NAB Show: WD Showcases New Super Speeds and Massive Capacities for M&E Workflows

At the NAB Show 2024, April 13-17, 2024, in Las Vegas, Western Digital Corp. was unveiling a lineup of technologies and new storage solutions designed for today’s and tomorrow’s complex M&E workflows.

The company continues to focus on creating what’s next with solutions that address a range of growing content needs.

The increasing demand for rich and engaging content, with higher resolutions and more frames/second, is generating the need for faster, more flexible high-capacity storage solutions to help streamline workflows and keep up with high-pressure project demands. For every step of the workflow – from capture and transfer to archive – the company is committed to advancing technology to help professionals and creators get work done faster and more efficiently, ultimately saving time and money, so they can focus on their creativity.

Featuring fast speeds and massive capacities, the firm will showcase its newest innovations from its world-renowned brands at the show. The company’s portfolio offers reliable solutions that can improve M&E workflows.

Advancing tomorrow’s workflow: Delivering next-gen technology, super speeds
Driving the future of performance, the company is revealing its next-gen SanDisk SD and microSD Express portfolio with a higher level of performance for current and future applications requiring faster storage solutions that help reduce the time it takes to access and save data. With performance levels reaching SSD speeds, SD Express cards work with current SD UHS-I and UHS-II devices, while giving M&E professionals a memory solution for future superspeed devices.

The new SD Express cards feature SanDisk ThermAdapt technology with a specially designed enclosure and adaptive thermal managed controller, so devices stay well within a safe temperature range. SanDisk SD and microSD Express cards are expected to be available at authorized retailers, e-tailers and the company webstore this summer.

• SanDisk SD Express (128/256GB) – With up to 4.4x faster transfer speeds than the firm’s fastest SD UHS-I card ⁽¹⁾ this card is for data-intensive workflows and high-performance cameras and other compatible devices. It is backward compatible with today’s devices and ready for the future.

• SanDisk microSD Express (128/256GB) – With up to 4.4x faster transfer speeds than the firm’s fastest microSD UHS-I card ⁽²⁾, the SanDisk microSD Express card offers speed, storage, and performance for pros dealing with intensive workflows. This card is also backward compatible for usage with today’s devices.

M&E professionals who create high-resolution videos with state-of-the art cameras, action cams, drones, and other digital devices, can be limited if they don’t have sufficient storage capabilities. To help pros evolve their creative process, the company is announcing new memory cards at NAB:

• 2TB SanDisk Extreme PRO SDXC UHS-I memory card ^(*) – 1st 2TB UHS-I SDXC card ⁽³⁾ – offers storage capacity to capture more high-resolution images and record more 4K UHD ⁽⁴⁾ videos on just one card.

• 2TB SanDisk Extreme PRO microSDXC UHS-I memory card (*) – The firm’s 1st and world’s fastest 2TB UHS-I microSD card ⁽³⁾ – high-capacity card for devices with microSD slots to capture more content than ever. The 2TB memory cards are expected to be available at authorized retailers, e-tailers and the Western Digital store this summer.

• 4TB SanDisk Extreme PRO SDUC UHS-I memory card (*) – introducing the world’s 1st 4TB (*) UHS-I SD card to deliver an amount of capacity in the same-sized SD form factor. Leveraging the SDUC standard (Secure Digital Ultra Capacity), which enables up to 128TB, the new card is expected to release in 2025 and will be showcased at NAB 2024. Attendees will get a preview of the 4TB SD card’s full capacity and learn more about how it will expand the creative possibilities for cameras and laptops.

Enhancing workflow efficiency: Expanding possibilities with massive capacities and performance

SanDisk Professional’s lineup of premium-grade desktop hard drive solutions now feature 24TB ^(*) enterprise-class 7,200rpm Ultrastar drives inside to better support demanding 4K, 8K and VR workflows. This range of 24TB SanDisk Professional desktop solutions can be purchased through authorized retailers, e-tailers and the company webtore.

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• 24TB G-DRIVE ^(*) ($699.99) – Reliable storage supporting USB-C (10Gb/s) for fast backup.

