CES 2017: SanDisk Launches 256GB Flash Drive With Read/Write Transfer Speeds Up to 420MB/s - MacRumors
Skip to Content

CES 2017: SanDisk Launches 256GB Flash Drive With Read/Write Transfer Speeds Up to 420MB/s

by

Western Digital today announced the launch of its latest SanDisk-branded product, a 256GB SanDisk Extreme Pro USB 3.1 Solid State Flash Drive, which it says is the fastest, highest capacity USB flash drive the company has ever made.

Designed to provide the speed and reliability of a solid state drive in the form factor of a small USB flash drive, the SanDisk Extreme Pro can reach read speeds of up to 420MB/s and write speeds of up to 380MB/s. According to Western Digital, a full-length 4K movie can be transferred to the drive in less than 15 seconds.

sandiskssd

"The combination of SSD performance and a compact USB form factor offers the ultimate performance and convenience for moving files easily and quickly," said Sven Rathjen, vice president of marketing, Client Solutions Business Unit, Western Digital. "With its increased capacity and blazing speeds, the SanDisk Extreme PRO USB 3.1 Solid State Flash Drive is our sleekest, most powerful SanDisk USB device yet."

Western Digital plans to begin offering the SanDisk Extreme Pro USB 3.1 Solid State Flash Drive in late January from retailers like Amazon.com and Best Buy. It will be priced at $179.99.

Western Digital is also debuting a new SanDisk-branded A1 microSD card at CES, which offers transfer speeds of up to 95MB/s. With read IOPS (input-output access per second) of 1,500 and write IOPS of 500, it can open apps and process files more quickly. SanDisk's Ultra microSD card with A1 will be available in January of 2017 for $199.99.

Top Rated Comments

Bubba Satori Avatar
120 months ago
Insert snarky dongle joke here
OK.







Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
zorinlynx Avatar
120 months ago
It's so nice to see a successor to the Extreme Pro. We use them at work to re-image Macs; reinstalling MacOS takes a long time, but if you just restore an image of the hard drive to the machine from one of these flash drives, it only takes about 40 seconds to get a machine up and running with a fresh install.

They're blisteringly fast and now these are even faster! Now to get the boss to buy a couple...
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Bubba Satori Avatar
120 months ago
Sandisk releasing old USB peripherals at CES-2017. Someone clearly didn't get the memo.
90% of the computing world who didn't have the ports they need taken away from them will love them.
The other 10% will buy another dongle.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
120 months ago
Jesus stop trying to sell us stuff
I'm not sure this is Jesus's fault. :) But I, for one, find the information useful and don't feel they are trying to sell anything. It is CES week after all.

Isn't the internet driven by ads?
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
pat500000 Avatar
120 months ago
Finally, a happy news!!!!! I need this. This is like ssd on the go.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
120 months ago
Western Digital today announced the launch of its latest SanDisk-branded product, a 256GB SanDisk Extreme Pro USB 3.1 Solid State Flash Drive, which it says is the fastest, highest capacity USB flash drive the company has ever made.

Designed to provide the speed and reliability of a solid state drive in the form factor of a small USB flash drive, the SanDisk Extreme Pro can reach read speeds of up to 420MB/s and write speeds of up to 380MB/s. According to Western Digital, a full-length 4K movie can be transferred to the drive in less than 15 seconds.


Western Digital plans to begin offering the SanDisk Extreme Pro USB 3.1 Solid State Flash Drive in late January from retailers like Amazon.com and Best Buy. It will be priced at $179.99.

Western Digital is also debuting a new SanDisk-branded A1 microSD card at CES, which offers transfer speeds of up to 95MB/s. With read IOPS (input-output access per second) of 1,500 and write IOPS of 500, it can open apps and process files more quickly. SanDisk's Ultra microSD card with A1 will be available in January of 2017 for $199.99.

Article Link: CES 2017: SanDisk Launches 256GB Flash Drive With Read/Write Transfer Speeds Up to 420MB/s ('https://www.geekwebguides.com/2017/01/04/ces-2017-sandisk-flash-drive/')
This is just more proof that Apple jumped the gun (and the shark?) in its move to all USB-C. If USB-C were becoming mainstream, this device would sport a USB-C connector....

The lack of USB-C product announcements at CES is telling. Most USB-C products merely serve to connect current products to your computer. LaCie did release new hard drives, but they have always catered to the Mac crowd, with prices to prove it.


Insert snarky dongle joke here
This announcement just goes to show how much the future is still in the future. USB-A will be around for a long time.

USB-C is not the future. It's the current. Others are the past.
No, it's only current for Apple, who is embracing the (far off) future. Everyone else is in the present.

If Sandisk - and others - release flagship devices like these with old connectors, indeed the dongle trolls will be kept fed.
The troll under the bridge is real. Only bleeding-edge Mac users are left out in the cold, and they do not drive as many sales as the other ~99%.

That doesn't mean one have to throw away everything. I wouldn't. But I also wouldn't buy new devices without.
You can't buy devices that don't exist.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

iOS 26

iOS 26.4 Adds Two New Features to CarPlay

Tuesday March 24, 2026 1:55 pm PDT by
iOS 26.4 was released today, and it includes a couple of new features for CarPlay: an Ambient Music widget and support for voice-based chatbot apps. To update your iPhone 11 or newer to iOS 26.4, open the Settings app and tap on General → Software Update. CarPlay will automatically offer the new features so long as the iPhone connected to your vehicle is running iOS 26.4 or later....
Apple Business hero

Apple Unveils 'Apple Business' All-in-One Platform

Tuesday March 24, 2026 8:53 am PDT by
Apple today announced Apple Business, a new all-in-one platform that unifies device management, productivity tools, and customer outreach features. The service is designed to be a consolidated replacement for several of Apple's existing business-focused offerings, including Apple Business Essentials, Apple Business Manager, and Apple Business Connect. It provides organizations with a single...
AirPods Pro Firmware Feature

Apple Releases New Firmware for AirPods Pro 3, AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods 4

Tuesday March 24, 2026 12:31 pm PDT by
Apple today released new firmware for the AirPods Pro 2, AirPods Pro 3, and the AirPods 4. The firmware has a version number of 8B39, up from 8B34 on the AirPods Pro 3, 8B28 on the AirPods Pro 2, and 8B21 on the AirPods 4. There is no word on what's included in the firmware, but Apple has a support document with limited notes. Most updates are limited to bug fixes and performance...