Western Digital Debuts New SanDisk PRO-BLADE Modular SSD Ecosystem

Under its SanDisk brand, Western Digital today introduced a new SanDisk Professional PRO-BLADE Modular SSD Ecosystem, which is aimed at creators who need fast portable storage devices that are capable of holding terabytes of data.

sandisk pro blade
The system includes the PRO-BLADE SSD mag, the PRO-BLADE Portable SSD enclosure, and the PRO-BLADE Desktop SSD enclosure. The PRO-BLADE SSD mag is an NVMe SSD mag that comes in sizes that include 1TB, 2TB, and 4TB, with prices ranging from $180 to $600. The PRO-BLADE SSD mags offer three meter drop protection and 4,000 lbs crush resistance.

SanDisk's Pro-BLADE Transport Portable USB-C SSD enclosure holds one of the PRO-BLADE mags for on-the-go usage. It supports read/write speeds of up to 2000MB/s over USB-C, and it's simple to swap between mags when using the enclosure with a USB-C compatible camera. The SSD enclosure is priced at $70, and there are also bundles that include one of the PRO-BLADE mags priced starting at $240.

For desktop workstations, SanDisk is also introducing the Thunderbolt 3 PRO-BLADE Station Desktop SSD enclosure, which is able to accommodate four PRO-BLADE SSD mags. As it has a 40Gb/s Thunderbolt interface, the PRO-BLADE Station supports faster transfer speeds than the portable SSD enclosure. According to SanDisk, the PRO-BLADE Station and PRO-BLADE SSDs allow for real-time 4K/8K/12K editing and super fast copying.

The PRO-BLADE SSDs and portable SSD enclosure will be available in June 2022, while the desktop enclosure is set to be introduced in the fall.

Western Digital also introduced faster speeds for the SanDisk Extreme Pro memory card lineup, with support for up to 200MB/s. Western Digital says that these are the fastest UHS-I SD and microSD memory cards in the world, with the updated cards set to ship in June, with pricing that starts at $20.

Popular Stories

New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 18

20 New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 18.2

Monday December 16, 2024 8:55 am PST by
Apple released iOS 18.2 in the second week of December, bringing the second round of Apple Intelligence features to iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 models. This update brings several major advancements to Apple's AI integration, including completely new image generation tools and a range of Visual Intelligence-based enhancements. Apple has added a handful of new non-AI related feature controls as...
iphone 16 apple intelligence

Apple Drops Plans for iPhone Hardware Subscription Service

Wednesday December 18, 2024 11:39 am PST by
Apple is no longer planning to launch a hardware subscription service that would let customers "subscribe" to get a new iPhone each year, reports Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Gurman first shared rumors about Apple's work on a hardware subscription service back in 2022, and at the time, he said that Apple wanted to develop a simple system that would allow customers to pay a monthly fee to gain...
iPhone 17 Pro Dual Tone Feature 1

iPhone 17 Pro Rumored to Stick With 'Triangular' Camera Design

Wednesday December 18, 2024 2:36 am PST by
Contrary to recent reports, the iPhone 17 Pro will not feature a horizontal camera layout, according to the leaker known as "Instant Digital." In a new post on Weibo, the leaker said that a source has confirmed that while the appearance of the back of the iPhone 17 Pro has indeed changed, the layout of the three cameras is "still triangular," rather than the "horizontal bar spread on the...
elevation lab airtag battery

Your AirTag's Battery Will Last for Up to 10 Years With Elevation Lab's New TimeCapsule Enclosure

Wednesday December 18, 2024 10:05 am PST by
Elevation Lab today announced the launch of TimeCapsule, an innovative and simple solution for increasing the battery life of Apple's AirTag. Priced at $20, TimeCapsule is an AirTag enclosure that houses two AA batteries that offer 14x more battery capacity than the CR2032 battery that the AirTag runs on. It works by attaching the AirTag's upper housing to the built-in custom contact in the...
apple tv 4k yellow bg feature

New Apple TV Rumored to Launch Next Year With These Features

Tuesday December 17, 2024 9:02 am PST by
The current Apple TV 4K was released more than two years ago, so the streaming device is becoming due for a hardware upgrade soon. Fortunately, it was recently rumored that a new Apple TV will launch at some point next year. Below, we recap rumors about the next-generation Apple TV. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman last week reported that Apple has been working on its own combined Wi-Fi and...
blackmagic vision pro

