For those who like to upsize their life, WD's latest doesn't pull any punches.
Most mere mortals won't need a 6TB external hard drive until at least 2015, but then again video editors can't be considered merely mortal. Aimed at Mac-using creatives, this monolith of storage tech is overkill for the rest of us, but does it have what it takes to satisfy these most demanding of users?
Apparently Western Digital hasn't heard of Adobe Premiere for PC; if they had, this external drive would have included a blistering USB 3.0 port. However, it's got the usual Mac-focused alternatives instead, with FireWire 400 and 800, USB 2.0 and eSATA. From a distance it looks as if the case is brushed aluminium, fitting right in alongside a Mac Pro, but it's actually plastic - disappointing for those who demand rugged enclosures.
Wrapped within are two WD 3TB Caviar Green drives, spinning at 7,200rpm. These drives can be paired up in RAID 0 or RAID 1 configuration, depending on your taste for performance or protection. Windows users will need to format the drive out of the box, as it's delivered ready for Apple use.
Just because it's targeted at video users doesn't stop this from being a mean back-up solution for data-heavy households. To this end WD includes the WD Anywhere software, a solid if unspectacular package that will automatically back up your important files.
We tested the performance of this drive in RAID 0 mode connected via FireWire 800, and found sequential write performance averaging at 25MB/s, while read performance increased to 37MB/s. Power users should make use of the eSATA connection, which will further improve these already respectable results.
Perfect for demanding users who need both space and performance, it's only the lack of USB 3.0 or a ruggedised exterior that holds us back from giving this data behemoth a glowing 9/10.
Available from Western Digital, retailing for $719.APC rating: 8/10 (Highly Recommended)
