SanDisk today announced that its iXpand Flash Drive is now available in a larger 256GB storage capacity for $279.99, expanding upon existing 16GB, 32GB, 64GB, and 128GB capacities available for between $49.99 and $129.99.
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The iXpand Flash Drive connects to the Lightning port on an iPhone or iPad to provide the device with up to 256GB of additional storage space through the SanDisk iXpand Drive app. It has a USB-A port with USB 3.0 speeds for quickly transferring files to and from another iOS device, Mac, or PC.
MacRumors reviewed the second-generation iXpand Flash Drive last year and noted that it was a worthwhile purchase for those who need expanded storage, although the new 256GB size is on the expensive side.
SanDisk also introduced its Connect Wireless Stick in a larger 256GB storage capacity for $279.99. The wireless flash drive enables wireless storage and transfer of files from one iPhone or iPad to another iOS device, Mac, or PC over a password-protected Wi-Fi network. It has a USB 2.0 port.
Both external storage solutions are available now at Amazon, Best Buy, B&H Photo Video, and select other retailers in the United States and elsewhere.
Top Rated Comments
If the purpose is storing music and videos that you can watch, then USB 2.0 is plenty fast enough. Very few movies take even 2 MB/s. And if I fill a 256 GB drive with movies from my Mac, I'm not going to wait for it to finish even with USB 3.0. I'll start the copy and do other things. Eventually it's done.
Yes, but with UHD 4K becoming a thing even on smaller devices, that's likely to change in the near-ish future.I don't think the bottleneck is the flash memory. I've seen USB 2.0 push at most 50MiB/s (bytes, not bits). For whatever reason, it's always slower than that on flash drives. I've seen USB 3.0 flash drives push 80MiB/s, and they have much faster read/writes when plugged into USB 3.0 slots instead of 2.0.
Yeah, didn't we here recently something about an "Ultra Accessory Connector" (UAC)...??[doublepost=1488277760][/doublepost]
Watch them replace it, but not with USB-C.
https://arstechnica.co.uk/apple/2017/02/apple-uac-port
"smaller than Lightning or USB-C, that could be used to charge devices or transfer data."
A lot of good type-A connectors are on current Macs....
256GB and USB 2.0 should never co-exist in the same product, unless it has USB 3.0 and 2.0 for backward compatibility. Who thought that adding wireless at the expense of USB speed was a good idea to do?
I have three of the Connect sticks up to 64GB capacity. They max out at 10MB/s write speed via USB. Yup, you read right. Adding USB 3.0 would be the proverbial 'putting lipstick on a pig' since the NAND chips used are so low budget and slow. The wireless bit works well, if slowly, otherwise. Fine for uploading small images but not much fun for large sized files. I honestly do not see the value in high storage capacities until Sandisk beefs up the wireless and I/O speeds considerably.