In fact, the WD Black SSHD builds on Western Digital’s 2.5-inch UltraSlim drive, announced back in April, which is a mere 5mm thick. That’s paired with a 19nm SanDisk flash drive, for something that ends up half the volume of a traditional 2.5-inch notebook drive.

The goal is to get the SSHD into ultrabooks and the like, where the tiny form-factor will allow for smaller and lighter chassis. However, since it’s a standalone drive, upgrade potential will also be greater; existing embedded flash storage options generally leave the owner no room to boost internal capacity later on in the ultraportable’s life-cycle.

Upgrades will have to wait until WD and SanDisk start offering the Black SSHD to end-users, with OEMs the first to get the tiny sliver of storage. No word on how much it will cost at this stage.

The drive will be a part of Western Digital’s Blue series of hard drives, and the 5mm drive is able to be so thin because of a tiny edge connector that combines both power and the SATA transfer interface, which leaves more room for the hardware to do its thing. Although, with its 5mm form factor, everything is squeezed in there rather tightly.

This marks the return of Western Digital back into the full production process. After the 2011 tsunami and earthquake over in Asia, Western Digital and other component manufacturers suffered setbacks and were unable to produce hard drives temporarily. However, the company got back on track last year, and took over the top spot in the hard drive market with $4.8 billion in revenue and 71 million hard drives produced during Q4 2012.

While the UltraSlim is definitely something to admire, this isn’t the first 5mm drive we’ve seen. A*STAR unveiled their own 5mm hybrid drive last year, and it packs in a whole 1TB of storage. Then again, the company has yet to ship the new drive, so Western Digital is certainly the first out of the gate it seems.

This new MyBook from Western Digital uses two blazing fast 1TB 10,000 RPM VelociRaptor drives in a RAID configuration to bring you some top notch speeds, and tons of storage. I want one already! Toss in the new Thunderbolt standard to help you achieve top read/write and in/out speeds and you’ll be cruising along in no time.

The new WD storage device offers speeds topping 400MB/sec and both RAID 0 and RAID 1 configurations. That is near SSD performance only you’re getting 2TB of space instead of say 512GB. What is the price your wondering? This impressive new MyBook isn’t cheap with those speeds and performance. It will run you a pretty penny of about $900. All that precious HD video now has a fast, safe, and easy to access storage option.

WD details that the new VelociRapter Duo comes with dual Thunderbolt ports so you can daisy chain should you have a spare $1800 to pick up two. Then as you see above the device is user-serviceable and accessible should the unlikely event of a drive failure. You can easily pop her open and replace a drive. You can even boot your Mac right from this external storage drive. If you’ve got the cash to spend or the need for speed head to WD.com to get started today.

[via ZDNet]

This external hard drive will deliver your data to and from it as fast as 2 Gbps (250 MBps), this not quite as speedy as the Thunderbolt technology allows, but certainly as fast as WD’s hard drive technology allows. At that speed though, you’ll still be able to sent a full HD movie to your hard drive in 30 seconds or less. You can’t even get a Jimmy Johns sandwich that fast!

This drive will easily pull the wings off any USB 2.0 drive out there today, and will certainly sit well with video professionals whose job it is to move files back, and forth, and back, and forth all day long. You’ll be able to pick up this still slightly unrevealed beast up in 4TB and 6TB capacities relatively soon – price and release date have still not been released, nor has a press image of the device itself. Instead what you’re seeing is the My Book Live Duo, a device that will certainly look similar to this newest device when it eventually pops up.

The media players already have access to big streaming services like Netflix, Hulu Plus and others. The new additions include VUDU, Snagfilms, XOS College Sports, SEC Digital Network, Comedy Time, and Watch Mojo. Most of those other than VUDU are little known and may not be that appealing.

One of the coolest new announcements for users is that the WD TV Remote has launched for both of the devices. The app allows the user to turn the iOS device including the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad into a compatible remote control for the streaming devices. Right now only iOS is supported with the app, but WD is working on an Android version too.

Seagate says that its plants are all functional and there are no logistical issues with its workers reaching plants. However, Seagate is warning that there are disruptions in the supply chain for the parts that it requires to make the HDDs it sells. With flooding in the region ongoing Seagate can’t predict the severity of the slow down at this time.

