WD annoncerer WD-1000BB-SE

Western Digital har annonceret en ny harddisk, der byder på en meget stor cache på hele 8 MB. WD-1000BB-SE er en speciel model af Western Digital WD-1000BB, som kun har 2 MB cache. Begge modeller kører med 7200 rpm, og har en kapacitet på hele 100 GB. Western Digital WD-1000BB var i forvejen kendt som det hurtigste drev på markedet, men de første tests afslører at WD-1000BB-SE er op mod 25 % hurtigere.

LAKE FOREST, Calif. - Oct. 8, 2001 - Western Digital Corp. (NYSE: WDC), a leader in personal computing storage, today announced a WD Caviar 100 GB Special Edition hard drive that uses an 8 MB buffer - the largest buffer available today in a 7,200 RPM desktop EIDE hard drive - to deliver data to users faster than any hard drive in its class has before.

Eugene Ra, editor of StorageReview.com, said in a recent technical review of the product, "The WD-1000BB-SE (WD Caviar 100 GB Special Edition) delivers mind-blowing performance increases over what already was a best-of-class drive (Western Digital's standard WD Caviar WD1000BB). The SE exhibits a 25 percent improvement over the BB in the (ZD WinBench 99) Business test." Measuring performance in the High-End WinMark test, Ra said, "Here the SE builds on the standard (BB) with a 13 percent gain, landing itself in the midst of today's top SCSI drives."

The new WD Caviar 100 GB Special Edition hard drive provides a higher percentage of cache hits and significantly faster time to data than industry-standard 2 MB versions. This Special Edition drive is currently available in limited quantities via Western Digital's online store at store.westerndigital.com and through select WD channel partners. The price for this premium product is $379.

The WD Caviar 100 GB Special Edition is the latest result of Western Digital's charter to maximize desktop computer performance for all users, including those involved in activities requiring high-performance hard drives such as computer gaming, digital video editing and file server applications.

Within the complex operations of hard drives, the buffer is used to hold the results of recent reads from the disk, and also to "pre-fetch" information that is likely to be requested in the near future. The use of an increased buffer improves the performance of the WD Caviar 100 GB Special Edition hard drive, by reducing the number of physical accesses to the disk and allowing data to stream from the disk uninterrupted by mechanical operations. The 8 MB buffer can also offer an advantage in a server environment, where data typically is accessed across wider portions of the disks. With additional buffer resources, read and write commands are more quickly queued and served to the user.

"Western Digital is committed to delivering to our customers the most meaningful products and services in the industry," said Richard E. Rutledge, Western Digital vice president of marketing. "Our new Special Edition 8 MB buffer products are designed to exceed the expectations of customers who want the biggest and fastest EIDE hard drives for the most demanding real-world applications. We are delivering tomorrow's performance today."

About Western Digital
Western Digital, one of the storage industry's pioneers and long-time leaders, provides products and services for people and organizations that collect, manage and use digital information. The Company's core business produces reliable, high-performance hard drives that keep users' data close-at-hand and secure from loss. Applying its data storage core competencies to emerging markets, Western Digital's new ventures meet the increasing demand for innovative information management solutions arising from the proliferation of the Internet and broadband services. Keen Personal Media helps cable TV MSOs build their brand and revenue by providing personal video recording technology and services. Cameo Technologies delivers broadcast-quality video content to connected PC users, offering a new branding medium for content companies and marketers. SageTree is a software company providing enterprise manufacturing and supply chain analytic applications.
Western Digital was founded in 1970. The Company's storage products are marketed to leading systems manufacturers and selected resellers under the Western Digital brand name. Visit the Investor section of the Company's Web site (www.westerndigital.com) to access a variety of financial and investor information.

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