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In the battle of 1TB drives, nobody wins
With the holidays fast approaching and both Leopard's Time Machine and Windows Home Server loosed upon your desktop, we know what you're asking the Santa man for: a new 7200rpm 1TB hard drive. The question is, which one to purchase: Hitachi, Seagate, or Western Digital. Well, according to a review over at Hot Hardware, it doesn't matter, much. Those looking for the best price can find the WD Caviar GP on-line for about $0.27 per GB compared to the Hitachi's $0.31 per GB price. Seagate's Barracuda 7200.11 tops the list at $0.33 per GB. That's a big jump in heat, noise, and price when compared to the $0.19 per GB required for a 7200rpm 500GB drive. However, if mass capacity is your priority and available slots are limited, then a 1TB disk will do you fine.
Western Digital rolls out 320GB 2.5-inch Scorpio hard drive
It's not the first to boast of a 320GB 2.5-inch hard drive, but Western Digital looks to be the first to actually ship one, with its new 320GB Scorpio SATA drive now available to anyone with a hankering for some spacious portable storage. In addition to cramming all those gigabytes into a laptop-friendly package, the drive is also said to be "one of the quietest 5400 RPM, 2.5-inch drives available," with WD's trademark WhisperDrive and IntelliSeek technology promising to keep the noise down and the power consumption to a minimum. Those looking to swap out their old drive for this one can expect to pay an even $200, although you can be sure you'll be seeing it as a pre-installed option before too long as well.
Western Digital's Passport drive goes pink for breast cancer research
Just weeks after Western Digital colorized its Passport line of external hard drives, the firm is at it once more with a metallic pink iteration. This particular unit, however, promotes something a bit more important than your obsession with nightly backups, as WD has pledged to donate an undisclosed amount of cash to the National Breast Cancer Foundation for each one purchased from now until February 29, 2008. The drive comes stocked with 250GB of space, gets its juice directly from your USB port and is available now for $199.99 for those interested.
Western Digital doubles HDD storage densities
It seems like hard drive manufacturers are all about the bold claims this week -- hot on the heels of Hitachi's promise to deliver 4TB drives in 2011, Western Digital is doing a little chest-thumping over its "successful demonstration" of a drive with a storage density of 520 gigabits per square inch. That's more than double today's max of 200Gb per square inch, and WD says cramming bits in that tight will result in 3TB 3.5-inch drives by 2010. Hmm, 1TB less one year sooner? Storage fanboys, to the comments!
Patent investigation could force hard drives off US market
This one's still a ways off, but the International Trade Commission has just launched a patent investigation into five manufacturers that could result in a ban on hard drive imports if the agency finds evidence of infringement. The patents, which are owned by Californians Steven and Mary Reiber, cover a method of using "ceramic bonding tips" on the internal wiring of the drives, and the couple claims Western Digital, Seagate, Toshiba, Hewlett-Packard, and Dell have all infringed by importing the drives. Much like the Qualcomm case, the ITC has a variety of ways of dealing with the situation and the parties have a lot of methods of appeal, but products that infringe on US patents are barred from being imported, so this initial determination will set off a lot of dominoes when it gets made in 45 days. Details are still pretty sketchy on what exactly the ITC is investigating, but we'll definitely keep you updated as we get more info.Disclaimer: Although this post was written by an attorney, it is not meant to be legal advice or analysis and should not be taken as such.
Western Digital adds three new colors to Passport lineup
While we're sure some folks were just fine with WD's glossy black 250GB Passport, the firm is looking out for those who like their external drives a bit more flashy. Western Digital is now offering up its quarter-terabyte Passport in vibrant green, glossy white and metallic red, but aside from the hues, everything else looks to be staying the same. No official word on price just yet, but it should line up pretty evenly with the black iteration already out.[Via CNET]
Western Digital makes Mac My Book
It was only a few days ago that our very own Mat Lu was talking up Western Digital's line of My Book external drives, and today Mac users have even more reason to check 'em out. The My Book Studio edition is aimed squarely at Mac users. The enclosure was designed to compliment Apple's hardware, and the drive is HFS+ Journaled formated. It also sports a quadruple interface (USB 2.0, FireWire 400/800 and eSATA) and backup software.Available in 320 GB to 1 TB capacities and priced from $199.99 USD to $399.99 the My Book Studio edition is worth checking out.
Western Digital intros quad interface My Book Studio Edition
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.
Western Digital unveils slimmer, sleeker My Book lineup
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 rolls out 2TB My Book external hard drives
Just in case 1.5TB wasn't enough for you, Western Digital's now gone and topped off its entire range of dual-drive My Book external hard drives with a full 2TB of storage. That includes the My Book World Edition II, the My Book Pro Edition II, and My Book Premium Edition II models, each of which appear to be otherwise unchanged from their previous incarnations. Of course, all that storage excess doesn't exactly come cheap, with the 2TB versions of the drives running between $749 and $799 depending on the model.
