Western Digital Introduces WD Black D30 Game Drive External SSDs
by Billy Tallis on May 26, 2021 12:00 PM EST- Posted in
- SSDs
- Storage
- Western Digital
- WD Black
- External SSDs
- WD_Black
Western Digital is adding a new external SSD to their WD_BLACK product line: the WD Black D30 Game Drive SSD. The D30 is a bus-powered USB SSD offering up to 900MB/s read speeds, with capacities from 500GB to 2TB. There is also a special version for Xbox console gaming, which changes some of the drive's trim to white instead of black and comes with a one month trial membership of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, but is otherwise functionally identical.
The new WD_BLACK D30 products fit into the WD_BLACK product line between the D10 external hard drive and the D50 Game Dock (Thunderbolt 3) with optional NVMe storage. The D30 also complements the portable drives under the WD_BLACK brand, including the P10 portable hard drive, and the P50 portable SSD that uses USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 to hit speeds of up to 2 GB/s.
The WD_BLACK D30 Game Drive SSD is available starting today with an MSRP of $89.99 for the 500GB version. The WD_BLACK D30 Game Drive SSD for Xbox is up for pre-order and will be available next month, with prices starting at $99.99 for the 500GB version.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
4 Comments
View All Comments
Operandi - Wednesday, May 26, 2021 - link
@WD FYI, whenever I see "game" or "gaming" slapped onto a product I tend to look elsewhere even if gaming will be part of its use.PaulHoule - Wednesday, May 26, 2021 - link
Those "gaming" drives support some DRM features that are necessary to work w/ the XBOX One so it is not hokum.I attached a Samsung T5 to my XBOX One X and it a fast loading upgrade that is in stock now unlike a Series X, PS5, etc.
I agree with you though that "too many SKU(s)" is a problem in the industry, sometimes I see so many twisty little products that look the same that I either buy nothing or end up returning a lot of things.
Operandi - Wednesday, May 26, 2021 - link
Yeah, I get that gaming hardware gets some of the best bleeding edge tech but from a marketing perspective I think it has the opposite affect. If I see a product primarily aimed at solely gaming I think of it as more of "toy" than any kind of real high-end hardware.taltamir - Saturday, April 9, 2022 - link
> DRM FeatureDRM is never a feature. XBone can die in a fire if it expects me to pay money for their DRM