2 from a Series X to the P10 maintained steady write speeds of just over 900Mbps (112.5 MB/s) while the opposite held around 950Mbps read (118.75 MB/s.)

While the Xbox Series X never reached its maximum potential of 130 MB/s transfers, a PC benchmark with CrystalDiskMark shows that the drive can absolutely reach those speeds. The slight difference between faster reads and slower writes is evident here, too, which is typical for almost any storage drive. Naturally, we're hitting realistic limits of 4800 RPM mechanical drives with the P10 anyway, so this performance matches typical high-end HDDs before moving onto solid-state equivalents.

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WD_BLACK P10: Competition

Western Digital itself has a broad range of external drives aimed at gamers, and the WD_BLACK range might seem confusing when you're looking to store backups from an Xbox or gaming PC. For example, while the WD_BLACK D30 contains an NVMe solid-state drive (SSD), it doesn't perform as well as the WD_BLACK P10 reviewed here. So, looking for an SSD doesn't guarantee faster performance than a high-quality mechanical HDD.

If you crave ultra-fast transfers over capacity, see our WD_BLACK P40 Game Drive SSD review for a USB-C option with subtle RGB lighting. However, the Xbox Series X will never fully utilize the maximum potential read and write speeds provided by the P40, so it is possible to overspend on an external drive that exceeds your needs. For reasonable speeds and a wide range of storage capacities, the WD_BLACK P10 is my top recommendation for an external drive, at least for Xbox Series X|S games.

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WD_BLACK P10: Should you buy it?

You should buy it if ...

✅ You play multiple Xbox Series X|S games with large installs

Even with an Xbox boasting 1TB of internal storage, modern games will soon eat up that space. Offloading the largest installations to the P10 is fast enough to be convenient and means you don't have to keep downloading huge titles.

You shouldn't buy it if ...

❌ You're a PC gamer craving the fastest backup speeds

The P10 is essentially a fancy enclosure that contains a traditional 2.5-inch mechanical hard drive, inherently restricted by its technology. Solid-state drive alternatives will offer faster transfer speeds, but the price regularly increases to match.

My ISP allows me around 500Mbps downloads, which is nothing to sniff at, but even I shudder at the thought of repeatedly downloading 120GB+ installations for the latest games on my Xbox and gaming PC. Offloading the largest titles to a drive like the WD_BLACK P10 means I can reinstall whenever I feel like it, with speeds fast enough that it doesn't feel like a chore.

Sure, it's not a solid-state drive offering the fastest speeds in the world, and the USB Micro-B cable is an ugly eyesore, but 6TB of backup space practically holds my entire library of oversized AAA games for whenever I feel like playing them. 950Mbps transfers are plenty for my Xbox Series X, and I'll be leaning on the P10 to manage my library from now on. It's exactly as fast as it needs to be and ranks as one of the best Xbox external hard drives to date.

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What you need to know

• Western Digital is a well-known computer drive and data storage company that acquired flash memory manufacturer, SanDisk, in 2016.
• Today, the company announced that it would be adding 6TB capacity options to three of its HDD products including My Passport Ultra, WD_BLACK P10 Game Drive, and SanDisk Professional G-DRIVE ArmorATD. 
•  According to Western Digital, it now offers the "highest storage capacity in a 2.5" portable HDD." 

Western Digital is a respected computer drive and data storage company that has provided reliable products for desktops and laptops for years. Its products are often listed on lists of the best portable hard drives and are a go-to for gamers. Today, the company announced that it would be adding a 6TB capacity option to three of its HDD products: My Passport Ultra, P10 Game Drive, and G-DRIVE ArmorATD. Western Digital also says that this means it now offers the"world’s highest capacity 2.5” portable HDDs."

Here are the Western Digital HDDs that are receiving a 6TB capacity option: 

• WD My Passport Ultra: Offered in 1TB, 2TB, 4TB, 5TB, and now 6TB capacities. This portable HDD offers password protection with 256-bit AES hardware encryption. You connect it to your devices via USB-C 3.2 Gen 1 port and it comes with a USB-C 3.0 adapter. Use it to expand the storage of your computer or laptop. It's offered in grey or blue depending on the capacity chosen. The new 6TB option has an MSRP of $199.99. 
• WD_BLACK P10 Game Drive: Marketed toward console and PC gamers, this HDD comes in 2TB, 4TB, 5TB, and now 6TB capacities with fast speeds of up to 130MB/s. The higher the capacity, the more game data you can store before running out of space. That way, you don't have to worry about needing to delete or rearrange game files as much. This game drive has a slim form factor that looks good on any desk. The new 6TB capacity sells for $184.99 MSRP.
• SanDisk Professional G-DRIVE ArmorATD: Western Digital acquired SanDisk back in 2016. This HDD is better protected and thus a great laptop travel accessory than others on the market. A rubber casing protects from accidental drops and bumps while the port is protected by a hatch. You don't have to worry as much about the weather, either, since it has an IP54 rain and dust rating. It offers transfer rates up to 130MB/s and features a USB-C (5Gbps) port. It's available in 1TB, 2TB, 4TB, 5TB, and now 6TB capacities. You can purchase this new 6TB HDD for $229.99 at Western Digital. 

Increased storage for our growing data libraries

Sometimes, I think back to the small external hard drive I used in college and I marvel at its tiny capacity. Despite having much more space on my devices these days I often find myself running out of storage quickly on both my work computer and my gaming PC. That's especially true given the digital art I create, the work documents I generate, and the video games I play, which all fill up my usable space far too quickly.

Of course, a 6TB HDD won't be necessary for everyone, but it's nice having the option for those of us can make use of it. I'd certainly spend a lot less time rearranging and deleting my own files if I had such a large-capacity drive. The WD_BLACK 910 Game Drive is especially appealing thanks to its fast speeds. However, the G-DRIVE ArmorATD would also come in handy for work trips. Knowing that it's protected by that water-resistant and particle-resistant rubber casing, would help me feel assured that my personal data isn't likely to get damaged in transit. 

We at Windows Central plan to test and review these devices down the line, so check back later to see just how well these HDDs perform. 

Making sure you have enough space on your laptop or PC desktop is crucial. Not only does having larger and faster SSDs (solid-state drives) allow you to save more files to your device, but having more than enough room for your computer to work with allows it to run more efficiently as well. Thanks to a deal going on right now, the WD_BLACK SN770 1TB Internal SSD is on sale for just $84.99, which is $45 less than its usual $129.99 MSRP. What's more, the 2TB version which usually sells for $239.99 is currently $100 off and selling at only $139.99. 

What are SSD read speeds and why do they matter?

Western Digital is known for designing and manufacturing reliable computer parts that work for both PC desktops and laptops. The WD_BLACK SN770 SSD in particular is a relatively fast PCIe Gen4 solid-state drive with a max read speed of 5,150 MB/s. The faster an SSD's read speed, the faster your system will be able to access any data or files stored on it. This, in turn, helps your computer or laptop work more efficiently. SSDs are much faster than hard disk drives (HDDs), which is why they've become the new standard for computers and gaming. 

So which of the two WD_BLACK SN770 SSD versions should you get? The 1TB or the 2TB? Since both the 1TB and 2TB version have the same read speed, you don't need to worry about sacrificing space for speed so either one will be a good choice. However, if you tend to use up a lot of space on your computer then it really can't hurt to go with the 2TB version. However, if you think you're more of an average file user then 1TB will serve you very well. 

I've absolutely loved my ROG Ally ever since I first got it, but there's no denying that the limited 512GB SSD it comes with doesn't provide a whole lot of room for my game files.

I can't even tell you how much time I've spent deleting and rearranging data on my ROG Ally's original SSD in order to make way for new games. It's tedious and takes away from what I actually want to be doing with the system — playing my favorite titles.

That's why I was so excited when I saw that Western Digital had released a 1TB and 2TB internal SSD specifically marketed for Steam Deck and ROG Ally. Ever since I installed the 2TB version into my ROG Ally, the gaming handheld has provided a much better gaming experience.

Disclaimer: This review was made possible thanks to a review unit provided by Western Digital. The company did not see the contents of this review before publishing.

WD_Black SN770M: A breeze to install

When I wrote my ROG Ally Z1 Extreme review, I was impressed by the gaming handheld's performance, control layout, and setting customization. Now that I've swapped SSDs, I'm also impressed by how straightforward ASUS ROG made it to upgrade specific internal components.

As you can see from my guides on how to upgrade an ROG Ally SSD and how to upgrade a Steam Deck SSD, removing the original 512GB SSD from the ROG Ally and replacing it with the WD_Black SN770M SSD is extremely easy. Of course, it helped that I had my gaming handheld screwdriver set, which comes with a plastic pick for prying open casing. So, you'll want to have that or something similar when you do the process yourself.

The simple SSD swap is partially thanks to Western Digital for producing an excellent SSD shape that fits perfectly into the gaming handheld's SSD slot. Meanwhile, ASUS ROG also provides convenient Cloud Recovery with a clean install of Windows 11 and various ASUS/ROG programs, which adds even more convenience to SSD upgrading. Just note that your Ally must still be under warranty to take advantage of ASUS Cloud Recovery.

On another note, Western Digital specifically markets the SN770M SSD for Steam Deck and ROG Ally. It's possible that it could also work with Legion Go, but I haven't been able to verify this yet.

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WD_Black SN770M: Increased speeds and extra storage

I don't even know how many hours I've put on my ROG Ally since I first got it, but it's become one of my main go-to gaming devices. Still, at first, one of my biggest points of frustration revolved around game storage space. The 512GB original SSD isn't conducive to an extensive game library. After installing just three large games on my ROG Ally (Cyberpunk 2077, Hogwarts Legacy, and Baldur's Gate 3), I found myself out of space.

I often had to take the tedious time of uninstalling one of my games to make way for another one. Even then, sometimes large game updates were too big and also required me to uninstall a game to allow the process to continue. It grew to be a regular and annoying task. True, I could have used a microSD card to increase storage, but ever since I learned about the ROG Ally overheating issue that can cause microSD cards to malfunction, I've been averse to using storage cards on the handheld.

But now that I've put a 2TB WD_BLACK SN770M SSD into my ROG Ally, I've been able to install several more titles without rearranging any existing game files. It's a huge relief. I'll still have to rearrange game files down the line, but it won't be nearly as often going forward.

On top of that, the 2TB WD_BLACK SN770M SSD offers faster reading and writing speeds over the original ROG Ally SSD to help the handheld work more efficiently. For those who might not know, the faster an SSD's read and write speeds, the smoother the graphical performance tends to be. That's because an SSD helps determine the quickness of load times, file saves, file loads, and even how well scene transitions in games are carried out.

In my CrystalDiskMark benchmark testing, the ROG Ally's original SSD produced a read speed of 4,303 MB/s and a write speed of 1,840 MB/s. Unsurprisingly, WD_BLACK SN770M outperformed it by producing a better read speed of 5,278 MB/s and a vastly improved write speed of 4,817 MB/s.

These results aren't surprising, given that systems tend to function better when they aren't constantly on the verge of running out of storage like my ROG Ally used to be when it only had a 512GB SSD. At any rate, it shows how advantageous the WD_Black SN770M SSD is.

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WD_Black SN770M: Competition

When it comes to internal SSDs, the best option for gaming handhelds really is the WD_BLACK SN770M since it's reliable and the correct shape for the job. However, there's also the option of using external SSDs with an ROG Ally, Steam Deck, or Legion Go.

Compatible external SSDs can come in larger capacities than internal SSDs to provide even more game space. However, they tend to be more expensive and clunky to use since they must be connected to gaming handhelds directly via USB-C ports. Additionally, if you want your ROG Ally or Steam Deck to charge up while being connected to an external SSD, then you'll need to use a reliable docking station with USB ports. One such option can be viewed in our Syntech 6-in-1 docking station review.

As far as a suitable external SSD goes, I recommend taking a look at our Samsung T7 Shield review. These are solid external SSDs available in 1TB, 2TB, or 4TB capacities, and they connect to other devices via USB-C. Additionally, they are available in black, blue, or beige, so you can choose the color you like best.

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WD_Black SN770M: Should you buy it?

You should buy this if...

If you're the owner of a Steam Deck or ROG Ally, then you absolutely should consider upgrading to a WD_BLACK SN770M internal SSD. This upgrade once more proves that Western Digital is a reliable manufacturer that produces extremely well-made products. You'll have more game space, so you don't have to do the uninstall dance nearly as much, and you'll get improved read and write speeds in the process.

The fact that the ROG Ally's design makes it easy to upgrade SSDs is yet another reason why gaming handheld owners should take the time to make the swap. Just be careful while doing so and make use of ASUS Cloud Recovery. You'll be grateful to play with the new WD_BLACK SN770M.

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If you're like me, you probably learned that the 512GB SSD that comes in the ROG Ally doesn't provide a large enough storage capacity to hold that many games. Thankfully, Western Digital produces 1TB and 2TB SSDs specifically intended for ROG Ally and Steam Deck to make way for more programs on the handhelds. 

