Western Digital to release firmware update for faulty SanDisk SSDs

Photo: Western Digital

Western Digital has announced it'll release a firmware update to fix a reliability issue with its SanDisk Extreme and Extreme Pro SSDs. Some customers have reported that their 4TB and 2TB Extreme V2 and Extreme Pro V2 portable drives erased their data or became unreadable. The issue seems to primarily affect the 4TB drives made since late 2022.

The company said it resolved the issue for the 4TB models and will publish the firmware update on its website soon. It did not mention the 2TB models or offer refunds to customers who lost their data. Western Digital asked customers to contact its customer support team for assistance. SanDisk drives bought before late 2022 are likely not affected by the issue. 

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Cheaper Xbox expandable storage cards spotted

Photo: Best Buy

It looks like cheaper expandable storage cards for the Xbox are coming. A new Western Digital 1TB expansion card for the Xbox Series S/X consoles was spotted on a now taken down Best Buy page. It'll be the first Xbox external storage not manufactured by Seagate. The price was at USD 179.99 (around CAD 244), which is USD 40 cheaper than Seagate's USD 219.99 (~CAD 298) option.

When the new Xbox consoles launched, Seagate was the exclusive manufacturers for expandable drives. But now, we're hoping this listing means we'll get better pricing on the rather expensive drives for Microsoft's console. The company opted to use proprietary storage for the Xbox Series X/S, while Sony used a standard M. SSD expandable storage slot that allowed PlayStation 5 owners to use different drives available on the market. Now, we just hope this drive officially launches soon.

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Western Digital launches world’s fastest 256GB microSD Card

Western Digital Corporation introduced a new suite of 256 gigabyte (GB) microSD cards, which includes the new 256GB SanDisk Extreme® microSDXC™ UHS-I card – the fastest microSD card in its class. The new suite of cards also includes 256GB SanDisk Ultra® microSDXC UHS-I card, Premium Edition, the first 256GB card optimized for mainstream consumers.

The 256GB SanDisk Ultra microSDXC UHS-I card, Premium Edition, will be available worldwide in August 2016 with a U.S. MSRP of $149.99. The 256GB SanDisk Extreme microSDXC UHS-I card will be available worldwide in calendar Q4 2016 with a U.S. MSRP of $199.99.

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Western Digital buys SanDisk for US $19 billion

Western Digital purchased SanDisk, the world's third biggest maker of storage, in a US $19 billlion deal that will better position it to make flash memory chips for smartphones and tablets. Sandisk has long been an innovator in the field of computer storage back to the days of floppy drives up to various generations of USB flashdrives, SD cards, SSD cards and various other forms of micro storage for Ultrabooks, tablets and smartphones.

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