Tag: WD

Say Goodbye to WD SSDs. You’ll find them as Sandisk products now

News, SSDs | | Jan Olšan

A year ago, Western Digital, who historically associated with mechanical (magnetic) HDD technology but then expanded into SSDs as well, announced the SSD business would move under the Sandisk name. WD acquired this formerly independent NAND and SSD manufacturer ten years ago. It took a while, but now this change is happening for real—all SSDs are being renamed, so let’s take a look at what names you should now be searching for. Read more “Say Goodbye to WD SSDs. You’ll find them as Sandisk products now” »

Ilustrační foto: WD Blue SN5100 v adaptéru do slotu PCIe 4.0 ×4, který není součástí balení (Autor: HWCooling)

How good can a QLC SSD be? We tested the WD Blue SN5100

Extra tests, SSDs | | Jan Olšan

The artificial intelligence hype is driving up the prices of system memory and storage, including SSDs. Prices have risen significantly, so you may now be forced to look for cheaper instead of “premium” SSD when on a tighter budget. We got the opportunity to briefly test one such drive: the WD Blue SN5100 module, which represents a lower product tier but offers solid performance and the  “premier-league” brands. Read more “How good can a QLC SSD be? We tested the WD Blue SN5100” »

WD Blue SN5100: New Budget SanDisk SSD Is Faster, but Uses QLC

News, SSDs | | Jan Olšan

Western Digital, or more specifically its SanDisk division, is among the more popular SSD brands. Now they’re introducing a new addition to the budget WD Blue lineup: the WD Blue SN5100. These modules replace last year’s SN5000 line-up and promise significantly better performance. Not always though, because while the new series uses a newer and better generation of NAND, all models now come with QLC-based chips. Read more “WD Blue SN5100: New Budget SanDisk SSD Is Faster, but Uses QLC” »

Western Digital launches 26TB Red Pro HDDs for RAID and NAS use

HDDs, News | | Jan Olšan

Recently, Western Digital introduced a new technology to rival Seagate’s HAMR HDDs – a drive design featuring a record-breaking 11 platters. Thanks to these 11 platters, WD can now offer HDDs with a capacity of 26 TB using conventional CMR recording, avoiding SMR. Now, the company is launching a drive that leverages this technology for NAS systems – the 26TB WD Red Pro, which enables the creation of a four-bay array exceeding 100 TB. Read more “Western Digital launches 26TB Red Pro HDDs for RAID and NAS use” »

OptiNAND: WD adds flash memory to HDDs, but not in the SSHD way

HDDs, News, Technology | | Jan Olšan

Lately (actually for several years now) we’ve seldom had news about hard disks. An opportunity to write about a new innovation in this area has come now though. Western Digital has introduced OptiNAND technology, which improves the performance of mechanical drives by integrating NAND Flash memory – but not in the way of SSHDs, which only used it for caching. OptiNAND serves other purposes, and it could be much more useful. Read more “OptiNAND: WD adds flash memory to HDDs, but not in the SSHD way” »

WD Black P50: 20-gigabit USB 3.2 gen 2×2 in action

Extra tests, SSDs, Storages | | Tomáš Brestovanský

I first saw this novelty called P50 Game Drive last September during our visit to Berlin at IFA 2019. In addition to its non-traditional design, this external SSD is particularly interesting for its unique connection. This is one of the first storage disks to use the fastest form of the USB protocol labelled as 3.2 gen 2×2 , which offers speeds of up to 20 Gbps. Until the arrival of the 4.0 standard, this is the fastest universally available USB. Read more “WD Black P50: 20-gigabit USB 3.2 gen 2×2 in action” »

WD My Passport SSD 2020 – 2nd generation of the pocket SSD

Extra tests, SSDs, Storages | | Tomáš Brestovanský

WD with the My Passport line is one of the largest manufacturers of external storage. I myself have three pieces with a capacity of 2–4 TB. In 2017, they launched the My Passport SSD, which belonged to the first generation of external SSDs. It impressed us mainly with its unique design and compact dimensions, but unfortunately it never got into my hands. However, this is now changing, as we have received an upgraded version with the same name for 2020. Read more “WD My Passport SSD 2020 – 2nd generation of the pocket SSD” »

A homemade solution for undesirable HDD noise

Extra tests | | Ľubomír Samák

The golden era of HDDs is already gone, and we still haven’t seen any real solution for one of their basic problems. A mounting system that would absorbs undesirable vibrations. The difference in noise levels can be significant. We’ve created just the thing to find out whether it’s even possible to get rid of those vibrations completely. Read more “A homemade solution for undesirable HDD noise” »

Test of six HDDs from WD: which colour is for you?

Extra tests, Storages | | Ľubomír Samák

What disk is best for an office work, photos, videos, operating systems, games, and for demanding servers? And is the Red really well designed for network storage? You can find out in this practical comparison of the performance, consumption, and noise levels of each model from WD. The differences are significant and the results surprising. Green, blue, red, purple, black, or gold? Read more “Test of six HDDs from WD: which colour is for you?” »