Western Digital Joins The Networking Market Releases Five Wireless Routers

Western Digital is a name synonymous with the hard drive and storage market. So when you hear the company has released a new networking device your first thought is likely geared towards a new network attached hard drive or NAS server or possibly even a new media streaming device like the WD Live TV box. But today the company announced the release of its very first wireless home networking devices which includes five new routers in a new category called the My Net family.

Most companies would generally start of small with a couple entry level devices meant for the everyday mainstream consumer. Not Western Digital, they cam out of the box swinging. WD entered the market with five brand new Dual-Band Routers, all of which proclaim 600Mbs speeds or better.

Their new My Net Family Dual-Band Routers starts with the My Net N600, a true dual-band router that offers 300Mbps on both the 5GHz and 2.4GHz bands. The next step-up is the My Net N750, which boosts the speeds to 450Mbps on the 5GHz, and finally there's the top-tier My Net N900, which offers the 450Mbps data rate on both the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands. The top tiered, My Net N900, also comes with seven Gigabit LAN ports (as opposed to the four ports found in most wireless routers), and range amplifier antennas for extended range.  Both the My Net N750 and My Net N900 feature 2 USB ports for additional storage, printer and media share server use, while the My Net N600 features just a sigle port.

But wait I said they released five routers. Yes in-deed they did. They introduced two offerings dubbed the My Net N900 Central that I personally would love to test drive.

The My Net N900 Central is a router NAS,/Cloud Server all-in-one. It comes with either a 1TB or 2TB hard drive built-in. This router is built for HD streaming or wireless backup and remote access. The My Net N900 Central includes 4 LAN and 1 WLAN Gigabit Ethernet ports for up to 10/100/1000 Mbps wired speeds, 1 USB port for additional storage, printer and media share server use.

Remote access to My Net N900 Central is available on any computer through www.WD2go.com and with WD mobile apps for iPad, iPhone, iPod touch or Android smartphones and tablets. In addition to keeping content safe at home and always accessible while away from home, users can rely on My Net N900 Central for automatic wireless backup with the included WD SmartWare software for Windows, while Mac users can utilize all the features of Apple Time Machine backup software. Additionally, any WD external hard drive with SmartWare software can connect directly to a My Net router to wirelessly backup all PC computers in the home.

Collectively, all five of WD's My Net routers support FastTrack, UPnP and DLNA media streaming standards, Time Machine, and personal cloud storage. FasTrack technology detects Internet favorites like Netflix and YouTube and automatically prioritizes them for smooth HD streaming. FastTrack is basically a type of QoS (quality of service) that automatically detects and prioritizes Internet bandwidth based on types of traffic. By default FastTrack allows entertainment-related services -- such as media streaming, VoIP (voice over IP), and so on -- precedence over other services, such as Web surfing and downloading. FastTrack Plus, available in the N900 and N900 Central routers, offers support for more simultaneous data streams at a time than the standard FastTrack, available in the N600 and N750 routers.

Pricing starts at $79.99 for the My Net N600, $119.99 for the My Net N750 and $179.99 My Net N900. If you want to step-up to the My Net N900 Central with built in storage it's going to cost you. The 1TB My Net N900 Central runs $299.99 while the 2TB version will set you back $349.99. My Net N900, My Net N750, and the My Net N600 will be available immediately at select U.S. retailers and online at the wdstore.com. My Net N900 Central will be available next quarter.

Western Digital Announces New 1TB VelociRaptor

Western Digital has announced it the company is now shipping a new larger WD VelociRaptor 10,000 RPM hard drive. The new drive will feature a 1 TB capacity, or almost double that of the WD VelociRaptors on the market.

"WD is committed to providing customers with the best performing and most reliable SATA hard drives and our WD VelociRaptor family of drives underscores that promise," said Darwin Kauffman, vice president and general manager of WD's enterprise storage. "With ever-increasing demand for greater capacity, the new 1 TB WD VelociRaptor drive delivers the ultimate combination of speed and storage for the power user."

The WD VelociRaptor 2.5-inch hard drive comes in the IcePack(TM) enclosure, a 3.5-inch mounting frame with built-in heat sink - a factory customization that fits the drive into a standard 3.5-inch system bay and keeps the powerful drive extra cool when installed in a high-performance desktop or workstation system.

Western Digital VelociRaptor Features:

• Super speed - SATA 6 Gb/s interface and 64 MB cache optimize the 10,000 RPM WD VelociRaptor.
• Higher capacity - WD VelociRaptor SATA hard drives employ Advanced Format Technology to achieve capacities up to 1 TB.
• Rock-solid reliability - Designed and manufactured to workstation standards to deliver stellar reliability in high workload environments.
• Ultra-cool operation - Consumes less idle power and uses similar active power as the previous generation WD VelociRaptor while offering greater capacity and performance.
• Rotary Acceleration Feed Forward (RAFF(TM)) - Optimizes operation and performance when the drives are used in vibration-prone, multi-drive chassis.
• NoTouch(TM) ramp load technology - The recording head never touches the disk media ensuring significantly less wear to the recording head and media as well as better drive protection when in transit.
• Environmentally conscious - In addition to being RoHS-compliant, this generation of WD VelociRaptor is also a halogen-free design.

Western Digital VelociRaptor Reviews:

• Storage Review: Western Digital VelociRaptor 1TB Review
• Hot Hardware: WD VelociRaptor 1TB 10K RPM SATA III Hard Drive
• PC Perspective: Western Digital VelociRaptor 1TB Review - 10K RPM Hits a Larger Capacity
• Legit Reviews: WD Launches New VelociRaptor Hard Drives - 1TB Version

Price and Availability
WD VelociRaptor hard drives are available now at select distributors, resellers and e-tailers, and come with a five-year limited warranty. Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price (MSRP) for the WD VelociRaptor 1 TB (model #: WD1000DHTZ) is $319.99 USD, the 500 GB version (model #: WD5000HHTZ) is $209.99 USD and the 250 GB version (model #: WD2500HHTZ) is $159.99 USD. More information about WD VelociRaptor hard drives including terms of the limited warranty may be found on the company website at http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.aspx?id=20.