Due to this Seagate is expecting HDD supplies to be constrained through the quarter. All of Seagate workers in the region are reportedly safe. A shortage of HDDs will drive the price of the HDDs available up and likely lead to increased prices for devices that use HDDs for storage over the coming months. Seagate will talk more about the situation on October 20 during its quarterly conference call.

WD has unveiled a new case that is made specifically to fit the MyPassport HDD called the WD Nomad. The case has a polycarbonate exterior and a shock absorbing cushioned inner layer. It meets MIL-STD-810G for ruggedness and has a heavy-duty latch and silicone liner to seal out dirt and moisture. WD is aiming the case at anyone that is on the road a lot, but photographers that move photos from a computer to a MyPassport drive on the road will be particularly interested in the offering.

Another cool feature of the case is that it has an opening for the USB cable to go through so the user can leave the HDD inside the case when they want to use it. I always spill on my hardware when it’s plugged into the computer so that is a good feature in my book. The Nomad also has a molded exterior ring that the user can attach a carabiner, cable, or strap to. The case is available right now for $29.95.

[via WD]

Think about all the stuff you could put on there. Every photo you’ve ever taken. At least a small piece of your music collection. Every text file you’ve ever laid digits on! But again, remember there’s a weird DJ robot illustration on it. If that doesn’t bother you, we suggest pulling the trigger.

[Via 9to5Mac]

Due to the support for Blockbuster On-Demand, owners will now be able to rent or buy movies at the same time they would be able to buy or rent Blu-ray or DVDs via Blockbuster On-Demand in the US. As it stands, it looks like only the WD TV Live Plus set-top boxes will be able to access the Blockbuster On-Demand content.

However, if you have yourself the WD TV Live set-top box, you’ll be able to freely enjoy your Facebook account, without any issues. The same goes for other features, like on-demand music service Deezer, and weather information courtesy of AccuWeather.com. What’s better though, is that the WD TV Live set-top boxes will now support Bluetooth keyboards, as long as you have a Bluetooth dongle to connect to it. So, if you were accessing the WD TV Live Hub to reach AccuWeather.com and Facebook, you should be happy that the extra step is no longer necessary.

[via Electronista]

SlashAnalog Your Daily Slash category for the day is wonderfully Analog, and this is just that. What we’ve got for you today is a video of the reality inside one (and almost certainly many many many) playing card factory. What you’ll see is a series of workers packaging boxes and boxes and boxes of cards. Each box is taken from an unfolded stack, then filled with the correct amount of cards which are taken from a large stack of these cards placed in order. See how they always grab the correct amount, every single time? That rocks. Welcome to the future?

[Via BoingBoing]

R3 Media Network

SlashPhone
Walmart Now Deliever You T-Mobile LG Optimus and Motorola Defy
myTouch 4G Pre-order Now Available For Current T-Mobile Customers [4G!]

Android Community
Robotic Snowman Shows Off the Droid 2 and Droid X for Verizon [Video]
HTC myTouch 4G Gets Shown Off in Training Videos [4G!]
WD Photos App Gives Users Remote Access to their Entire Photo Library [FREE!]
DROID 2 2.3.20 update available now to everyone
Sprint Releases $39.99 HDMI Dock for HTC EVO 4G
8pen Keyboard looking to innovate the way Android users type

SlashGear
T-Mobile HSPA+ Enabled 4G Network Now Hits Over 75 Metro Markets [4G!]
Windows Phone 7 Seeing Supply Shortages Internationally
Table Connect for iPhone Brings iPhone’s Interface to 58-Inch Multitouch Table [Video] [HUGE]
7-inch and 10-inch Creative Ziio tablets get official in London
77% of Android devices on Eclair or Froyo claims Google
Michael Dell says development for Windows Phone 7 is easier than Android
Apple iPhone 5 NFC plans include remote Mac access claims source
HTC Desire Z [REVIEW]
Smartphones by the Numbers Now 28% of U.S. Cellphone Market [ON TIME ANALYSIS]
iPad grabs 95% of tablet market share as Android readies its assault
Samsung Galaxy Tab suffers indignity of video teardown
Shhh! Chrome OS Releases in November!

