That sound you hear is Western Digital grabbing hold of an udder and not letting go as it continues to milk the My Book brand for every penny it's worth. Today, the outfit is introducing a new line of dual-drive units that come ready to mirror whatever information you shove on 'em. The RAID-based Mirror Edition drives tout USB 2.0 connectivity, RAID 1/0 support, a fanless design, user serviceable enclosure, a capacity gauge and intelligent drive management features including automatic power-up and Safe Shutdown. The external HDDs arrive in RAID 1 (mirrored) mode -- which creates automatic duplicates of your files in case one drive fails -- but RAID 0 (striped) can be configured during setup. Stack your My Book collection even higher right now for $289.99 (1TB) / $549.99 (2TB).

Confused by all the various permutations of Western Digital's My Book line of external drives yet? No? Well, go ahead and add the My Book Studio Edition II to your stack of flashcards, Mr. Smart Face. Just like the previous 2TB My Book products, you're getting two RAID 0 drives in a quad-interface external case, only this time it's the updated My Book Studio design. WD's also gone and upgraded the drives themselves to GreenPower units, which run cooler and use less power, and Mac users will be pleased to know that everything comes HFS+ formatted. Got that? Expect a quiz in the near future. Available now, we're told, at $349 for 1TB and $599 for 2TB.

Don't say Iomega is the only bunch using the Apple Expo to unveil a new hard drive, as Western Digital is expanding its (recently expanded) My Book lineup once more with the Studio Edition. This unit comes formatted for Macs, is available in sizes ranging from 320GB to 1TB and features a quadruple interface giving users the option of using USB 2.0, FireWire 400 / 800, or eSATA. Additionally, the drive offers up "automatic, continuous backup," a capacity gauge, five-year warranty, SmartPower feature, a fanless design to keep things quiet, and of course, an "elegant silver metallic finish that perfectly complements other Mac products." The new crew is available now from $199.99 to $399.99 depending on capacity.

Just months ago, we saw Western Digital offer up a 2TB version of its My Book dual-drive line, and now the firm is introducing a "smaller, sleeker" family for those obsessed with style. Among the newcomers are the slimmer My Book Home Edition, My Book Office Edition, and My Book Essential Edition 2.0, all of which will be available in sizes ranging from 320GB to 1TB. Of note, you'll still find the same USB 2.0 connectivity (plus FireWire 400 and eSATA on the Home Edition), bundled backup features, and SmartPower functionality that automatically powers the drive on and off with the attached PC / Mac. The recently made-over trio is available now for $129.99 to $379.99 depending on model and capacity, and you can take a look at the rest of the gang after the break.

Western Digital appears to be cozying up to the consumer side of the DVR market with its latest offering, the My Library Video Edition, a version of its popular My Book hard drive which is designed specifically for use with Scientific Atlanta 8300-series DVRs (though the company claims it will be adding manufacturers and models which utilize eSATA). What's interesting to note is that WD has been making OEM drives for use with DVRs for a while, but this is the first time they've offered models aimed at the retail DVR storage market, and while the OEM drives feature technology designed to withstand constant, round-the-clock use, these new models appear to be missing those components. Certainly food for thought if you were planning on putting one of these through its paces.

Western Digital just upped their My Book family of storage solutions to 1.5TB. The update apparently applies to the magnificently confusing range of products including the World Edition, World Edition II, Pro Edition, Pro Edition II, Premium Edition II, Premium ES Edition, Premium Edition, and Essential Edition... which isn't all that essential considering the alternatives. However, the obtusely worded press release and lagging web site and on-line store has us scratching our collective heads. So let's just say that the My Book World Edition NAS products have been updated and call it a day.

You won't find this on Western Digital's site yet, but eagle-eyed tipster Scott, came across this unannounced 1TB My Book Pro II Edition external storage solution while shopping Provantage. This is a dual-drive system so we're looking at a couple of 500GB drives spinning at 7200RPM packed in a bulls-eye tome with Firewire 400 / 800 and USB 2.0 interfaces. Features include RAID 0/1, backup and recovery software, and 3 year warranty for $513.49, exactly. Sorry, no product image, but other than a color change, the Pro II isn't likely to differ from the existing My Book lineup pictured. No reason to doubt this is coming, it's gonna happen sooner or later.

Update: Yup, it's the real deal, and reader Michael G. was kind enough to direct us the 1TB MyBook's Buy.com page. As we suspected, it looks pretty much the same as the less capacious versions, although this new "book" is so fat that it seems WD is really stretching the whole attempt at literary camoflauge it's got going on here.

[Thanks, Scott]

So if you were interested in one of those decorative MyBook hard drives from Western Digital, but the spouse/kids felt that its FireWire 400 port just wasn't fast enough for their data transferring needs, now the whole family may be able to agree on these drives-in-disguise thanks to a key spec bump in the Professional series. Both the 500GB and 200GB Pro models now come with a FireWire 800 connection -- giving you maximum transfer speeds of 800Mbps -- along with the previous FireWire and USB 2.0 jacks, which offer pokier 400Mbps and 480Mbps, respectively. Shipping now, these models will set you back $350 or $220, depending on capacity.

[Via Reg Hardware]