SanDisk to introduce 6 TB and 8 TB SSDs in 2016: leaving HDDs in the dust

Before you get too excited about SanDisk’s upcoming supposedly super solid-state drives, keep in mind that these are planned data-centre class SSDs.

Fantastic as 6 TB and 8 TB SSDs sound, SanDisk’s Optimus Max drives, much like their current 4 TB drive, are unlikely to be found in any retail or online store.

In the case that they are, they’re going to be helluva expensive and meant wholly for use in business.

You’re looking at more than $6,000 (R75,000+) for their current 4 TB model.

4TB SanDisk Optimus Max SSD

The reason we’re talking about inconceivably expensive SSDs for the average consumer/gamer is the trickledown effect – sooner or later, these are the sorts of capacities we can expect in our PCs.

With 6 TB and 8 TB drives expected to release in 2016 and 2 TB drives only recently making waves in the consumer market, we expect to see those SSDs hit the market in 2018 – but that’s purely as an estimation on our part.

What we also find particularly interesting is just how quickly SSD capacities are eclipsing HDDs. It’s an exponential growth for SSDs, in fact.

SanDisk: SSD vs HDD Trends.

The performance advantages of SSDs when compared to HDDs has quickly become a case of night and day, but they’re still pretty costly and, for the most part, lack in the storage department.

SanDisk’s Optimus Max drives are, hopefully, an indication of things to come.

Imagine, the ability to store every Steam game in your library, every song and virtually every movie on one SSD – all with the incredible speed that comes with it.

Of course, by the time 8 TB drives are available on the market for your everyday gamer, 4K and even 8K games and videos will be a pretty standard affair, and they’re going to require a lot more hard drive space.