WD Announces New Livewire High-Speed Powerline AV Network Kit

Plug-and-play Device Uses Existing Electrical Outlets to Stream HD Video to the Connected Home Theater 

Western Digital, the world's leader in external storage solutions, today introduced its new WD Livewire Powerline AV Network Kit (photo), a HomePlug AV compatible solution that enables consumers to use their existing electrical outlets to extend secure and reliable high-speed Internet connections throughout the home. Complementing the WD TV line of media players, the WD Livewire Powerline AV Network Kit enables consumers to easily and affordably deliver HD video streams to the home theater, transfer large files or play multi-player online games, all without running network cables around the home. With four ports on each of two adapters included in the kit, the WD Livewire Powerline AV Network Kit offers users the ability to connect their router and up to seven additional devices to their high-speed network.

According to research from Parks Associates, an increasing number of consumers own connected devices such as HDTVs, Blu-ray Disc players, game consoles and digital media players such as the WD TV Live Plus HD media player (Home Networks for Consumer Electronics 2009). By the end of 2010, Parks Associates forecasts consumers will own 111 million of these devices, with 37 million Internet-capable devices in the U.S. alone, but "connecting" them can be challenging and costly. In a recent Parks Associates survey, 42 percent of respondents unwilling to connect their TVs to the Internet indicated that either their router was too far from the device or it would be too complicated to set up or both (Digital Media Evolution II 2010).

Featuring HomePlug AV technology, the WD Livewire Powerline AV Network Kit provides users with data transfer speeds up to 200 megabits per second (Mbps), enabling glitch-free playback of Full-HD 1080p video streams on up to seven connected devices. Setup is as easy as plugging in a lamp. Consumers do not need to undertake home improvement projects to route new wiring between rooms. They simply plug one of the two adapters in the kit into their router and an electrical outlet then plug the other adapter into another outlet where they need access to wired network connections. Users can stream video to four connected devices in the home theater and also gain an additional three network ports by their router.

For an integrated entertainment solution, users can store digital media on WD's My Book World Edition home network drive and stream photos, music and HD video via the WD Livewire Powerline AV Network Kit to one of the WD TV line of media players or other DLNA-compliant devices located throughout the home.

"Consumers are accumulating an increasing number of Internet-capable connected TVs, video game consoles and media players providing access to exciting online content through services such as Netflix, YouTube and Pandora," said Dale Pistilli, vice president of marketing for WD's branded products group. "Wireless networks, while popular, don't always deliver the reliable high-speed connections needed to sustain HD video streaming. Meanwhile, drilling holes for new Ethernet cables is complicated, expensive and messy. With the WD Livewire Powerline AV Network Kit, it's truly easy to enjoy all the HD streaming and broadband Internet capabilities of these great new devices anywhere there is an electrical outlet."

WD Livewire Powerline AV Network Kit
WDLivewirePowerline AV Network Kit features:

• Easy set-up and instant network expansion anywhere in the home;
• Two 4-port HomePlug AV adapters;
• Two Ethernet cables;
• Two power cables;
• Quick install guide;
• CD with WD Livewireutility software;
• Warranty and support guide; and,
• A 1-year limited warranty.

Compatibility
The WD Livewire Powerline AV Network Kit is HomePlug AV certified and is IEEE 802.3 and IEEE 802.3u compliant. The kit requires an Ethernet router and AC power outlets.

Price and Availability
The new WD Livewire Powerline AV Network Kithas a 1-year limited warranty and is available now at select retailers and online at wdstore.com. MSRP is $139.99 USD. 

WD Launches Two New Large Capacity WD VelociRaptors

WD announced today that it is now shipping WD VelociRaptor 450 GB and 600 GB hard drives, the next generation of its 10,000 RPM SATA family of hard drives. The new WD VelociRaptor hard drive is designed for blade servers, high-performance PCs, Mac(R) computers, professional workstations, as well as 1U and 2U rack servers that require a balance of high performance and capacity. As the only 10,000 RPM SATA hard drive on the market today, and a favorite amongst enthusiast and enterprise groups, the WD VelociRaptor hard drive now comes packed with twice the capacity and up to 15% performance increase over the previous generation.

The most popular hard drive for high-performance enthusiasts who demand the ultimate SATA drive, the WD VelociRaptor hard drive is built with enterprise-class mechanics that provide 24x7 durability under high-performance demands and packs up to 600 GB of capacity into a 2.5-inch enterprise form factor. The WD VelociRaptor drive is also available in the IcePack(TM) enclosure, a 3.5-inch mounting frame with a built-in heat sink - a factory customization that fits the drive into a standard 3.5-inch system bay and keeps this powerful drive extra cool when installed in a high-performance desktop chassis and 3.5-inch HDD form factor enterprise chassis.

"WD is a leader in the performance and reliability of enterprise SATA hard drives," said Tom McDorman, vice president and general manager of WD's enterprise business unit. "Demand for performance combined with an increase in capacity continues to rise and WD is the leader in this category. WD customers can rely on the new WD VelociRaptor to deliver high performance under the harshest conditions, while continuing to keep user data safe."

