Western Digital (WD) is reportedly giving its flagship performance hard drive, the VelociRaptor a specifications update with a new 600 GB model. The new VelociRaptor HDD will succeed a four generations of Raptor HDDs from the company. It will implement developments in areal density to place 600 GB of data onto two platters, a two-fold increase over the previous generation. A single-platter 300 GB model also seems to be on cards. The drive will also feature improved electronics with a 'significantly' larger cache. It is also indicated that the 600 GB model will be priced on par with what the current-generation 300 GB VelociRaptor was upon release (~$250).

In this era of SSDs, Western Digital believes it can still compete with high-performance HDDs. The new VelociRaptor will strike the right balance between price, performance, and capacity. A $250 HDD with 600 GB capacity seems to be a good deal compared to a 250 GB SSD which can go for as much as ~$700. Past models in the Raptor family of HDDs have come with high spindle speeds backed by large caches to give out high read-write speeds and low access times compared to other HDDs.

WD, 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.

WD today announced that it has commenced volume shipments of its 9.5 mm high, 2.5-inch notebook hard drives with 640 GB capacity. The WD Scorpio Blue 640 GB hard drives utilize 320 GB-per-platter technology and are designed for mainstream notebook computers. The WD Scorpio Blue 640 GB is the highest capacity 2.5-inch hard drive available today in the industry-standard 9.5 mm, 2-disk form factor.

The new WD Scorpio Blue 640 GB drive has a 30 percent reduction in overall power consumption from the previous generation WD Scorpio Blue drive to achieve best-in-class power and performance1, making it an ideal solution for notebook computers and other portable devices that require extended battery life and cool, quiet operation.

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.

TDK Japan, a supplier of read-write heads for hard-drive manufacturers predicts that 2.5 hard drives will be a reality by late 2009, and will reach markets by early 2010. The company presented a roadmap to the press late last week, that shows that it will have the technology available to produce 3.5 inch disk platters with 640 GB data density. Four such platters will go into making 2.5 TB drives. On the 2.5 inch drive front, the roadmap shows a jump to 320 GB per platter density, which allows 640GB 2-platter SFF drives to be announced by manufacturers towards the end of this year.

Hard Drive manufacturers had reached the 2 TB milestone earlier this year. Seagate and Western Digital used four 500 GB platters in their products. At this rate of data density increases, a 5 TB hard drive in 2010, as predicted by Hitachi's Yoshihiro Shiroishi last year, sounds a little more realistic.

WD today announced two new mobile hard drives that reach new capacity extremes. The highlight is a one terabyte model - the industry's highest-capacity 2.5-inch drive available. Industry-leading 333 GB-per-platter technology enables the new WD Scorpio Blue SATA 2.5-inch hard drives to offer mobile storage device and notebook users an enormous 1 TB capacity. A 750 GB WD Scorpio Blue model also will be available.

The WD Scorpio Blue 750 GB and 1 TB hard drives have a 12.5 mm form factor and are ideally suited for use in portable storage solutions, such as the newly released My Passport Essential SE Portable USB Drives. Other applications include select notebooks and small form factor desktop PCs, where quiet and cool operation are important. Both WD Scorpio Blue drives deliver high-performance with a 3 gigabits per second (Gb/s) transfer rate.

Western Digital, the world's leader in external storage solutions, today introduced its newly redesigned My Book World Edition II dual-drive network storage system in capacities of up to 4 TB. With the double protection of two Mirrored (RAID 1) drives and continuous backup software, the My Book World Edition II network storage system provides an extra-safe place for users to back up and store the data and digital media from all the computers on their network in one central location. Available now at select retailers and the WD online store, the new dual-drive systems join the recently introduced (Feb. 2009) My Book World Edition and are compatible with PC and Mac computers.

According to a July 2008 report by research firm Parks Associates, the number of households worldwide with data networks will grow from around 170 million in 2008 to 240 million by year-end 2012. The firm also reports that the average broadband household will see its digital media storage needs grow to nearly 900 GB by year-end 2012. In addition, consumers indicate that the most important feature for a network-attached storage (NAS) device is the amount of available storage. With its massive 4 TB capacity, the My Book World Edition II network storage system will serve this rapidly growing need for home data storage.

Western Digital is adding another high-capacity hard drive to its ranks. This time, the company it looking to expand its Caviar Black series of performance desktop hard drives, with the RE4-GP (WD2002FYPS). This 2 Terabyte drive boasts of a large 64 MB of cache, and two controllers on board to up the performance. It spins at 7200 rpm, and uses the standard SATA II interface. With four platters inside it, the drive weighs in at 0.73 kg. Ahead of its global launch, the drive seems to have already made it to stores in Japan, where unit packs of the drive are decking up shelves. When released in the west, these drives could go for around US $300 a piece.

