Expanding its lineup of consumer-friendly, easy-to-use external hard drives that has made it the leading consumer external storage brand worldwide, Western Digital Corp. today introduced the My Book World Edition family of shared storage appliances. This new family of shared storage appliances allows consumers and home office workers to securely access their digital content, such as photos, home videos and documents, and share it with family and friends from anywhere in the world as if that content were stored local to the user. The terabyte (TB) My Book World Edition II model is equipped with a dual-drive configuration and RAID capability.WD Anywhere Access is WD's new software for simplifying access to digital content and breaking the barriers of physical proximity to that content. Part of Anywhere Access is the unique Data OnHand feature, which makes My Book World Edition active in Windows Explorer and Windows "Save As" and "Open" options whenever the user is connected to the Internet. This streamlines access to the content for users, even if they are thousands of miles away from their My Book World Edition appliance, and eliminates task-heavy logging into and out of third-party Web access systems. It operates independently of any specific PC, so the original host computer does not need to be powered on.

"The My Book World Edition shared storage appliances eliminate the limits of traditional external hard drives," said Jim Welsh, vice president and general manager of WD's Branded Products group. "Using this appliance is like carrying as much as a terabyte of content with you wherever you go and knowing that your personal content is safe at home. This new concept in storage enables virtually limitless accessibility to family, friends and associates for sharing and backup."

In a new twist on today's popular social networks, the My Book World Edition enables friends and family to share digital content such as photos and documents anywhere in the world without the hassle or insecurity of having to upload it to a third-party Web site. Road warriors will appreciate the ease with which they can retrieve an important presentation and other documents from their My Book World Edition while traveling, as well as the ability to remotely back up their laptop/notebook data to their My Book World Edition. Small workgroups can easily share critical documents over the Internet or within a local network without the need for a separate, and often cumbersome, FTP server.

The two models of the My Book World Edition family of shared storage appliances are compatible with wired and wireless networks and equipped with a lighted on/off button; easy-to-use backup software; a unique capacity gauge LED that allows users to discern at a glance remaining storage space; and a three-year limited warranty. They come with EMC Retrospect Express backup software; one Ethernet port; one USB 2.0 port to instantly add more storage; intelligent drive management features and LED activity lights. The My Book World Edition model has a capacity of 500 GB. My Book World Edition II includes all of the features of the My Book World Edition product in a dual-drive system for 1 TB of capacity.

Extra Data Protection
My Book World Edition II units are shipped in the full 1 TB configuration, but can be set by users to reserve half of its capacity to mirror users' data in real time using RAID 1.

The My Book World Edition II is user-serviceable, allowing users to open the enclosure to replace one or both of the hard drives by following the detailed instructions, without voiding the system's three-year limited warranty.

Availability and Pricing
The My Book World Edition family is available beginning this week at select retail stores, online retailers and in the United States directly from WD at www.westerndigital.com. Suggested retail price is $499 USD for My Book World Edition II. Suggested retail price is $279 USD for My Book World Edition 500 GB.

A 3-D view and more information on the My Book family of external storage products can be found at www.wdmybook.com.