The new Black: Western Dig doubles capacity on slimmed-down flasher

Beefs-up read speeds too

Just over a year after the first Black M.2 SSD hit the streets, Western Digital has doubled its maximum capacity to 1TB, doubled sequential read bandwidth and more than doubled the random read IOPS.

Here are the main numbers of this drive:

• 250GB, 500GB and 1TB capacities, using 3D NAND
• Random read and write IOPS – up to 500,000 and 400,000
• Sequential read and write bandwidth – up to 3,400 and 2,800MB/sec
• Endurance for 250GB, 500GB and 1TB capacities is 200, 300 and 600TB written
• Five-year limited warranty and 1.75m hours MTBF

WD said the improvements are due to fresh architecture and a better controller.

In comparison, Toshiba's XD5 M.2 SSD has a much larger 1.9TB to 3.8TB capacity range but a slower 240,000/21,000 random read/write IOPS rating. Its sequential read and write bandwidth is slower too; 2,600MB/sec and 890MB/sec respectively.

This latest WD Black M.22 SSD is already available stateside in capacities of 250GB ($119.99 ), 500GB ($229.99) and 1TB ($449.99). It will be available by late April in select Western Digital retailers and distributors globally. ®