WD debuts two new HDDs with the same features save one being certified for 1.2 million hours MTBF.
Western Digital has unveiled a
pair of new hard drives today called the WD Caviar Black 2TB and the other is the WD RE4 2TB HDD. The only difference between the two drives is that the RE4 is aimed at enterprise users and has been certified to 1.2 million hours mean-time before failure. Western Digital hasn't said what technical changes there are between the two drives.
The other features of both drives are identical with both sporting a 64MB cache, 7200 rpm speed, 2TB storage capacity, and using the SATA 3.0Gb/s interface. The two drives have dual processors for twice the processing power and use dual actuator technology. That last bit allows an improvement in positional accuracy using conventional actuator principals.
Other features of the drives include IntelliSeek to calculate the optimum seek speed to lower power consumption, noise, and vibration. StableTrac is featured to reduce system vibration and stabilize the platters for better tracking during read and write operations.
Both of the new drives also offer NoTouch ramp loading technology to ensure the recording head never touches the disk media to limit wear on the platters. The Caviar Black 2TB HDD will sell for $US299 ($AUD360) and the pricing of the Enterprise version of the drive will be set by OEMs according to WD. In late March, Western Digital also announced that it was
entering the SSD market for the first time.