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WD, a subsidiary of storage specialist Western Digital, announced the release of the WD XE, a 2.5-inch, 10,000-RPM Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) hard drive, now available mounted in a 3.5-inch WD performance adapter to provide a solution for legacy data center storage systems.
Designed for data centers migrating from legacy drives nearing the end of their lifespan, the WD XE 2.5-inch SAS hard drives in 3.5-inch performance adapters feature 6G bps transfer rates and a sequential data rate of 204 MB/s. The drives also boast low power consumption–a company release claimed this 3.5-inch SAS drive delivers up to 67 percent lower power versus 3.5-inch 15,000-RPM drives.
The WD XE SAS enterprise hard drives in 3.5-inch performance adapters ship in capacities ranging from 300GB to 900GB, (models: WD3001HKHG, WD6001HKHG, and WD9001HKHG) and are available through select distributors and resellers. The manufacturer’s suggested retail price for the WD XE hard drives in performance adapters range from $229.99 to $599.99, and the drives are covered by a five-year limited warranty.
“Delivering up to 50 percent higher capacity, similar or better maximum sequential performance, higher reliability and up to 67 percent lower power consumption versus 3.5-inch, 15,000 RPM drives, the new WD XE drives are the answer for data center server and storage solutions needing a transition strategy,” Rich Rutledge, senior vice president of WD’s data centers business unit, said in a statement. “IT managers now have a worry-free migration path to the latest enterprise performance drives from WD, while preserving their chassis and solution investments.”
Designed for high-availability data center systems, the drives feature dual port, full duplex connectivity, which offers higher reliability, performance and data availability by eliminating single points of failure, as well as NoTouch ramp load technology. This means the recording head never touches the disk media, ensuring less wear to the recording head and media as well as better drive protection in transit.
The company recently announced the launch of SmartWare Pro, a user-friendly software tool designed to give customers the ability to back up their files to any USB external hard drive or the cloud using their personal Dropbox file-sharing and online backup account. The software has backup settings, allowing customers to set up their preferred file backup process, and users can also back up files located in their Dropbox to an external hard drive.
SmartWare Pro is available as a free 30-day trial through the company’s online store. After the 30-day trial a standard license, valid for use with up to three computers, is available for a special promotional price of $19.95. A premium license, valid for use with up to 10 computers, is available for a price of $39.95. The suggested retail price is $29.95 for the standard license and $49.95 for the premium license.