Blackmagic Debuts $30K 3D Camera for Capturing Video for Vision Pro

Monday December 16, 2024 4:17 pm PST by
Blackmagic today announced that its URSA Cine Immersive camera is now available for pre-order, with deliveries set to start late in the first quarter of 2025. Blackmagic says that this is the world's first commercial camera system designed to capture 3D content for the Vision Pro. The URSA Cine Immersive camera was first introduced in June, but it has not been available for purchase until...
mac pro creativity

Apple Launched the Controversial 'Trashcan' Mac Pro 11 Years Ago Today

Thursday December 19, 2024 7:00 pm PST by
Apple launched the controversial "trashcan" Mac Pro eleven years ago today, introducing one of its most criticized designs that persisted through a period of widespread discontentment with the Mac lineup. The redesign took the Mac Pro in an entirely new direction, spearheaded by a polished aluminum cylindrical design that became unofficially dubbed the "trashcan" in the Mac community. All of ...
iPhone 17 Slim Feature

'iPhone 17 Air' With 'Major' Design Changes and 19-Inch MacBook Detailed in New Report

Sunday December 15, 2024 9:47 am PST by
Apple is planning a series of "major design" and "format changes" for iPhones over the next few years, according to The Wall Street Journal's Aaron Tilley and Yang Jie. The paywalled report published today corroborated the widely-rumored "iPhone 17 Air" with an "ultrathin" design that is thinner than current iPhone models. The report did not mention a specific measurement, but previous...

Top Rated Comments

BootsWalking Avatar
34 months ago
The PRO-BLADE SSD mags offer three meter drop protection and 4,000 lbs crush resistance.

Obviously to withstand a Mac Pro falling onto it.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
HappyDude20 Avatar
34 months ago
Call me crazy but $600 for 4TB is a great deal no?
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
DeepIn2U Avatar
34 months ago

Depends on specifically WHICH are used. WD 4TB m.2 are retailing for less that on Amazon & B&H right now and probably can be found by shopping around for even less.

If one is willing to go with PNY brand, I see 4TB m.2 for south of $500 on a few sites.

But again, there's more to it than just 4TB and "lowest price": speed for example which varies pricing from < $500 to up into the $1000 level for 4TB.
Looks like keeping the drives cool to maintain long sustainable speed is the key goal



THe Rig for the Transport unit looks nice to showcase it potentially being used in real world. Seems like SanDisk sort of wants to compete with RED here? Just not sure how either compres I don’t work in that industry still learning.

On the desktop version, why not thunderbolt 4 instead of 3? It would be the “go to” in video editing. No thunderbolt 4 enclosures out there at all.

Update: sorry, it is thunderbolt 4. Will definitely look at it when released.
Rep from SanDisk Professional in above video stated TB3. ISNT THE SPEES EXACLTY THE SAME BETWEEN TB3&4, which the only difference is licensing costs and longer cables available on TB4?


My only worry is they call this an ecosystem so wondering if the Mags have proprietary connectivity on them snd how long will SanDisk support this product or how long will it scale or quickly be abandoned when and if TB5 debuts with double thr speeds? Would TB5 theoretically have but another new connector other than USB-C (maybe a micro USB-C?)

Oh bummer RAID isn’t possible due to the nature of hotswapping?
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
HobeSoundDarryl Avatar
34 months ago

Call me crazy but $600 for 4TB is a great deal no?
Depends on specifically WHICH are used. WD 4TB m.2 are retailing for less that on Amazon & B&H right now and probably can be found by shopping around for even less.

If one is willing to go with PNY brand, I see 4TB m.2 for south of $500 on a few sites.

But again, there's more to it than just 4TB and "lowest price": speed for example which varies pricing from < $500 to up into the $1000 level for 4TB.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
loby Avatar
34 months ago
On the desktop version, why not thunderbolt 4 instead of 3? It would be the “go to” in video editing. No thunderbolt 4 enclosures out there at all.

Update: sorry, it is thunderbolt 4. Will definitely look at it when released.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
RedTomato Avatar
34 months ago

Software RAID only and usually only if you keep the config. Switching drive locations often messes with the RAID. I’d imagine the G-TECH line (also owned by them) will be reborn with an NVMe RAID eventually.
I’ve had bad experience with any RAID that relies on software. RAID1, mirroring, is probably the only level I would trust this with, and only if the data on each drive is acessible when put into a different machine. And I’d run a check to verify after purchasing.

If any brave soul was to run RAID0, striping, or any other raid level on this equipment, I don’t think there’s much improvement to be gained. Perhaps between -20% and +30% depending on the type of access.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)