Shh! Secrets and super sultry sandwiches of tomato topped electronics! To see more Daily Slash posts, click here: [The Daily Slash]

The new 3TB hard drive is the world’s largest capacity SATA hard drive to date. It is also the latest edition to WD’s Caviar Green lineage of SATA hard drives. As the title suggests, you can get the new hard drive at a maximum capacity of 3TB, which is equal to about 3,000GB. WD managed to wrangle up the ridiculous amount of space by placing 750GB of storage per-patter, along with Advanced Format (AF) technology.

The eco-friendly factor comes in the fact that WD’s Caviar Green line-up of drives feature WD GreenPower Technology, which use lower operating temperatures by reducing power consumption. And, while the press release (which you can read below) focuses mainly on the larger 3TB drive, WD is also throwing in a new 2.5TB hard drive as well. You can pick both of them up right now through authorized resellers in the United States. The 2.5TB drive will cost you $189.00, while the 3TB model will run you $239.00.

Press Release

WD® Now Shipping the World’s Largest Capacity SATA Hard Drives

WD Caviar® Green™ 3 TB Hard Drives Support the Continuing Demand for Increased Capacity in External Storage and Advanced PC Applications

LAKE FOREST, Calif., Oct. 19 /PRNewswire/ — WD® (NYSE: WDC) today announced that the company is shipping the world’s largest capacity SATA hard drive. As the latest addition to its WD Caviar® Green™ family of SATA hard drives (photo), the new hard drives deliver up to a massive 3 terabytes (TB) of storage capacity on a single drive. WD is leading the industry in capacity for SATA hard drives by utilizing 750 GB-per-platter areal density and Advanced Format (AF) technology.

WD Caviar Green drives are an eco-friendly storage solution with WD GreenPower Technology™, which reduces power consumption by enabling lower operating temperatures for increased reliability and decreases acoustical noise for quiet operation. The WD Caviar Green 2.5 TB and 3 TB hard drives are designed for use as secondary external storage and next-generation PC storage in 64-bit-based systems.

Drives with capacities in excess of 2.19 TB currently present barriers for PC hardware, firmware and software. To satisfy the new set of requirements of which users must be aware to successfully integrate larger capacity drives, WD is bundling its WD Caviar Green 2.5 and 3 TB hard drives with an Advanced Host Controller Interface (AHCI)-compliant Host Bus Adapter (HBA), which will enable the operating system to use a known driver with correct support for large capacity drives. For more information on solving the 2.19 TB drive barrier, please see the WD information sheet at http://products.wdc.com/largecapacitydrives.

“WD remains a leader of hard drive capacity and low power innovation. With our WD Caviar Green drives, we enable energy-conscious customers to build systems with the highest capacities that deliver the optimal balance of system performance, ensured reliability and energy conservation,” said Jim Morris, executive vice president and general manager of WD’s client systems storage group. “Customers will be able to take advantage of this breakthrough capacity point now for secondary external storage in legacy 32-bit systems that run on Microsoft® Vista® or Windows® 7 platforms.”
Price and Availability

WD Caviar Green 2.5 TB hard drives (model number WD25EZRSDTL) and 3 TB hard drives (model number WD30EZRSDTL) are available now in the U.S. at select resellers and distributors. MSRP for the WD Caviar Green 2.5 TB hard drive is $189.00 USD and the 3 TB hard drive is $239.00 USD. WD Caviar Green hard drives are covered by a three-year limited warranty. More information about WD Caviar Green hard drives may be found on the company’s website at http://www.wdc.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=866.

As far as options go, you’ll only get one when it comes to the storage department. Only the 500GB model seems ot be getting the aesthetic treatment. And how is any of this possible? Thanks to the students at the California State University, who are part of the Long Beach Industrial Design program. They’ve created some new designs, and Western Digital was nice enough to put them on their products. Choices wise, you’re looking at either the Boom Box, Cityscape, Fuchsia Leaf, Wave, and Black Hole. All of which you can see pictured above.

Features come in all sorts of ways. The My Passport Essential will work with your PC, thanks to WD’s SmartWare software. There’s 256-bit hardware-based encryption and user-selected password protection. Each of the models will cost you a cool $119.99, and it comes with a two-year warranty.

