Data storage specialist Western Digital announced the expansion of its portfolio of performance storage solutions with 8 TB capacity drives for network attached storage (NAS), video surveillance and desktop external applications.
My Cloud personal storage devices include My Cloud and My Cloud Mirror. My Book external hard drives include My Book, My Book for Mac, My Book Duo and My Book Pro. WD Red, WD Red Pro and WD Purple hard drives will all be designed with the new high-capacity configuration. Each storage solution offers HelioSeal helium-technology with the new 8 TB drives for improved performance in the applications for which each model is designed. The products will launch throughout the first half of 2016.
HelioSeal technology hermetically seals the drive and replaces the air inside with helium, which is one-seventh the density of air.
HelioSeal technology complements magnetic recording technologies like shingled magnetic recording (SMR), heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) and bit-patterned media (BPM).
The less dense atmosphere inside a HelioSeal HDD virtually eliminates turbulence, allowing read/write mechanisms to track more precisely and reliably over storage media, enabling higher recording densities.
The increase to 8 TB or 16 TB (with two 8TB drives in RAID 0) capacity applies to My Cloud EX2 Ultra, part of the creative professional series of My Cloud products, which provides high-performance two-bay network attached storage.
The company recently updated the My Cloud EX2 Ultra NAS which is designed for creative professionals and prosumers that need to automatically sync content across computers, share files and folders and access multiple backup options so they can create their own personalized digital library.
My Cloud EX2 Ultra has also been upgraded with a 1.3 GHz dual-core processor enabling users to get faster transfer rates for smooth video streaming. Users also have access to 1 GB of DDR3 memory, allowing them to multitask and leverage applications for HD media streaming, surveillance and other uses.
Drive management options include RAID 0, RAID 1; JBOD and spanning modes and data protection options include NAS to NAS, USB, cloud or LAN/WAN backup.
My Book and My Book for Mac 8 TB is currently available at select U.S. retailers, distributors and through the WD Store with a suggested retail price for the My Book 8 TB and the My Book for Mac set at $299.99.
The My Cloud, My Book Duo, My Book Pro, WD Red, WD Red Pro and WD Purple 8 TB configurations will be available during the first half of 2016, the company noted.