Western Digital busts out two-platter 640GB 3.5-inch hard drives
Sure, you've been able to score a four-platter 1TB hard drive for over a year now, but the cooler, quieter, economical and speedy two-platter hard drive has always been a bit of a sweet spot for storage, and Western Digital has finally hit that mark with its new WD Caviar SE16 640GB SATA drive. The 3.5-inch disks hold two 320GB platters, boast 3GB-per-second transfer rates, and are available now for $140.
[Via Gearlog]
[Via Gearlog]



















Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Patriks7 @ Mar 19th 2008 12:26PM
i so wish i could somehow stick that in my laptop :x
Casper42 @ Mar 19th 2008 12:26PM
According to the rule of around 20c/GB the 500GB and 750GB drives seem to have right now, this should really cost around $125-$130.
But since no one pays retail, it probably will be when it hits your favorite e-tailer.
Zack Mahdavi @ Mar 19th 2008 1:10PM
You can actually get it for $123.99 with free 3 day shipping at ChiefValue.com (Newegg-owned).
http://www.chiefvalue.com/product-_-productdetails.cv_-_item--CE00153939010060
Slawek @ Mar 19th 2008 1:20PM
I'm only old enough to remember when it was $2/GB.
bobartig @ Mar 19th 2008 4:19PM
@Slawek: I remember my first computer with a hard drive, the Mac SE with a whopping 20 MB HDD. It was huge. You couldn't fill the damned thing!
On a more on topic note, Samsung's SpinPoint series is reportedly using similar capacity platters for a 2 platter 500 GB drive (the other 166 GB is disabled), and a 3 platter 1 TB drive.
Khris @ Mar 19th 2008 12:27PM
Come to Papa!
AlphaTeam @ Mar 19th 2008 12:33PM
So when are the 5 platter 1.6 TB drives coming out?
Chuckles McGee @ Mar 19th 2008 1:13PM
I think the 1480GB 4 platter drives are a bit closer.
jakep_82 @ Mar 19th 2008 1:36PM
@Chuckles McGee
320*4=1280
Chuckles McGee @ Mar 19th 2008 4:32PM
Carry the two... ah yes...
Seminole @ Mar 19th 2008 12:33PM
I'm putting this baby in my PS3
PeterF @ Mar 19th 2008 12:59PM
no you aren't. this is 3.5", PS3 uses 2.5"
Allen @ Mar 19th 2008 1:09PM
@Peter:
That doesn't stop some people. Just leave it outside the slot and possibly use longer cabling.
bjorn_ahlm @ Mar 19th 2008 1:42PM
Well, then it's not IN the PS3.
crho85 @ Mar 19th 2008 2:58PM
*wah wah waaaaaaaah trumpet sound*
Seminole @ Mar 19th 2008 3:23PM
Aw man, thanks for the info PeterF. I never really explored the option to increase the space till I checked my memory and I only have 2 gigs left.
Dubb @ Mar 19th 2008 4:12PM
@Seminole - Please don't refer to your remaining hard drive space as "memory". It makes baby Jesus cry...
bobartig @ Mar 19th 2008 4:28PM
@Dubb: it does indeed make little 8 lb. 4 oz. Baby Jesus cry, but unfortunately, it is not incorrect. Hard disks do have memory, just not random access memory.
Eating bacon makes Baby Moses cry, but I still do it.
fh @ Mar 19th 2008 12:34PM
This has already been available for a few weeks, and Newegg has it for $129.
Tom @ Mar 19th 2008 12:38PM
Why bother saying "3GB-per-second transfer rates"? Is that really useful information? How about stating the real transfer rate, which is 121.5MB/sec according to the specs page for this drive.
www.ssdforums.com @ Mar 19th 2008 2:18PM
That's their 'burst rate' which is basically just the cache helping the marketing department.
y3k.nik @ Mar 19th 2008 12:41PM
how dense can these hdds get really?
Every other day, you see a news of more GBs being stuck into the same size. You have to wonder, how much more can you cramp into a small disks like that?
Bigsby @ Mar 19th 2008 2:15PM
I don't know, They've still got a long way to go, they're still not anywhere near as dense as some people I know. One day though, one day.
Alexis @ Mar 19th 2008 12:44PM
Yeah,
It's been available for a while.
I've actually just ordered one from Newegg yesterday!
W @ Mar 19th 2008 12:55PM
I've had 3 of them for about 2 weeks... and the speeds I'm getting are a bit above 90mb/sec average. Very cool and quiet as well.
mushy @ Mar 19th 2008 12:59PM
Ummm, these have been out for several weeks now. You can get them on the Egg for $130.
SNP @ Mar 19th 2008 1:45PM
I thought Samsung has their 3-platter 1TB drive out for a few months now so why is this news?
Michael Scrip @ Mar 19th 2008 1:49PM
This will be the next drive I purchase. I think 640GB is enough. With all the advances this drive makes with cooling and quietness... I don't think I'll ever buy another drive with more than 2 platters. This drive seems like it's hit the sweet spot.
Zzephyr @ Mar 19th 2008 1:55PM
Kewl - imagine how fast you can surf the web when they come out with an eight platter model.
octoberasian @ Mar 19th 2008 2:47PM
This has been on sale on NewEgg.com for a few weeks now for $129.99.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136218
I may buy one.
BigD145 @ Mar 19th 2008 4:50PM
You'd buy one if you could, but you can't. Newegg delisted the drive.
fh @ Mar 19th 2008 5:41PM
Good thing I bought one two weeks ago ;)
Neg2LED @ Mar 19th 2008 6:21PM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136218
Thats why it got delisted, FOOL!
Evan @ Mar 19th 2008 3:59PM
I remember when you could buy 10mb HDs...
bobartig @ Mar 19th 2008 4:33PM
A physics prof of mine, who is very brilliant, and whose career predated solid state circuitry, would tell stories about the earliest computer catalogs, where they showed a photo of 10-kilobytes either disk or ram module (can't recall which), but it advertised that it only took two men to carry it!
futurepastnow @ Mar 19th 2008 5:04PM
I bought one of those a week ago from Newegg for $130. So far it's the fastest, quietest, coolest-running hard drive I've ever owned.
Neg2LED @ Mar 19th 2008 6:23PM
Woah, wait whaT? they were active yesterday....
happy_penguin @ Mar 20th 2008 1:11AM
Density, density. Keep on bringing it and keep on bringing it cheap.