Features of the new WD VelociRaptor hard drives include:

• Killer speed - SATA 6 Gb/s interface and 32 MB cache enhance the next generation 10,000 RPM WD VelociRaptor making it up to 15% faster than the award-winning previous generation.
• Monstrous capacity - WD VelociRaptor SATA drives are available in capacities up to 600 GB, double the capacity of the previous generation.
• Rock-solid reliability - Designed and manufactured to mission-critical enterprise-class standards to provide enterprise reliability in high duty cycle environments. With 1.4 million hours MTBF, these drives have the highest available reliability rating on a high capacity SATA drive.
• Ultra-cool operation - Consumes no more power than the previous generation WD VelociRaptor while offering double the capacity and higher performance.
• IcePack mounting frame - The 2.5-inch WD VelociRaptor is enclosed in a backplane-ready 3.5-inch enterprise-class mounting frame with a built-in heat sink that keeps this powerful little drive extra cool when installed in high-performance desktop chassis.
• Rotary Acceleration Feed Forward (RAFF(TM)) -Optimizes operation and performance when the drives are used in vibration-prone, multi-drive chassis.
• NoTouch(TM) ramp load technology - The recording head never touches the disk media ensuring significantly less wear to the recording head and media as well as better drive protection in transit.
• Environmentally conscious - In addition to being ROHS compliant, this generation of WD VelociRaptor is also a halogen-free design.

Price and Availability
WD VelociRaptor (model WD4500HLHX and WD6000HLHX - 3.5-inch version with IcePack) hard drives are available now at select distributors and resellers. WD VelociRaptor 2.5-inch hard drives (model WD4500BLHX and WD6000BLHX) are under evaluation with OEM customers and will be available through select commercial distributors within this quarter. Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price (MSRP) for the WD VelociRaptor 450 GB (model WD4500HLHX) is $299 USD and the 600 GB (model WD6000HLHX) is $329 USD. More information about WD VelociRaptor hard drives may be found on the company's Web site at http://www.wdc.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=821.

WD Introduces My Passport AV Designed Specifically For Audio Video Devices

With the ever increasing number of media devices featuring USB ports for USB drives to add storage and play multimedia content from the drive to an HD TV more consumers are opting to add ultra portable drives to their systems. Today WD introduced the new My Passport AV portable media drive designed specifically to meet the requirements of this demanding video streaming environment. These new drives delivers the formatting and low-power consumption that assures out-of-the-box compatibility with many leading CE (consumer electronics) devices.

The new 320 GB My Passport AV portable media drives are designed to operate seamlessly with the Direct Copy feature offered in Sony's new Handycam video recorders Blu-ray Players gaming consoles, televisions and many other popular media players.

My Passport AV Compatibility
My Passport AV portable media drives are formatted FAT32 and are compatible with Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Mac OS X and Apple's Tiger, Leopard, and Snow Leopard. My Passport AV portable media drives utilize the same drive technology found in WD AV drives inside leading cable and satellite set-top boxes and DVRs (digital video recorders) around the world.

The My Passport AV portable media drives are compatible with the following devices:

• WD TV family of media players;
  
• 2010 and later Sony camcorders with Direct Copy functionality;
  
• Sony 2010 Blu-ray Disc Players including BDP-S370, BDP-S470, BDP-S570;
  
• Sony 2010 Blu-ray Disc Home Theater Systems including BDV-E370, BDV-E570;
  
• JVC LT-32P689 television;
  
• Samsung LN32A550 television;
  
• Phillips 42PFLA332D television;
  
• Microsoft Xbox 360 (compatible with the USB media playback feature); and,
  
• Sony PlayStation 3.

For a complete list of devices compatible with the My Passport AV portable media drives, please visit the WD Web site. A product specification sheet and photos of My Passport AV drives are available on the company's Web site at http://www.westerndigital.com/MyPassportAV.

Source: Western Digital

Western Digital Unveils New My Passport Studio Drives With E-Label

WD Introduces New My Passport Studio Portable Drives, Delivering Super-Fast, Go-Anywhere Performance for Mac Computers

E-Label Smart Display Helps Creative Professionals Organize Their Storage

WD, the world's leader in external storage solutions, today introduced its new My Passport Studio portable drives featuring the super-fast FireWire 800 interface and a customizable e-label that's always visible, even when the drive is unplugged. Sporting a sleek and stylish design, the new high-performance My Passport Studio drives are formatted for Mac(R) computers, compatible with Apple TimeMachine software, and feature automatic and continuous backup with WD SmartWare software, and 256-bit hardware-based encryption. Available now at select retailers and shopwd.com, the new My Passport Studio drives are offered in capacities of 320 GB, 500 GB and 640 GB. WD's My Passport Studio drives are designed for creative professionals and Mac enthusiasts. Their production and use of many large files require the fast transfers from computer to My Passport Studio drives that FireWire 800 provides. Professionals such as photographers also benefit from the e-labeling system to effectively organize their work.

The e-label smart display on the front of the My Passport drives can be changed as often as desired using the included WD SmartWare software. Users can easily create a label to personalize their drive or remind themselves of its contents. The e-label also shows available capacity and whether the drive is locked. Utilizing e-paper technology, the information on the display remains clearly visible, even when the drive is unplugged.

According to research firm Parks Associates, the average U.S. broadband household currently has over 120 GB of digital media and files which is projected to grow to over 1 TB of data by 2013.

"Many of our customers store their content on multiple external drives, making it difficult to know what content is on each drive," said Dale Pistilli, vice president of marketing of WD's Branded Products group. "The e-label smart display is an elegant and practical solution for organizing and keeping track of one's digital life and work. WD SmartWare software makes it easy for users to protect their valuable content with automatic and continuous backup and encryption."

The new My Passport Studio is fully compatible with Apple TimeMachine software for easy backup of your most important files. It also offers the option of the simple and intuitive WD SmartWare software, with automatic continuous backup and real-time visual interface, giving users a reassuring view of their backup as it happens. After the first backup, users' files are backed up automatically every time they change or add a file.

My Passport Studio drives also feature user-selected password protection combined with 256-bit hardware-based encryption, which scrambles files before they are stored. Typically found only on much more expensive drive systems, the encryption acts as a virtual padlock to keep users' data safe.