The ROG Ally SSD upgrading process is actually really easy, as you'll see in this guide. I'll start by going over your various SSD options for ROG Ally followed by how to backup data on your original SSD and how to transfer data to the new SSD. After that, I'll walk you step-by-step (with pictures) through the process of opening the system and physically swapping SSDs in the gaming handheld. 

What are my ROG Ally SSD options?

While not fully proven, some people have claimed that the ROG Ally can overheat and cause a microSD card malfunction. If you're concerned about that, it might be a better idea to upgrade the ROG Ally to a higher-capacity internal SSD rather than relying on a microSD card. There are three different ways you can go about upgrading SSD capacity: 

1) Connect an external SSD — Compatible external SSDs can plug right into the ROG Ally's USB-C port. If you want the gaming handheld to charge up while attached to an external SSD (like the Samsung T7 Shield 2TB External SSD), then you'll need a docking station with additional ports like the Unitek Cooling Dock I reviewed. External SSDs are more clunky than internal SSDs at times but can give you more capacity options overall.

2) Clean install with a new internal SSD — If you do want to upgrade the ROG Ally's internal SSD, it's recommended you do a clean install. This erases your settings, programs, and data but is considered the best way of doing things since it helps remove clutter from the device and helps it run more smoothly. Don't worry; ROG has built-in Cloud Recovery for ROG Ally's still under warranty, so you can easily factory reset the handheld with a clean install of Windows 11 and various ROG programs needed for the Ally. 

3) Backup the original internal SSD and transfer data to the new one — If you want to keep your personal OS, settings, programs, and files, then you'll want to first backup the original ROG Ally internal SSD's data before swapping SSDs out and then transfer the data to the new SSD later. To accomplish this, you either need a laptop/desktop or an external SSD with enough space to save the backup to. 

How to backup SSD data

Before you actually swap out the old internal SSD for a new one, you might want to make a backup and save it on another desktop, laptop, or external SSD. One of the easiest ways to do this is by installing a program called Macrium Reflect onto your ROG Ally, connecting your Ally to an external SSD or computer, and then saving the backup to the other device. Macrium's software allows you to fully clone your SSD or create an image backup for you to save on an external device. There's a free 30-day trial for this software, or you can pay for a subscription. 

Another option that costs less money overall is to use an enclosure adapter for the SSD, such as the Orico one shown below. Put your original SSD inside, plug it into a laptop or desktop, and then backup your data to that device. Alternatively, you might find it more convenient (albeit more expensive) to attach an external SSD to the ROG Ally and save your backup to it that way.

How to install a new SSD in ROG Ally

What you need to upgrade an ROG Ally SSD

1. Completely turn off your ROG Ally. You can quickly do this by holding down the volume down button and the power button for a few seconds.

2. Place the handheld screen down on a clean, flat surface.

3. Remove the six screws on the back side, leaving the one on the bottom center for last. This last one isn't as long as the others and will stay in the casing.

4. Carefully pull the casing open. I found it easiest to place my triangular plastic pick (that came with my screwdriver set) in the bottom and then slide it left and then right as this disengaged the clasps holding the casing together.

5. Safely unplug the battery. It's located near the bottom of the casing.

6. Remove the flat black sticker on the top. Make sure to set it down in such a way that the adhesive doesn't get dusty or dirty.

7. Unscrew the M.2 screw that holds the original SSD in place. Be careful so you don't strip the screw while doing this.

8. Carefully pull the original SSD out by pushing it down and away from its contact points. If it gets stuck on the screw area, use the black tab underneath to pull it up and then pull it out.

9. Install the WD_BLACK SN770M SSD by carefully pushing it up into the contact points and then carefully screw the small M.2 screw back into place.

10. Put the flat black plastic back where it belongs.

11. Plug the battery back in.

12. Put the casing back in place and squeeze the plastic around the edges to pop it back together.

13. Screw the six screws all back into place.

14. Plug the official charging adapter into the ROG Ally (it won't turn on unless you do this).

15. Turn your ROG Ally back on by holding down the power button, and it should boot the BIOS when it detects the new hardware.

18. Press Y to go to Advanced Mode.

19. Tap on the Advanced tab and select ASUS Cloud Recovery.

20. If this is your first time doing this (and it likely is), you'll need to select View Policy to get acquainted with the Privacy Notice.

21. You will then need to check the box to confirm that you are over 20 years old then select Agree.

22. Select Next [Enter] to initiate Cloud Recovery downloading.

23. Then you'll need to select your Internet AP and click Confirm.

24. Enter your Wi-Fi password then click Confirm again.

25. Click OK [Enter] to continue.

26. A new box will show up, click Next [Enter] to start the download (this could take several minutes).

27. Once it finishes downloading, click Confirm.

28. Wait for the system to restart so it can connect to Cloud Recovery again. This could take several minutes.

29. A notice will come up telling you that all personal data will be erased from the ROG Ally and it will recommend that you backup everything to an external hard drive. If you want to backup data and haven't done so yet, connect a compatible external hard drive to the ROG Ally's USB-C port, select OK, and complete the process. Otherwise, select No and then Yes to factory reset the handheld, which erases your data and does a clean install of Windows 11/ROG programs. ROG recommends doing the clean install.

30. Wait again while the Cloud Recovery process happens. This once again can take several minutes and involves making the ROG Ally restart several times, so it's best to leave the handheld somewhere safe and not touch it until it is completely done. If you choose to erase your data, you'll know it's done with the process when it asks you to choose your country or region.

• If you backed up your data on an external hard drive, take time to transfer your backup data to the ROG Ally.

Now you're good to play your ROG Ally with the new WD_Black SN770M SSD installed. If you encounter any issues during the WD_Black SSD installation process, reach out to Western Digital customer support for assistance. 

ROG Ally SSD upgrade FAQ

Give yourself more game space

As you can see, the process for physically swapping out the original ROG Ally SSD and putting in a new SSD is relatively simple. However, there is more to do on a software level. ASUS ROG specifically recommends doing a clean install, but if you don't like that idea, then you'll want to make a backup of your original ROG Ally SSD before doing the upgrade. This can be accomplished with an SSD enclosure adapter and computer or with an external SSD. But you'll also need to use a helpful disk backup program, such as Macrium Reflect, in order to clone or create an image backup of your SSD. 

The adapter route is far more affordable, but the SSD route is more convenient. So you'll have to decide which one is a better fit for you. Of course, you could just opt to use an external SSD with your ROG Ally rather than swapping out an internal one. This can make the gaming handheld a bit more clunky to use at times, but you can also give yourself far more space this way and enjoy the portable gaming benefits I described in my ROG Ally review.

If you're looking to upgrade your network storage solution this Black Friday, you are most definitely in luck. Right now, Best Buy has an insane deal on an 18TB (yes, terabyte) external drive from Western Digital, roughly halving the price from $404 to just $199, while stocks last. That's 18GB of storage per dollar. $200 for 18 whole terabytes of storage is a deal too good to pass up!

There's more good news! This deal comes from Best Buy, one of the more trusted retailers with excellent customer support and an easy return process. You may even be able to get the drive in your hands faster with in-store pickup, which can take as little as two hours in some areas across the United States.

A My Best Buy membership can net other benefits like faster (free) shipping, longer 60-day return windows, exclusive deals, and more! For more information, you can check out our in-depth guide on My Best Buy memberships.

More great Black Friday deals

• Walmart: Early Black Friday deals on practically everything
• Dell: Top deals on laptops, gaming PCs, accessories, and more
• Alienware: Up to $800 off gaming laptops and desktops
• Best Buy: Big savings on video games, accessories, and more
• HP: Up to 84% of select HP Windows PCs and accessories
• Lenovo: Up to 50% of gaming towers, laptops, and accessories
• Newegg: Save on PC gaming accessories, components, and more
• Razer: Up to 43% off laptops and accessories with free gifts
• More individual deals:
  • Xbox Series X + Diablo IV + free $75 Target gift card for $634.99 $449.99 at Target
  • Samsung T9 4TB Portable SSD for $439.99 $249.99 at Best Buy
  • Xbox Stereo Headset — 20th Anniversary for $69.99 $46.86 at Walmart
  • Xbox Series X + Diablo IV + Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III for $639.99 $489.99 at Walmart
  • TP-Link Deco X55 Wi-Fi mesh 3-pack for $229.99 $179.99 at Amazon
  • Razer Wolverine V2 Chroma for $149.99 $89.99 at Best Buy
  • Xbox Series X + $50 Best Buy gift card for $549.99 $399.99 at Best Buy for Plus/Total members
  • HyperX Cloud III Wireless for $169.99 $129.99 at Best Buy
  • Xbox Series S + 3-months Xbox Game Pass Ultimate for $299.99 $249 at Walmart
  • Lenovo LOQ Tower (17IRB8) + 3-months Xbox Game Pass Ultimate from $1,029.99 $674.99 at Lenovo

It's just so much storage

I don't even know what I'd fill 18TB worth of data with, but I know there are people out there who will fill it in a flash. 18 TB is 18,000 GB, or 1.8e+7 MB for those keeping track at home. It's just so much space, and it's best served as storage for backing up the data that's most important to you.

The WD easystore is an external USB drive, meaning it can be connected any device via a USB cable. On a Windows and Mac device, you can set it up as a backup location for data on your computer, and Windows/Mac will automatically back up to the NAS at whatever interval you've told it to.

This also works with smartphones, with the ability to backup your photos and videos to the drive for safe keeping. This is good practise, as you shouldn't rely entirely on third-party backup solutions like iCloud, OneDrive, or Google Photos to safely store your pictures. What happens if your account gets hacked? With a local drive, you can sleep peacefully knowing that no matter what, you'll always have those photos and videos on your own storage server.

The drive itself is an inoffensive looking drive that sits neatly on your desk. While not an easy process, you can even upgrade the drive on the inside to something else in the future if necessary, which is great. This is pretty much the best deal on storage we've found so far this Black Friday. 18TB of HDD storage in a neat enclosed drive. For $200. What more could you want?

What you need to know

• Western Digital is a major manufacturer of basically every kind of PC HDD and SSD storage.
• On Tuesday, the company's WD_BLACK branch announced (and released) the high-performance SN770M SSD.
• This NVMe PCIe Gen 4x4 gaming SSD is the compact M.2 2230 size, making it ideal for compact PCs.
• Western Digital has designed it for handheld gaming PCs like the ASUS ROG Ally and Steam Deck, but it's also compatible with many Surface and Dell ultrabooks.

Handheld gaming PCs are quickly evolving into a proper market bustling with competition, as they provide more power and flexibility than other handhelds like the popular Nintendo Switch. This includes the ability to swap out the internal storage for faster and larger SSDs, and Western Digital is here to deliver the perfect, high-performance option for that purpose.

The new WD_BLACK SN770M SSD, from Western Digital's gaming-focused brand, adapts the tiny M.2 2230 form factor that's relatively uncommon in SSDs. This makes it the perfect size for handheld gaming PCs like the ASUS ROG Ally and Steam Deck, which is exactly what the company designed it for. Of course, it's also compatible with certain ultrabooks, like from Microsoft Surface or Dell.

WD_BLACK's latest gaming SSD is no slouch, either. Despite its small stature, the SN770M is still available with up to 2TB of capacity. It's also an NVMe PCIe Gen 4x4  SSD, meaning you're getting ludicrously fast speeds of up to 5,150MB/s read and 4,900MB/s write, especially with the 1TB or 2TB models. Those impressive speeds should improve performance and shorten load times in the best PC games.

Elsewhere, you're getting full support for Microsoft's DirectStorage for even better performance, a 5-year limited warranty for peace of mind, and compatibility with the Western Digital Dashboard software to keep your SSD tuned and ready to go. As always, tinkering with the internals on your handheld gaming PC shouldn't be done lightly, as it's all-too easy to damage something. Western Digital has released a tutorial for installing the SN770M SSD to help interested users.

The WD_BLACK SN770M SSD for handheld gaming PCs and ultrabooks is now available to purchase, with prices starting at $74.99 for 512GB, raising to $109.99 for 1TB and $219.99 for 2TB.

Western Digital is one of the most prominent digital storage manufacturers in the world, and WD_BLACK is the company's gaming brand responsible for creating SSDs, HDDs, and portable drives perfect for console and PC gaming. The WD_BLACK P40 Game Drive is one of the most impressive external SSDs from the company, made to work perfectly on Xbox Series X|S consoles and Windows PCs.

With rated speeds of up to 2,000MB/s, a compact and durable design, and subtle RGB lighting to add another splash of color to your gaming setup, the WD_BLACK P40 may be one of the best SSDs for gamers. If you only game on a console, however, there may be more affordable options out there, as not even current-gen consoles can truly take advantage of this SSD's speed and features.

