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Western Digital 'advanced format' promises slight boost in usable space
Sure, you may have been able to double your hard drive's storage space with DriveSpace back in the day, but it looks like Western Digital has now come up with a new, more foolproof way to eek out a few more gigabytes from its drives. Dubbed 'advanced format,' the company's new partitioning method promises to do away with each individual sector having its own Sync/DAM header and ECC, and instead move to larger, 4k physical sectors. As you can see in the helpful illustration above, that shift would also actually increase the size of the ECC, but WD says the net gain in usable storage space should still be between seven and eleven percent (which would certainly be welcome when we're talking about 1TB or 2TB drives). Unfortunately, you won't simply be able to update the firmware and reformat your current drive, but WD will apparently be moving its Caviar Green line to the new format in the "next few weeks," and eventually shift the rest of its drives over as well.
WD unveils new My Books, My Passports for Windows and Mac
And we have storage for you! WD's refreshing a number of its external HDD storage devices, a move that's sure to put a smile on the face of many a young media hound. The new My Book Essential is available in 1TB ($149), 2TB ($229.99) 500GB ($99.99), while the My Book for Mac is available with 1TB for $149.99. My Passport Essential can be had in capacities of 500GB ($139) or 320GB ($99.99), while My Passport for Mac is going out there in 500GB ($149.99) and 320GB ($119.99) sizes. All these guys feature SmartWare software for data management, and all are available now in a wide range of earth-shattering, psychedelic colors (well, four -- including black). Read - My Book Essential Read - My Book for Mac Read - My Passport EssentialRead - My Passport for Mac
WD ships 2.5-inch 640GB standard 9.5mm-height laptop drive
Monkey see, monkey do -- ain't that right? Whatever the case, we're stoked to see one more player in the 2.5-inch 640GB game, with Seagate, Samsung and Toshiba recently introducing versions of their own. Western Digital's iteration -- the Scorpio Blue 640 -- sports a luscious standard 9.5mm-height package, which should fit just fine within pretty much any laptop out there. WD also claims that this HDD consumes some 30 percent less power than the previous generation Scorpio Blue, though the 5400RPM spindle speed certainly won't impress the performance junkies in the crowd. Look for it to slide into your next portable for $149.[Via HotHardware]
WD ships 7200RPM 2TB desktop hard drives: Caviar Black and RE4
Surely you recall Western Digital's earlier 2TB effort, the Caviar Green -- right? While said drive was just perfect for the casual storage junkie, performance gurus know that it left something to be desired on the speed front. Thankfully, WD is looking out for that crowd too with a new pair of 7200RPM 2TB drives: the Caviar Black (shown left) and RE4 (shown right). Both four-platter drives boast 64MB of cache, a dual stage actuator, 3Gbps SATA interface and an integrated dual processor. The latter also promises 1.2 million hours MTBF, Active Power Save, a multi-axis shock sensor and a few other high-end advancements designed for enterprise users seeking long-term reliability. The pain? Try $299 for the now-available 2TB Caviar Black, while the RE4 awaits an MSRP as it's "being qualified by OEMs." Check the full release just past the break.
WD TV Mini loses Full HD, but remains a handy Media Player
While we wait excitedly for Western Digital to update its HD Media Player, the company has decided to add another, value-minded product to its media player range. Working along the same lines as the HD unit, The WD TV Mini serves as a conduit between your TV set and USB-connected storage -- whether it be a camcorder, an external HDD or a humble flash drive -- and plays back a vast array of digital media formats. The Mini part to its name refers to its diminutive 91 x 91 x 22 mm footprint, but being the younger sibling also means it loses a couple of the premium features, namely HDMI and full 1080p, though that drop-off isn't too steep with 1080i and composite plus component outputs serving as alternatives. It's available now for $99.
WD ships industry's first 2.5-inch 1TB hard drive
After being snubbed by Hitachi in the race to push out the industry's first 1TB desktop hard drive, Western Digital made darn sure it was first to ship a 2TB version. Now, the company is raising its fists in celebration once more with the introduction of the sector's first 2.5-inch 1TB mobile hard drive. 'Course, this isn't the first 1TB drive of any kind in this size, as that honor goes to none other than pureSilicon and its ultra-spacious 1TB SSD. Still, we recall thinking that a drive of this capacity wouldn't hit until 2010 at best, so we're steadfastly elated to hear that the Scorpio Blue 1TB (and Scorpio Blue 750GB) are shipping now to retailers. Of course, we can't help but gripe that both of these boast unorthodox 12.5mm form factors, which dwarfs the standard 9.5mm-height slot found in most laptops, but hey, progress is progress -- right? With that in mind, it's easy to see why both of these are being marketed hard in the external HDD market, with each unit slated to ship within a My Passport SE for $189.99 (750GB) or $249.99 (1TB). The full release is after the break.