Price and Availability
The new My Passport Studio drives are offered in capacities of 320 GB, 500 GB and 640 GB and have a 3-year limited warranty. My Passport Studio ultra-portable drives are available now at select retailers and online at shopwd.com. MSRP for the My Passport Studio drives ranges from $149.99 USD to $199.99 USD depending on capacity.

My Passport Studio
The new WD My Passport Studio ultra-portable drives feature:

• Smart display - a customizable e-label that reminds users of what is stored on the drive and provides available capacity and security status at a glance even when the drive is unplugged;
• FireWire 800 - users can save and access data at top speeds with the high-performance FireWire 800 interface;
• Plug-and-play, designed for use with Mac computers and compatibility with Apple TimeMachine software;
• WD SmartWare software that visually presents consumers' data in a software control center;
• 256-bit hardware-based encryption and password protection for peace of mind knowing that data is protected from unauthorized access;
• USB 2.0 interface - for convenience and compatibility among multiple computers;
• Planet-friendly packaging derived from recycled materials to minimize waste;
• HFS+ Journaled formatting and are compatible with Mac OS X Tiger(R), Leopard(R) and Snow Leopard(R); and,
• 3-year limited warranty.

WD SmartWare Software

• Visual backup displays that show content in categories and shows the progress of backup;
• Automatic, continuous data backup will instantly make a second copy whenever you add or change a file;
• Retrieve valuable data to its original location whether it's lost data or the file has been overwritten; and,
• Customizable data backup that allows users to set drive security, run diagnostics, manage the power settings, and more from the WD SmartWare control center.

WD Unveils WD TV Live HD Media Player

WD Unveils WD TV Live HD Media Player With Network Capability and Enhanced User Experience

Consumers Can Stream HD Content from USB Drives, Network Drives and Popular Internet Sites to Their Big Screen TVs



WD, the world's leader in external storage solutions, today introduced the WD TV Live HD media player featuring network capability and Full-HD 1080p resolution. The new WD TV Live HD media player makes it easy for anyone to play HD (high definition) videos stored on USB and network drives, as well as Internet content from popular Web sites, on the biggest screen in their home -- their HD television. Building on the success of the WD TV HD media player, the WD TV Live HD media player offers a new, more responsive interface to help consumers enjoy a world of digital content in their living room, without a computer.

The network capability of the WD TV Live media player enables users to stream or transfer movies from PC or Mac computers or a network-attached storage device such as WD's My Book World Edition and WD ShareSpace network drives to their HD TVs. The WD TV Live media player also allows users to stream rich content from YouTube, Flickr and Pandora. The HD onscreen menu brings together all of the users' available media in an elegant and simple-to-navigate interface.

Consumers are amassing large libraries of digital videos, photos and music on their computers. According to research firm Parks Associates, the average consumer had 123 GB of videos, photos, and music in 2009 which will grow to 1.3 TB by 2013 (Digital Lifestyles: 2009 Outlook). In addition, an increasing number of consumers are looking for seamless access to their personal media, as well as to Internet media. According to Parks Associates, the sales of connected consumer electronics devices, such as connected TVs and digital media adapters, is expected to more than double from 57 million units in 2009 to 115 million units in 2013 (Home Networks for Consumer Electronics 2009).

Consumers are investing millions of dollars in HD TVs, with HD televisions representing more than 50 percent of TVs sold in the U.S., according to Parks Associates (Home Networks for Consumer Electronics 2009). But consumers' digital content is often relegated to the relatively small screen on their PC or Mac computers. The WD TV Live HD media player is the newest member in the family of WD TV media players by WD, which make moving digital content from a computer to playing it on a big screen TV simply plug-and-play.

Like the popular first-generation WD TV HD media player introduced last fall, the WD TV Live media player connects directly to a users' HD TV and plays almost any file stored on a connected USB drive such as My Passport(TM) portable drive. The WD TV Live media player features powerful media processing, which enables playback in Full-HD 1080p resolution. WD TV Live media player also will play movies and photos stored on other popular USB devices such as digital camcorders and digital cameras.

"The media enthusiast community has embraced the first WD TV HD media player and given us tremendous feedback," said Dale Pistilli, vice president of marketing for WD's branded products group. "With the new WD TV Live media player we're giving them what they asked for -- network connectivity and Internet-content streaming capabilities -- and offering them a simple way to enjoy all of their digital media and enjoy it on their HD TVs."

WD TV Live HD Media Player

Features of the WD TV Live HD Media Player include:

• Full-HD 1080p video playback and navigation with the included remote control and crisp, animated navigation menus;
• Play a wide variety of file formats including support for a wide variety of the most popular file formats with no need to spend time transcoding;
• Play videos, music and photos from the Internet on your big screen TV and discover new music with Pandora Internet radio or listen to thousands of radio stations via Live365 Internet radio;
• Ethernet port for wired or WiFi connection(1) to access files anywhere on the network to play movies, music, and photos from any PC or drive on a home network;
• Turns a USB drive into an HD media player and plays content from most popular USB drives, and digital cameras, camcorders, and portable media players that can be recognized as mass storage devices;
• Unlimited media collection, just add more USB drives for more space;
• Two USB ports for seamless media playback from multiple USB drives and ability to access them simultaneously while a media library feature collects the content on all the drives into one list sorted by media type;
• Transfer files by copying, moving or deleting files stored on a USB drive, a network drive, camcorder, or a camera to the attached USB drive using the on-screen menus;
• Picture Transfer Protocol support to show photos and movies directly from digital camera or video camera and or any digital imaging device that supports Picture Transfer Protocol;
• Advanced navigation options including thumbnail and list views, media library and search;
• Photo viewing to create custom slide shows, zoom and pan and search;
• Movie viewing with fast-forward, rewind, pause, zoom and pan, view subtitles, and search;
• Music playback with fast-forward, rewind, pause, shuffle, repeat and search;
• File copying between USB devices;
• HDMI 1.3 port, composite video and component video output(3) for the highest quality HDTV or home theater;
• SPDIF digital output that sends digital signals to your AV receiver for the best surround sound experience; and,
• Ultra-compact design to fit easily into a home entertainment center.

