Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., the world leader in advanced memory technology, today unveiled the 850 EVO M.2 and 850 EVO mSATA solid state drive (SSD) lineups, which will launch today in 53 countries. The 850 EVO M.2 and mSATA SSDs are new form factors of the award-winning 850 EVO SSD that launched in December 2014 and features Samsung’s breakthrough 3D V-NAND technology for maximum performance and endurance. Just one-tenth the weight of a traditional 2.5-inch SSD, the M.2 and mSATA SSDs are ideal for users looking to upgrade their desktop or ultrathin PCs with high-capacity, high-performance storage.

“By offering the 850 EVO in multiple form factors, Samsung is giving every PC user the opportunity to upgrade their device with the speed, reliability and endurance of 3D V-NAND,” said Unsoo Kim, Senior vice president of branded product marketing team, Samsung Electronics. “There is growing demand for high-capacity SSDs and these new form factors will help drive further adoption of SSDs as well as expand Samsung’s leadership position in the consumer storage market.”

In addition to our review of Samsung's new 850 EVO M.2 SSD, CDRLabs has taken an in depth look at the 850 EVO mSATA. Designed for ultra-thin laptop PCs, this new addition to the 850 EVO family is available with up to 1TB of Samsung's 3-bit 3D V-NAND and, depending on the capacity, is powered by one of two different controllers. To compensate for the slow write speeds typically associated with 3-bit NAND, the 850 EVO mSATA is equipped with Samsung's TurboWrite write acceleration technology, which creates a high-performance write buffer in the SSD. The drive also offers support for Device Sleep (DEVSLP), hardware-based full disk encryption and Samsung's RAPID (Real-time Accelerated Processing of I/O Data) technology. By using free PC memory as a cache, RAPID can push the performance of the SSD beyond the limits of the current SATA specification.

WD, a Western Digital company, and world leader in storage solutions, today introduced the My Passport X portable hard drive for gamers. When connected to Xbox One or a PC, the sleek 2 TB My Passport X drive provides much-needed storage capacity for gamers to store up to 50 extra game titles, eliminating the need to delete previously purchased games from their Xbox One or PC hard drives and removing those “storage full” warning messages while allowing players to get back to their games. In addition to added storage, gamers can use My Passport X to take saved games to use on friends’ systems2 without having to download.

“Game file sizes are expanding to 36 GB per game and upwards, and are projected to continue growing,” said Tony Tate, vice president and general manager of WD’s Content Solutions unit. “Console gamers are able to store on average only 10 games on the 365 GB out of 500 GB that is available on the onboard hard drive. The My Passport X portable drive delivers a fast and easy way to expand capacity and enables an expanded library of games on the go.”

ADATA Technology, a leading manufacturer of high-performance DRAM modules and NAND Flash application products, today launches the HD710A Waterproof / Dustproof / Shock-Resistant USB 3.0 External Hard Drive. ADATA's HD710A is an ultra-durable external hard drive designed especially for Macbook. It comes with large storage capacities of 1TB or 2TB, provides superior data transfer speeds, and also undergoes stringent tests for waterproofing, dustproofing and shock resistance. The HD710A is the ultimate in portable protection for your data!

Military Rugged, Reliable, Better Than Ever

Designed especially for active users of Apple Macintosh platforms, the HD710A provides rugged protection from shock, dust and water. The triple-layer construction of the HD710A incorporates exceptionally elastic silicone material to provide great shock absorption from all angles. By passing the MIL-STD-810G 516.6 military-grade shock-resistant test, the HD710A ensures your data's safety even after unexpectedly suffering a shock. It has also passed the stringent IP68 test, offering excellent water and dust resistant protection. Thanks to the durable design, the HD710A works normally even in a dusty environment or after being submerged in its storage state in 1.5 meter-deep water for up to 60 minutes. When not in use, the USB cable tucks into a wrap-around exterior slot in the drive casing, providing an elegant storage solution that matches the highly practical characteristics of the device.