Western Digital has announced today that it will be shipping 7200 RPM 2TB drives: the WD RE4 (WD2003FYYS) which is targeted towards servers and enterprise systems, and the 2TB Western Digital Caviar Black (WD2001FASS) for desktop systems. The Western Digital Caviar Black and RE4 2TB drives all have a spin speed of 7200 RPM, 64MB of cache, dual stage actuator technology, SATA 3 Gb/s interface, and a dual processor to give you the best performance with a high-capacity drive.

"WD Caviar Black 2 TB hard drives maximize the features and functionality of power computing applications such as gaming, photo editing, user generated multimedia and video," said Jim Morris, senior vice president and general manager of WD's client storage systems. "With the selection of WD Caviar Black hard drives, WD desktop customers receive the best possible mix of capacity, performance and reliability that is required for intense desktop computing."

"Specifically designed for enterprise-class applications, WD's RE4 2 TB drives incorporate the best combination of features, optimum performance, and superior reliability that customers have come to expect from WD," said Tom McDorman, vice president and general manager of enterprise storage solutions for WD. "Our enterprise products are directly aimed at customers who require additional features and extensive testing that are necessary for high-end enterprise environments."

These 2TB drives, based on Western Digital’s 500 gigabytes-per-platter technology are currently being qualified by OEMs. Both the RE4 and WD Caviar Black drives will have the following features:

• Dual processor – Twice the processing power to maximize performance.
• Dual actuator technology – A head positioning system with two actuators that improves positional accuracy over the data track(s). The primary actuator provides coarse displacement using conventional electromagnetic actuator principles. The secondary actuator uses piezoelectric motion to fine tune the head positioning to a higher degree of accuracy.
• IntelliSeekâ„¢ – Calculates optimum seek speeds to lower power consumption, noise, and vibration.
• StableTracâ„¢ – The motor shaft is secured at both ends to reduce system-induced vibration and stabilize platters for accurate tracking, during read and write operations.
• NoTouchâ„¢ ramp load technology – The recording head never touches the disk media ensuring significantly less wear to the recording head and media as well as better drive protection in transit.

These drives are available now, with an MSRP of $299 USD for the WD Caviar Black 2TB drive (WD2001FASS). The Western Digital RE4 2TB drive is currently being qualified by OEMs. To find out more about these drives, you can take a look at their product page on the Western Digital website: WD Caviar Black (WD2003FASS) l WD RE4 (WD2003FYYS)

Source: Engadget