Western Digital this week announced its latest drive, another terabyte drive. Unlike the firm’s 1 TB Caviar GP, however, the new Caviar Black features just 3 platters a la the Samsung SpinPoint F1 and a 7200 RPM spindle speed. WD has also finally upped its largest buffers to 32 megabytes.
With this announcement, the manufacturer has segmented its products into three separate lines. The standard “SE16” line segues into the “Blue” line whereas the GP units become the “Green” units. “Black” appears to be a banner under which the firm will unite technologies sought by performance enthusiasts. This particular drive, for example, trumpets its areal density and buffer size.
Most exciting to us, however, are the areal-density-specific part numbers that will accompany the Black series. It seems WD has finally acknowledged that enthusiasts want to know exactly what revision or generation of drive they’re getting as opposed to a generic “xxxx GB” unit…
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WD® DELIVERS NEW HIGH PERFORMANCE 1 TB DRIVE
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High Performance Electronics Architecture
Dual processor – Twice the processing power to maximize performance.
32 MB cache – Bigger, faster cache means faster performance.
Rock Solid Mechanical Architecture
StableTrac™ – 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™ 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.
WD Caviar Blue, Green, Black
WD’s new ‘blue, green, black’ product system enables customers to choose the right drive for them. WD Caviar Blue represents the performance and reliability that WD has been building for over 20 years, the WD Caviar Green employs WD’s GreenPower technology for cool, quiet and eco-friendly operation, while the WD Caviar Black family of hard drives delivers maximum performance for today’s discriminating technology enthusiasts.
Price and Availability
WD Caviar Black 750 GB (model WD7501AALS) and 1 TB (model WD1001FALS) hard drives will be available next week through select distributors and resellers. Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price (MSRP) for the WD Caviar Black 750 GB is $199 and the 1 TB is $249 USD. Both drives are covered by a five-year limited warranty. More information about WD Caviar Black 1 TB desktop drives may be found on the company’s Web site at http://www.wdc.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=488.
* WD Lab Test Demonstration