Disclaimer: This review was made possible by a review unit provided by Western Digital. The company did not see the contents of the review before publishing.

WD_BLACK P40 Game Drive SSD: Pricing and availability

The WD_BLACK P40 Game Drive external SSD benefits from Western Digital's vast distribution network, meaning you can get it directly from the manufacturer and from a variety of third-party retailers like Amazon, Best Buy, and B&H Photo. It's available in 500GB, 1TB, and 2TB sizes, which is very similar to the vast army of competing portable SSDs on the market.

The P40 Game Drive differentiates itself by being one of the few regularly-available SSDs boasting USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 support, and by its included RGB lighting, both of which make it a little more expensive than more established USB 3.2 Gen 2 SSDs like the competing Samsung T7. The WD_BLACK P40 Game Drive SSD retails for USD $105.99 for the 500GB version, $136.99 for the 1TB version, and $252.99 for the 2TB version, but is regularly available for sale at $89.99, $129.99, and $199.99 respectively.

WD_BLACK P40 Game Drive SSD: Build quality and design

The WD_BLACK brand in Western Digital's portfolio maintains an aggressively utilitarian design language, which is continued with the P40 Game Drive SSD. Harsh lines, bold ridges, and visible screws comprise this SSD's body, and it's... Fine! There are none of the svelte details of Western Digital's Passport line, nor does the P40 Game Drive compare to other portable SSDs on the market like the Samsung T7, but it's not an ugly SSD by any means.

The WD_BLACK P40 Game Drive is compact enough to slip unnoticed into practically any bag or pocket, however, and it certainly feels durable. Western Digital rates its "shock-absorbent body" as being protected against drops up to two meters high, and I tend to believe those claims. While you don't get a carrying case of any kind in the box, the Type-C port is at least partially protected from knocks and bumps by the surrounding ridges. This recession seems large enough to accommodate most third-party Type-C cables, too, if you want to replace the typically short cable with a longer alternative.

The P40 Game Drive SSD's claim to fame seems to be the dual RGB light strips that sit along the bottom of the SSD's side ridges. By default, these RGB lights cycle through the rainbow in a subtle, rolling pattern — and that's all the lights will ever show, unless you use the P40 Game Drive with a Windows PC that has the WD Dashboard application installed.

The WD Dashboard does make it easy to customize the RGB lights to your heart's content, with plenty of pattern and color options from which to choose, but those settings will only work on a compatible Windows PC that's able to run the aforementioned application. If you connect the SSD to any other device, such as a console, you'll always get the same rainbow pattern. Sadly, that means no green lights for my Xbox Series X.

Besides this glaring shortcoming, the RGB lights are both too subtle for my taste and feel out of place with the overarching design. Because of their position, the RGB lights can be difficult to see even at full brightness, guaranteeing that this SSD is meant to add to an existing RGB setup rather than be a centerpiece. The surrounding design of the P40 Game Drive is also identical to other WD_BLACK products, making the RGB lighting feel shoehorned in rather than part of a complete, meticulous design. Without it being plugged in, you would never think that the P40 Game Drive lights up at all.

The WD_BLACK P40 Game Drive SSD overall feels and looks just good enough. While I can't praise its design or the RGB lighting, I also don't have any major complaints or concerns. It's clearly very well-built and seems like it'll hold up well over time. The P40 follows in the footsteps of other WD_BLACK products by placing functionality well above appearance, which is a perfectly acceptable approach (especially when this SSD isn't liable to be seen too often if you stick it behind your Xbox).

WD_BLACK P40 Game Drive SSD: Speed and performance

At the end of the day, what's most important when considering a new SSD — portable or otherwise — is how it performs. To this end, the WD_BLACK P40 Game Drive SSD is a fantastic offering, especially if you're playing on PC with the right selection of ports. That's because the P40 Game Drive is one of the few widely available SSDs that supports USB 3.2 Gen 2x2, a confusing nomenclature in the oft-quixotic world of USB that essentially means up to two times faster transfer speeds than the more common USB 3.2 Gen 2 standard.

Because of this, Western Digital boasts read and write speeds of up to 2,000MB/s across all sizes (with a small 50MB/s hit to maximum write speeds for the 500GB variant). Most other portable SSDs in this category typically sit around 1,000MB/s. Unfortunately, my PC isn't equipped with a port that's able to take full advantage of the WD_BLACK P40, although it performed admirably when connected to a USB Type-C 3.2 Gen 2 port, with CrystalDiskMark scores of 1,034Mb/s read and 940Mb/s write speeds. This does pull just ahead of the USB 3.2 Gen 2-equipped Samsung T7 (and our current favorite external SSD) and translates to small gains when connected to an Xbox console.

Current-gen consoles like Xbox Series X|S and PS5 feature USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports, meaning no console can take full advantage of the purported speeds of the WD_BLACK P40 Game Drive SSD. That being said, I still had an excellent experience with transferring and moving games, archiving Xbox Series X|S titles, and playing Xbox One and other backward-compatible games. I ran a variety of simple tests and compared some of those times with my Samsung T7, and the P40 Game Drive is certainly fast.

I transferred Red Dead Redemption 2, an Xbox One game totaling over 123GB in size, from my Xbox Series X's internal SSD to the P40 Game Drive, a process that took 12 minutes and 7 seconds from the moment I hit "Move" to completion. During that time, transfer speeds averaged between 1.17 and 1.30GB/s, although there were brief dips as low as 1.10GB/s and brief spikes as high as 1.65GB/s.

I also transferred State of Decay 2 Juggernaut Edition, an Xbox Series X|S game totaling nearly 21GB in size, which took 2 minutes and 5 seconds to complete. Average speeds were slightly higher with this transfer, sitting between 1.20 and 1.40GB/s, although there was a strange, unexplained dip around the 75% mark that saw transfer speeds fall as low as 890MB/s. This didn't greatly affect how quickly the game was transferred, though. I sent State of Decay 2 back to my Xbox Series X's internal storage, which only took 1 minute and 27 seconds from start to finish.

Next, I transferred Grounded, an Xbox Series X|S game totaling over 9GB install size, to and from every storage option on my Xbox Series X to get an idea of overall speeds. Transferring the game from internal storage to the P40 Game Drive took 47 seconds, compared to 43 seconds from internal storage to the T7. Transferring back to internal storage took the P40 52 seconds, compared to 56 seconds for the T7. From the P40 to the T7 took 45 seconds, and from the T7 to the P40 took 52 seconds.

Finally, I wanted to get an idea of load times for games. I chose Minecraft, an Xbox One game with longer load times. I timed how long it took to cold start Minecraft, load the game, and get into a world five times, and then averaged the times. The slowest time was by far the Samsung T7, which took 36 seconds on average to actually get into a game. Surprisingly, internal storage was the second fastest with an average time of 29 seconds, while the P40 Game Drive just pulled ahead with an average load time of just 28 seconds.

So, what does this all mean? It means that my Xbox Series X absolutely isn't pushing the WD_BLACK P40 Game Drive to its max — Instead, the SSD is pushing the Xbox Series X's USB ports to their max. It also means that the P40 Game Drive is actually a little faster on average than the current champion, the Samsung T7, although the gains are often negligible since the T7 is also about as fast of an external SSD as a console can support. When you're playing backward compatible Xbox One or older games, the load times through the P40 Game Drive will be practically identical to that of the internal storage, which makes this an amazing way to free up space for Xbox Series X|S Optimized games without compromising on load times or performance.

WD_BLACK P40 Game Drive SSD: Competition

There is no shortage of awesome portable and external SSDs in the world, but which are actually competition for the WD_BLACK P40 Game Drive SSD? If you're playing on Xbox One, there are plenty of slower, more affordable SSDs that are more suited to the older consoles, like the ADATA SD600Q or a mid-range Samsung. Those playing on Xbox Series X|S will be better able to take advantage of the sweltering speeds of the P40 Game Drive SSD, with some caveats.

The only option available to install and play more Xbox Series X|S Optimized games is the Seagate Xbox Storage Expansion Card, an ultra-premium SSD with an equally high price tag. For archiving Xbox Series X|S games and playing backward compatible Xbox One and older games, the P40 Game Drive is amazing and can be just as fast as internal storage. That being said, no console can really take full advantage of this SSD thanks to USB limitations. You can save some money and get a near-identical experience with an SSD like the Samsung T7, Windows Central's favorite portable SSD with rock-solid performance, impeccable build quality and design, and a reasonable price tag. It can usually be found for $15 to $30 cheaper than the P40 Game Drive for each respective size, a modest discount that could make a big difference for buyers.

On PC, the P40 Game Drive SSD is a more appealing purchase with its customizable RGB lighting and higher possible speeds via USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 and is only matched by other, similarly specced portable SSDs or vastly more expensive Thunderbolt-equipped SSDs (which will have even faster speeds). When compared to these SSDs, the WD_BLACK P40 Game Drive SSD is very competitively priced and offers a fantastic overall experience.

WD_BLACK P40 Game Drive SSD: Should you buy it?

You should buy the WD_BLACK P40 Game Drive SSD if...

• You want a competitively priced, well-built USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 SSD for use on PC
• You highly value RGB lighting, especially with PC customization
• You want the fastest possible portable SSD speeds on Xbox Series X|S

You should not buy the WD_BLACK P40 Game Drive SSD if...

• You only game on Xbox and want the best value possible
• You don't care for RGB lighting at all
• You want to be able to play Xbox Series X|S games from the SSD

The WD_BLACK P40 Game Drive SSD is a fantastic portable SSD by practically any measurement, but it undoubtedly becomes a little less appealing when paired with an Xbox or PlayStation console. Even the latest and greatest current-gen consoles can't take full advantage of this SSD's maximum speeds, and it's only possible to customize the RGB lighting when connected to a PC. Because of this, some of the best external Xbox SSDs offer very similar experiences on console for a bit less money.

If you game on PC and want a fast, reliable portable SSD that won't hamper your load times, the P40 Game Drive can do exactly that and let you customize your setup. The WD_BLACK P40 Game Drive SSD is also just an incredible storage solution even when you're not gaming, thanks to its rugged construction and USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 support. If you're still looking at this SSD exclusively for use with your Xbox Series X or S console, bear in mind that you're paying a little extra just for the rainbow lights, slightly higher average speeds, and the potential of future-proofing with your next console. RGB also makes you better at gaming, as everyone knows, so that's another plus for the P40 Game Drive.

Rather than pluggable storage drives with swappable enclosures that we’re used to today, SanDisk took a different, more modular approach when it launched its Pro-Blade SSD system earlier this year. Designed to be lightweight, portable, and slim, the Pro-Blade is made for content creators, video editors, and data scientists who need to quickly swap out solid-state drives while in the field without having to lug around larger drives with enclosures or deal with plugging and unplugging cables.

SanDisk Pro-Blade SSD: Pricing, specifications, and availability

At present, there are two main components to the Pro-Blade ecosystem: The external enclosure that connects to the PC, known as the Transport, and the individual drives, referred to as Mags.

The Transport can be purchased as a standalone unit without any included drive for $69. Western Digital also sells the Transport with a 1TB Mag for $239, a 2TB Mag for $359, and a 4TB Mag for a discounted price of $619.

Additionally, you can purchase additional Mags if you need more storage. The Pro-Blade SSD Mag is available starting at $179 for a 1TB drive and goes up to $599 for a 4TB drive.

As part of our review, Western Digital supplied us the Transport with a 2TB Mag, which retails for $359, as well as an additional standalone 2TB Mag ($299) and 4TB Mag ($599).

SanDisk Pro-Blade SSD: Design

By relying on a modular system, the Pro-Blade ecosystem primarily consists of two parts – SanDisk and parent company Western Digital offers a mix of accessories, depending on if you’re a mobile or a desk-bound user – a holder for the drive, and what appears to be an M.2 format drive encased in a slim metal enclosure called a “Mag.” 

With a name like Mag, it’s easy to see where SanDisk drew its inspiration. Like guns where ammunition can quickly be reloaded in magazines, SanDisk’s Mags make it easy to swap between various drives. Essentially, if you’re relying on four, five, or 10 drives, hypothetically, while traveling, having the holder, known as the Transport, and 10 Mags in this case, creates a far more compact package while on the road than 10 individual external SSDs that each come with its own enclosure, cables, and internal circuitry. But if you’re a casual home user, student, or business professional who may need access to a lone 1TB drive, you definitely won’t realize the benefit of SanDisk’s modular Mag system. 

The Mags are solidly constructed of an aluminum metal, making it a rugged option for travel. Coupled with the durability of SSDs – especially when compared to spinning HDD platters – the Mags are made to be road-safe travel companions for those who need copious amounts of storage. 

And sized at 4.32 x 1.1 x 0.3 inches, each individual Mag is just slightly bigger than a naked M.2 NVMe SSD, which has a footprint of 3.15 x 0.87 inches for the 2280 variety. 

If you’re a professional looking to add multiple Mags to your workflow, you’ll definitely want to invest in some tape and a permanent marker or a label-maker to properly label your drive for easy identification.