Pricing and Availability

The WD TV Live Media Player is available now at select retailers and online at shopwd.com. Covered by a 1-year limited warranty, the MSRP for WD TV Live Media Player is $149.99 USD.
Source: Western Digital

Western Digital Releases Smaller, Smarter and More Secure Ultra-Portable My Passport Essential Drives

WD Unveils Smaller, Smarter and More Secure Ultra-Portable My Passport Essential Drives With New WD SmartWare Software

Pocket-Size Drives with WD SmartWare and Hardware Encryption Keep Consumers' Digital Lives Secure in One

Western Digital, the world's leader in external storage solutions, today introduced its smaller, smarter and more secure My Passport Essential and My Passport for Mac ultra-portable external hard drives featuring WD's new WD SmartWare software and equipped with hardware-based encryption. The new My Passport drives are more than 20 percent smaller than the previous generation My Passport.

The new portable drives with WD SmartWare software visually present consumers' data in a control center, providing them peace of mind that their precious photos, videos and files are securely protected. Available now at select retailers and the WD online store (shopwd.com), the new My Passport Essential and My Passport for Mac drives are offered in capacities ranging from 320 GB to 1 TB and come in a range of colors including Pacific Blue, Real Red, Cool Silver and Midnight Black.

According to research firm Parks Associates, the average U.S. broadband household currently has over 120 gigabytes (GB) of digital media and files, which is expected to grow to over 1 terabyte (TB) of data by 2013. And while 70 percent of consumers back up their content, the majority of these people are using manual, cumbersome methods such as copying and pasting to multiple CDs and DVDs, and less than 18 percent use software that automatically and continuously backs up their content.

When the My Passport Essential drive is plugged in for the first time, the simple and intuitive first backup process launches automatically. The real-time visual interface of WD SmartWare software gives users a reassuring view of their backup as it happens. After the first backup, users' files are backed up automatically every time they change or add a file.

My Passport Essential and My Passport for Mac drives also feature user-selected password protection combined with military-grade 256-bit hardware encryption, which scrambles files before they are stored. Typically found only on much more expensive drive systems, the encryption acts as a virtual padlock to keep users' data secure.

"The smaller and sleeker design of WD's redesigned My Passport drives, combined with the intuitive visual backup experience of WD SmartWare software, makes this drive a smart and secure, travel-friendly storage choice," said Dale Pistilli, vice president of marketing for WD's branded products group. "These ultra-portable drives are a stylish and spacious storage solution for consumers to confidently backup, store and carry their entire digital lives."

WD My Passport Essential hard drives are designed for Windows-based PCs while WD My Passport for Mac drives are formatted for Mac computers and are compatible with Apple TimeMachine, Apple's integrated backup solution. WD SmartWare works on Windows PCs and Mac computers and offers a seamlessly integrated option for Mac users who want an alternative to TimeMachine or Mac OS 10.4 users who don't have TimeMachine compatibility.

Price and Availability

The new My Passport Essential drives are offered in capacities of 320 GB, 500 GB and 640 GB; My Passport Essential SE drives are offered in capacities of 750 GB and 1 TB. My Passport for Mac drives are available with 320 GB and 500 GB. My Passport Essential and My Passport for Mac drives are available now at select retailers and online at www.shopwd.com. MSRP ranges from $109.99 to $249.99 USD depending on model.

WD SmartWare Software

WD SmartWare software features:

• Visual backup displays that show content in categories and shows the
  progress of backup;
• Automatic, continuous data backup will instantly make a second copy
  whenever you add or change a file;
• Retrieve valuable data to its original location whether it's lost
  data or the file has been overwritten; and,
• Customizable data backup that allows user to set drive security, run
  diagnostics, manage the power settings, and more from the WD SmartWare
  control center.

My Passport Essential

The new WD My Passport Essential, My Passport Essential SE and My Passport for Mac drives with WD SmartWare software feature:

• Smaller, sleeker design offered in a range of colors including Pacific
  Blue, Real Red, Cool Silver and Midnight Black;
• 256-bit hardware encryption for peace of mind knowing that data is
  protected from unauthorized access;
• USB 2.0 interface that powers(1) the drive directly from the USB port on
  user's computer, no separate power supply is needed;
• Planet-friendly packaging derived from recycled materials to minimize
  waste;
• Ready to plug-and-play with Windows PCs
• 2-year limited warranty.

The My Passport for Mac drives are plug-and-play ready for Mac computer users and compatible with Apple TimeMachine.

Source: Western Digital

WD Launches High-Performance 7200 RPM 2 TB Hard Drives

WD Launches High-Performance, 7200 RPM 2 TB Hard Drives for Desktop and Enterprise Systems

WD Caviar Black and WD RE4 Four-platter Hard Drives Set New Benchmarks in High-Feature, High Performance Storage

WD today announced that it is now shipping desktop 7200 RPM 2 TB hard drives and is qualifying with OEMs enterprise-class hard drives based on WD's 500 gigabytes-per-platter technology. The popular family of WD Caviar Black drives, now led by the new 2 TB capacity, is perfect for gaming, high-performance desktop systems and workstations; while the WD RE4 2 TB is suited for servers, network attached storage and storage networks.