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.
WD intros 4TB My Book Studio Edition II external hard drive
What a difference a year makes, right? Right around 12 months after Western Digital outed its 2TB My Book Studio Edition II, the company has come forward with a new edition that houses twice the storage. The dual-drive device includes a pair of those minty fresh 2TB HDDs arranged in a RAID 0 configuration, and WD promises that it'll play nice with both Macs and PCs. As for connectivity, you'll get eSATA, FireWire 800, FireWire 400 and USB 2.0, and the handy capacity gauge does exactly what it says. It's up for order right now for $649.99.
WD My Book gets wrapped in leather, just like a real book
Not that we haven't seen this game played before, but this demonstration is definitely the best we've seen amongst the tech book puns. Put as simply as possible, one talented modder has wrapped his Western Digital My Book NAS drive in beautiful leather and stacked it fittingly on his bookshelf. Aside from that glowing ring, you probably couldn't tell which of the above was filled with paper and which was filled with, um, really important tax documents. Check the read link for loads more shots and plenty of inspiration. [Via technabob]
Western Digital finally releases the 1TB My DVR Expander, TiVo owners rejoice
Finally! We've been waiting for Western Digital to put out the 1TB My DVR Expander for so long we almost thought that Amazon listing a couple weeks ago was a mistake. The external eSATA drive allows any number of HD DVRs to record an extra 120 hours of HD content, but the real noise is that it's certified to work with the TiVo HD and TiVo XL, which have locked-down eSATA ports that prevent you from using just any drive. (The original Series3 doesn't have this restriction.) Stupid, we know, but at $199 list and $167 at Amazon, the markup on this thing doesn't seem overly ridiculous, so we won't complain too loudly. Just ship 'em already, okay?
Western Digital enters SSD market via $65m SiliconSystems acquisition
Man, the consolidation efforts are really heating up. Just days after Cisco forked out a small fortune to acquire Pure Digital, HDD mainstay Western Digital has penned a check for $65 million in cold, hard cash in order to acquire SiliconSystems, Inc. Said outfit is an Aliso Viejo, California-based supplier of solid-state drives for the embedded systems market, and rather than wasting any more time falling behind in the SSD realm, WD figured it prudent to just buy the technology it needed to position itself as a legitimate competitor. WD has already made clear that it hopes to sell SSDs for the netbook, client and enterprise markets, and given that integration will begin "immediately," we're hoping to see some shipping products sooner rather than later.
Engadget's recession antidote: win a 1.5TB Drobo!
This whole global economic crisis, and its resulting massive loss of jobs got us thinking. We here at Engadget didn't want to stand helplessly by, announcing every new round of misery without giving anything back -- so we decided to take the opportunity to spread a little positivity. We'll be handing out a new gadget every day (except for weekends) to lucky readers until we run out of stuff / companies stop sending things. Today we're serving up one of the hottest giveaways yet: a second-generation Drobo (with FireWire 800), complete with twin 750GB Western Digital hard drives. You read right -- a 1.5TB intelligent storage solution to get your life completely back in order. Read the rules below (no skimming -- we're omniscient and can tell when you've skimmed) and get commenting!Huge thanks to Data Robotics for providing the gear!The rules: Leave a comment below. Any comment will do, but if you want to share your proposal for "fixing" the world economy, that'd be sweet too. You may only enter this specific giveaway once. If you enter this giveaway more than once you'll be automatically disqualified, etc. (Yes, we have robots that thoroughly check to ensure fairness.) If you enter more than once, only activate one comment. This is pretty self explanatory. Just be careful and you'll be fine. Contest is open to anyone in the 50 States, 18 or older! Sorry, we don't make this rule (we hate excluding anyone), so be mad at our lawyers and contest laws if you have to be mad. Winner will be chosen randomly. The winner will receive one (1) second-gen Drobo and two (2) 750GB Western Digital hard drives. Approximate value is $675. If you are chosen, you will be notified by email. Winners must respond within three days of the end of the contest. If you do not respond within that period, another winner will be chosen. Entries can be submitted until Tuesday, March 24th, 11:59PM ET. Good luck! Full rules can be found here.