• 24TB G-DRIVE PROJECT (*) ($929.99) – Backup and save valuable project work. Compatible with Thunderbolt 3 and USB-C (10Gb). Also features a PRO-BLADE SSD Mag slot for modular SSD performance in sharing and editing across devices.

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• 48TB G-RAID MIRROR ^(*) ($1,599.99) – Ships in RAID-1 (mirroring) to automatically create a duplicate of your working files for data redundancy. Compatible with Thunderbolt 3 and USB-C (10Gb). Also features a PRO-BLADE SSD Mag slot for modular SSD performance in sharing and editing across devices.

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• 96TB G-RAID SHUTTLE 4 ^(*) ($4,499.99) – Transportable 4-bay hardware RAID solution allows for fast access and real-time video editing. This device ships in RAID-5, and supports RAID-0, -1 and -10 configurations.

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• 192TB G-RAID SHUTTLE 8 ^(*) ($7,499.99) – Transportable 8-bay hardware RAID solution for those who need massive storage for consolidated backup, whether on location or in the studio. It supports RAID-0, -1, -5, -6, -10, -50, and -60 configurations, and provides transfer rates up to 1,690MB/s read and 1,490MB/s write in default RAID 5. ⁽⁵⁾

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Conquering enormous data demands: Increasing scalability, flexibility for massive workflows
The company’s storage platforms are designed to tackle the M&E industry’s data challenges with cost-effective enterprise-class storage that offers scalability, durability and mobility for broadcasters, CDNs, production houses and studios.

• Ultrastar Transporter – High-throughput, large-capacity data transfer platform for data capture, storage and mobility. Offers up to 368TB (*) of fast NVMe SSD performance and dual port 200Gb/E connectivity for storing, editing and physically transporting dailies and massive files from one location to the next, including the cloud, which can save days or weeks when compared to using online file transfer services

Ultrastar Transporter front and rear

Take it on location where a network connection may not be feasible due to cost or poor connectivity. Weighs less than 30lbs, features a durable chassis design, and includes a proven transport case. Features added data security with a tamper evident case and is designed for FIPS 140-2 level 2 compliance with Trusted Platform Module (TPM) Version 2.

• Ultrastar Data102 JBOD Platform – Reliable, high-density external storage platform for mass storage, backup, online accessible archive and nearline content. This 3rd-gen solution supports up to 24Gb SAS to the host to future proof your investment.

The Data102 3000 platform provides up to 2.65PB (*) in a 4U enclosure, and supports the 24TB Ultrastar HDDs, including the now shipping Ultrastar DC HC580 SAS HDDs. Features the company’s ArcticFlow and IsoVibe innovations that have demonstrated a 62% reduction in hard drive returns caused by heat and vibration compared to the generation without.

Western Digital is showcased these products at NAB Show 2024, Las Vegas, NV.

^(*) 1GB is equal to one billion bytes, 1TB is equal to one trillion bytes, and 1PB is equal to one quadrillion bytes. Actual user capacity may be less due to operating environment.
⁽¹⁾ Based on internal testing with the SanDisk PRO-READER SD Express Dual Card against the 64GB-1TB SanDisk Extreme PRO UHS-I SDXC card with SanDisk Professional PRO-READER SD and microSD. Performance may be lower depending upon host device, interface, usage conditions and other factors.
⁽²⁾ Based on internal testing with the SanDisk PRO-READER SD Express Dual Card against the 64GB-1TB SanDisk Extreme PRO UHS-I microSDXC card with SanDisk Professional PRO-READER SD & microSD. Performance may be lower depending upon host device, interface, usage conditions and other factors.
⁽³⁾ Based on read speed. Up to 250MB/s read speeds, engineered with proprietary technology to reach speeds beyond UHS-I 104MB/s, require compatible devices capable of reaching such speeds. Based on internal testing; performance may vary depending upon host device, usage conditions, drive capacity, and other factors. 1MB=1,000,000 bytes.
⁽⁴⁾ 4K UHD (3840 x 2160) video support may vary based upon host device, file attributes and other factors. See www.sandisk.com/HD.
⁽⁵⁾ 1MB/s=1 million bytes per second. Based on internal testing; performance may vary depending upon host device, usage conditions, drive capacity, RAID configuration and other factors.