To read and write content to the Mag, and attach the SSD as an external drive to your computer, you’ll need to use SanDisk’s Pro-Blade Transport. On its own, the Transport looks like it could be an external HDD that accommodates 2.5-inch drives. It measures 5.13 x 2.82 x 0.63 inches and weighs 0.46 pounds. For comparison, parent company Western Digital’s 2TB MyPassport external drive with USB 3.0 support measures 4.2 x 2.95 x 0.4 inches. 

The Transport is rather non-descript, containing SanDisk’s Professional badge up top, slightly angled sides, and an exposed-screw design that adds to the device’s rugged credibility. The sides also come with striated lines, which does help with grippability, especially if you’re working in colder environments and need to handle the Transport with gloves. 

On the back, you’ll find a single SuperSpeed USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 Type-C 20Gbps port with 20G branding, and at the front, a single LED light graces the edge to indicate the drive is in use. There’s also a slot to insert your Mag.

In general, the Pro-Blade Transport styling resembles the aesthetics of SanDisk Professional’s G-Drive external HDD, and both SanDisk and Western Digital is carrying over its G-Drive ruggedized heritage to the solid-state storage market. 

Mags slot right into the Transport, and exposed connectors on the bottom edge of the drive interface with the holder, allowing data to be transferred between the SSD and your connected PC. By default, Mag drives ship formatted to work with Apple’s macOS out of the box, so PC users will need to format the Mag drives upon arrival to work with Windows.

Once inserted into the Transport, the connectors on the bottom of the Mag keep the drive secure inside its home – no amount of shaking would cause the drive to fall out. To remove the drive, there’s a long notched groove along the top edge of the exposed section of the Mag. You’ll need to grip it with your fingers – fingernails aren’t recommended as tools here, as the drive is securely in place and you risk damaging your own appendages – and pull. The process is painstakingly easy and provides plenty of utility for those who need to work across multiple drives. 

Mags are available in 1TB, 2TB, and 4TB capacities, and SanDisk sells the Transports with or without drives. For our review, Western Digital shipped us a Transport that came equipped with a 2TB drive inside as a package, along with two separate Mags with a 2TB and 4TB capacities.

While the Mag name may draw parallels with ammunition, in reality the way the Pro-Blade system works is more akin to Iomega’s Zip drives and floppy disks of yore. Like the Zip disks, the Pro-Blade Mag provides the storage, while the Transport serves as the drive to read the disks. Instead of spinning disks, SanDisk has modernized the concept and miniaturized the idea with the Mag and its internal SSD. 

It’d be interesting to see if SanDisk and Western Digital can form important partnerships to embed the Transport system as a drive inside PC desktops and professional video cameras or create more compact, less rugged Transports that can be mounted or jerry-rigged onto professional mirrorless cameras for added storage and simplify a creator’s workflow. 

In addition to the portable Transport with its bundled 20Gbps USB-C cable, SanDisk also offers a Pro-Blade Station, which will be arriving later this year. While the Transport can accommodate a single Mag at a time, the Station has slots to read from four different Mags at once, making it an excellent desktop companion for videographers, data scientists, and content creators who are dealing with multiple drives with large files.  

A spokesperson from Western Digital confirmed that while the Pro-Blade Station can accommodate multiple Mags at the same time, allowing you to transfer data between Mags and backup your files, the Station was not created to be used as a network-attached storage (NAS) solution.

SanDisk Pro-Blade SSD: Performance

With 20Gbps USB-C transfer speeds and SSD performance, the Transport is a zippy modern alternative to the retired Zip drive. Performance in general is great, and I was able to transfer copious amounts of photos, videos, and documents to and from the drive without much delay. 

SanDisk advertises that the Pro-Blade Mag and Transport system can achieve read and write speeds up to 200Mbps. In reality, performance is more nuanced. Benchmarked using a 2021 M1-powered MacBook Pro – as SanDisk ships the Pro-Blade Mag formatted to work with Macs out of the box – the 2TB drive peaked out at just over 1000Mbps in one test using AmorphousDiskMark 4.0. In a series of four read and write tests, the average readings for the 2TB drive are 465Mbps and 468Mbps, respectively. Performance is similar when the same benchmarks were repeated on the 4TB Mag. 

For reference, the average read speed for Apple’s internal SSD on the MacBook Pro is 2721Mbps, while the write speed average is 2688Mbps.

On a PC, we benchmarked the performance of the 2TB Mag using the CrystalDiskMark utility on the Asus Vivobook S14X laptop. The peak read and write speeds were 1089Mbps and 1056Mbps, respectively. The drive scored an average read speed of 473Mbps and an average write speed of 507Mbps. These numbers are consistent with the Mac’s AmorphousDiskMark utility. Performance of the 4TB Mag was similar, as well, on CrystalDiskMark. 

Both the Vivobook and the MacBook Pro have Thunderbolt 4 over USB-C ports, so port speeds weren’t a concern. 

And for comparison, the internal 512GB solid-state drive on the Vivobook had an average read speed of 1272Mbps and average write speed of 1288Mbps when benchmarked using CrystalDiskMark. 

The speeds achieved by the Pro-Blade Mag using synthetic benchmarks are still great, but they’re not the fastest we’ve seen on an internal or external solid-state drive. Given the target audience of the Pro-Blade ecosystem, it’s likely that SanDisk optimized the internal M.2 SSD on the Mag for data transfer reliability and rugged operations rather than sheer speed.

SanDisk Pro-Blade SSD: The competition

There are plenty of external HDDs and SSDs on the market, at varying price points, capacity, and construction quality that rely on a mix of metal and plastic parts. Parent company Western Digital’s WD512GB My Passport SSD is an excellent choice for casual home users and students, offering a stylish two-tone design in a compact package. 

What really sets SanDisk’s Pro-Blade ecosystem apart from others on the market is that it’s the first modular external SSD solution on the market, allowing its owners to swap between different drives easily and efficiently. There are numerous benefits here, ranging from the Pro-Blade ecosystem’s own features – rugged construction made for durability, space-saving design for traveling if you need multiple drives with you – to workflow efficiencies that can save you time and money by having a simple workflow. Sure, you can buy one of a number of top-rated internal M.2 NVMe SSDs and screw it into an SSD enclosure and swap out the internal M.2 drive when you need, but the process is still more time consuming than the modular ecosystem that SanDisk designed. 

Additionally, while most SSDs come backed by a one- or three-year warranty, the Professional badge on the Pro-Blade ecosystem means that the Mags are backed by a five-year limited warranty. This is generous, and it shows that SanDisk and Western Digital both have confidence in the durability of their drives for use in the field. 

SanDisk Pro-Blade SSD: Should you buy it?

Who it's for ...

• Data scientists, videographers, photographers, and anyone with large storage needs.
• Travelers who otherwise would need to carry multiple external SSDs or HDDs with them.
• Professionals who require a rugged drive for use in the field.
• Content creators who need a flexible drive for backing up content.
• Anyone who wants a modular system for their external storage needs.

Who it isn't for ...

• Anyone who needs the most storage for the buck for their external SSD needs.
• Gamers or developers who need internal, and not external, storage needs.
• PC users who need no more than one or two external drives.

With a modular system, the Pro-Blade reinvents the familiar and trusted Zip drive of old for the SSD age of today with copious amounts of storage in a rugged and durable design made to protect your data. While everyday PC users won't be able to realize the full benefits of SanDisk's modular design, professional users will be able to streamline their workflow thanks to the Pro-Blade's modular design. The drives help save space in cramped travel bags, and the ease of swapping drives makes the process effortlessly efficient. Like the Zip drive before it, it'd be interesting to see if SanDisk can work out partnerships to build the Transport into workstations, desktops, and video gear, which could help the Pro-Blade system gain momentum among professionals. 

Western Digital has manufactured high-quality memory and storage components for decades, offering permanent internal replacements and portable external drives. Some gamers might have issues with the 512GB drive inside an Xbox Series S quickly filling up with modern games since many are reaching hefty file sizes.

The WD_BLACK D30 1TB external NVMe drive should be a match made in heaven for the compact console, allowing some extra space to install more games. Whether or not this portable drive can match its advertised transfer speeds up to 900MB/s and make room on your console in a hurry will come down to some simple tests, so I spent the weekend putting the drive through its paces.

WD_BLACK D30: Price and availability

Western Digital sells the WD_BLACK D30 1TB game drive Xbox SSD through major third-party retailers, including Amazon, Best Buy, and Walmart, for a $150 MSRP. Available in 500GB and 2TB variants, all models have the same design and come packaged with a vertical stand and USB-C cable.

WD_BLACK D30: What's good

My first impressions of the D30 are that it's aesthetically perfect as a companion to the Xbox Series S or previous-gen Xbox One S, sharing the same color scheme. Packaged with a vertical stand, it's well suited as a semi-permanent addition to either Xbox, alleviating some of the downsides of smaller internal storage. It'll work with a Series X, too, of course, but the styling really suits the former models, and the extra 1TB of space certainly helps with offloading larger titles.

Setup is painless, with the console only asking if you plan to use the D30 for media or backing up games and if you want to install to the external drive by default. That's all, then you're free to start moving titles back and forth to the WD_BLACK at your leisure, and the extra space gives your library a lot more breathing room, especially if you spring for the 2TB variant.

Being a standard 1TB NVMe SSD drive means connecting to a PC is effortless, too, and you can move plenty of game clips over if you want to free up some space that way. The versatility and ease of use are great, and the design is something more welcome than the usual sci-fi sensibilities of accessories targeted at gamers, with sharp edges and often unnecessary RGB.

Western Digital's WD_BLACK D30 resembles more of an ammo crate from an FPS game or perhaps a shipping container with a rugged construction but stays lightweight and portable at around 135g.

The useable amount of space might only reach 931.5GB, but that's nothing new with storage devices. The visuals aren't the most important feature of an external hard drive, and the meat of the review comes down to transfer speed test results. Unfortunately, the news isn't great on this front, and you'll have to decide what you want the most from a portable SSD and if the console-matching aesthetics are worth it for the D30.

WD_BLACK D30: What's not so good

The most obvious downside to using a generic external drive with Xbox Series X|S is that you can't play modern games directly due to a cap on USB 3.2 Gen 1 read and write speeds compared to internal storage. You can play previous-generation titles installed onto the WD_BLACK, but for the most part, this little rugged-looking drive works best as a backup device to temporarily offload games from your Xbox.

Even with its best use case, the D30 falls short of Western Digital's claims of 900MB/s transfers, proving unrealistic for real-world performance. It is possible to reach the maximum advertised speed, but it won't last longer than a few seconds.

Hitting an average transfer closer to 200MB/s makes it laborious to back up some of the enormous games designed for the modern Xbox consoles unless you spring for something much faster. After running tests with the WD_BLACK, it's becoming easier to recommend stretching your budget further and avoiding the frustrations of this USB-powered external SSD.

As you can see from our tests, smaller files benefit from an initial burst of transfer speed and can be moved to and from the D30 reasonably quickly. Moving larger files suffers a significant drop in speed, usually around the 50-to-60-second mark, after which you're lucky to maintain a steady 500Mbps (62.5MB/s) as the Xbox UI claims. Still, the results and overall transfer time paint a disappointing picture.

Running our standard SSD testing process was fine for comparable results, but moving Forza Horizon 5 away from my Xbox internal storage was a personal necessity and took 25m 31s for an average of 68.54MB/s. Almost half an hour to transfer one game removes any sense of convenience, and the gamer aesthetic doesn't make up for this snail-paced performance.

Further frustrations come from investigating the internals of this WD_BLACK drive. It contains a standard Western Digital Blue SN550 NVMe M.2 2280, rated for up to 2,400MB/s, and retails for around $110 to $125 separately. This drive has the potential for faster speeds, and pairing it with another USB-C enclosure still wouldn't likely match the D30's asking price, dropping its value even further when you can build a cheaper replacement yourself.

WD_BLACK D30: The competition

At $150 MSRP, Western Digital competes with the officially licensed Seagate Xbox storage expansion card, with the 512GB model carrying a $130 MSRP and the 1TB at $220. There's no use pretending these glorified memory cards are cheap, but the gigantic leap in performance makes them the obvious choice over the WD_BLACK D30 since they can match the internal 2.4Gbps Xbox transfer speeds.

Copying a 102.4GB install of Forza Horizon 5 from the expansion card to the internal Xbox Series X SSD takes a measly 4 minutes and 13 seconds, crushing the Western Digital D30 and justifying its higher asking price. The added benefit of playing games designed for Xbox Series X|S directly from the Seagate card makes it a clear winner when the prices are close enough to argue for the extra spending.

If you only need to back up games to make space and aren't worried about playing modern games directly from the drive, the WD_BLACK D30 will be at least functional. It is available up to 2TB, but the slow transfer speeds will become more apparent as titles grow larger yearly, and the advertised 900MB/s isn't achieved for anything outside of moving games with tiny file sizes.

