Western Digital launches WD Caviar RAID Edition hard drives

Western Digital today introduced WD Caviar RAID Edition (RE) hard drives, which are designed and manufactured to enterprise-class standards for high reliability in a host of server applications including e-mail, file, video and Web servers, and demanding environments such as scientific computing, enterprise backup, document image management, engineering data management. Currently shipping in volume, WD Caviar RE drives are equipped with either Serial ATA (SATA) or EIDE interfaces and 7,200 RPM spin speed.

With one million hours MTBF (Mean Time Between Failure), WD Caviar RE drives offer systems builders and storage system manufacturers high reliability in high-duty cycle applications, where around-the-clock performance and high reliability are critical. WD also built into its new RE drives a Time Limited Error Recovery (TLER) feature, which helps prevent drive fallout caused by extended desktop hard drive error-recovery processes. WD Caviar RE drives carry a three-year warranty and are offered in capacities of 250, 160 and 120 GB.

WD's FIT Lab (Functional Integrity Testing Lab) performed rigorous and extensive testing in order to certify one million hours MTBF and ensure its new RE hard drives are optimized for use in server environments.

Before WD's development of TLER, systems integrators and storage manufacturers commonly experienced hard drive fallout when using desktop drives in RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) applications. By taking into account the distinct differences between single-user and multi-user workloads, WD Caviar RE drives implement RAID-specific TLER to improve drive compatibility with RAID controllers and significantly improve system reliability.

"As Rackable Systems continues to lead the market in large-scale deployment of data server products, we are confident that WD's new RAID Edition drives will enhance our product offerings and bolster our ability to meet the most demanding customer requirements," noted Geoff Noer, senior director of storage products at Rackable Systems.

"The RAID optimized specification of the new WD Caviar RE drives, together with the product's increased reliability made the qualification of the Western Digital product for our new SilverSTOR iSAN Storage Appliance range a very obvious choice," said Gareth Jackson, director of technology for Evesham Technology, a U.K.-based leading provider of IT infrastructure solutions. "It is our intention to use WD Caviar RE drives in all our high capacity storage and server products."

"Last year our customers were using high capacity desktop drives for RAID applications in enterprise environments. Based on customer feedback, Western Digital set out to improve current 7,200 RPM EIDE and SATA desktop-class hard drives by focusing on reliability and the unique features enterprise environments require of large capacity drives," stated William Johns, vice president and general manager for Western Digital's enterprise and entertainment group. "In designing WD Caviar RE drives, we acted upon customer input and extensive experience gained from our enterprise-class WD Raptor™ drives to develop a high capacity, highly reliable hard drive perfectly suited for RAID server applications."

Availability & Pricing
WD Caviar RE hard drives are currently shipping in volume and are available through Western Digital's distribution network. Estimated street pricing for WD Caviar RE 250 GB capacity with SATA interface (model no. WD2500SD) is $215 USD and WD Caviar RE 250 GB with EIDE interface (model no. WD2500SB) is $205 USD.