WD® Launches Industry's Largest Capacity 3 TB SATA Hard Drives for AV Platforms

New WD AV-GP 2.5 TB, 3 TB Hard Drives Offer Cool-Running, Unrivalled Storage Capacity for Reliable 24/7 Video Streaming in IPTV, DVR, Media Center PC and Surveillance Systems

News provided by

Western Digital Technologies

May 16, 2011, 07:57 ET

IRVINE, Calif., May 16, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Western Digital® (NYSE: WDC), a leader in the desktop, mobile, high-capacity enterprise and consumer markets for hard drives, today announced the addition of 2.5 TB and 3 TB versions to its family of WD AV-GP SATA hard drives, serving the audio-video (AV) market. Shipping immediately, the 2.5 TB and 3 TB capacity, 3.5-inch, WD AV-GP hard drives offer 24X7 reliability, low power consumption and unrivalled storage capacity for storage-intensive AV applications such as digital video recorders, video surveillance, single-drive media servers and external multimedia storage.

"Designed to go the distance in high-temperature, always-on streaming digital AV environments, WD AV-GP drives store more hi-def audio and video than ever before with our new 2.5 TB and 3 TB versions," said Jim Welsh, executive vice president and general manager, of WD's branded products and CE business units. "Combine unsurpassed capacity, power-saving WD GreenPower Technology™, and performance capabilities to capture up to 12 simultaneous HD video streams with SilkStream™ technology and the drive choice is made clear in optimizing AV applications like PVR/DVR, IPTV and video surveillance."

The WD AV-GP family of drives delivers 24X7 reliability along with power-saving WD GreenPower Technology. The WD AV-GP drives are field tested to have a 1.0 million hour MTBF rating. Drives with capacities in excess of 2.19 TB currently present barriers for certain PC hardware, firmware and software. For example, drives larger than 2.19 TB are not supported by systems running Windows XP; and systems with 32-bit versions of Windows Vista or Windows 7 relegate drives larger than 2.19 TB to be used as secondary drives. Thus, it is important to review existing PC specifications prior to installation of either the 2.5 TB or 3 TB WD AV-GP drives. More information on navigating the 2.19 TB drive barrier is available from a new WD whitepaper, at: http://avlargecapacitydrives.com/.

Price and Availability

The WD AV-GP 2.5 TB (model number WD25EURS) and 3 TB (model number WD30EURS) hard drives are available now in the U.S. at select resellers and distributors. MSRP for the WD AV-GP 2.5 TB hard drive is $159.99 USD and the 3 TB hard drive is $179.99 USD. WD AV-GP hard drives are covered by a three-year limited warranty. More information about the WD AV-GP 2.5 TB and 3 TB hard drives may be found on the company's website at: http://wdc.com/en/products/internal/av/.

About WD

WD, 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 designs and produces reliable, high-performance hard drives and solid state drives that keep users' data accessible and secure from loss. Its advanced technologies are configured into applications for client and enterprise computing, embedded systems and consumer electronics, as well as its own consumer storage and home entertainment products.

WD was founded in 1970. The company's storage products are marketed to leading OEMs, systems manufacturers, selected resellers and retailers under the Western Digital® and WD brand names. Visit the Investor section of the company's website (www.westerndigital.com) to access a variety of financial and investor information.

Western Digital, WD and the WD logo are registered trademarks; WD GreenPower Technology and SilkStream are trademarks of Western Digital Technologies, Inc. Other marks may be mentioned herein that belong to other companies. All other brand and product names mentioned herein are the property of their respective companies. One gigabyte (GB) = 1 billion bytes. One terabyte (TB) = one trillion bytes. Total accessible capacity varies depending on operating environment.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110516/LA01943)

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20000711/WDCLOGO)

SOURCE Western Digital Technologies