High-performance hard drives by an industry leader in performance, WD Caviar Black and WD RE4 2 TB drives combine 7200 RPM spin speed, 64 MB cache, dual stage actuator technology, SATA 3 gigabits per second (Gb/s) interface, and an integrated dual processor to deliver ultimate performance in a maximum-capacity drive.

"WD Caviar Black 2 TB hard drives maximize the features and functionality of power computing applications such as gaming, photo editing, user generated multimedia and video," said Jim Morris, senior vice president and general manager of WD's client storage systems. "With the selection of WD Caviar Black hard drives, WD desktop customers receive the best possible mix of capacity, performance and reliability that is required for intense desktop computing."

"Specifically designed for enterprise-class applications, WD's RE4 2 TB drives incorporate the best combination of features, optimum performance, and superior reliability that customers have come to expect from WD," said Tom McDorman, vice president and general manager of enterprise storage solutions for WD. "Our enterprise products are directly aimed at customers who require additional features and extensive testing that are necessary for high-end enterprise environments."

WD Caviar Black 2 TB and WD RE4 2 TB hard drives feature the following:

• Dual processor - Twice the processing power to maximize performance.
• Dual actuator technology - A head positioning system with two actuatorsthat improves positional accuracy over the data track(s). The primary actuator provides coarse displacement using conventional electromagnetic actuator principles. The secondary actuator uses piezoelectric motion to fine tune the head positioning to a higher degree of accuracy.
• IntelliSeek(TM) - Calculates optimum seek speeds to lower power consumption, noise, and vibration.
• StableTrac(TM) - The motor shaft is secured at both ends to reduce system-induced vibration and stabilize platters for accurate tracking, during read and write operations.
• NoTouch(TM) ramp load technology - The recording head never touches the disk media ensuring significantly less wear to the recording head and media as well as better drive protection in transit.

Additional Features for WD RE4 2 TB Enterprise Hard Drives

WD RE4 drives feature 1.2 million hours MTBF, Active Power Save(TM), enhanced RAFF(TM) technology, multi-axis shock sensor, native command queuing (NCQ), pressure sensors, third generation dynamic fly height, time limited error recovery (TLER), and an extensive and enhanced testing process to ensure long-term reliability for demanding enterprise applications.

Price and Availability

The WD Caviar Black 2 TB GB (model WD2001FASS) hard drives are available through select distributors and resellers. Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price (MSRP) for the WD Caviar Black 2 TB drive is $299 USD. The WD RE4 2 TB (model WD2003FYYS) drive is currently being qualified by OEMs. Both drives are covered by a five-year limited warranty. More information about WD Caviar Black 2 TB desktop hard drives may be found on the company's Web site at http://www.wdc.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=733 and the WD RE4 2 TB enterprise hard drives at http://www.wdc.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=732.

Source: Western Digital Press Release

Western Digital Releases New 4TB My Book Studio Edition II For Mac Enthusiasts

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

New My Book Studio Edition Dual-drive External Storage Systems Deliver a Perfect Blend of High Performance and Power Conservation
Western Digital the world's leader in external storage solutions, today introduced its new 4 terabyte capacity My Book Studio Edition II dual-drive storage systems, which are designed to seamlessly work with Mac computers and provide an ideal blend of high performance and power conservation. The new My Book Studio Edition II dual-drive storage systems are available now at select retailers and the WD online store (www.shopwd.com).

Compatible with Apple Time Machine automatic backup feature and formatted for Mac computers, the new 4 TB My Book Studio Edition II external storage system's dual-drive RAID 0 configuration and high-speed interfaces deliver high performance for creative professionals, workgroups, small offices and anyone looking for fast data transfer. The system offers four interfaces: eSATA and FireWire 800 for maximum performance as well as FireWire 400 and USB 2.0 for maximum flexibility. The eco-friendly(2) system uses WD's hard drives with WD GreenPower Technology for power savings and cool and quiet operation.

"Whether in the studio, at home, or on the road, I backup all my photographs and files on WD drives," says Peter Read Miller, a staff photographer for Sports Illustrated magazine. "I use the My Book Studio II drive and WD ShareSpace network drive at home and in the studio and always have at least one My Passport portable drive when I'm on the road. The bottom line is they're safe, fast and reliable. In my business I need to rely on products that will protect my livelihood. WD's line of products perform that task exceptionally well," Miller added.

"The new My Book Studio Edition II is the best choice for creative professionals who require massive capacity and extra-fast performance," said Dale Pistilli, vice president of marketing for WD's branded products group. "With 4 terabytes of capacity, photographers, graphic artists, videographers, and home video enthusiasts alike will have the space they need to store hours of high definition videos as well as the performance they need for demanding video editing applications."

Extra-fast Performance with RAID 0
Lightning-fast eSATA or FireWire 800 interfaces combined with RAID 0 (Striped) yields the speed users' need for: fast, smooth video editing; rendering complex 3D objects or special effects; and saving huge blocks of data in record time. With RAID 0, users can have 4 TB of storage in an elegant, small footprint design that offers plenty of room to store an entire digital photo library and hundreds of hours of HD movies or digital video (results will vary based on file size and format, settings, features, software and other factors).

Features
Formatted for Mac computers, these new storage systems feature:

• Massive 4 terabyte capacity;
• Extra-fast performance with four interfaces (FireWire 400/800, eSATA, USB 2.0);
• Cool, eco-friendly operation with WD's drives with WD GreenPower Technology that consume approximately one-third less power than standard dual-drive external storage systems and efficient convection cooling architecture and power-saving mode and designed without a fan to run quietly;
• Quad interface with connections for ultra-fast eSATA and FireWire 800 and for flexibility and convenience FireWire 400 and USB 2.0;
• Automatic and continuous backup software;
• User serviceability, enabling owner to open the enclosure and replace the drive inside;
• Capacity gauge to see at a glance how much space is available on the system; and,
• 5-year limited warranty.