Western Digital today announced that it has agreed to sell the assets of its media substrate manufacturing facility in Sarawak, Malaysia, to a subsidiary of Hitachi Global Storage Technologies, the hard drive manufacturing unit of Hitachi, Ltd. The employees of WD at the facility will become employees of the purchaser. The transaction is expected to close in the current quarter, subject to customary closing conditions. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
WD announced in December that it was taking actions to realign its cost structure to match a softer demand environment. This divestiture is one of those steps. The Sarawak facility, at which WD manufactured aluminum substrates for hard drive magnetic media, was acquired by WD as part of its acquisition of Komag, Inc. in September 2007. WD is consolidating substrate operations from the Sarawak facility into its other substrate facility in Johor, Malaysia. WD will continue to manufacture the majority of its magnetic media requirements at existing facilities in Malaysia and source the balance of its media needs through its strategic external partners.

Western Digital Corp. today reported revenue of $1.6 billion, on shipments of approximately 31.6 million units and net income of $50 million, or $0.22 per share, for its fiscal third quarter ended Mar. 27, 2009. The company's results include charges of $14 million for in-process research and development related to the SiliconSystems, Inc. acquisition and $4 million associated with the restructuring plan announced Dec. 17, 2008. Excluding these charges, non-GAAP net income was $68 million or $0.30 per share. In the year-ago quarter, the company reported revenue of $2.1 billion, unit shipments of 34.5 million and net income of $280 million, or $1.23 per share.
The company generated $355 million in cash from operations during the March quarter, ending with total cash and cash equivalents of $1.6 billion.

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.

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, the world's leader in external storage solutions, today expanded its My Book family of external hard drives to include a 2 TB capacity, the largest available capacity in a single-drive system. With its wide variety of models, WD offers a solution for every type of user, whether they're a creative power user on a Mac or a home user on a PC. The new 2 TB My Book family includes: My Book Studio Edition, My Book Mac Edition, My Book Home Edition and My Book Essential Edition models.

Market research shows that consumer creation and acquisition of digital media is growing rapidly, driving demand for increasing storage capacities. According to market research firm IDC, the number of digital cameras and camera phones in the world surpassed 1 billion (Mar. 2008). Separately, market research firm GfK reports that HD (high definition) video camcorders are experiencing record growth and now account for 42 percent of total camcorder sales (Aug. 2008). HD video requires massive amounts of drive space: at least 8 GB per hour of video. Since 2006, when Apple began offering movie downloads, the Apple store has already sold more than 250 million TV episodes and sold or rented more than 33 million movies (Apple, Mar. 2009).

QNAP Systems, Inc. is pleased to announce Western Digital Caviar Green 2TB (WD20EADS) SATA hard drive is now supported by the entire TS-109/ 209/ 409/ 509/ 439/ 639/ 809 /809U-RP and the latest TS-119/ 219 Turbo NAS series.

'The latest 2TB Caviar Green hard drives from Western Digital consume up to 70% less power than two 1TB hard drives and are relatively quiet in operation. These hard drives are ideal for customers requiring higher capacities and the right balance of energy conservation and ensured reliability. The maximum capacity can be extended up to a total of 16TB now on a TS-809 or 809U-RP' says Andy Chuo, Product Manager from QNAP. The complete HDD compatibility list is available here.

Western Digital (WD), seems to have matched rival Seagate's per-platter storage density mark, with its 500GB platter technology. What's more, WD is planning to release a quad-platter hard drive totaling two terabytes of unformatted capacity before Seagate could achieve that feat with its Barracuda 7200.12 series. Seagate was the first to come out with a 1.5TB hard drive with four 375GB platters.

The 2TB hard drive by WD (model: WD20EADS) lists under the company's Caviar Green series. It makes use of a 32 MB cache. Its access time is rated at 8.9ms, though its spindle speed is variable, between 5400 and 7200 rpm. The variable speed brings in power savings. It uses the standard SATA II interface. European online retailer Czech Computer started listing the drive, though its price isn't announced just as yet.

Without any official release from Western Digital, a new product of theirs has emerged on Best Buy called the WD TV HD Media Player. It is a very small device not much bigger than the remote it comes with, but what is unique about this gadget is that it allows you to plug in a USB flash drive or USB hard disk drive (HDD), and play full 1080p high definition videos, pictures and music, on to your TV. It supports two USB2.0 devices simultaneously, measuring only 1.6x4.9x3.9 inches and weighing a mere 10.7 oz, it could be the answer for many people instead of having HTPC's or trailing cables from their main PC's. The RRP of the device appears to be $129.99, however it is currently on sale at Best Buy for $99.99.