WD_BLACK D30: Should you buy?

You should buy this if ...

• You're struggling with storage space on Xbox
• You primarily play previous-gen titles

You shouldn't buy this if ...

• You're looking for the fastest external storage device
• You primarily play Xbox titles designed for the Series X|S

It's neither convenient nor impressive, but it is functional, and the sheer amount of space is always an improvement when dealing with gigantic game sizes. Luckily the design of the D30 helps its appeal to the Xbox, but it's far from being among the best external hard drives for the console.

Easy enough to use, if you see the WD_BLACK D30 on sale with a decent amount of storage space, it's not a terrible choice. You'll be much better off pushing a little higher for the officially licensed Seagate Xbox storage expansion card or an external NVMe that delivers on its read and write speeds. Still, it'll do the job for those looking only to free up some space and avoid re-downloading sizeable games.

For today only you can get the WD Black SN850 2TB solid state drive with heatsink on sale for $284.99 at Best Buy. This is one of Best Buy's deals of the day, which means it is only a temporary drop. However, it is one of the best prices we've ever seen for the 2TB drive, especially considering the added heatsink usually makes this drive a heck of a lot more expensive than other versions.

The SN850 lineup has a whole saw a huge price drop around March of this year. Before that this drive in particular was selling for around $350 or more. Since then it has sold for around $300 in most places including Amazon. Today's drop is obviously an even better price than that but won't last long.

The SN850 is an upgrade over the previous generation SN750. You'll see some huge improvements, too, in read and write times and durability among other things. The added heatsink helps minimize throttling due to overheating, and it helps push the SSD's performance while gaming.

The SN850 has read/write speeds of up to 7,000 MB/s and 5,300 MB/s respectively. That's insanely fast when compared to even a regular SATA SSD that can top out around 560 MB/s. You'll instantly notice the change if you're upgrading from a non-M.2 NVMe drive. Your operating system will load faster, your games will install faster, and everything will feel better. With a 2TB drive you might even be able to squeeze Call of Duty in there somewhere.

You can use this drive with Windows 10 and 11, and it also works with the PlayStation 5. There are plenty of great SSDs out there, and you have options if price is a consideration or you prefer a different brand. Be sure to find the one that works for you.

What you need to know

• Western Digital just announced the WD_BLACK SN850X NVMe SSD and WD_BLACK P40 Game Drive SSD.
• The WD_BLACK SN850X features read speeds of up to 7,300 MB/s, while the WD_BLACK P40 hits speeds of 2,000 MB/s.
• The WD_BLACK P40 starts at $120 for 500GB, while the WD_BLACK SN850X has a starting price of $190 for 1TB.

Western Digital announced two new gaming SSDs today at its What's Next event. Both of the storage devices have fast read speeds and look to compete with the best SSDs. The WD_BLACK SN850X NVMe SSD hits speeds of 7,300 MB/s while the WD_BLACK P40 Game Drive SSD tops out at 2,000 MB/s. Both of the SSDs will launch this summer, though only the WD_BLACK SN850X has a specific release month (July).

The WD_BLACK SN850X is a PCIe Gen4 SSD with low latency, predictive loading, and adaptive thermal management. Gamers can optimize performance with the WD_BLACK Dashboard and Game Mode 2.0. The SSD also has an optional heatsink for the 1TB and 2TB models and RGB lighting.

The WD_BLACK P4 is a portable SSD with a UWB 3.2 Gen 2 interface. It also has an LED display that can be synced to RGB ecosystems to personalize its look.

The WD_BLACK SN850X will be available in 1TB, 2TB, and 4TB capacities starting at $190 in July. The WD_BLACK P40 will launch at some point in summer 2022 and have models of 500GB, 1TB, and 2TB starting at $120.

The WD Easystore 8TB external hard drive has dropped to $149.99 as part of Best Buy's deals of the day. This is a temporary price drop that won't be around tomorrow, so grab it while you can if you're looking for a large amount of space. This drive can often sell for as much as $210 and is still going for around $200 at other retailers like Amazon. This matches the best price we've seen this year, too, so it's a great value. You can get free shipping at Best Buy, although you could just order it for curbside pickup and go pick it up in the next hour or two if you want.

It's not a fancy SSD and it's not designed to be portable. It might come with an external case, but the easystore is at its best when it's sitting on your desk or next to your computer. Heck, after you buy it you might even want to shuck that external casing and put the actual drive inside your machine. For some hobbyists, that's exactly what they do with the easystore drives.

WD's USB 3.0 external hard drive features an 8TB storage capacity with data transfer rates up to 5Gbps. It's backward compatible with USB 2.0 and offers automatic backup options to make it easy to ensure you never lose your data. It can be used with both Windows and Mac computers, though the latter would require a reformat.

There are tons of other options on the market for external storage, so if the Easystore isn't quite right for you then be sure to take a look at our list of the best external hard drives for some alternatives. That list has some smaller capacity portable options if 8TB is overkill for your needs and need to take your data on the go. It also features some SSDs for the speediest transfers.

The drive you get will be formatted for NTFS, and it's compatible with Windows 7 and up right out of the box. It can work with Mac but needs reformatting to do it.

Newegg's Shell Shocker deals get replaced regularly and feature new discounts every day. One of today's great ways to save at Newegg includes the WD Red Pro 6TB hard drive for a low price of $159.99 when you use the code SSBR2932 during checkout. The code takes $50 off its price and brings it down to one of the lowest prices we've ever seen. This deal matches its all-time low, a price it has only hit during big sales events like Prime Day or Black Friday. Usually the 6TB version doesn't drop in price at all. In fact, the current $210 price that's available here and at other retailers is a jump from what it normally goes for. That makes today's deal even better because it won't last forever.

If you really want to go whole hog on these Red Pro hard drives, you can also save on the 12TB version at Newegg. Use the code SSBR2926 to bring it down to just $239.99 total during checkout. This drive is twice the capacity of the one above but only about $30 over its regular street price with today's deal. That's not bad at all.

The Red Pro is one of our favorite hard drives if you're trying to properly build a network-attached storage device. The Pro version of the Red line is the most advanced in the Western Digital lineup, too, so you know it's going to be fast and reliable over the long term.

If NAS is new to you, check out the best devices for a home media server and keep all of your photos, movies, and music in one easily accessible place on your home network. Pair multiple hard drives together and you can create a system where each drive backs up the other, ensuring your data is all very safe. Of course, doing it that way requires spending a lot of money on drives known to be a bit more expensive so being able to save some money is a huge bonus.

WD backs up the Red Pro with a five-year warranty.

Today you can grab the WD Elements 16TB external hard drive on sale for $259.99 through Newegg, and you get that discount by using the coupon code SSBRA832 during checkout. This is one of the best prices we've ever seen. It's over $40 better than Amazon's current price and $10 better than it has ever been there. The sale is part of Newegg's Shell Shocker deals, though, which means it is a temporary price drop that may sell out and will definitely expire by this time tomorrow.

The desktop drive is plug-and-play so is super simple to use. It is compatible with Windows right out of the box, but if you want it to work with Mac you'll have to reformat it. Remember that reformatting erases the data, so be sure to do this before you actually start using the drive. That's not an issue on Windows, and you won't need to install any drivers or software either so you can get right to the data transferring if you want.

The connection is USB 3.0. That explains its wide compatibility, and it also allows for super fast data transfers up to 5 Gbps. With all that space, you'll want some fast speeds so you can transfer everything as quick as possible.

Use this hard drive as a backup. It should be large enough for your entire system. Since it's not internal, it can serve as a secondary place to keep all your data safe. Or you can just use it as a central location for all of your media. Keep all your photos and movies in one place.

This unique deal from GameStop includes the WD Black SN750 1TB M.2 NVMe Gen4 solid state drive and a copy of the video game Battlefield 2042 all for a grand total of $69.99. That's a fantastic price even if you don't care about Battlefield. The drive by itself goes for $95 on Amazon, and this bundle is $110 or more in most places including Best Buy. You're saving over $40 at GameStop and getting a modern SSD that's capable of incredibly fast speeds. Hard to argue with that.

Upgrading to an M.2 drive with NVMe tech was such a good idea, and I highly recommend it. Everything loads super fast and installs quickly. It might be worth it just to get that 60GB video game on there that much faster. Sure, they are usually seen as a luxury but the sale today shows they can hit a pretty affordable range. Plus, they are extremely long-lasting drives. I have a different one than the version on sale here today, but it has never given me problems in the couple of years I've been using it.

The SN750 can reach transfer speeds as fast as 3,600 MB/s thanks to its Gen4 PCIe technology. If you aren't quite up to speed with Gen4, this drive is backwards compatible with Gen3 as well (although the transfer speeds won't be quite as fast). Compare that to a regular SATA SSD like WD's Blue drives, which have load times around 560 MB/s. It's crazy fast and helps you maintain peak performance in your PC.

Unlike SATA drives, the M.2 drive installs directly onto your motherboard, so you'll want to make sure you have a motherboard that supports an M.2 2280 drive. WD also has exclusive software, the WD Black SSD Dashboard, you can use to customize your experience and maintain your drive. Get the most out of your SSD by tweaking it based on how you work and play.

If you don't already know, the WD Red line of hard drives are some of WD's longest running and most reliable drives. They are often included as recommendations to go with network-attached storage devices because of their ability to work in a RAID setup and withstand a lot of heavy use, and we consider them a favorite as well. Well, after messing up the line by introducing new technology and not telling anyone, Western Digital actually secretly rebranded a year or so ago. The WD Red Plus brand is what the WD Red drives used to be, with the new WD Red drives using a tech better suited for direct-attached storage instead.

What all of that means is savings for you as WD is currently discounting the Red Plus line. You can get the 6TB WD Red Plus internal hard drive on sale for $99.99 at Amazon. This is $30 to $40 off what it normally goes for and an all-new low price. Pretty much every capacity of the Red Plus lineup is on sale. The 6TB version is right in the middle and gives you the best bang for your buck, but if you want to spend a little less you could get the 4TB drive for $25 off its regular price or go up to the 8TB drive and save $20 there, too.

The WD Red Plus hard drive can support a workload of up to 180 TB a year, which is a ton of writing and great particularly for a network-attached storage device where you might be sending a lot of media that a lot of people have access to. The drive isn't necessarily the fastest hard drive you could get, even for NAS, but it does have a transfer rate of 215 MB/s.

One thing you don't have to worry about is durability. The drives have vibration protection to save them from the normal shakes that accompany moving parts, and you'll get WD's NASware firmware that ensures enhanced reliability and performance.

These drives are also covered by a three-year warranty.

What you need to know

• Western Digital's EdgeRover app recently suffered from a traversal bug.
• The bug has since been handled, but if you don't have the app update, you could still be exposed.
• The consequences of the bug and leaving yourself unprotected are that you'll remain at risk of having sensitive information snatched or suffering a DoS (denial of service attack).

Western Digital's EdgeRover app recently put PCs and Macs in a tricky spot due to a traversal bug that left machines vulnerable to "disclosure of sensitive information" and DoS attacks.

Western Digital didn't share many details on the specifics of the issue at hand in its brief report on the situation, but it did state the aforementioned risks and noted which version update you'll need in order to stay protected (1.5.1-594). As reported by BleepingComputer, threat researcher Xavier Danest uncovered the problem and shared the discovery with WD.

Though the issue has been addressed and you can protect yourself by updating to the latest version of EdgeRover, it's not clear how many people have been negatively impacted by the vulnerability.

This isn't the only hiccup Western Digital has had to address in 2022. It recently declared itself the victim of a massive contamination situation that rendered 6.5 exabytes' worth of memory product off the market, amplifying the already brutal global shortage of PC components.

With that said, even if its plants and apps haven't had a perfect 2022, it's no secret that Western Digital still makes some of the best memory products on the market. If you're in the market for the best SSD, WD offerings are usually among the contenders, so long as you have the cash to afford them since they're not the cheapest options.

The WD My Book 18TB external desktop hard drive has dropped down to just $319.99 at Newegg. Use the code SSBP2425 during checkout to take an additional $20 off the already discounted price. The drive only recently dropped down to $340, and it did so at most retailers. It normally sells for around $380 and was going for as high as $400 at the beginning of the year. It has never gone this low before, but this deal is part of Newegg's Shell Shocker so it won't last forever.

I mean, sometimes you just need the extra space. And sometimes that space is all that matters. That's why you get a drive like this. You'll be hard pressed to fill an 18TB drive anytime soon, that's for sure. This is especially great if you are a content creator or someone who works with videos and video editing a lot. It's a fantastic place for b-roll or the regular recording of game footage.

You can also use a portion of the drive to backup your system. Keep everything safe and always be prepared for an emergency. The drive comes with WD Backup software, and it can even work with Apple's Time Machine functionality if you want.

