Western Digital Ships 750 GB Caviar
Western Digital today announced it is shipping in volume high-capacity 750 GB Serial ATA (SATA) WD Caviar SE16 desktop-class hard drives.
The WD Caviar SE16 750 GB drives deliver high performance with 3 Gb/s transfer rate, 16 MB cache and Native Command Queuing (NCQ).
"Uniquely, our new desktop hard drive brings together SecurePark for better shock characteristics, StableTrac for better vibration performance, and IntelliSeek to reduce power consumption," said Don Bennett, WD vice president and general manager of desktop storage.
WD's SecurePark technology parks the recording heads off the disk surface during spin up, spin down and when the drive is not operating. The feature improves non-operational shock tolerance by ensuring that the recording heads never touch the disk surface, reducing head and surface wear and enhancing long-term reliability.
StableTrac's motor shaft is secured at both ends to reduce system-induced vibration and stabilize platters for accurate tracking during read and write operations. Most current hard drive designs feature motors that are only attached on the bottom of the hard drive, which can cause missed read revolutions. StableTrac allows end-user data to be retrieved fast without missing revolutions.
In addition to the reliability properties of WD's SecurePark and StableTrac technologies, the WD Caviar SE16 750 GB hard drives use a special technology to reduce power consumption. WD's IntelliSeek technology calculates an optimum seek speed to eliminate hasty movement of the actuator that produces noise and requires power, which is common in other drives. With IntelliSeek, the actuator's movement is controlled so the head reaches the next target sector just in time to read the next piece of information, rather than rapidly accelerating and waiting for the drive rotation to catch up. This smooth motion reduces power usage by more than 60 percent compared with standard drives, according to Western Digital.
The WD Caviar SE16 750 GB drives also take advantage of PMR technology. The magnetization of each data bit is aligned vertically to the spinning disk, rather than longitudinally as has been the case in hard drive technology for decades. PMR enables more data on a given disk than is possible with conventional longitudinal recording.
WD Caviar SE16 750 GB (model WD7500AAKS) hard drives may be ordered on the company's online store (www.westerndigital.com) and through select distributors and resellers. Manufacturer's Suggest Retail Price (MSRP) for the WD Caviar SE16 750 GB is $249 USD.
"Uniquely, our new desktop hard drive brings together SecurePark for better shock characteristics, StableTrac for better vibration performance, and IntelliSeek to reduce power consumption," said Don Bennett, WD vice president and general manager of desktop storage.
WD's SecurePark technology parks the recording heads off the disk surface during spin up, spin down and when the drive is not operating. The feature improves non-operational shock tolerance by ensuring that the recording heads never touch the disk surface, reducing head and surface wear and enhancing long-term reliability.
StableTrac's motor shaft is secured at both ends to reduce system-induced vibration and stabilize platters for accurate tracking during read and write operations. Most current hard drive designs feature motors that are only attached on the bottom of the hard drive, which can cause missed read revolutions. StableTrac allows end-user data to be retrieved fast without missing revolutions.
In addition to the reliability properties of WD's SecurePark and StableTrac technologies, the WD Caviar SE16 750 GB hard drives use a special technology to reduce power consumption. WD's IntelliSeek technology calculates an optimum seek speed to eliminate hasty movement of the actuator that produces noise and requires power, which is common in other drives. With IntelliSeek, the actuator's movement is controlled so the head reaches the next target sector just in time to read the next piece of information, rather than rapidly accelerating and waiting for the drive rotation to catch up. This smooth motion reduces power usage by more than 60 percent compared with standard drives, according to Western Digital.
The WD Caviar SE16 750 GB drives also take advantage of PMR technology. The magnetization of each data bit is aligned vertically to the spinning disk, rather than longitudinally as has been the case in hard drive technology for decades. PMR enables more data on a given disk than is possible with conventional longitudinal recording.
WD Caviar SE16 750 GB (model WD7500AAKS) hard drives may be ordered on the company's online store (www.westerndigital.com) and through select distributors and resellers. Manufacturer's Suggest Retail Price (MSRP) for the WD Caviar SE16 750 GB is $249 USD.