WD today added a high-speed FireWire 800 interface to its popular My Passport Studio portable drive to give Mac computer users and creative professionals the fast performance they need. The new interface also makes this drive a perfect storage companion for the newly introduced Apple MacBook Pro computer. With FireWire 800/400 and USB interfaces, the new My Passport Studio portable drives offer up to 500 GB of storage capacity, are formatted for Mac computers and weigh less than 7 ounces.

As the enterprise market for highly reliable, high-capacity storage continues to grow, WD today added 750 GB and 1 TB WD RE3 SATA hard drives to its successful family of WD RE hard drives. Perfect for demanding server and storage application environments, WD's RE3 750 GB and 1 TB high-capacity enterprise SATA hard drives combine 32 MB cache, enhanced vibration and shock tolerance, and deploy new electronics to increase performance approximately 20 percent and by as much 60 percent in high-vibration environments. WD RE3 enterprise hard drives also include improved reliability features that help protect the drive and the data stored on it, and run cooler and quieter than previous generation enterprise drives.

Western Digital has released a new model of its fastest performing "prehistoric" VelociRaptor hard drives. The new backplane version is specifically designed for 3.5-inch drive-based servers, PC and Mac computer enthusiasts and professional workstations that require the need for a backplane structure. "We designed the latest version of the WD VelociRaptor due to the increasing amount of systems that require a backplane mounting system. We have had overwhelming demand of our WD VelociRaptor as it provides enthusiasts with the computing speed and capacity they thirst for," said Tom McDorman, vice president and general manager of WD's enterprise solutions storage business unit. "The new WD VelociRaptor further demonstrates WD's commitment to the enthusiast and server market by delivering the greatest performance, compatibility, and reliability of all SATA hard drives currently on the market." Except the backplane mounting system, the updated VelociRaptors remain the same in specs which include: the 2,5-inch hard drive itself, 300GB of space, 10,000 rpm, SATA 3 Gb/s interface, 16MB cache and 1.4 million hours MTBF. WD VelociRaptor model WD3000HLFS and WD1500HLFS are available through select resellers and distributors. Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price (MSRP) for the WD VelociRaptor 300GB and 150 GB are $319.00 and $229.00 respectively.

WD announced today the WD VelociRaptor 10,000 RPM enterprise SATA hard drives in an enterprise-class 2.5-inch form factor for blade servers and 1U and 2U rack servers. The newest WD VelociRaptor hard drive is built for business-critical applications with enterprise-class mechanics and packs up to 300 GB of capacity into the enterprise small form factor bays, while consuming 35 percent less power than the previous-generation WD Raptor drive.

Addressing the growing enterprise market for highly reliable high-capacity storage, WD today announced it is now shipping the new WD RE3 SATA hard drives, the company's latest generation of "RE" family drives. As data centers become larger and more complex, WD's third-generation high capacity enterprise SATA hard drives enhance vibration and shock tolerance and deploy new electronics to increase performance approximately 20 percent and by as much 60 percent in high-vibration environments.

WD today launched its new line of WD Caviar Black 7200 RPM 3.5-inch SATA (Serial ATA) hard drives for high-performance desktop, workstation and multi-drive systems. Available in capacities of 750GB and 1TB, WD Caviar Black hard drives are part of a new family of WD product categories designed to simplify the buying experience for customers worldwide.

Sources close to bit-tech.net and the hard drive industry have revealed information that Western Digital is working on a 20,000 RPM Raptor hard drive to counter SSD drives. Just like the company's latest 10,000 RPM VelociRaptor (300GB, SATA 3Gb/s, 16MB Cache), the 20,000 RPM unit will come in a 2.5-inch form factor with custom 3.5-inch enclosure. Other details are still unknown, since the drive is still in development stage. No release date has been unveiled, too.

Western Digital Corp. today announced it is now shipping its new line of WD Scorpio Black 7200 RPM 2.5-inch SATA (Serial ATA) hard drives for high-performance notebook computers and portable storage devices. Available in capacities up to 320GB, WD Scorpio Black hard drives are designed with ruggedness, reliability, and data-protection features that actively monitor and protect valuable data.

Watch.impress.co.jp is reporting that Western Digital has quietly updated its Caviar GP line of drives in Asia with a platter density of 334GB in the 1TB capacity drive. Currently WD is offering two 334GB-per-platter hard drives, the 320GB (only the latest generation) and 640GB WD Caviar SE16 models. The 1TB to join with three 334GB platters is WD Caviar GP (Green Power) model number WD10EACS-00D6B0. The drive is manufactured on 12 May, 2008. Presumably, all 1TB Caviar GP drives manufactured after this date will use 334GB platters. Other specs of the drive remain the same with 16MB buffer size and 7200 rpm spindle speed.