Sandisk launches its fastest USB drive, ever

CES 2017 - The new Sandisk Extreme Pro USB 3.1 Solid State Flash drive now features SSD performance in a portable aluminum body.

The 256 GB USB 3.1 drive is designed to operate like a pocket SSD, but smaller since it's a USB stick. Sandisk, a division of Western Digital, is reporting that the Sandisk USB 3.1 Extreme Pro flash drive is capable of speeds of up to 420 MB/s and writes of up to 380 MB/s which is starting to approach the limits of USB 3.1 gen 1 speeds (5 Gbps).

While we aren't quite at 5 Gbps yet, this drive is already 3.3 Gbps which is still quite fast.

In addition to being 256 GB and extremely fast, Western Digital includes Sandisk SecureAccess software to offer 128-bit encryption to protect your data if you don't want any unauthorized users accessing your data. The 256 GB Sandisk Extreme PRO USB 3.1 drive will be available in late January on Amazon.com and Bestbuy for a retail price of $179.99.