Western Digital announces new GreenPower hard drives
Kanguru may have beaten them to the punch, but we suspect Western Digital will attract a fair bit more attention with its own move into greener hard drives, with the company today announcing its new GreenPower initiative. According to the company, the new family of drives will encompass desktop, enterprise, CE and external harddrives, and will include drives ranging in size from 320GB to 1TB. Those will apparently each boast up to a 40% savings in power consumption, which could translate to a $10 savings per drive each year on your power bill. A GreenPower version of Western Digital's 1TB Caviar GP hard drive will be the first out the gate, shipping first in the form of a WD My Book external drive later this month, with a standard desktop version set to follow in August. Other GreenPower drives will then apparently start shipping in volume within the third quarter of this year.
Western Digital buys Komag for $1 billion
Western Digital has bought Komag, a company that supplies its buyer with thin-film media used to create disk drives, for $1 billion. The deal is expected to close in the third quarter of the year, and has been completely approved by both boards, with just regulatory approvals needed to be cleared. The deal is overshadowed somewhat by the statement by one analyst that unusual trading in options ahead of the deal looked "suspicious," which makes it hard for us to recall an example where stock trading in the time immediately surrounding a merger deal wasn't suspicious.
WD My Library drives aimed at DVR owners
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's My Book family updated to 1.5TB
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.
Western Digital intros 250GB Passport hard drive
Western Digital has given a boost to its Passport line of external USB hard drives, today introducing a new 250GB model that makes the previous top-end 160GB drive look positively paltry in comparison. While the exact type of hard drive crammed in there isn't clear, like other Passport drives, it's most definitely of the 2.5-inch variety, with the entire enclosure measuring just 5.11 x 3.14 x 0.59 inches. You'll also get the usual complement of pre-loaded software, including Western Digital's WD Sync software and Google Desktop -- no Mac software here, although the drive itself will work just fine. If that'll do, you can get your drive now for an even $200.
Western Digital's 250GB perpendicular Scorpio heads for laptops
Late last year, Western Digital decided to make the leap to the land of perpendicular magnetic recording with its 160GB Scorpio, and now the firm is stepping it up to a full quarter terabyte with its latest rendition. The 2.5-inch SATA drive fits nicely within the confines of most lappies, sports 8MB of cache, a 12-millisecond access time, spins at 5400RPM, and touts the company's WhisperDrive technology so you'll barely know its there. Additionally, the ShockGuard and SecurePark systems tag team to keep your data safe during turmoil, and the IntelliSeek system reportedly "calculates the optimum seek speed of the read / write head actuator to help reduce noise and power consumption." So if you're looking to up the storage capacity of your mobile machine, you can snag WD's latest right now for a penny under $200.[Via MacWorld]
Western Digital gets NASty with My Book World Edition HDDs
Western Digital is at it again with its My Book lineup of HDDs, but rather than bumping the storage capacity from the already roomy (albeit bulky) 1TB Pro II Edition, WD is adding an Ethernet port for remote access ability. The My Book World Edition II sports a shiny white finish and touts 1TB of storage, RAID 1 capability, a USB 2.0 port for stringing on more external drives, and the obligatory gigabit Ethernet jack to boot. Additionally, this device pays a bit more attention to detail by offering up a "unique capacity gauge LED that allows users to discern at a glance remaining storage space," but the real story is its ability to be accessed from any internet connection as a standalone device. Essentially becoming a NAS drive at heart via the included Anywhere Access software, this Book also includes Data OnHand software which makes the drive active in Windows Explorer regardless of your location, and boasts the ability to let friends and family access / upload files without having to actually be near the drive. Notably, the My Book World Edition II is deemed "user-serviceable," and should be available by the week's end for $499, but if you're interested in the half-sized 500GB My Book World Edition, you can snag it for just $279.[Via Yahoo, thanks Steve]
Western Digital's My Book getting a 1TB Pro II Edition?
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]
Western Digital intros its first perpendicular drive, the 160GB Scorpio
Better late than never, right? Apparently Western Digital is just fine with this mantra, as it finally got around to releasing its very own perpendicular hard drive, the 2.5-inch SATA Scorpio. This 160GB HDD matches Fujitsu's MHW2160BH, but lacks the space found in Toshiba's offering, though we're certainly not ones to complain about more competition. The specs aren't anything extraordinary, as it sports 8MB of cache, 150 MB/s transfer speeds, and spins along at 5,400RPM. WD does attempt to add an element of distinction by marketing it as the "quietest 2.5-inch hard drive" around, care of its "WhisperDrive" technology, and the "ShockGuard" feature should enable it to handle the bumps of everyday life just fine. While there's nothing definitive concerning pricing or availability, the WD1600BEVS should check in just below competing alternatives, and will likely pop up in notebooks everywhere real soon.
WD adds FireWire 800 to MyBook Pro external drives
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]