[via UberGizmo]

Western Digital packed a few interesting things into the compact TV Live Plus HD Media Player. At least its’ not the worst looking box accessory you can buy for your TV. The custom User Interface will help guide you through your listings, as you peruse the services like YouTube, Flickr, Pandora, and Live365. You’ll also have access to the MediaFly network, which will bring you podcasts from places like CNN, MTV, and ESPN. Network wise, you’ll be able to hardwire into the box itself, but you’ll also be able to stream what you want to watch courtesy of your very own (or your neighbor’s) WiFi network.

Playback comes in 1080p HD. You’ll be able to playback music, videos, and even photos from your TV Live Plus HD Media Player, so if you ever get bored of watching endless movies, or TV shows, you can pass the time by plugging a USB drive into the box, and looking over your family photos. You can pick up the HD box right now, if you really want to, and it will set you back only $149.99. It’s available only in select retailers, or WD’s website. Interested?

Press Release:

New WD TV(R) Live Plus HD Media Player Delivers Thousands of TV Episodes and Movies for Netflix(R) Members to Watch Instantly

WD TV(R) Live Plus HD Media Player Enables Consumers to Stream Their Favorite Shows and Personal Content Directly To Their Big Screen TV

LAKE FOREST, Calif., June 9 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — WD® (NYSE: WDC), the world’s leader in external storage solutions, today introduced the WD TV® Live Plus HD media player, which makes it easy for Netflix® members to instantly watch thousands of TV episodes and movies on the biggest screen in their home — their HD television set. The new Netflix interface enables members to browse and add movies to their instant Queue on the Netflix Website right from their TV.

In addition to Netflix, the WD TV Live Plus HD media player also enables users to stream personalized Internet content from YouTube™, Flickr®, Pandora®, Live365™, as well as the MediaFly network which includes daily podcasts from CNN, NBC, MTV, ESPN® and other online content providers(1). Unlike most other Netflix-capable devices, the WD TV Live Plus HD media player also lets consumers enjoy a broad variety of the digital media they already own, creating a unified entertainment experience.

The onscreen menu brings together all of the users’ available media in an elegant and simple-to-navigate interface, while the network capability enables users to stream movies from PC or Mac® computers, USB storage devices such as My Passport® portable hard drives, My Book® desktop drives, or network-attached storage such as WD’s My Book® World Edition™ and WD ShareSpace™ to their HDTVs. Compatible with Windows® 7, the WD TV Live Plus HD media player enables the Windows 7 Play To feature so users can initiate and control the streaming of video, music or photos to the media player and home entertainment systems from any Windows 7-based PC on their network.

The WD TV Live Plus HD media player fulfills consumers’ growing demand for large libraries of digital videos, photos and music. According to research firm Parks Associates, the average broadband household will see its digital media storage needs grow to nearly 900 GB by year-end 2014. And users are increasingly looking for easy ways to enjoy the content on the big screen. Parks’ findings reveal that the sales of connected consumer electronics devices, such as connected TVs and digital media adapters, is expected to more than double from 57 million units in 2009 to 115 million units in 2013 (Home Networks for Consumer Electronics 2009).

Similar to the popular generations of WD TV HD media players that preceded it, the WD TV Live Plus HD media player connects directly to a users’ HDTV and plays almost any file stored on a connected USB drive such as My Passport portable hard drives. The WD TV Live Plus HD media player features powerful media processing, which enables playback in Full-HD 1080p resolution. WD TV Live Plus HD media player also plays movies, music and photos stored on other popular USB devices such as digital camcorders and digital cameras.

“Netflix has become a ‘must have’ for consumer electronics devices,” said Netflix vice president of business development Bill Holmes. “We’re proud to align with WD to include Netflix on WD’s groundbreaking WD TV Live Plus HD media player.”

“While Netflix can be found on an increasing number of products such as Internet TVs, Blu-ray Players, video game consoles, and other stand-alone devices, the WD TV Live Plus HD media player is unique as it allows digital media buffs to access and play all of their own personal HD media stored anywhere on their network or USB drives. At the same time they can easily stream Netflix, Pandora, YouTube and other Internet favorites to their HDTV,” said Dale Pistilli, vice president of marketing for WD’s branded products group.