Password protect your data and use hardware encryption to ensure no one else can access your work. The WD Discovery software helps you with social media and cloud storage importing.

Connects via USB 3.0 for super fast data transfer speeds, but the drive is also backwards compatible so you can use it on slower ports if you want.

What you need to know

• Western Digital just lost "at least" 6.5 exabytes' worth of flash storage availability due to "contamination."
• It's working with its joint-venture partner Kioxia Holdings Corp to restore the Japan-based memory plants to their usual operational status.
• 6.5 exabytes translates to 6.5 billion gigabytes.

A whopping 6.5-exabyte shortage is now on the menu for Western Digital due to a contamination issue at the company's memory manufacturing plants in Japan. Western Digital clarified that certain materials were contaminated resulting in the hampering of normal production capacity, though further details have yet to be disclosed. The company and joint-venture partner Kioxia Holdings Corp are actively working to get the manufacturing units back up to speed so that normal operational capacity can be reinstated as quickly as possible.

6.5 exabytes translates to 6.5 billion gigabytes. According to TrendForce, "the consequences of this latest incident may push the price of NAND Flash in Q2 to spike 5~10%." (via Tom's Hardware) The same report indicates that these damages account for approximately 3% of Western Digital's total annual output, and the total fallout has yet to be determined since Kioxia's losses haven't yet been tallied up.

For additional context on Western Digital and Kioxia's joint ventures, there were reports back in 2021 that the two were due to merge, though nothing developed publicly on that front.

As for how this contamination incident affects average consumers, consider the existing technology headaches already being incurred by the global chip shortage, then factor in Western Digital's reduced annual output as a result of its plant predicament. It is a problem folding over itself.

In addition to Western Digital's comments on the situation, Kioxia has a statement as well, stating that 3D BiCS flash has been affected, while 2D NAND flash memory production is anticipated to proceed as usual.

The WD Black 8TB D10 Game Drive portable external hard drive, which is a great external drive for the Xbox, has dropped in price to $209.99 through Newegg. Use the code SSBP422 to take that extra $10 off during checkout, which brings the price at Newegg to less than it is anywhere else. The drive normally sells for around $250 and dropped to $220 at several retailers, which is the best price we've seen this year. The extra $10 is a nice bonus, bringing it down to its lowest since Black Friday. As part of the Shell Shocker program, this sale disappears at the end of the day.

The D10 Game Drive is a series of hard drives specifically designed to be used for games. Modern gaming console generations don't have a lot of storage space, and several of them like the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 have been around for a while now. If you are filling up on storage space, you need an external hard drive so you don't have to pick and choose what games you want to keep installed. This WD Black drive wants to be that hard drive.

With 8TB of space, you'll be able to save tons of games, even when some of them are huge 30 to 40GB files. Obviously the size and formatting of games varies quite a bit, but you can expect to save up to 200 games this way. Even when you're using some of the drive to make room for in-game screenshots and other programs related to gaming.

The drive has transfer speeds up to 250 MB/s with a spin rate of 7200 RPM. While that's not SSD levels of speed, it's definitely no slouch and shouldn't hold up your loading times at all. It also has active cooling technology so you don't have to worry about the drive while playing games from it.

You'll even find there are two USB-A 7.5W ports. Use these for charging your mobile devices and other gear.

Chances are, if you've been running heavy workloads for several years on the same PC, you've begun to feel it chug a bit. You might be running out of storage, and a dated drive inside could be holding you back. The WD Blue™ SN570 NVMe™ SSD from Western Digital® could be the solution.

The WD Blue SN570 NVMe SSD is a PCIe®-based device, giving it a ton of extra bandwidth to work with over the SATA-based drives you're likely to find in older PCs and laptops. In fact, the 500GB* and 1TB* models (with a 2TB version expected in 2022) of the WD Blue SN570 NVMe SSD can reach read speeds of up to 3,500MB/s**, so your computer can feel substantially more responsive. This is a huge leap over standard SATA SSDs, never mind traditional hard drives.

All that extra speed can be incredibly valuable for creative endeavors, as you'll be able to store and load up massive project files extra fast. Whether working on your next passion project in Adobe's creative suite or similar photo and video editing software or crunching large amounts of data, with this drive you'll get snappier speeds and more space to store your stuff.

Since you might task the WD Blue SN570 NVMe SSD with holding on to some important files, reliability is essential. This drive is one you can depend on. Not only are your files at a reduced risk because of the nature of an SSD — no moving parts — but Western Digital includes a password protection feature to help keep your files safe. The drive also has serious longevity with an endurance of 600TBW*** on the 1TB model. Western Digital even backs its drive with an industry-leading, five-year warranty.

You might think adding a bunch of fast storage into your system is going to be difficult, but it's actually easy. The WD Blue SN570 NVMe SSD is incredibly power efficient, drawing all the power it needs off of the PCIe interface, so you don't need to add any messy cables or worry about upgrading your power supply. It's also tiny. The M.2 2280 form factor is compact, making for a drive that can go into laptops and small-form-factor PCs quite easily.

If you're ready to upgrade your system with speedy storage that can help extend its life or want to build a compact system that doesn't sacrifice performance, check out the WD Blue SN570 here. Western Digital will even help you get your projects started by including a one-month Adobe Creative Cloud membership with access to Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, Lightroom, Premiere Pro, InDesign, and more. You can visit www.wdc.com/adobe to learn more about the offer and www.adobe.com/legal for applicable terms.

Product specifications subject to change without notice. Pictures shown may vary from actual products.

*1GB = 1 billion bytes and 1TB = 1 trillion bytes. Actual user capacity may be less depending on operating environment.

** For transfer speeds, 1MB/s=one million bytes per second. Performance will vary.

*** TBW (terabytes written) values calculated using JEDEC client workload (JESD219) and vary by product capacity.

Western Digital and WD Blue are registered trademarks or trademarks of Western Digital Corporation or its affiliates in the U.S. and/or other countries. All other marks are the property of their respective owners.

You always need more space, right? Whether you need a hard drive for recording video or something to store your music on so you can access it even while you're at a coffee shop or just a new card for your dash cam or security camera, you're always looking to add a little more room. Today at Amazon you can save on drives that do all that and more thanks to a huge 40% off sale featuring Western Digital and SanDisk devices. Many of these drives are going for super low prices like the SanDisk Extreme Pro 1TB portable solid state drive that's down to $169.99. This matches the lowest price we've ever seen, and it normally sells for around $210. You're saving $40, but this deal like all the others will disappear at the end of the day.

The SanDisk portable SSD on sale for $170 includes NVMe technology that helps make it super fast. It has read and write speeds up to 2,000 MB/s, but it is also backwards compatible with previous USB tech. So it works with just about any system, even if it can't always reach its maximum possible speed. The aluminum chassis even helps act as a heatsink so you don't have to worry about the drive after sustained use. It is also drop resistant and IP55 rated to resist water and dust so you can carry it with you anywhere.

If your only concern really is space, then grab the WD Elements 10TB desktop hard drive that's on sale for $169.99. That's a $40 discount off its usual price and easily the best price we've seen since May of last year. This is a USB 3.0 drive, but it's also backwards compatible so you could use it just about anywhere. It is plug-and-play as well so you don't have to worry about drivers or software. Just plug in and get to storing all that extra footage.

Check out the full sale for a ton of ways to save and expand your storage while you can.

The WD Black SN850 1TB NVMe solid state drive is on sale at Best Buy for $189.99 today. There are two versions of the SN850. One, this one on sale today, has a heatsink for better thermal protection so you can push it a little harder with games and heavy applications. There is also a version that does not. In the case of today's deal you're only paying about $15 more for the heatsink, which makes this a great bargain considering this version of the SSD is going for as much as $250 at other retailers like B&H.

So the SN850 is a newer generation in a long line of successful SSDs from Western Digital. The previous gen, the SN750, is still a great drive that you can get at a much less expensive price right now even at Best Buy. Of course, it's a lot slower, too. The SN850 makes huge improvements in the read/write speeds, thermal protection, and durability among other things.

You can get up to 7,000 MB/s and 5,300 MB/s read and write speeds with the SN850. That's so fast. You know how sometimes you load stuff up and then go get some coffee or check your email or something? You won't be able to do that anymore. You'll just have to be even more productive. Perish the thought. Compare that speed to a regular SATA SSD that tops out around 560 MB/s or even an M.2 SSD drive that doesn't have NVMe. Plus, with a 1TB capacity you'll be able to laod up plenty of games and larger applications.

The SN850 works with Windows 8.1, Windows 10, and Windows 11. It can also work with the PlayStation 5 if you have one.

When it comes to storing a lot of files and backups that you can carry in your bag or pocket, a portable solid-state drive (SSD) is your best bet. You get a small size with big performance, with portable SSDs offering breakneck data transfer speeds while sometimes being the size of a credit card. For many, the best SSD is the one you can take anywhere.

Plenty of great choice

Even with cloud storage as ubiquitous as it is today, sometimes you simply can't substitute being able to carry data with you on a portable drive. An SSD is by far the best way to do this, and with the advancement of the USB-C standard, prices are beginning to fall. If we had to choose one we'd always lean towards, it would be the Samsung T7, for similar reasons to recommending the company's internal SSDs.

Like Samsung internal storage, the T7 is fast, reliable, good value and comes with a solid warranty. The T7, in particular, is insanely portable, sizing little more than a credit card. You really could carry it in a wallet.

There are plenty of other good choices out there as well with a special shout out for Sabrent, a brand you may not be familiar with, but that has been producing some good quality, high performing, affordable storage solutions recently. The Rocket Pro is another excellent choice.

And if you have a spare desktop drive gathering dust doing nothing, why not use something like the Satechi DIY enclosure to repurpose it as a portable, USB-C equipped SSD. It's affordable, high quality, and definitely better than tossing out your old drive!

If you're into any sort of content creation or video editing or anything like that, you might find your hard drives filling up on space rather quickly. Heck, even if all you do is collect media you'll notice that just a couple terabytes is no where near enough. Grab the WD Elements 12TB external hard drive for a low price of $189.99 at B&H. The drive is on sale as part of B&H's DealZone, a daily deals section. The $120 on-page coupon brings it down to this total, a new low we haven't seen before. We've seen the Elements available at other sites, but it hasn't dropped this low. You'll find it going for around $250 or so at place slike Amazon.

The desktop drive is plug-and-play so is super simple to use. It is compatible with Windows right out of the box, but if you want it to work with Mac you'll have to reformat it. Remember that reformatting erases the data, so be sure to do this before you actually start using the drive.

The connection is USB 3.0. That explains its wide compatibility, and it also allows for super fast data transfers up to 5 Gbps. With all that space, you'll want some fast speeds so you can transfer everything as quick as possible.

Use this hard drive as a backup. It should be large enough for your entire system. Since it's not internal, it can serve as a secondary place to keep all your data safe. Or you can just use it as a central location for all of your media. Keep all your photos and movies in one place.

Imagine this scene: You're trying to install the latest Call of Duty Warzone patch and, to your chagrin, you find out that the small update of 950GB won't fit on your PC's existing 500GB SSD. So what do you do? Throw your hands in the air in frustration and never play Call of Duty again? No! You spend more money on a better SSD so you can fit that Warzone download.

Best Buy is looking out for gamers stuck in the aforementioned predicament with its latest deep discount on Western Digital's 1TB SN850 NVMe gaming SSD, which brings the standard $229 MSRP down to $164, shaving a not insubstantial $65 off the price. That's $4 in savings away from being in the "nice." category.

Whether you want room to install the best Xbox Game Pass games on PC, or just need a bit more storage for your extracurricular "research" downloads, potentially of the anime variety, Western Digital's 1TB SN850 NVMe gaming SSD will be there for you. It won't judge the content you put on it; it'll just safely store your digital belongings in its spacious terabyte-sized pockets.

With that said, maybe you're not feeling Western Digital's SSD offering, either because the price point isn't right for you or because you just hate Western Digital and refuse to have the brand's products inside your rig. Whatever the case, remember that the best SSD list is far from dominated by WD, so if you want to see what competitors have for sale, you can check that out.

The Western Digital Red Plus NAS drive is on sale for $210 right now from Best Buy. That price is for the 10TB model, which normally costs $320. The 4TB ($98), 6TB ($145), 12TB ($325), and 14TB ($410) are also on sale. Western Digital has been in the storage industry for years, and it makes several of the best storage drives for NAS. The WD Red Plus

The Western Digital Red Plus is on our list of the best and most reliable hard drives for Synology NAS. Note that the WD Red Plus will work with NAS from other companies, including TerraMaster, QNAP, and other brands. It's a reliable hard drive that delivers a lot of storage for its price. With its current discount, it delivers an even better value.

The WD Red Plus isn't the fastest HDD you can purchase, but you can alleviate that some by using the drive in RAID formation. The drive comes with WD's NASware 3.0 for enhanced reliability and performance. It also offers vibration protection.

