WD Announces My Book Pro External Storage Solution

[btarunr]

WD, a Western Digital company, today introduced the My Book Pro storage device, providing professionals and enthusiasts who must efficiently manage large amounts of digital content with up to 435 MB/s transfer rates on WD's fastest external storage solution yet.

With capacity options including 6 TB, 8 TB, 10 TB and 12 TB, the power of two 7200 RPM WD drives with Intel's Thunderbolt 2 technology and a hot-swappable hardware RAID controller, the My Book Pro device enables creative professionals and enthusiasts alike to focus on what they love doing by significantly cutting the time to transfer large videos, photos and audio files.



"The My Book Pro device has been designed from the ground up for the creative professional workflow. We've been able to take the newest, highest capacity 6 TB 7200 RPM drives on the market and marry them with leading technologies to deliver a product you can leverage from the moment you connect it," said Sven Rathjen, vice president of marketing for WD's Content Solutions business. "It really is designed to perform under the most demanding environments."

Designed for professional content creators who need performance and capacity, My Book Pro storage combines the power of dual 20 Gb/s Thunderbolt 2 ports, USB 3.0 compatibility, the peace-of-mind of hardware RAID and the speed of two 7200 RPM WD drives to accelerate creative workflows. With the convenience of two front-access USB ports and the ability to daisy chain up to six Thunderbolt devices, users are able to charge and sync smartphones, tablets or cameras while simultaneously connecting 4K monitors or additional storage devices.

At any point in time, one's data could be at risk if not protected. Whether it's a lost notebook or destructive virus, it's critical to keep data safe and maintain a backup of important documents and valued content. With three customizable configuration options [RAID 0 (default), RAID 1 and JBOD] offered by the My Book Pro device for keeping content protected, data bottlenecks are reduced and throughput is improved with no impact to your computer's CPU performance.

Pricing and Availability
The My Book Pro storage device is protected by a 3-year limited warranty and is available from the WD store at wdstore.com as well as select retailers and distributors. Manufacturer's suggested retail price (MSRP) will be $599.00 USD for the 6 TB, $749.00 for the 8 TB, $899.00 for the 10 TB and $999.00 for the 12 TB.

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[Chaitanya]

I can see the utility of these drives for photographers, but at that price point I expect the WD to offer atleast a 5 year warranty.

 

[Octavean]

I can see the utility of these drives for photographers, but at that price point I expect the WD to offer atleast a 5 year warranty.

That does make sense,....

Still the warranty won't likely go beyond that of the included HDD's and if I am not mistaken a typical WD Red drive would have only a three year warranty whereas a WD Red Pro would have a five year.

For the price of the cited My Book Pro for the given capacity the price of equal capacity WD Red Pro drives alone would go well beyond the price of the unit. So it doesn't make sense to outfit the My Book Pro with WD Red Pro drives IMO unless they increased the price.

Edit:

IMO, it would be ideal for WD to offer up a version without discs at a reasnably discounted price.

Still QNAP and others may have more robust options then this WD offering. I seem to recall something similar but also functioned as a NAS. This meant that the pro user can connect to a fast connection via TB while other users could connect via the network.