Western Digital Black family gets 5TB, 6TB models
August 20, 2015 | 12:50
Companies: #western-digital
Storage giant Western Digital has announced that its popular Black family of enthusiast-grade spinning-rust drives now reaches the heady heights of 6TB in capacity.
The new Western Digital Black drives are available in 5TB and 6TB variants, with the top-end model boasting performance some 29 per cent faster at peak than the 4TB model and reading 10 per cent faster in 3DMark's PCMark Vantage benchmarking suite. These performance gains, Western Digital explains, come from an increase in data density on the platters, an increased 128MB DRAM cache with dynamic caching algorithms, and the use of a dual-core processor in the controller.
'Combining maximum system performance with generous capacity, the expansion of WD Black to 6TB allows gamers, enthusiasts and creatives to push the boundaries of personalisation without compromise,' crowed Cindi Grace, senior vice president of WD's storage technology group, at the launch. 'In choosing WD Black hard drives, WD desktop customers get the best possible mix of capacity, performance and reliability to handle intense desktop computing with ease.'
As with all preceding WD Black models of 2TB and upwards, the new drives include the company's StableTrac technology which secures the motor shaft inside the drive to increase reliability and reduce the impact of external vibrations on its smooth operation while simultaneously boosting tracking accuracy during read and write operations. The same five-year limited warranty is also offered on the new models.
UK pricing for the new drives has yet to be confirmed, with the 5TB model having a US recommended retail price of $264 and the 6TB an RRP of $294 (around £169 and £188 respectively, excluding tax.)
The new Western Digital Black drives are available in 5TB and 6TB variants, with the top-end model boasting performance some 29 per cent faster at peak than the 4TB model and reading 10 per cent faster in 3DMark's PCMark Vantage benchmarking suite. These performance gains, Western Digital explains, come from an increase in data density on the platters, an increased 128MB DRAM cache with dynamic caching algorithms, and the use of a dual-core processor in the controller.
'Combining maximum system performance with generous capacity, the expansion of WD Black to 6TB allows gamers, enthusiasts and creatives to push the boundaries of personalisation without compromise,' crowed Cindi Grace, senior vice president of WD's storage technology group, at the launch. 'In choosing WD Black hard drives, WD desktop customers get the best possible mix of capacity, performance and reliability to handle intense desktop computing with ease.'
As with all preceding WD Black models of 2TB and upwards, the new drives include the company's StableTrac technology which secures the motor shaft inside the drive to increase reliability and reduce the impact of external vibrations on its smooth operation while simultaneously boosting tracking accuracy during read and write operations. The same five-year limited warranty is also offered on the new models.
UK pricing for the new drives has yet to be confirmed, with the 5TB model having a US recommended retail price of $264 and the 6TB an RRP of $294 (around £169 and £188 respectively, excluding tax.)
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