The HDD has a maximum data transfer rate of 215 MB/s. It hits that same figure for both read and write speeds. If you need a faster drive, our list of the best SSD for NAS includes several speedy SSDs.

The WD Red Plus normally delivers a good amount of storage for its price, but Best Buy's current discount sweetens the deal. The stated discount of $110 is a bit high, however. Amazon sells the same drive for $280. That means Best Buy's deal is still good, but not quite as much of a discount as stated.

Note that WD doesn't ship mounting brackets or screws with this drive, so you'll have to make sure to source your own.

What you need to know

• Western Digital and Kioxia might merge.
• The gestating deal is worth over $20 billion.
• Nothing's final, but the deal could go through as soon as September.

If you keep up on the state of the chipmaking industry and care about whose NAND output trumps whom, this newly reported deal is one you won't want to miss: Western Digital and Kioxia Holdings Corp. may be gearing up to finalize a merger, which will be worth over $20 billion.

The report comes from the Wall Street Journal. It states that Western Digital is in "advanced talks" with Kioxia over a potential merger, though nothing's final or guaranteed. With that in mind, the merger could happen as soon as mid-September, according to WSJ's sources.

Western Digital would finance the deal via stocks and its CEO, David Goeckeler, would spearhead the freshly combined company, should everything pan out. This news also highlights that Micron has been more or less eliminated from the current conversation, though it too was eyeballing Kioxia not too long ago.

This deal would require a green light from Japan due to Kioxia's presence and standing in the country. Furthermore, Chinese regulators would also see a role in ensuring the deal comes to fruition, as would U.S. regulators. However, the deal stands to benefit the U.S., meaning in the chipmaking war between the U.S. and China, the latter has a major incentive to strike down the merger.

It's as Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger recently said: The chipmaking industry is consolidating. The question is whether Western Digital, makers of the best SSDs, and Kioxia will go through with things, or if they'll be roadblocked by external forces much like how NVIDIA's Arm acquisition is being slowed.

What you need to know

• Western Digital had a good fourth quarter.
• It managed $4.9 billion in revenue, representing a 15% year-over-year (YoY) increase.
• Chia played a part in the company's hard drive success.

Western Digital had a solid fourth quarter that managed to beat analyst expectations. The guesstimates for WD's quarterly performance were $4.53 billion in revenue, but the company managed to shatter that ceiling with $4.9 billion. That's a 15% year-over-year (YoY) jump in gains.

David Goeckeler, the CEO of Western Digital, partially attributed his company's current successes to its hard drive shipments. "I'm excited to announce a record shipment of over 104 exabytes in capacity enterprise hard drives, a 49% increase sequentially," he stated (via SeekingAlpha). He then added an update on the Chia front. "There was also increased demand for hard drives due to Proof-of-space cryptocurrencies such as Chia, which emerged as a new vertical market at the beginning of the quarter."

However, the earnings call chatter didn't just briefly touch on cryptocurrency then move on, like AMD's earnings calls have done when the crypto question comes up. Instead, Chia was a recurring theme throughout WD's breakdown of its quarter and things to come. You can read the full transcript to see the numerous mentions of it, but here's one particularly interesting quote from the call: When asked about Chia's contribution to WD's quarterly results, David replied, "I think the first week of it last quarter, probably a couple $100 million of upside there in the quarter due to Chia."

In other words, WD is measuring the cryptocurrency impact and isn't afraid to dish hard numbers. In fact, it seemed to be taking the crypto question in stride throughout the call. If you're foggy on Chia and want to learn more about it and how it utilizes the best internal hard drives, as well as learn how to farm Chia coin yourself, check out our guides.

Time to upgrade your storage with the WD Black SN750 1TB NVMe M.2 solid state drive down to a low price of $119.99 at Newegg when you use code SSDJULY27 during checkout. That price matches the lowest we have seen for the last year, and it's within ten bucks of the best we have ever seen for this drive. It's a very good price that is bound to expire. Amazon even price matched the original drop to $130 but hasn't gone as low as the $120 deal at Newegg.

I have had so many SSDs over the years. I didn't even want to adopt the M.2 format originally because it just seemed like a hassle. Then we started seeing the NVMe M.2 SSDs and how fast they were, and how can you say no to more speed? We're not just talking about faster read times, either. Things install faster, and it honestly might be worth the upgrade for you just to get that 200GB Warzone update moving as fast as it possibly can. WIith prices the way they are on NVMe M.2 drives, I can understand if it's a bit of a luxury item. But I still say go for it if you can, especially with a deal like today. That's 1TB of space for just $120? I definitely paid a lot more than that when I upgraded the first time. Despite my earlier reservations, the drive ended up being relatively pain free to install with zero issues ever since, too. They're very reliable.

The WD Black SN750 has read and write speeds of 3,470 MB/s. It says "up to" on its feature list because lower capacities actually have slightly slower times, but this is the 1TB and the 1TB reaches that speed. It's so fast you will never be bottle necked by your storage. Compare that to a regular SATA drive like the WD Blue, which is one of our favorite value SSDs, where speeds only go for as much as 540 MB/s. The WD Black even supports a heatsink so you can maintain peak performance even under heavy transfer loads.

The M.2 drive installs directly onto your motherboard, so you'll want to make sure you have one that supports an M.2 2280 drive, which most modern motherboards do. You can also use the Dashboard software that comes with it to customize your experience and maintain your drive.

As our digital media collection grows, so do our storage needs. If you have an increasing collection of HD and 4K movies, or if you create your own music and video projects, then you could benefit from the many hard drive options Western Digital® has to offer.

With a lineup consisting of capacious desktop drives, personal cloud storage, and speedy SSDs, WD® and SanDisk® products offer you a variety of ways to store, transport, and backup your media.

Though there are a lot of streaming services out there, it pays to have your own digital media collection so you don't have to pay a bunch of monthly fees. Given that you never really know when your favorite shows or movies could be pulled from streaming, it makes sense for a lot of people to own that content and save it digitally.

If your media collection is mainly kept in one place like a desktop computer, then a sizable desktop hard drive could be the right choice for you. WD's My Book™ desktop hard drive is a great choice thanks to its high-capacity options and reliability. Desktop drives are also a great option for content creators as they are an inexpensive way to add a ton of easy-access capacity to your workstation.

For many, access to your media library from various devices is of key importance. If you want to create a personal cloud for your content, WD's My Cloud Home™ is a solid choice. These are available from 2TB* to as much as 8TB* in capacity and allow you to access your data from all of your devices using the mobile app, your desktop, or the My Cloud™ website.**

If portability is more of a concern for you, then a fast and durable SSD like the SanDisk Extreme® Portable SSD should be your go-to. Not only do these provide you with plenty of space for your content, but the rugged drives are water- and dust-resistant with an IP55 rating**** . They also help protect the content within from shock and vibrations, too.

Content creators might also benefit from the step-up in terms of speed with the SanDisk Extreme Pro™ Portable SSD V2. It offers powerful NVMe™ solid state performance with read/write speeds of up to 2000MB/s*** which makes moving around large music and video projects much quicker. It's still just as rugged with the same IP55 rating and impact-resistance**** but also has an aluminum casing for added durability.

Of course, Western Digital's varied line-up of storage products features many more ways to keep your media in one place, so be sure to check out Western Digital's site

* As used for storage capacity, 1GB = 1 billion bytes and 1TB = one trillion bytes. Actual user capacity may be less depending on operating environment.

** App or Cloud account registration may be required. Apps and Cloud services may be changed, terminated or interrupted at any time and may vary by country. Compatibility may vary depending on user's hardware configuration, software version and operating system.

*** As used for transfer rate, 1 MB/s = 1 million bytes per second. Based on internal testing; performance may vary depending upon host device, usage conditions, drive capacity, and other factors.

**** Based on internal testing. IEC 60529 IP55: Tested to withstand water flow (30 kPa) at 3 min.; limited dust contact does not interfere with operation. Must be clean and dry before use."

Product specifications subject to change without notice. Pictures shown may vary from actual products. Western Digital Technologies, Inc. is the seller of record and licensee in the Americas of SanDisk products.

The WD Elements 12TB USB 3.0 external hard drive is down to $189.99 at Newegg today with coupon code 93XQB76. This is one of Newegg's limited-time deals and it's slated to end tonight. It's a very low price for the 12TB version of the drive, beating offers at other retailers including Amazon and B&H, and matches the lowest we've tracked for it. The high-capacity drive normally sells for $220 or more, and today's deal is better than Best Buy's one-day sale on the similar WD Easystore 12TB drive. Newegg offers free shipping with this purchase.

The deal given is no longer valid and we do not have a better one. However, we have found some similar deals

WD easystore 14TB External USB 3.0 Hard Drive

$219.99 $300.00 Save $80 1618747648

You're actually going to look for ways to fill up this drive. Uses USB 3.0 interface for speedy data transfer and it's backwards compatible with 2.0. Works on PC and Mac but needs reformat for the latter. Comes with 2-year warranty.

WD My Passport 1TB USB-C portable solid state drive

$139.99 $150.00 Save $10 1616756283

Has a transfer rate of up to 1,050 MB/s thanks to USB-C and USB 3.2 Gen 2 tech. Includes 256-bit AES hardware encryption for data protection. Drop resistant up to 6.5 feet. Has good backup software for protecting your data. Works with Mac and PC.

WD Easystore 16GB external desktop hard drive

$259.99 $350.00 Save $90 1615402027

How much data can you store? This drive has the space for it! Uses USB 3.0 interface for speedy data transfer and it's backwards compatible with 2.0. Works on PC and Mac but needs reformat for the latter. Comes with 2-year warranty.

WD My Passport 500GB external USB-C portable solid state drive

$79.99 $120.00 Save $40 1614338356

Includes blazing-fast NVMe tech for read/write speeds up to 1,050 MB/s and 1,000 MB/s respectively. Has 256-bit AES hardware encryption to keep your data safe. Resists shocks and drops so it can endure some punishment. Has a 5-year warranty.

WD Easystore 2TB USB 3.0 external portable hard drive

$59.99 $100.00 Save $40 1612794385

Connects via USB 3.0 for an easy-to-use interface that has data transfer speeds up to 5 Gbps and is backwards compatible with USB 2.0. Set up automatic backup options or manage your drive with WD's free software. Works with PC and Mac.

The desktop drive is plug-and-play so is super simple to use. It is compatible with Windows right out of the box, but if you want it to work with Mac you'll have to reformat it. Remember that reformatting erases the data, so be sure to do this before you actually start using the drive.

The connection is USB 3.0. That explains its wide compatibility, and it also allows for super fast data transfers up to 5 Gbps. With all that space, you'll want some fast speeds so you can transfer everything as quickly as possible.

Use this hard drive as a backup. It should be large enough for your entire system. Since it's not internal, it can serve as a secondary place to keep all your data safe. Or you can just use it as a central location for all of your media. Keep all your photos and movies in one place.

If this WD desktop drive isn't quite right for you, be sure to check out our list of the best external drives for our top picks across a bunch of different categories.

One of Best Buy's deals of the day features the WD Easystore 1TB external portable hard drive on sale for $44.99. That's a very low price for a 1TB drive. You can also find it going for this deal price through the Best Buy eBay store. This is normally an $85 drive where its usual low when it goes on sale is about $65. The price won't last forever, though, as these deals get replaced each morning, so grab it while you can.

The Easystore is just that... easy. It's a simple portable hard drive that you can use to store and transfer data, whether that'd be music, movies, photos, or video games. The 1TB of space is all there for you to use, and it's in a convenient device that won't let you down. Since its portable, you can take it with you as well, so it can be a great storage companion for your laptop.

Connect via USB 3.0 for an easy-to-use interface that is super compatible with a wide range of devices. It's also backwards compatible with USB 2.0 just in case you need to plug into an older port. You won't get quite the same transfer speeds, but it will definitely still work for you. The drive is also powered by the USB hub so you only need one cable to connect the drive and get it working instead of say some drives that require both a USB cable and a power adapter.

WD also provides some free software and automatic backup options. Use the drive to back up some of the files on your computer and use WD's software to schedule this effort. It will do the backing up in the background using minimal resources so you can keep using your PC. The WD Drive Utilities software also gives you options to help manage, configure, and diagnose your drive.

What you need to know

• Western Digital launched its first PCIe 4.0 SSD for gamers today.
• The WD Black SN850 can hit read and write speeds up to 7000 MB/s and 5300 MB/s, respectively.
• The company also launched a new add-in card and game dock.

Western Digital is breaking into the PCIe 4.0 scene, announcing a new line of SSDs today. The company took the wraps off of the new WD Black SN850 NVMe SSD, which sports incredibly fast read and write speeds across three capacities. What's more, you'll be able to get it with a little RGB action on board.

The WD Black SN850 can hit read speeds of up to 7000 MB/s and write speeds upward of 5300 MB/s on the 1TB model. That's very similar to speeds we've seen in other recent PCIe 4 SSDs, and Western Digital says it has optimized the G2 controller inside to excel at gaming tasks.