WD TV Live Plus HD Media Player

Features of the WD TV Live Plus HD media player include:

Full-HD 1080p video playback and navigation with the included remote control and crisp, animated navigation menus;
Access to thousands of TV episodes and movies to watch instantly for any Netflix member with an unlimited subscription;
Wireless ready to support wireless network connection to your home network with an optional USB wireless adapter, which is sold separately;
Supports a wide variety of the most popular file formats with no need to spend time transcoding;
Play videos, music and photos from the Internet on your big screen TV and discover new music with Pandora Internet radio or listen to thousands of radio stations via Live365 Internet radio, daily podcasts from the MediaFly network including CNN, NBC, MTV, ESPN and other online content providers;
Ethernet port for wired or WiFi connection(2) to access files anywhere on the network to play movies, music, and photos from any PC or drive on a home network;
Turns a USB drive(3) into an HD media player and plays content from most popular USB drives, digital cameras, camcorders, and portable media players that can be recognized as mass storage devices;
Unlimited media collection, just add more USB drives for more space;
Two USB ports that allow seamless media playback from multiple USB drives displayed in a single list and sorted by media type;
Windows 7-compatible Play To feature enables users to stream Windows 7 computer files to the TV through WD TV Plus HD media player;
Transfer files by copying, moving or deleting files stored on a USB drive, a network drive, camcorder, or a camera to the attached USB drive using the on-screen menus;
Works with digital cameras, digital video cameras and any other digital imaging device that supports Picture Transfer Protocol;
Advanced navigation options including thumbnail and list views, media library and search;
Photo viewing to create custom slide shows, zoom and pan and search;
Movie viewing with fast-forward, rewind, pause, zoom and pan, view subtitles, and search;
Music playback with fast-forward, rewind, pause, shuffle, repeat and search;
HDMI® 1.3 port, composite video and component video output(4) for the highest quality HDTV or home theater;
SPDIF digital output that sends digital signals to your AV receiver for the best surround sound experience; and,
Ultra-compact design to fit easily into a home entertainment center.

Pricing and Availability

The WD TV Live Plus HD media player is available now at select retailers and online at shopwd.com. Covered by a 1-year limited warranty, the MSRP for WD TV Live Plus HD media player is $149.99 USD.

With the issued update, the WD TV Live HD is the first networked media hub that is capable of recognizing Windows 7. There’s that one and only category. The update itself is just a firmware upgrade, but it allows you to select media from your computer, and not the hub itself, by showing up as a destination for Windows’ Play To feature. That means you won’t have to load the media player before accessing movies, music, or photos. So you’re basically removing the middle man and saving some time.

The WD TV Live HD supports 1080p HD video (as the name should probably surmise), and the system can still recognize the majority of media formats. If you don’t have a WD TV Live HD media player, go pick one up for a cool $150, get the update, and let us know what you think. Oh, and if you’ve got a Mac, you’re supported, too.

Consumers Can Use ‘Play To’ Feature to Stream Music, Videos and Picture Files Stored on Their PCs and Home Network to Their Big Screen TVs

LAKE FOREST, Calif., May 6 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — WD® (NYSE: WDC), the world’s leader in external storage solutions, today announced that the WD TV Live HD media player, featuring network capability and Full-HD 1080p resolution, is the first network media player compatible with Windows 7. The WD TV Live HD media player makes it easy for anyone to play media stored on USB and network drives, any PC on the home network, as well as content from popular websites, on the biggest screen in their home — their big screen television.

Using the Windows 7 Play To feature, users can initiate and control the streaming of video, music or photos to the WD TV Live HD media player and home entertainment systems from any Windows 7-based PC on their network. Any compatible media file accessible from the PC – located either on the PC or the network – can be played to the WD TV Live by right clicking on the file name in the folder or directly from within Windows Media Player 12 and choosing the WD TV Live HD media player as the playback device.

Current users of the WD TV Live will need to update their WD TV Live HD media player to the latest firmware in order to use the Windows 7 Play To feature. Instructions for updating the WD TV Live HD media player can be found here: http://www.wdc.com/wdproducts/updates/?family=wdfwdtv_live

“Microsoft is pleased that Western Digital has earned the Compatible with Windows 7 logo and is supporting the Play To feature with WD TV Live HD media player,” said Mark Relph, senior director, Windows Ecosystem Product Management at Microsoft Corp. “Now more than 100 million Windows 7 customers will have an affordable and easy way to play files to their HD TVs and other devices from their PC.”

