Slim, energy-efficient hard drive for Ultrabook devices

Western Digital has announced it is shipping the WD Scorpio Blue 7 mm hard drive, the latest addition to its mobile hard drive family and the 2.5-inch drive with the lowest power consumption on the market today. Specified to a best-in-class 400Gs shock tolerance, the new single-platter WD Scorpio Blue small form factor hard drives are available in 500 GB and 320 GB capacities and the drives’ compatibility with industry-standard 9.5 mm slots make them ideal storage options for mainstream notebooks as well as slimmer notebook and Ultrabook devices that require a 7 mm drive height.

“Consumers want thin and light personal computers, but the limited storage capacity of SSD-based notebooks forces them to pick and choose what files to bring from their library,” says Matt Rutledge, vice president and general manager for WD client storage products. “With the release of the new WD Scorpio Blue 7 mm mobile hard drives, WD is able to offer capacity, reliability and data-protection features combined with excellent power management all in a slim form factor perfect for thin and light notebooks.”

“These new drives enable users of Ultrabooks to upgrade their existing hard drives for additional capacity, without needing to replace their entire machine. They also provide a more eco efficient option with up to 20% energy savings. The Scorpio Blue drives ship standard with a two-year warranty for added peace of mind,” says Anamika Budree, WD Country Manager -WD South Africa.

Features of the new WD Scorpio Blue 7 mm hard drives include:
·         Low power consumption - Advanced power management features and algorithms optimise the way the drive seeks data, which significantly improves power consumption.
·         Shock Tolerance – WD’s ShockGuard technology, now increased to a best-in-market 400Gs shock specification, protects the drive mechanics and platter surfaces from shocks.
·         Cool and quiet - In a notebook drive, silence is golden. WD’s exclusive WhisperDrive technology enables quiet performance.
·         Reliable – WD’s SecurePark parks the recording heads off the disk surface during spin up, spin down, and when the drive is off. This ensures the recording head never touches the disk surface resulting in improved long term reliability due to less head wear, and improved non-operational shock tolerance.
·         Compatibility Tested - WD performs tests on hundreds of systems and a multitude of platforms in its FIT Lab and Mobile Compatibility Lab to give customers confidence that drives will work in specific systems.

“For the South African market, the availability of the WD Scorpio Blue increases the available WD range and gives users further options when selecting hard drives. It also offers local systems integrators greater opportunity to build, upgrade and repair Ultrabooks, a market which has historically been held back by limited component availability,” says Barber Brinkman, Western Digital Sales Manager Benelux and South Africa.

Price and Availability
The WD Scorpio Blue will be available from distributors Pinnacle Africa, Rectron and Drive Control Corporation from the last week of April 2012. The approximate retail price is R650,00 for 320GB and R800,00 for 500GB. Pricing is exclusive of V.A.T.