Filed under: Storage

Western Digital didn’t have too many comrades on the green bandwagon back in July of last year, but now it’s just one amongst legions. Nevertheless, it’s keeping its eco-friendly membership badge up to date with the second-generation Caviar Green Drive. Said HDD features the firm’s own GreenPower technology to “significantly reduce power consumption” compared to those traditional energy-sucking alternatives. The freshened platform is based on WD’s 33 GB/platter technology with 32MB cache, with sizes ranging from 500GB to 1TB. According to the company, this one consumes up to 20-percent less power and offers a 10-percent uptick in performance over the previous Green Drive, and best of all, the 1TB edition (WD10EADS) can be ordered up right now for $219.

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Filed under: Storage

It’s no Drobo, but Western Digital is dabbling in the NAS space with its minty fresh ShareSpace 4TB Network Storage System. Aimed primarily at small business users and “multimedia” junkies, the 4-bay NAS comes with gigabit Ethernet, support for multiple RAID configurations, and even the ability to act as an iTunes music server. Not too many surprises beyond that — well, aside from the $999.99 price tag; if that’s too rich for your blood, the 2TB version can be had right now for three Benjamins less. As for real-world performance? We’re told it’s a “great NAS for the money and one of the better picks in its category.” We’re serious, check it out below.

[Via HotHardware]
Read - ShareSpace release
Read - ShareSpace review

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Filed under: Storage

We’ve been around this stuff long enough to know that hard drives just keep getting bigger with time, but if you were eager to know exactly when a 1TB unit would be prepped and ready for your notebook, try 2010. According to those infamous “undisclosed sources,” both Western Digital (which started shipping a 500-gigger today) and Fujitsu are looking to pump out 750GB 2.5-inch HDDs by mid-2009 and 1TB variants in 2010. Keep the faith, brethren.

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Filed under: Storage

If you’re still having trouble tracking down Samsung’s SpinPoint M6 we’ve got good news for you: Western Digital just started volume shipments of its own 9.5-mm high, 2.5-inch laptop drive with that still amazing 500GB capacity. The $220 WD Scorpio Blue with 8MB cache churns through a SATA 3Gbps transfer rate with 12-ms access and is said to be one of the quietest (24dBA average idle / 26dBA average seek) of any 2.5-incher spinning at 5,400rpm. A 400GB version is available for $190.

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Filed under: Storage

Remember those uber-fast VelociRaptor drives that had the hardcore (and IT dwellers) in a tizzy? Turns out they had some inexplicable design flaw that put the power and serial connections in the wrong spot, rendering some 3.5-inch backplane server installations basically useless. WD has announced a new solution that fixes this, and the new drives are now shipping. No word on returns and exchanges, but we have a feeling WD will be making food on this. Oops, and good job on the quick fix, WD.

[Via Crunchgear]

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Filed under: Storage

Western Digital has been flaunting its VelociRaptor for some time now, but the drive you’ve been slamming into towers is now available for low-power, high-performance blade server applications. The 2.5-inch, 10,000RPM enterprise SATA drive (WD3000BLFS) is specially designed to fit snugly within 1U and 2U rack servers, and aside from consuming 35% less power than the previous Raptor drive, this one is available with up to 300GB of capacity. You’ll also find 16MB of cache and a 1.4 million mean time before failure rating, though you won’t be able to procure one until later this month for an undisclosed price.

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Filed under: Storage

Now that all the SSD efficiency drama has mellowed out a bit, the guys over at Hot Hardware got their hands on an OCZ Core Series SATA II 64GB SSD and already pitted it against a WD VelociRaptor. The early numbers are impressive: The OCZ averaged read speeds of over 140MB/s and was writing at 87MB/s while the WD topped out at around 123MB/s read and 129MB/s write times. When it comes to applications and random-access times, though, the OCZ SSD scored some crazy fast times. In Windows Defender, gaming, photo import, and Vista startup tests, the SSD was getting things done at as much as 5 times the speed of the VelociRaptor. Sure, the tests are incomplete, but the future is undoubtedly bright for solid state storage once prices roll into realistic range.

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Filed under: Storage

Western Digital’s hasty VelociRaptor already got reviewed by its lonesome, but for those thinking of getting a RAID system into their rig, HotHardware has taken a trio of ‘em, setup a RAID 5 array and put the drives through their collaborative paces. The configuration was made possible thanks to an Areca PCIe X8 hardware RAID card, and the results were rather impressive — to no one’s surprise, might we add. Across the entire volume, performance was generally linear save for a few small valleys along the way, burst speed was 598MB/sec and average read speed was 209.4MB/sec, which pretty much blew the doors off of everything that came before it. Number lovers, there’s more where this came from in the read link below.

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Filed under: Storage

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).

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Filed under: Storage

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).

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Filed under: Storage

Watch out, archive junkies. The 1TB internal HDD game just got one more player. Hailed by Western Digital as the “fastest 3.5-inch 7200RPM drive on the market,” the Caviar Black SATA drive is available in both 750GB and 1TB flavors, with the latter obviously being the most appealing. On these beasts you’ll find “twice” the processing power, 32MB of cache, StableTrac / NoTouch technologies and a respectable five-year warranty. Both units will be ready to grab next week, with the smaller of the two going for $199 and the kingpin $249.

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Filed under: Laptops, Storage

WD has been shipping a 320GB laptop hard drive for months now, but its latest line of alternatives features a few niceties reserved for the Scorpio Black label. Available in 80/120/160/250/320GB sizes, the 2.5-inch drive boasts a 7200RPM spin speed, SATA interface and 16MB of cache. The units are destined for use in OEM systems as well as by end-users looking to upgrade their current rig, and beyond the specs listed above, you’ll also find IntelliSeek, SecurePark, ShockGuard and WhisperDrive technologies alongside a built-in free-fall sensor. The whole lot is available now, with the 320GB edition topping out at $249.

[Via I4U News]

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Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment, Storage

From what we can tell, this is just marketing hoopla to get you to buy a drive “certified” for use in a particular application; in all actuality, users can connect any USB 2.0 external hard drive to their DISH Network HD DVR and expand their storage capacity for a one-time fee. Nevertheless, Western Digital has just let loose its 500GB My DVR Expander, which “more than doubles” your available recording hours by storing up to 300 hours of SD content and 60 hours of high-def goodness. As predicted, the drives work with the satcaster’s ViP family of HD DVRs, and WD is apparently looking to expand the brand to other carriers as soon as they get with the program and enable USB storage. Those willing to fall for this ploy can procure the half-terabyte drive for $149.99, but considering that the port activation fee is still charged, we can’t imagine looking elsewhere first.

[Via FarEastGizmos]

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Filed under: Storage

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Filed under: Storage

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.

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Filed under: Storage

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Filed under: Storage

It looks like Western Digital’s hard drives are about to get a good deal denser, with the company now rolling out its first 3.5-inch WD Caviar drives based on 320GB-per-platter technology. That, as the company points out, is the very same areal density seen recently in WD’s 160 GB-per-platter 2.5-inch Scorpio drives, which topped out with a total of 320GB of storage due to the obvious size constraints. While the 3.5-inch drives have plenty more room to grow than their smaller counterparts, Western Digital seems to be starting things out slow, with only a single-platter 320GB drive available at the moment. That’ll apparently be followed by upgrades across WD’s various product lines throughout the year, including drives at “additional capacity points.,” Unfortunately, the company doesn’t seem to be ready to specify exactly what those points may be just yet, although The Inquirer speculates that we should see three-platter 1TB drives from the company before everything is all said and done.

[Via The Inquirer]

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Filed under: Storage

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Storage

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.

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Storage

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]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!