"Built with the WD_BLACK G2 controller and optimized for top-tier and high-intensive gaming (not intended for NAS or server environments), the WD_BLACK SN850 NVMe SSD will help gamers achieve supreme PC performance," Western Digital said in a press release. "It reduces game load times and transfers files faster than its predecessor while using brand new cache technology."

The WD Black SN850 is expected to go on sale by the end of October in 500GB, 1TB, and 2TB capacities starting at $150. A version with an RGB-enabled heatsink is expected to launch in Q1 2021.

Beyond the new PCIe 4 SSD, Western Digital also launched the new WD Black AN1500 NVMe SSD add-in card and the WD Black D50 Game Dock. The add-in card lets you hit read and write speeds of up to 6500 MB/s and 4100 MB/s, respectively, with RGB lighting on board. The Game Dock, meanwhile, works over Thunderbolt 3, allowing you to easily plug and play with a laptop.

The WD Black AN1500 add-in card is available now starting at $300. The WD Black D50 Game Dock is available starting at $500 for the SSD model.

The Western Digital Black 4TB internal hard drive has dropped to $149.99 at Amazon. This is a price match of the same deal over at Newegg, and it's one of Newegg's daily Shell Shocker deals there. Shell Shocker prices only last through the end of the day, so it's a safe assumption this deal won't last forever.

It's not just the 4TB version on sale, either. For example, the 6TB drive is down to $199.99 today. It normally sells for $225, and it has only gone on sale twice since last year. The 2TB version is also down to $99.99 from $120. Go with the smaller size if it fits your budget. The savings are good either way.

The WD Black is a fantastic upgrade for anyone who's into video games, creative pursuits like photography, or just into collecting media like music, movies, and TV shows. If you haven't upgraded your hard drive in a while maybe today is the day to do it. Not only do you get a ton of storage, but the WD Black is designed to be faster than your usual hard drive, too, so it can read your media very quickly. The next-generation design from WD gives you great performance for the price.

It uses twice the DRAM cache up to 256MB, which helps with the read operations. It's also a 7200RPM drive, which means it spins faster than your average 5400RPM drive, so you get better performance that way. It also comes with a five-year manufacturer's warranty, so it's covered from any defects.

This is a 3.5-inch drive, a regular size for a hard drive. It also connects via SATA, also a traditional connection. There are other form factors in the WD Black lineup like the WD Black M.2 SSD. That one in particular won't give you the same amount of storage but will probably be faster.

External storage becomes a lot faster and more reliable if there aren't any tiny moving parts. One of the best solid state drives is on sale today at Amazon, making now a great time to purchase if you're in the market for storage that is both durable and affordable. Amazon has the WD 1TB My Passport External SSD on sale for $139.99, saving you $30 compared to the regular cost for it.

The deal is matching a one-day offer at Best Buy so we expect the price will rise tonight at Amazon, too. We haven't seen a price this good on it in over six months so today's discount is one you want to make the most of.

This solid state drive is from the new generation of WD My Passport drives and is one of the best USB-C SSDs available right now. There's an aesthetic difference compared to the previous generation with new metallic enclosures and matte finishes. They're also slightly thinner, taller, and overall sleeker. On the inside, a few changes were made as well. There's automatic backup software as well as built-in encryption to protect your data. Transfer speeds are improved as well.

The WD My Passport features read speeds up to 540MB/s, and it's compatible with both USB-C and USB-A, including USB 3.1 Gen 2. Your purchase is backed by plenty of positive customer reviews as well as a three-year manufacturer's warranty.

We actually listed this drive in our best external solid state drive roundup, giving it an award for the best aesthetics. Keep all that sleekness protected with this carrying case.

Shipping at Amazon is free on orders totaling $25 or more, though you could receive your order even faster with an Amazon Prime membership. If you've never been a member before, you can start a free 30-day trial to score free two-day shipping with no order minimum, access to the Prime Video streaming service, exclusive members-only discounts, and more.

If you're anything like me, you probably have thousands (or tens of thousands) of family photos spanning many years at this point. Since the cameras in our pockets got good enough to take high-resolution photos and videos, we've all begun capturing many more precious memories, though with better image quality comes the need for more storage space!

WD® is a name you're likely familiar with. It makes a ton of storage products, many of which can help you store, backup, transport, and safeguard your photo library.

If your main computer stays in the same place most of the time — say, a desktop PC or a laptop that gets used primarily at a desk — you could benefit from a high-capacity desktop drive like the WD's My Book™ desktop storage line. These drives need their own power supply, rather than being powered by your computer's USB port, so they aren't as portable but they do give you a lot of storage space for your money.

The 10TB* My Book desktop hard drive from WD, for example, is available for $219.99. Having a larger desktop hard drive makes it really easy to store all of your photos in one location and keep them all organized.

Another option worth considering for at-home storage is WD's My Cloud™ Home personal cloud storage line. These are available from 2TB to as much as 8TB* in capacity and allow you to access your photos from all of your devices.

The My Cloud Home from WD does exactly what it says — acts like your own personal cloud. It's sort of like network-attached storage but not as technical and easier to use. It's a central place to store all your data, and it's so easy to set up so you can do it from your phone. You can access it on the go with a mobile app, your desktop, or the My Cloud website. It also has automatic backup for your photos and videos and a USB port for quick data transfers.**

If you want to be able to take your photo library on the go or and connect it to various computers as needed, a portable drive might suit your needs better. WD's My Passport drive offers capacities as large as 5TB*, and with prices starting at $59.99 MSRP (1TB model), it's easy to see why. These provide an easy experience while using, and are available in a variety of colors.

There's also an SSD version of the My Passport™ portable drive which offers faster transfer speeds — ideal when you're moving a bunch of large photo and video files around. The drive features read speeds up to 1050MB/s*** and is compatible with both USB-C and USB-A.

Of course, WD has a wide variety of storage products that can help you keep all of your family's photos in one place, so be sure to check out WD's site for all of the options.

* As used for storage capacity, 1GB = 1 billion bytes and 1TB = one trillion bytes. Actual user capacity may be less depending on operating environment.

** App or Cloud account registration may be required. Apps and Cloud services may be changed, terminated or interrupted at any time and may vary by country.

*** As used for transfer rate, 1 MB/s = 1 million bytes per second. Based on internal testing; performance may vary depending upon host device, usage conditions, drive capacity, and other factors.

Product specifications subject to change without notice. Pictures shown may vary from actual products. Western Digital Technologies, Inc. is the seller of record and licensee in the Americas of SanDisk products.

We're super close to the release of the next generation of gaming consoles, but you know what that really means for current-gen console owners? It means you've been buying games for a while! And most of those games have been digital. And you're probably hurting for storage. Big RPGs and open-world sandbox type games can be dozens of gigabytes in size, with some nearing 200GB if you include the base game and add-ons.

There's nothing worse than moving on from a game you love simply because you didn't have the space to keep it on your hard drive or memory card. You don't have to! Expand your storage and keep your games loading fast with a new game drive or microSD card. WD® and SanDisk® have been making excellent digital storage solutions for years. Both brands have product lines dedicated to compatibility with your consoles, whether you play on the Xbox One, PlayStation 4, or the Nintendo Switch™. The great thing about all these storage devices is that you can use them for so much more than just gaming, and because there are a variety of portable solutions you'll be able to start using them with your PC or laptop instead if you need.

The WD_BLACK P10 Game Drive is compatible with either the Xbox One or PlayStation 4, so regardless of which console you prefer you can easily use this option. It comes in various storage capacities between 2TB and 5TB*, which can store up to 125 games(1). The footprint of the drive is smaller than the WD_BLACK D10 Game Drive, which means if you like to move it around or keep the drive hidden it's a bit easier.

Pricing varies as well between the P10 models, with the drives starting as low as $89.99 (MSRP). The WD_BLACK P10 Game Drive for Xbox One version comes in 1TB, 3TB and 5TB* of capacity and features a free, 2-month Xbox Game Pass Ultimate membership which includes all the benefits of Xbox Live Gold, plus access to 100+ high-quality console and PC games, which is pretty awesome.

The WD_BLACK D10 Game Drive is a 7200 RPM desktop external hard drive. With a capacity of 8TB* (which can hold about 200 games(1)), it's hard to argue with the advantages that this can bring to your gaming experience. It has a USB 3.2 Gen 1 interface, and transfer speeds of up to 250MB/s**, which means that your games will transfer and load super quickly. The two Type-A ports can be used to charge your game controllers and other accessories. The WD_BLACK D10 Game Drive for Xbox One version comes with 12TB* of capacity and a free, 3-month Xbox Game Pass Ultimate membership.

If you'll be gaming on a PC, the WD Black SN750 is definitely the drive to check out. Options start at just $77.99 (MSRP), which makes a great value especially for those looking to build new gaming PCs. The 500GB, 1TB, and 2TB* capacity versions feature a heatsink option, which is the perfect component to complement systems with RGB lighting and other cooling technologies, such as water cooling.

With this drive you'll notice faster load times, quicker transfer speeds, and more.

SanDisk also offers storage solutions for the Nintendo Switch. Designed, tested and approved for the Nintendo Switch game system, the officially-licensed SanDisk microSDXC card lets you add up to 256GB* of space to your portable console. Perfect for keeping your favorite games in one place, so you can travel light and play anywhere, anytime. Trust SanDisk as you conquer new levels. Prices start at just $18.49 (MSRP) for 64GB*.

* As used for storage capacity, 1GB = 1 billion bytes and 1TB = one trillion bytes. Actual user capacity may be less depending on operating environment.

** As used for transfer rate, 1 MB/s = 1 million bytes per second. Based on internal testing; performance may vary depending upon host device, usage conditions, drive capacity, and other factors.

(1) Number of games based on a 36GB average per game. The number of games will vary based on file size, formatting, other programs, and factors.

Product specifications subject to change without notice. Pictures shown may vary from actual products. Western Digital Technologies, Inc. is the seller of record and licensee in the Americas of SanDisk products.

The WD My Passport 512GB external portable solid state drive has dropped to $79.99 on Amazon. This deal is a price match of one of Best Buy's deals of the day featuring the same device at the same price. This is a one-day only thing so don't expect the price to last long. While the drive normally sells for a street price around $90, it does go as high as $130 at Best Buy on a regular basis. Either way, today's drop to $80 is a match for the lowest we've ever seen, and it's a drop we have not seen since early 2019.

This hard drive is a newer generation of WD My Passport drives. There's an aesthetic difference compared to the previous generation. These feature metallic enclosures and matte finishes. They're also slightly thinner, taller, and overall sleeker. On the inside, a few changes were made as well. There's automatic backup software as well as built-in encryption to protect your data. Transfer speeds are slightly faster as well.

Portable SSDs are so much better than portable hard drives. I mean, it makes sense if you think about it. Hard drives are very vulnerable to vibrations and getting broken from heavy movement. SSDs do not have moving parts, which makes them generally a lot more durable. The technology just isn't as inexpensive as hard drives, which is why the latter have been more popular for portable drives. Today's deal makes up for that.

The WD My Passport features read speeds up to 540MB/s, and it's compatible with both USB-C and USB-A, including USB 3.1 Gen 2. It can automatically backup your data and has password encryption to keep it safe.

Use the WD Discovery software to monitor your drive. It includes features like WD Backup, Security, and the ability to import your data with cloud storage. Your purchase is backed by a three-year manufacturer's warranty from WD.

We actually listed this drive in our best external solid state drive roundup, giving it an award for the best aesthetics. Keep all that sleek metal protected with this carrying case.

The WD My Book 4TB desktop external hard drive is down to $82.99 on Amazon. This is a really low price on the 4TB version of this drive. In fact, it hasn't dropped directly this low since October of last year. Plus, most recently the drive has been selling for around $110. This is a great deal both just as a pure price drop and when compared to its street price, so grab it while you can before the price jumps back up. It's actually less expensive than the 3TB version of the My Book, which is still going for its regular street price.

This deal is part of a larger sale on Amazon featuring low prices on both SanDisk and Western Digital gear. This is a temporary sale and the prices end when the day does.

So this is a large enough drive that you're not going to want to take it with you anywhere. Just set it up on your desktop and connect it to your computer and use it as external storage you can access at any time. It has some good extra features for making the most out of all that space. For example, you can set it up to work with WD's backup software. It will automatically backup your computer, so you can use it to protect up to 4TB of your computer's data. It's also compatible with Time Machine for Mac, so you can back up that way as well.

The hard drive can protect all the data stored on it, too, with password protection and hardware encryption. It uses a USB 3.0 port for data transfers with fast speeds up to 5 Gbps, but it's also USB 2.0 compatible if you need to go backwards a generation.

WD has a reputation to keep when it comes to hard drives, so this one has been tested to withstand shocks and drops, and it's built to last for a long time. The whole thing is covered by a three-year warranty from WD as well.