Western Digital today announced the WD Blue 3D and Sandisk 3D series which both feature 64 layer 3D NAND. The WD version will be available in a 2.5" and M.2 form-factor, the Sandisk version will be in the 2.5" form-factor only.
Both the WD and Sandisk SSDs will be available in capacities of 250GB, 500GB, 1TB and 2TB. The specified maximum sequential read speed is 560 MB/s and the maximum sequential write speed is specified at 532 MB/s. Maximum random reads are specified at 95,000 IOPS and random writes at 84,000 IOPS.
The 64 layer 3D-NAND (BiCS) comes from the Toshiba/Sandisk joint venture and is coupled with a Marvell controller. More specifically, the NAND in these drives is TLC BiCS memory that holds 3 bit per cell.
The SSDs will become available worldwide in Q3 of 2017. The SATA 2.5" 250GB WD Blue 3D drive has a MSRP of $99.99 just like the SanDisk Ultra 3D SSD 2.5" SATA drive. WD hasn't disclosed any pricing details on the larger capacity drives yet.
