Western Digital announced the availability of its external FireWire®/USB 2.0 combo hard drives. This new drive offers users the high performance of FireWire, required for digital audio and video, with the convenience of USB 2.0, one of the most popular interfaces in the industry. In addition to the versatility of FireWire and USB 2.0 interfaces, Western Digital’s FireWire/USB 2.0 combo external hard drives provide both speed and space with a high performance 7,200 RPM Western Digital Caviar hard drive inside and available capacities of 120 and 200GB. Western Digital’s FireWire/USB 2.0 combo external hard drives are ideal for adding fast, reliable, high-performance storage for desktop users and provide notebook users a cost-effective way to increase their storage capacity through either a FireWire or USB 2.0 port. Additionally, the external drives are a convenient solution for backing up an internal hard drive in one location, rather than on multiple CDs or other removable media. Multiple drives can be stacked together and routed through a hub, enabling users to add virtually unlimited storage capability.

Western Digital’s FireWire/USB 2.0 combo external hard drives provide hot-swappable storage that can be easily disconnected from the computer and locked up for security, or shared from computer to computer. The hard drives are compatible with any computer with an available FireWire or USB 2.0 port and are backwards compatible with existing USB 1.1 ports, using either WindowsÒ 98 SE/ME/2000/XP or MacÒ OS v9.x or later operating systems; and are built for Mac OS X. All Western Digital external hard drive products carry a one-year warranty.

Western Digital’s FireWire/USB 2.0 combo external hard drives are available through Western Digital’s retail partners, Internet resellers including catalogue partners, selected distributors, and the Company’s online store at store.westerndigital.com.