Western Digital 2TB Caviar Green, 8TB ShareSpace and friends eyes-on
Can't say we really expected to see anything from Western Digital here at CeBIT, but sure enough, it brought along its 2TB Caviar Green hard drive, WD TV HD media player and the new 8TB ShareSpace NAS. Along with oodles of other external, internal and somewhere-in-between drives, too. We actually kind of spazzed upon seeing two terabytes of empty space within a single internal HDD, but hopefully the blur isn't too noticeable. Enjoy!%Gallery-46751%
WD shoves four 2TB Caviar Green HDDs into ShareSpace NAS
Remember those absurdly capacious 2TB Caviar Green hard drives that Western Digital pumped out earlier this year? If not, WD's hoping to jar your memory by cramming no fewer than four of 'em into its newest, most spacious ShareSpace NAS ever. The four-bay device is now being offered in an 8TB flavor, and it promises to deliver up to 30 percent faster transfer speeds than prior models and to support DLNA media streaming. As with before, this one also doubles as an iTunes music server and comes bundled with the company's own Anywhere Backup software. Other specs include gigabit Ethernet, RAID 0/1/5 capabilities, an email alert system in case failure is imminent, a trio of USB 2.0 sockets and a built-in FTP server. It should be ready to house all of your, um, old tax documents later this week for $1,699.99.
WD debuts My Book World Edition NAS, we go hands-on
While some NAS devices can get a bit unwieldy or unsightly, that is thankfully not the case with Western Digital's new My Book World Edition, which keeps things clean and simple without skimping on the features most folks are looking for. Available in 1TB and 2TB capacities ($230 and $450, respectively) this one boasts both DLNA 1.5 and UPnP certification to allow for streaming with a variety of devices, and it packs a single USB port to let you turn any other USB drive into a network drive, though you're out of luck if you were hoping to plug a printer in there. What's more, our pals at Engadget Spanish have already managed to get their hands on one, and they've naturally wasted no time doing a complete unboxing. Hit up the gallery below for a closer look, and be sure to check back later for their full impressions. %Gallery-45244%
Western Digital 2TB Caviar Green review roundup
Now that the proverbial cat is out of the bag on Western Digital's 2TB Caviar Green HDD, hardware fanatics have had a chance to take the 3.5-inch drive for a spin. While its performance leaves something to be desired -- transferring files took longer than the 1TB Caviar Black or 1.5TB Seagate Barracuda -- instead we've got low heat and noise. Of course, the biggest boon is a ginormous storage capacity for just three Benjamins, the same price as some 128GB SSDs. Solid state be damned, rotating disks aren't going away anytime soon. Read - Register Hardware Read - Trusted Reviews Read - Extreme Tech
Western Digital's 2TB Caviar Green hard drive launches, gets previewed
There's no veil of secrecy covering this one, but Western Digital has finally come clean with the industry's first 2TB internal hard drive. Launched today in the USA, the planet's highest capacity single HDD -- otherwise known as the 2TB Caviar Green ($299; available now) -- sits on a 3.5-inch platform, includes 32MB of cache and is based around WD's 500GB per platter technology (with 400Gb/in2 areal density). HotHardware was able to take a sneak peek at this here device (a pre-engineering sample, as it were), and was gracious enough to host up some juicy benchmark results for those eager to see how this capacious beast performed. Against the formidable Spinpoint F1 (Samsung) and Barracuda 7200.11 (Seagate), the WD managed to hold its own, which is saying a lot for a drive of this magnitude. Check the full release after the break.
Western Digital's 2TB Caviar Green HDD on sale in Australia
Just as we'd heard, Western Digital is indeed producing (and shipping) a standalone 2TB internal hard drive. Available now for purchase from Mwave Australia, the 3.5-inch WD20EADS sports a 7,200RPM spin speed, 32MB of cache and a AU$377.80 price tag, which converts to just under $250 in greenbacks. We get the feeling that this drive is just hours away from launching here in the US of A (we're guessing the time zones are to blame), so we'll be keeping a close eye out for early reports on performance.[Thanks, Danny]
Western Digital about to ship 2TB Caviar Green hard drive?
Western Digital has known that Seagate was toiling away in hopes of being the first to market with a standalone 2TB hard drive, and evidently it has chosen to work its engineers that much harder. In a presumed effort to beat Hitachi (and everyone else) to the 2TB barrier, WD is reportedly aiming to launch its Caviar Green 2000GB WD20EADS later this week, and with it will come 32MB of cache, an 8.9-millisecond seek time and an expected price tag of around €170 ($224). Best of all? It should be "available immediately" just as soon as it's outed for real.[Via Electronista]
Western Digital HD Media Player gets a longer-term review
The promise of Western Digital HD Media Player certainly intrigued on first blush, but an updated and longer-term review at GearBits after a firmware update didn't fare as well. The firmware update certainly boosted the capabilities of the little box, but like so many devices we've seen, the UI hurts the overall usability. It's certainly not easy to accommodate the myriad of media functions into a consistent and enjoyable UI that stays responsive under use. Add in the sneakernet limitations, and you've got a box that certainly can fill a niche, but we'd recommend you make sure it's a good fit for your use pattern before jumping in.
