I have bad news for those of that own one of SanDisk's Ultra +Cloud USB 3.0 flash drives. The company sent out an email earlier today, letting +Cloud customers know that the online storage service would not be available after Friday, May 13th.

Hi SanDisk +Cloud customer,

Unfortunately, the SanDisk +Cloud online storage service will no longer be available after Friday, May 13, 2016. You are receiving this message because your email address is listed as a registered user of this service. We very much regret and apologize for this disruption.

If you have data stored in your SanDisk +Cloud account, please download your data to a separate storage source before Friday, May 13, 2016, after which point it will no longer be available.  If you are having trouble retrieving your data, please contact our customer support team.

At this point, we're not really sure why SanDisk would shut down the service after only a few months. The company is trying to make it up to +Cloud users by providing them with a prepaid debit card to cover the cost of the product as well as a 128GB SanDisk Extreme PRO USB flash drive.

Update: We've learned that this is due to Bitcasa's decision to discontinue their Drive service, which was the basis for SanDisk's +Cloud service.

QNAP Systems, Inc. today announced the release of the powerful 8-bay business NAS TS-831X that features two built-in 10GbE SFP+ ports to fully support 10GbE high-speed networks as a cost-effective NAS solution. The TS-831X further supports VJBOD (Virtual JBOD) to introduce an economical way to utilize unused NAS storage space for expanding the storage capacity of other QNAP NAS. Taking advantage of TS-831X’s native support of Container Station, organizations can rapidly develop and deploy Internet of Things (IoT) apps to create more business opportunities.

The TS-831X uses an Annapurna Labs Alpine AL-314 quad-core 1.4 GHz ARM® Cortex-A15 processor, and features 8GB/16GB DDR3 RAM (upgradable to 16GB), RAID 5/6 support, hardware-accelerated encryption and an SSD cache. It is 10GbE-ready with two built-in 10GbE SFP+ ports, and allows users to install a third 10GbE port via the extra PCIe slot for flexible high-speed network deployment.

Transcend Information, Inc. (Transcend), a leading manufacturer of industrial-grade products, is proud to announce the release of the industrial-grade SuperMLC UHS-I Speed Class 1 (U1) microSD cards. Between SLC and MLC NAND flash, Transcend’s exclusive SuperMLC technology features a cost-effective solution yet with nearly equivalent performance to SLC NAND flash. These newly-released SuperMLC microSD cards boast high-performance, exceptional endurance and wide temperature tolerance (-40°C to 85°C) at affordable prices, ideal for industrial applications such as medical devices, surveillance systems and POS terminals.

Excellent Performance up to 95MB/s
Between Single-Level Cell (SLC) and Multi-Level Cell (MLC) NAND flash, Transcend has successfully developed SuperMLC technology by reprogramming the two bits per cell of MLC into one bit per cell, which greatly boosts its performance. The sequential write speed of Transcend’s new UHS-I U1 SuperMLC microSD cards can reach up to 95MB/s, twice faster than MLC flash chips. Though the total capacity is reduced, SuperMLC is still a good tradeoff for industrial enterprises to obtain superior quality that is nearly equivalent to SLC NAND flash at a cost-effective price.

SanDisk Corporation, a global leader in flash storage solutions, today announced the SanDisk Z410 SSD, a cost-competitive, half-terabyte solid state drive (SSD) that enables manufacturers to design for a broad range of desktop PCs and laptops. The 15-nanometer, three-bits-per-cell based Z410 SSD delivers the performance, capacities and form factor ideal for mainstream computing platforms.

“SSDs are being rapidly adopted as the preferred storage option across the entire spectrum of the PC marketplace,” said Tarun Loomba, vice president and general manager of Client Platform Solutions, SanDisk. “In addition to the performance and durability benefits that SSDs provide, the SanDisk Z410 SSD delivers storage that is ample for most consumers and the right-size for typical corporate users. The Z410 is an important addition to our overall SSD portfolio, as our customers require a complete range of storage options, from home/office PCs to the latest high-performance, ultra-thin laptops.”

SLC Cache Means a Better Computing Experience

Built on the successful SanDisk Z400s SSD platform, the Z410 SSD features an SLC cache--a combination of SLC and TLC blocks to maximize read and write speeds. This means PC users can expect very short start-up and application loading, making the Z410 ideal for multi-tasking and typical PC workloads such as home/office productivity, web browsing, email, casual gaming and audio/video entertainment.

SanDisk Corporation, a global leader in flash storage solutions, today launched the next-generation iXpand Flash Drive, a mobile storage device designed to help people quickly and easily free up space on their iPhone and iPad with up to 128GB of additional capacity.  The iXpand Flash Drive features a new, modern design that fits with most iPhone and iPad cases, a USB 3.0 connector for faster transfer speeds to Mac or PCs, and a completely redesigned app to easily manage photos, videos and music.

According to a recent consumer survey conducted by SanDisk in the U.S., many iPhone users are looking to free up more space on their phones. “People are using their mobile phones to capture tons of photos and videos, and more than 70 percent of users transfer files off of their iPhones to another storage location,” said Dinesh Bahal, vice president, product marketing, SanDisk. “Our line of mobile storage offerings can immediately help them free up space. With the new iXpand Flash Drive, people can spend more time using their iPhone to capture what they love, and less time worrying about how and where to transfer these photos and videos.”

Western Digital Corporation, a world leader in storage solutions, today announced the expansion of its award-winning color portfolio with a new line; WD Gold datacenter hard drives. WD Gold datacenter hard drives are designed for a broad range of applications – including small- to medium-scale enterprise servers and storage, and rack-mount datacenter servers and storage enclosures. WD Gold drives are currently available at select U.S. distributors, resellers and through the WD Store.

With purpose-driven designs for the datacenter, WD Gold datacenter hard drives are launching with a new, high-capacity configuration of up to 8TB that offers HelioSeal® helium-technology for performance, ideal capacity per square foot, power efficiency and low power consumption for datacenter environments. WD Gold datacenter hard drives feature an optimized design with an 8TB option that helps reduce the TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) of servers and storage systems, benefiting IT administrators challenged with growing storage capacity needs on limited budgets. WD Gold hard drives will also include a premium dedicated support line for customers worldwide.

CDRLabs kicks off the week with a review of PNY's new CS1311 solid state drive. Designed for the cost-conscious consumer looking to upgrade their laptop or desktop computer, the CS1311 combines Phison's quad-core, eight-channel PS3110-S10 controller with Toshiba's 15nm TLC NAND flash to deliver faster boot times, quicker application launches and better overall system performance. The CS1311 is also highly durable and offers cool, quiet operation and low power consumption for longer battery life.