Western Digital Enters the SSD Market

Following its recent purchase of SanDisk, Western Digital has launched its first consumer solid state drives (SSDs). WD Blue and WD Green – a mid-range and budget line of SSDs, respectively – come in both 2.5-inch SATA and PCIe M.2 form factors; WD Blue are available in are available in 250GB, 500GB, and 1TB capacities, while WD Green come in either 120GB or 240GB capacities.

The WD Blue SSD models boast up to 545MB/s and 525MB/s sequential read and write speeds, and endurance up to 400TBW. The Blue range is available now, priced between $79 and $299 (MSRP).

The budget WD Green SSD models have an ultra-low power-draw and sequential read and write times of up to 540MB/s and 405MB/s, with endurance of up to 80 TBW. The WD Green range will be available before the end of the year, with pricing yet to be announced.

“There is significant demand among our core WD resellers and consumers for a broad set of flash-based storage options,” Eyal Bek, Senior Director of Devices Business Unit for Western Digital, said. “The expansive reach of the WD channel enables availability of a Western Digital SSD solution. We are very proud to have developed and launched WD Blue and WD Green SSDs, and believe they’ll provide the instant-on, reliability and capacity benefits our customers have been demanding.”