Asus announces the Hyper M.2 X16 Gen 4 card at CES 2020-- an add-in card providing customers with further storage expansion, as well as means to "tap into the incredible bandwidth of PCIe 4.0."

The card offers four M.2 slots, each with four lanes of PCIe 4.0 connectivity. The slots are diagonally positioned, allowing the flexibility to fit 2242, 2260, 2280 and 22110 form factor (the first two digits denote width, the following digits length in mm) M.2 cards. In turn the card supplies up to 14W of power to each M.2 SSD, enough to run the storage devices "at full potential," at least according to Asus.

How big can an SSD-based external storage device get? According to SanDisk the answer is at least 8TB, as the company presents a prototype portable SSD of such capacity at CES 2020.

While massive in terms of storage size, the 8TB prototype SSD remains portable in terms of physical size, being small enough to fit in the pocket. The interface of choice for the device is a SuperSpeed USB 20Gbps, and the company claims it is "inspired by consumers’ desire to capture rich content and keep it with them." That said, for now it remains a prototype, even if it will probably become an actual product once flash memory drops further in price.

Western Digital presents a refresh of the NVMe-based WD Blue SSD line with the WD Blue SN550-- an update featuring promising an increase in both performance and capacity thanks to a new NAND and a controller replacement.

Available in capacities ranging from 250GB up to 1TB in the M.2 2280 form factor, the WD Blue NVM3 SSD promises to address the demands of customer wanting performance, durability, speed and capacity. A move to four PCIe lanes allows for read speeds reaching 2400 MB/s, while an "improved thermal design" should keep the SSD cool even with the increase in performance.

SK Hynix starts sampling storage solutions based on 128-layer 4D NAND, with "terabyte-level" high-density solutions aimed at all segments of the market, from high-end smartphones to the datacentre.

First revealed back in June 2019, the 128-layer 1Tb TLC NAND promises both ultra-low power and ultra-thin solutions with greater capacities compared to the previous generation. Speed also gets a boost, from the 1.2GT/s of the previous generation 96-layer 3D NAND to 1.4GT/s. To stack 128 layers, SK Hynix uses a multi-stacked design and technologies such as ultra-homogeneous vertical etching and multi-layer thin-film cell formation, all with a low-power circuit design to ensure no increases to power consumption.

Seagate announces a pair of additions to the flagship FireCuda line of consumer storage-- the FireCuda 520 PCIe 4.0 SSD and the FireCuda Gaming Dock with 4TB of HDD storage and an NVMe M.2 expansion slot.

The FIreCuda 520 is the fastest SSD from Seagate to date. It offers plug-and-play compatibility with all PCIe 4.0 motherboards, and features a Phison E16 reference design using Toshiba/Kionxia BiCS 96-layer 3D TLC NAND flash memory. The design lacks a heatspreader or heatsink, making it ideal for motherboards with own M.2 cooling.

Micron announces an entry-level addition to the to the Crucial portfolio of storage products-- the Crucial X8 portable SSD featuring a USB-C 10Gb/s (USB 3.1 gen 2) connection designed for general-purpose consumer use.

The X8 uses a NVMe SSD based on the Crucial P1 with QLC NAND flash, and features a sleek aluminium and plastic case built with a durable unibody core. Performance clocks at up to 1050MB/s read, and Micron suggests use cases such as file backups or transfers, as well as the expansion of game console storage. It is compatible with applications such as Windows Backup, macOS Time Machine, Windows Bitlocker to Go and Apple FileVault, along with 3rd party endpoint protection suites from the likes of Symantec and McAfee.

Mac accessory maker OWC announces the Mercury Elite Pro Dock-- a Thunderbolt 3 device offering a range of connectivity together with two bays for 2.5- or 3.5-inch SSDs or HDDs for use in RAID configuration.

Based on the Intel JHL6540 controller, the Mercury Elite Pro Dock can be daisy chained with other Thunderbolt 3 devices. The two drive bays support RAID0, RAID 1, JBOD, and Span modes to maximise reliability (by mirroring), double sequential read/write speeds to 530MB/s in case of 14TB HDDs or the drives either separately or as a single drive. An ASMedia controller enables RAID through a special switch on the back. In total the dock supports up to 28TB of storage capacity.

Asus presents a storage addition to the ROG lineup-- the Strix Arion, an enclosure for M.2 SSDs complete with USB 3.2 gen 2 interface and Aura Sync RGB lighting.

The Strix Arion chassis is compatible with M.2-2280 and smaller drives feature a PCIe 3.0 interface and no pre-installed heat spreader. Construction is in aluminium, with thermal pads taking care of heat dissipation and consistent performance. It is bus-powered, and while it uses a USB-C interface the package includes a USB-C to USB-C as well as a USB-C-to-USB-A cable to ensure compatibility with as many systems as possible.