SanDisk Pro-Blade
Flashing back to Zip drives, Ganesh TS is perplexed.
SPECS
Size: 4TB (1TB, 2TB options)
Port: USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 Type-C, PCIe 3.0 x4
Bridge: ASMedia ASM 2364
Power: Bus
Cable: 50cm Type-C
Size: 109.8x28 x7.5mm 45g (Mag), 130.4x 71.5x16mm 165g (Transport)
Western Digital unveiled the mouth-filling SanDisk Professional Pro-Blade modular SSD ecosystem in mid-2022 to serve the needs of the professional market. The Pro-Blade family comprises of three product lines: compact and sturdy NVMe drives (Pro-Blade SSD Mags), a USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 (20Gb/s) enclosure for the mags (Pro-Blade Transport), and a four-bay Thunderbolt enclosure (Pro-Blade Station) directly compatible with the mags. The mags are essentially M.2 2280 NVMe SSDs with a proprietary connector that directly exposes the internal PCIe Gen3 x4 interface, albeit with support for a higher number of mating cycles compared to the native M.2 2280 internal SSD one.