Pricing and Availability
My Book Studio Edition II dual-drive storage systems are available now at select retailers and WD's online store (www.shopwd.com). MSRP for My Book Studio Edition II with 4 TB is $649.99 USD.

Source: Western Digital Press Release

Western Digital Introduces New 2TB Next Gen GreenPower Drives

WD Ships 2 Terabyte Enterprise-Class Hard Drives With Next-Generation GreenPower Technology

WD RE4-GP Hard Drives Further Reduce Power Consumption For Data Centers and Digital Video Production Facilities

Western Digital Corp. today expanded its enterprise family of hard drives to include the next-generation 2 TB capacity, the largest and only 2 TB enterprise-class hard drive shipping today. Combining industry-leading 64 MB cache, dual processors, and increased areal density, WD RE4-GP hard drives yield twice the processing power resulting in as much as 25 percent performance improvement over the previous generation.

WD's GreenPower technology platform is the first 3.5-inch hard drive platform designed with power savings as the primary attribute. These drives reduce average drive power consumption by up to 50 percent over currently available competitors' drives and are ultra-cool and quiet, all while delivering solid performance.

The new WD RE4-GP 2 TB hard drive provides enterprise-class reliability for storage-hungry applications, such as cloud-computing infrastructure, large-scale data centers, data archive and tape replacement systems, commercial video surveillance and digital video editing houses, with an energy- and money-saving solution that combats the challenges facing the enterprise IT sector -- limited available drive slots, maximum capacity required, and limited power and budget. Addressing the growing high-capacity enterprise market, WD RE4-GP 2 TB drives are reliability-rated at 1.2 million hours MTBF (mean time before failure) in high duty cycle environments.

Mission-critical video and audio content producers typically require greater system performance and capacity needs than most other applications. Reliable video servers, in particular, are crucial for time-critical data retrieval, distribution, repurposing, and archiving. Like thousands of other professionals and consumers storing photos, files and music, video professionals must manage and maintain raw video files (or any files).

"Every data center in operation worldwide contributes to CO2 emissions, and storage systems are at the core of these data centers," said John Rydning, IDC's research director for hard disk drives. "Many storage applications are a great fit for high-capacity, low power-consuming disk drives like the WD RE4-GP 2 TB that help to reduce power consumption and positively impact the environment."

WD(R) is making it possible for energy-conscious enterprise customers to build servers and storage subsystems with higher capacities, consistent performance, and assured reliability, all while promoting energy conservation.

"Energy efficiency is a primary concern for our customers who continue to look for ways to reduce their carbon footprint without compromising reliability or performance," said Tom McDorman, vice president and general manager of WD's enterprise storage solutions business unit. "WD's RE-GP drives enable them to meet their customer's system requirements for storage capacity, reliability, performance and cost by integrating an enterprise-class drive that simply consumes less power than traditional hard drives."

Exclusive Intelligent Drive Technology

WD RE4-GP hard drives with GreenPower technology deliver exceptional power conservation, run ultra-cool and quiet, while providing solid performance. Following are several technologies responsible for the performance enhancements:

Faster - 64 MB cache, dual processors, and increased areal density yield twice the processing power resulting in as much as a 25 percent performance improvement over the previous generation.

Greener - Improvements in our power-conserving technologies -- IntelliSeek, IntelliPark, and IntelliPower -- deliver up to an average 25 percent reduction in power consumption over our previous generation of WD RE-GP drive.

Improved Rotary Vibration Tolerance - Advanced mechanical and servo control optimization along with system characterization and validation enable rock solid performance under extreme vibration conditions, with negligible impact to performance, substantially more robust than the previous generation, making this drive ideal for the most industrial IT applications

Active Power Management - WD drives with GreenPower technology monitor work load and automatically invoke idle mode whenever possible to further reduce unnecessary power consumption by up to an additional 40 percent. Drive recovery time from idle mode is less than one second, providing seamless power management between the drive and the host controller.

StableTrac - Secures the motor shaft at both ends to reduce system-induced vibration and stabilize platters for accurate tracking, during read and write operations.

RAID-specific Time-limited Error Recovery (TLER) - Pioneered by WD, this feature prevents drive fallout caused by the extended hard drive error-recovery processes common to desktop drives.

Rotary Acceleration Feed Forward (RAFF) - This second generation WD RE-GP model increased rotational frequencies up to 1500 Hz, therefore optimizing operation and performance when the drives are used in vibration-prone multi-drive systems such as rack mounted servers or in systems deployed at industrial type locations.

Availability and Pricing

The WD RE4-GP 2 TB hard drive (model WD2002FYPS) is available from select e-tailers and distributors. MSRP is $329.00 (U.S.). The WD RE4-GP 2 TB will also be shown by WD partners AMCC (booth number SL13007) and Promise (booth number SL12008) at the NAB Show in Las Vegas, NV. More information about WD RE4-GP enterprise drives may be found on the company's Web site at http://www.wdc.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=670.

Source: Western Digital Press Release

WD Enters SSD Market, Acquires SiliconSystems

Western Digital Corp., a world leader in hard drive storage for computing and consumer electronics applications, today announced that it has completed a $65 million cash acquisition of SiliconSystems, Inc., Aliso Viejo, Calif., a leading supplier of solid-state drives for the embedded systems market.

Since its inception in 2002, SiliconSystems has sold millions of SiliconDrive products to meet the high performance, high reliability and multi-year product lifecycle demands of the network-communications, industrial, embedded-computing, medical, military and aerospace markets. These markets accounted for approximately one third of worldwide solid-state drive revenues in 2008. SiliconSystems' product portfolio includes solid-state drives with SATA, EIDE, PC Card, USB and CF interfaces in 2.5-inch, 1.8-inch, CF and other form factors. SiliconSystems has developed extensive intellectual property to address the stringent embedded systems market requirements to ensure data integrity, eliminate unscheduled downtime, protect application data and software and provide for data security and protection through its patented and patent-pending PowerArmor, SiSMART, SolidStor and SiSecure technologies.

