Western Digital has revealed it is working with SanDisk for its 5mm (0.2-inches) thick solid state hybrid drives (SSHD) that it revealed last month. The WD Black SSHD storage, aimed at notebook manufacturers aiming to create thinner devices, uses SanDisk’s flash memory technology for the solid-state portion, which works alongside the WD-created hard disk.
Using the SanDisk iSSD flash storage device, which is said to be suitable for the drive thanks to being compact, low-powered, and claimed high performance and reliability, the 2.5-inch drive is able to use the iSSD as a caching drive for the main 500GB WD storage, allowing for potentially faster data transfer speeds due to reduced need to seek on the spinning platters.
It has previously been revealed that the new drive design reduces weight compared to conventional drives by up to 36 percent, and is said to be quieter and shockproof to 1000G. Due to its thin form, the drive uses a new edge connector that combines the data connection and power feed.
Currently, WD is shipping 5mm WD Black SSHD storage to OEMs, along with 7mm and 9.5mm models. Availability of the 5mm drives to end users and prices have yet to be revealed.