“We regularly engage with WD TV Live enthusiasts in our online community. Many have been asking for a way to “push” media from their PCs to their TV or home theater system, especially from laptops. With the new Windows 7 Play To feature, users can select music or movies from their laptop and play it on an HD TV connected to a WD TV Live HD media player, whether the HD TV is across the living room or in a different room altogether,” said Dale Pistilli, vice president of marketing for WD’s branded products group. “WD worked closely with Microsoft on this exciting new feature to ensure the seamless compatibility of the WD TV Live HD media player with Windows 7 PCs and deliver WD TV Live users what they want.”

WD TV Live HD Media Player

Features of the Windows 7-compatible WD TV Live HD media player include:

- Full-HD 1080p video playback and navigation with the included remote control and crisp, animated navigation menus;

- Play a wide variety of file formats including support for the most popular file formats with no need to spend time transcoding;

- Play videos, music and photos from the Internet on your big screen TV and discover new music with Pandora® Internet radio or listen to thousands of radio stations via Live365 Internet radio;

- Ethernet port for wired or WiFi® connection(1) to access files anywhere on the network to play movies, music, and photos from any PC or drive on a home network;

- Turns a USB drive(2) into an HD media player and plays content from most popular USB drives, and digital cameras, camcorders, and portable media players that can be recognized as mass storage devices;

- Unlimited media collection, just add more USB drives for more space;

- Two USB ports for seamless media playback from multiple USB drives and ability to access them simultaneously while a media library feature collects the content on all the drives into one list sorted by media type;

- Transfer files by copying, moving or deleting files stored on a USB drive, a network drive, a camcorder, or a camera to the attached USB drive using the on-screen menus;

- Picture Transfer Protocol support to show photos and movies directly from digital camera or video camera and/or any digital imaging device that supports Picture Transfer Protocol;

- Advanced navigation options including thumbnail and list views, media library and search;

- Photo viewing to create custom slide shows, zoom and pan and search;

- Movie viewing with fast-forward, rewind, pause, zoom and pan, view subtitles, and search;

- Music playback with fast-forward, rewind, pause, shuffle, repeat and search;

- File copying between USB devices;

- HDMI® 1.3 port, composite video and component video output(3) for the highest quality HDTV or home theater;

- SPDIF digital output that sends digital signals to your AV receiver for the best surround sound experience; and,

- Ultra-compact design to fit easily into a home entertainment center.

Pricing and Availability

The WD TV Live HD media player is available now at select retailers and online at shopwd.com. Covered by a 1-year limited warranty, the MSRP for WD TV Live HD media player is $149.99 USD.

About WD

WD, one of the storage industry’s pioneers and long-time leaders, provides products and services for people and organizations that collect, manage and use digital information. The company produces reliable, high-performance hard drives that keep users’ data accessible and secure from loss. WD applies its storage expertise to consumer products for external, portable and shared storage applications.

WD was founded in 1970. The company’s storage products are marketed to leading systems manufacturers, selected resellers and retailers under the Western Digital® and WD brand names. Visit the Investor section of the company’s Web site (http://www.westerndigital.com/) to access a variety of financial and investor information.

Western Digital, WD, WD TV and the WD logo and My Book are registered trademarks; WD TV, World Edition and My Passport are trademarks of Western Digital Technologies, Inc. Other marks may be mentioned herein that belong to other companies. All other brand and product names mentioned herein are the property of their respective companies. One gigabyte (GB) = 1 billion bytes. One terabyte (TB) = one trillion bytes. Total accessible capacity varies depending on operating environment.

(1) WiFi adapter sold separately.

(2) WD TV media players are optimized for use with My Passport™ portable hard drives.

(3) Additional composite (RCA), and component outputs ensure compatibility with most television sets.

Western Digital slot the VelociRaptor WD6000HLHX into their enterprise range, but they’re also clear that it’s an enthusiasts drive. Among those enthusiasts are speed-freak gamers looking to balance transfer rates against storage capacity, together with home server builders demanding the same sort of performance as their corporate cousins.

