WD announced today that it is now shipping in volume its WD Caviar SE16 640 GB 3.5-inch hard drives based on 320 GB-per-platter technology -- a platform that it has been shipping since January 2008 and is serving as the foundation of all of the company's 3.5-inch drive families. Ideal for data-intensive applications, high-performance computing and multimedia systems, the WD Caviar SE16 640 GB drives deliver high performance with their extreme areal density, 3 Gb/s transfer rate, and Native Command Queuing (NCQ). Its two-platter design promotes cool, quiet operation in a high-capacity drive."The 640 GB capacity point will be an important one for our desktop customers, and WD is leading high-volume shipments to the channel and OEM customers," said Don Bennett, general manager and vice president of WD's desktop business unit. "Two-platter hard drives have always been the perfect balance of value, capacity and performance for many of our customers. Today's common two-platter drives are limited to 500 GB, but we are expanding capacity by 28 percent on the same design with WD's leading technology heads and disks."

The 320 GB-per-platter technology is being deployed across WD's desktop, enterprise, consumer electronics and external hard drive product lines, including additional capacity points, throughout this calendar year.

The WD Caviar family of 3.5-inch desktop hard drives delivers high performance with 3 Gb/s transfer rate, Native Command Queuing (NCQ), and cool operating temperatures and quiet operation, enabling customers to integrate WD products in the most demanding desktop and external storage environments.

Price and Availability
WD Caviar SE16 640 GB (model WD6400AAKS) hard drives may be ordered on the company's online store and through select distributors and resellers. Manufacturer's Suggest Retail Price (MSRP) for the WD Caviar SE16 640 GB is $139.99 USD. More information about WD Caviar desktop drives may be found on the company's Web site here.