WD's storage industry leadership, worldwide infrastructure, and technical and financial resources will enable further growth in SiliconSystems' existing markets and customer relationships. SiliconSystems' intellectual property and technical expertise will provide additional building blocks for future products to address emerging opportunities in WD's existing markets.

"We are delighted to have the SiliconSystems team join WD," said John Coyne, president and CEO of WD. "The combination will be modestly accretive to revenue and margins as a result of SiliconSystems' existing position as a trusted supplier to the well-established $400 million market for embedded solid-state drives. SiliconSystems' intellectual property and technical expertise will significantly accelerate WD's solid-state drive development programs for the netbook, client and enterprise markets, providing greater choice for our customers to satisfy all their storage requirements."

Integration into WD begins immediately, with SiliconSystems now becoming known as the WD Solid-State Storage business unit, complementing WD's existing Branded Products, Client Storage, Consumer Storage and Enterprise Storage business units.

"WD's strong balance sheet, sales reach, and operations and logistics capabilities will allow us to greatly accelerate our penetration of our existing markets, while combining our engineering expertise with WD will enable us to develop new solid-state drives to broaden our overall product portfolio and address the emerging applications for solid-state storage in WD's existing customer base," said Michael Hajeck, a founder and CEO of SiliconSystems, now senior vice president and general manager of WD's Solid-State Storage business unit. "We are extremely excited to be joining WD and enabling an even stronger future for our talented team."

A set of questions and answers related to today's announcement can be found on WD's website at http://www.wdc.com/en/company/investor/QandA.asp.

Source: Western Digital Press Release

WD World's First 2TB Eco-friendly Hard Drive

Earlier this week Western Digital announced the first 2 terabyte (TB) hard drive - the world's highest capacity drive and the latest addition to WD's popular, environmentally friendly, cool and quiet, WD Caviar Green hard drive family. This new 3.5-inch platform is based on WD's industry-leading 500 GB/platter technology (with 400 Gb/in2 areal density) with 32 MB cache, producing drives with capacities of up to 2 TB.



"While some in the industry wondered if the end consumer would buy a 1 TB drive, already some 10 percent of 3.5-inch hard drive sales are at the 1 TB level or higher, serving demand from video applications and expanding consumer media libraries," said Mark Geenen, President of Trend Focus. "The 2 TB hard drives will continue to satisfy end user's insatiable desire to store more data on ever larger hard drives."

WD Caviar Green is one of the most successful product lines in the company's recent history with its third-generation GreenPower technology, now providing 2 TB of proven reliable storage for today's high-resolution files and graphics. WD Caviar Green drives are designed for use in USB/FireWire/eSATA external hard drives, desktop computers, workstations, and desktop RAID environments.

"Saving power without sacrificing storage capacity is what consumers want, and what many businesses are requiring today. With the launch of the new WD Caviar Green 2 TB hard drive, customers receive the additional capacities needed to operate today's highly advanced programs and high-resolution digital files while using less power than typical drives with similar performance and capacities," said Jim Morris, WD senior vice president and general manager of client systems.

Rock Solid Mechanical Architecture, Cool, Quiet Hard Drives
A number of advanced technologies enable the speed, capacity and performance of WD's Caviar Green 1.5 TB and 2 TB hard drives. Those include: StableTrac, which secures the motor shaft at both ends to reduce system-induced vibration and stabilize platters for accurate tracking during read and write operations; IntelliPower, which fine-tunes the balance of spin speed, transfer rate and caching algorithms designed to deliver both significant power savings and solid performance; IntelliSeek, which calculates optimum seek speeds to lower power consumption, noise, and vibration; and NoTouch ramp load technology, which is designed to ensure the recording head never touches the disk media resulting in significantly less wear to the recording head and media, as well as better drive protection while in transit.

Availability and Pricing
The WD Caviar Green 2 TB is available at select resellers and distributors. MSRP for the WD Caviar Green 2 TB hard drives (model WD20EADS) is $299.00 USD. More information about WD Caviar Green desktop drives may be found on the company's Web site at http://wdc.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=576

Newegg Pricing: Western Digital WD20EADS 2TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM $299 with free shipping

Source: Western Digital Press Release

Hardware Reviews: Western Digital VelociRaptor VR150

Western Digital recently announced their fourth-generation "Raptor" design, aptly named the "VelociRaptor" as a nod to its promised capabilities. The capacity is now at 300GB up from previous limitations of 36, 74 and 150 gigs. However that is the least of changes for the new VR150 product family.

Western Digital has moved to a 2.5" form factor with the VelociRaptor, while at the same time providing a unique 3.5" chassis mounting system for the enthusiast desktop market. This mounting system is named "IcePAK" and features a finned aluminum design that offers some degree of thermal dissipation. However, its primary purpose is to ensure this drive works in the multitude of desktop chassis.

The key new features for the "VelociRaptor" are faster connections SATA 3 Gb/s, as apposed to the 1.5 Gb/s for previous models. Faster read/write seek speeds, 4.2 ms/4.7 ms compared to 4.6/5.2. The drives will also show a considerable drop in power dissipation as little as 0.42 Watts in standby and 6.08 Watts during read/write.

Pricing is estimated at $300 for the VelociRaptor and the drive will be available in retail channels in the latter part of May. So these little drive do come with a hefty price tag, however for you geeks out there that are looking for the fastest of the fast early benchmarks do show a reasonable speed increase over current raptor models.

Checkout detailed benchmarks and reviews from:

• AnandTech
• Tom's Hardware
• StorageReview
• TechReport
• HotHardware
• PCPer
• LegitReviews