The new WD6000HLHX offers 600GB of capacity, paired with 32MB of cache, and uses the latest SATA 6 Gb/s interface. A 2.5-inch drive in a 3.5-inch “IcePack” caddy, it spins at a whopping 10,000 rpm and Western Digital reckon you’ll see 3.6ms read seek times, 4.2ms write seek times, and just 3.0ms latency. The caddy, meanwhile, bristles with cooling fins that work as a huge heatsink and also allow you to mount the drive. It’s worth noting that, while the core HDD is a 2.5-inch unit, it’s too thick to fit into most notebooks.

In a desktop though – and one with a 6 Gb/s SATA interface, of course – the improvement over previous VelociRaptor drives is more than just speed. Read rates averaged out at around 98 Mb/s with burst rates of around 150 Mb/s, while write rates came in at around 92 Mb/s with burst rates of around 147 Mb/s. That added up to apps loading significantly quicker, as you’d expect from a fast drive, but also in-app performance being higher than comparable HDDs; storage-intensive tasks, such as heavy duty video crunching or adding large quantities of media to libraries.

However the WD6000HLHX is also a surprisingly quiet drive; Western Digital quote 30 dBA when idle or 37 dBA when under load, and while that makes for louder storage than an SSD, it’s nonetheless quieter than most slower-spinning drives we’ve used. Assuming whatever workstation you’re using it with has more than a couple of fans, you can pretty much count out hearing the VelociRaptor when it’s idle.

Finally there’s power, and though the VelociRaptor can’t quite match the green-credentials of some of Western Digital’s own “Caviar Green” range, it’s still more frugal than we expected. Although they quote 5W when idle, we found it more in the range of 4.0W to 4.3W; that’ll obviously rise when active. Still, it shouldn’t break the bank in terms of ongoing power costs.

Of course, those ongoing costs are only encountered when you get past the not-inconsiderable sticker price of the WD6000HLHX. The 600GB drive is currently listed for around $279.99, which is a high for platter-based GB/$ but competitive against the SSDs Western Digital are pitting the VelociRaptor line. It’s worth noting that you’ll need a suitably upbeat system to pair the HDD with if you want to see the benefit of its capabilities; that’s not just a SATA 6 Gb/s port, but a decent processor and ample RAM. It’ll also do better with a fresh system install, rather than swapping the drive out from your existing setup, and we’ve a feeling many users – and their wallets – would be content with the SATA 3 Gb/s model from the same range.

Overkill for most home users, then, but if your priority is speed and you’re looking at building a performance RAID array then the VelociRaptor WD6000HLHX makes for a more cost-effective and capacious choice than an SSD. As long as you don’t expect it to be a silver bullet dropped into a mediocre existing system – it can’t work miracles, after all – there’s plenty to like about the WD6000HLHX.

“The smaller and sleeker design of WD’s redesigned My Passport drives, combined with the intuitive visual backup experience of WD SmartWare software, makes this drive a smart and secure, travel-friendly storage choice,” said Dale Pistilli, vice president of marketing for WD’s branded products group. “These ultra-portable drives are a stylish and spacious storage solution for consumers to confidently backup, store and carry their entire digital lives.”

The new ultra-portable drives are 20% smaller than their previous models, and boast capacities between 320GB to 1TB. And if aesthetics are something that grab your attention just as much as the memory size, WD says that the new My Passport models will come in a variety of colors, ranging from Pacific Blue, Real Red, Cool Silver, and Midnight Black. The software on the hard drives is pretty unique, as WD has created the SmartWare interface to display the consumer’s content in a sort of virtual control center.

The new My Passports will also run automatically for the first time that they are plugged into your system. It’s a simple and intuitive back-up that registers for the first time. From that point on, every time the user adds or changes a particular file, the My Passport will automatically back up the system, to make sure that all the changes are reflected on the hard drive. The encryption is military-grade, at 256-bits, which scrambles the files before they are stored. You can pick up the new models of WD’s My Passports for both PC and Mac right now in select retailer’s, or via WD’s website, with MSRP ranging from $109.99 to $249.99, depending on the model.

[via WD]