Western Digital rolls out new dual-drive My Book World Edition II

Western Digital has already dialed things up to 4TB with its My Book Studio Edition II hard drive, and it's now done the same with its new My Book World Edition II dual-drive storage system. One of the big advantages with this one is that the dual drives are shipped in a mirrored RAID 1 configuration for an extra level of protection, although you can of course reconfigure 'em yourself if you'd prefer twice the space instead. Otherwise, you can expect all the usual NAS-related features, a "cooler, quieter, eco-friendly design," a USB port to add on an extra USB drive, and a nifty capacity gauge to let you see how much space is available at a glance. Expectedly, the top-end 4TB demands a rather hefty $700, but you can also pick up a 2TB drive for a more reasonable $400 if you have less demanding needs.

[chanmanplanet @ Jun 24th 2009 1:34PM]

In Other News: WD also announced plans for rolling out world's first 20TB storage system dubbed "Universe Edition XX" comes complete with the ever-so-convenient My Studio Dolly optional accessory.

[OneLove @ Jun 24th 2009 1:48PM]

Am gonna wait for the "Gamma Quadrant mo latinum" edition.

[rabbitkillrun @ Jun 24th 2009 4:22PM]

how big will THAT be?

[dubocqzr @ Jun 24th 2009 1:35PM]

RAID-to-go!

[Matt @ Jun 24th 2009 1:39PM]

*facepalm*

[mikeg @ Jun 24th 2009 1:40PM]

"WD(R) Unveils World's First 4 TB External Hard Drive for Creative Professionals and Mac(R) Computer Enthusiasts"

I think not.
There have been plenty of dual drive 4TB external hard drives out for quite a while.
Cavalry had one the day 2TB drives were first announced.

[Zane @ Jun 24th 2009 1:41PM]

So what drives did WD put in these white boxes? The Caviar Greens seem too slow to be any useful in RAID.

[Andir3.0 @ Jun 24th 2009 4:01PM]

I don't think any of the greens are "RAID Compatible" according to WD. They have a special line of drives they claim are RAID drives. If they find that you are using a non-RAID drive in a RAID array, I think they reserve the right to invalidate the warranty.

[va jj @ Jun 24th 2009 1:44PM]

or spend that 700 on a ssd so you can safe keep all those irreplaceable porn.

[dan2600 @ Jun 24th 2009 2:30PM]

till ya hit the write cycle limit and everything blows up and black holes forms and whatever else happens when SSD goes bad.


(Never has happened to me...still using my first PS2 memory card i got at launch)

[Chris @ Jun 24th 2009 1:47PM]

Put all of your stuff on a Drobo.

[bar @ Jun 24th 2009 2:05PM]

what is a hard drive?

[FNG @ Jun 24th 2009 2:13PM]

work to home at 5:30PM on a Friday.

[fb @ Jun 24th 2009 3:09PM]

Actually wouldnt it be from home to work at 8 am on a friday?

[Eric Marshall @ Jun 24th 2009 2:14PM]

Hello?

[pika2000 @ Jun 24th 2009 2:23PM]

How does one replace the hard-drive if there's failure? The case seems to be well sealed. If one has to send it back to WD, then might as well get a drobo where one can simply replace drives at will.

[Jerome36 @ Jun 24th 2009 2:54PM]

There's actually a video demonstration on WD's website and it's not too tough, and it can easily be done yourself. You pop the top lid off of the unit, unscrew a thumb-screw that holds a metal plate down over the drives, and then pull a tab to lift up the drive you're looking to replace. After the drive is removed you take a new one and slide it down the slot, screw the metal plate back down, and put the outer case lid back on.

[elBravo @ Jun 24th 2009 2:23PM]

2 Hard drives in RAID I that totals 4TB? Didn't know such a thing existed.

[Alan Strangis @ Jun 24th 2009 2:26PM]

Meh. I'd take an Acer Easystore H340 over this any day. For about $80 more, you get 2 TB storage, a total of 4 drive bays, a full server (and if you don't like Windows Home Server, FreeBSD will work fine), as well as eSATA and more.

Best deal on the market, by far.

[John @ Jun 24th 2009 2:35PM]

2TB drives are $239 at Newegg

[Evan @ Jun 24th 2009 2:51PM]

It seems under-featured compared to other NAS systems.

[Christen da Costa @ Jun 24th 2009 3:10PM]

It's $599.99 from J&R - http://www.jr.com/western-digital/pe/WD_WDH2NC40000N/

[machine goes ping @ Jun 24th 2009 4:46PM]

let's see, second generation drobo: $400, four 1TB HDDs: $320(3@$79.99), total: $720. $20 more for a better interface, faster hotswap, and media server capabilities. i'll take the drobo.

[Glen @ Jun 24th 2009 4:50PM]

Not that everyday users are really looking to get 4TBs of external storage right now, but I can't wait for the eventual "I bought a 4TB external and it only shows up as 2TB in Windows XP" scenario :P

[Jim @ Jun 24th 2009 5:22PM]

I think I would rather save my pennies and get something like the LaCie 301419U 7.5TB 5big Network Hard Drive for about twice the price. Or the 2.5TB version for cheaper than the WD one.

[sabih @ Jun 24th 2009 6:44PM]

last time i used a mybook world as a NAS, even using the gig connection on a gig switch, i was getting crappy speeds like 2MB/s from a macbookpro hardset to 1000 Gbps full.

I wonder if they are using jumbo packets now?