The Western Digital Corp (NASDAQ:WDC) range of gold hard drives has been extended with a new model that offers a storage capacity of 12 terabytes. The model is suited for Big Data workloads and offers increased storage density for a variety of cloud and enterprise storage applications. This data could be business intelligence, healthcare records or confidential consumer data.
“As data growth continues unabated, retaining more of that data and generating meaningful insight from it becomes increasingly important. Businesses that most effectively extract value from operational data are able to make smarter decisions, improve business outcomes and ultimately gain a competitive advantage,” said Western Digital’s Devices vice president, Brendan Collins.
HelioSeal technology
The new hard drive from Western Digital uses the fourth-generation HelioSeal technology and is designed to store the most sensitive data of users. With this technology where helium is sealed in the drive, power efficiency, reliability and exceptional capacity are some of the benefits that come with it.
Previously the WD Gold range of drives were available in one, two, four or six terabyte sizes. These have now been discontinued and the new sizes are eight, ten and 12 terabytes. A five-year warranty will be offered on the WD Gold 12TB drives. The drives will be available from select distributors and will be sold at a recommended retail price of approximately $521.99.
Toshiba chip unit
The launch of the new Western Digital hard drive comes in the wake of revelations that talks between Toshiba and Western Digital have stalled with regards to the chip unit. Reports indicate that Toshiba will convene a board meeting on Wednesday but Toshiba Memory Corp’s buyer will not be announced as the decision has not been reached yet.
It is understood that a bid by a consortium consisting of South Korean, U.S. and Japanese entities will now be given a second look. The consortium’s members are SK Hynix, a South Korean chipmaker; Bain, a fund management firm based in the United States; Development Bank of Japan; and Innovation Network Corp, a Japanese company.
On Tuesday shares of Western Digital Corp rose by 1.60% to close the day at $88.78.