Pioneer Japan sent out a press release today, announcing two new 16x Blu-ray Disc writers, the BDR-S11J-BK and BDR-S11J-X. Both drives are equipped with a Serial ATA Revision 3.0 interface and are capable of 16x BD-R, 14x BD-R DL, 8x BD-R LTH, 2x BD-RE and 2x BD-RE DL writing speeds and a maximum BD-ROM read speed of 12x. The BDR-S11J-BK and BDR-S11J-X also write to triple-layer (100GB) BD-R media at 8x, quad-layer (128GB) BD-R media at 6x and triple-layer (100GB) BD-RE media at 2x.

What makes the BDR-S11J-BK and BDR-S11J-X unique is their ability to play back Ultra HD Blu-ray content. When installed in a Windows 10 PC with the included WinDVD software and an i7 or i5 Kaby Lake processor, users can play back movies at 4K resolutions. The two drives also ship with authoring software from CyberLink and are equipped with Pioneer's PureRead4+ technology, which greatly improves the reading performance of scratched and dirty discs.

The top of the line BDR-S11J-X takes things one step further by adopting a low resistance flat cable, anti-vibration parts and high gloss paint. It also has the ability to check and display the playback quality of an audio CD (CD-DA) and, in the case of a low quality level, recommend the settings for optimal playback.

Transcend Information, Inc. (Transcend), a leading manufacturer of industrial-grade products, proudly presents the industrial-grade SuperMLC JetFlash 740 USB flash drive. Positioned between its SLC and MLC NAND flash offerings, Transcend’s exclusive SuperMLC technology is a cost-effective solution that offers performance close to that of SLC NAND flash. Compliant with USB 3.1 Gen 1 specifications, the JetFlash 740 boasts excellent performance and endurance at affordable prices, making it ideal for demanding industrial grade applications.

Blazing-Fast Performance up to 120MB/s
Drawing on the strengths of both Single-Level Cell (SLC) and Multi-Level Cell (MLC) NAND flash, Transcend has developed SuperMLC technology by reprogramming the two bits per cell of MLC into one bit per cell, greatly boosting performance. Compliant with USB 3.1 Gen 1 specifications, the transfer speeds of Transcend’s JetFlash 740 USB flash drive can reach up to 120MB/s read and 90MB/s write, double those of MLC flash chips. Transcend’s SuperMLC technology is a great match for industrial applications that demand quality comparable to SLC NAND flash at a cost-effective price.

CDRLabs kicks off the New Year with a review of Samsung's 960 PRO SSD. First unveiled at the 2016 Samsung SSD Global Summit in Seoul, this cutting-edge NVMe SSD is powered by the company's new 5-core Polaris controller and is available with up to 2TB of their 48-layer V-NAND flash. Also, thanks to its PCIe Gen 3.0 x4 lane interface, the 960 PRO is capable of delivering up to 3,500 MB/s sequential read and 2,100 MB/s sequential write speeds.

Western Digital Corporation, a global storage technology and solutions leader, today announced its fastest, high-capacity USB flash drive to date with the launch of its high-performance 256GB SanDisk Extreme PRO USB 3.1 Solid State Flash Drive. The new drive delivers the speed, capacity, and reliability of an SSD in the convenient form factor of a small USB flash drive, and is ideal for creative professionals, tech enthusiasts, or anyone who creates and shares massive files.

A game-changer in the USB storage category, the drive is capable of read speeds up to 420MB/s and write speeds up to 380MB/s1. With its unprecedented speeds, you can transfer full-length 4K movie to the drive in less than 15 seconds2. With its USB 3.1 interface, people can rapidly access and move files on the go, without having to worry about a cable. The new drive also features a sophisticated design with a durable aluminum metal casing and a retractable connector for ultimate style and reliability.

Western Digital Corporation (“Western Digital”) today announced the availability of new WD Black PCIe solid state drives (SSDs), the first WD-branded client PCIe SSDs. The new SSDs complement the recently announced WD Blue and WD Green SATA SSDs, as well as the company’s industry leading family of hard drives for PCs and workstations, providing a full portfolio of WD storage devices for virtually any application.

The WD Black PCIe SSD is a performance PCIe Gen3 x4 NVMe-based SSD that delivers more than three times the sequential read speeds of current SATA SSDs. The 256GB and 512GB capacities make it ideal as a boot drive when paired with a high-capacity hard drive, or as primary storage when building a future-ready PC. Consumers who are using the new WD Black PCIe SSD to boot up, load read-intensive games or applications, or shut down a system may realize a performance improvement of more than 10 seconds when compared to SATA SSDs.

Patriot, a global leader in performance memory, SSDs, gaming peripherals and flash storage solutions, today announced the release of two new Type-C USB drives. The Stellar-C Vertical (STC-Vi) and the Stellar-C Pass-Through (STC-Ti) will provide users with high capacity, portable storage solutions for the ever growing Type-C technology.

The Patriot STC-Vi will provide users with an upright solution to minimize obstruction while in use with Type-C smartphones or tablets and provides a low-profile, plug-and-stay, drive for use in notebooks, such as the MacBook®, and desktop PCs. “With the STC-Vi, the new vertically positioned Type-C flash drive, we are giving the consumer something that will mesh well with Type-C mobile devices both in style and portability,” said Meng J. Choo, Patriot’s Flash Product Manager. Available in a range of capacities from 64GB to 128GB, the STC-Vi will have a transfer rate of up to 225MB/s read and up to 25MB/s write for a seamless transfer between devices.

LaCie, the premium brand from Seagate Technology plc, today announced at the Consumer Electronics Show significant updates to its legendary LaCie Rugged and d2 storage solutions. Photographers, videographers and musicians from around the globe have trusted these products for more than a decade to help them capture, edit and deliver their creative work. New technologies let users film and photograph at unprecedented resolutions, requiring more efficient ways to manage the exponential increases in data. To address this challenge, LaCie, with design by Neil Poulton, has engineered its next generation of storage solutions with more speed, higher capacity and better compatibility—and best-in-class reliability.

LACIE RUGGED THUNDERBOLT USB-C

First, the new LaCie Rugged Thunderbolt USB-C combines iconic Rugged toughness with USB-C compatibility and fast Thunderbolt speeds. Users can store even more footage, and so carry fewer devices, thanks to the industry-leading mobile HDD capacity up to 5TB. The LaCie Rugged features Seagate BarraCuda drives for best-in-class reliability and performance. In addition, the 1TB SSD version delivers speeds of up to 510MB/s, a 30 percent increase over the previous SSD generation. With these speeds, creative professionals can transfer 100GB of content in about three minutes and enjoy more responsive photo library browsing in Adobe Lightroom.