SanDisk Ultra II 2.5-Inch SSD Based on X3 NAND

SanDisk Corporation announced the Ultra II SSD with enhanced SSD Dashboard.

The drive is designed to deliver a cost-effective and easy upgrade solution for PC owners looking to improve performance, battery life, and power efficiency. The enhanced SSD Dashboard provides visibility into the drive’s performance, security, and available firmware updates, to maintain peak performance.

“We live in an era where we expect to have information at our fingertips anytime, anywhere, with technology that keeps us connected to both our personal and work lives on devices that won’t fail,” said Dinesh Bahal, VP of retail product marketing, SanDisk. “The new SanDisk Ultra II SSD, together with the improved SSD Dashboard, provides consumers with an easy, affordable way to ensure that their PC can keep pace with their increasingly connected, information-driven lifestyle.“

With the Ultra II SSD you can upgrade your HDD drive-based PC to experience up to 28 times performance improvement and up to 15% longer battery life. The drive features sequential read speeds of up to 550MB/s and write speeds of up to 500MB/s, allowing for faster boot up time and shorter application loads. Based on X3 NAND flash technology, it comes equipped with nCache 2.0 technology that utilizes a two-tiered caching architecture to optimize drive speed and endurance. The drive is also shock resistant, which keeps data safe even if the computer is bumped or dropped.

The Ultra II SSD comes with the enhanced SanDisk SSD Dashboard, which displays the drive’s performance, manual or scheduled TRIM, available firmware updates and tips on how to maintain the drive at its peak operation. Users can choose from 17 different languages and get assistance from ‘Live Chat’ and ‘Ask a Question via Email’ buttons.

Additional value-added software features of the SSD Dashboard include:

• Cloning- Ability – To create an exact replica of an old drive onto the new SanDisk Ultra II SSD in three easy steps with Apricorn’s EZ GIG IV. With the cloning software, there is no need to re-install the OS, programs or settings.
• Antivirus – Security for what consumers do most online – email, socialize, and browse with Trend Micro Titanium Antivirus+.
• Theft Recovery – Created by Absolute Software, Absolute LoJack is in consumer data protection and theft recovery, providing a persistent solution that can locate a device if stolen and return it to the rightful owner.

“Consumers upgrading their PC for a faster experience with the SanDisk Ultra II SSD want the data migration process to be easy,” said Mike McCandless, VP sales and marketing, Apricorn, Inc. “We’re excited to partner with SanDisk to provide the Apricorn EZ Gig cloning software to SanDisk customers for simple data migration from slower HDD drives. EZ Gig is available either through the new SanDisk SSD Dashboard software suite or within the SanDisk SSD Conversion kit and works with all SanDisk client SSDs.”

The Ultra II SSD comes with a 3-year warranty and will be available online and through network of authorized distributors and resellers in September.

It will be offered in capacities of 120GB (MSRP $79.99), 240GB (MSRP $114.99), 480GB (MSRP $219.99), and 960GB (MSRP $429.99).