Western Digital (WD) released new high-capacity variants of its My Book and My Book Duo external hard drives. The Thunderbolt-equipped My Book Duo series is expanded with a new 8 TB variant, which uses a pair of 4 TB drives in an internal RAID 0 configuration. Measuring 99 x 157 x 165 mm (WxDxH), the My Book Duo 8 TB weighs 2.26 kg. It uses an internal PSU, and features two Thunderbolt I/O ports that allow you to set up daisy-chains with other My Book Duo units, or other devices. The new 8 TB variant is priced at $849.99.

WD also introduced a 4 TB variant of its My Book USB 3.0 hard drive. The My Book encloses a single 4 TB hard drive. Measuring 48 x 135 x 165 mm (WxDxH), it weighs about 1.18 kg. It includes an internal power supply, and uses USB 3.0 SuperSpeed interface (backwards compatible with USB 2.0) to communicate with the host. It is priced at US $250.

WD, a Western Digital company, and a leader in the mobile, desktop, high-capacity enterprise and consumer markets for hard drives today announced it is further expanding its enterprise-class storage offerings with the release of new WD RE SAS and WD RE SATA hard drives in capacities up to 4 TB, the largest on the market today.

Available immediately in 1 TB, 2 TB, 3 TB and 4 TB capacities for nearline SAS and 2 TB, 3 TB and 4 TB for SATA, the 3.5-inch WD RE SAS and WD RE SATA hard drives offer the powerful combination of enterprise-class features and superior capacity to meet the growing demands of conventional business-critical environments as well as the high-capacity and performance requirements of cloud and scale-out computing.

The 1 TB, 2.5 inch HDD is the world's first SATA III (6 Gb/s) hard disk drive , and Eurocom is the first to offer it in such a small form factor netbook. Adding the advanced storage technology of the Hitachi Travel Start 5K1000 to the EUROCOM Monster allows Eurocom to meet user's demand for super large storage capacity and high performance .

"The EUROCOM Monster is like we stuffed a High Performance Notebook into a Netbook form factor, it always had the performance and now it can be customized with a massive amount of high capacity 1 TB, high speed 6 Gb/s SATA storage, in other words, the Monster lives inside of this beast!" Mark Bialic, Eurocom President.

Western Digital Corp. today announced at its Investor Day a capital allocation plan that includes the adoption by its Board of Directors of a cash dividend policy and an increased authorization of $1.5 billion under its share repurchase program. At its webcast Investor Day, the company indicated that beginning in its current fiscal year 2013, it is targeting a return to shareholders of approximately 50 percent of its free cash flow through a mix of cash dividends and share repurchases.

Under the dividend policy, the company intends to pay a quarterly cash dividend on its common stock beginning with the quarter ending Sept. 28, 2012. Directors declared today a dividend of $0.25 per common share, payable on Oct. 15, 2012, to the company's shareholders of record as of Sept. 28, 2012.

HGST (formerly Hitachi Global Storage Technologies and now a Western Digital company) today announced a new helium-filled hard disk drive (HDD) platform, which is at the forefront of advanced technology for increasing capacity and significantly reducing total cost of ownership (TCO) for enterprise and cloud customers.

With products expected in 2013, the new platform enables HGST to go beyond its award-winning five-platter design, providing a path for higher capacity storage and lower customer TCO for years to come. With industry-wide challenges in scaling current areal density technologies, this new platform allows HGST to design seven-platter drives in a standard 3.5-inch form factor that will cost-effectively extend the capacity and cost-per-gigabyte curve for many product generations to come. In addition, the inherent benefits of the platform, including the helium fill, allow HGST to significantly improve datacentre TCO on virtually every level: capacity, power, cooling and storage density.

WD, a subsidiary of Western Digital Corp. today announced it is sampling a 5 mm-thin hard disk drive featuring hybrid technology. WD has developed hard drives slim enough for integration into today's thinnest notebook PCs, which provide high-capacity storage and robustness while featuring instant-on and application performance similar to today's client solid state drives (SSDs). The new technologies will be showcased during WD's Investor Day, Sept. 13, 2012.

"Mobile devices are becoming smaller, thinner, lighter and more responsive," said Matt Rutledge, vice president of client storage solutions at WD. "Working with our technology partners, WD has developed new 5 mm hard drives that enable high capacity storage along with excellent performance and superior economics to allow our customers to expand their thin offerings."

Western Digital Corp. today announced that Steve Milligan will become chief executive officer of the company on January 2, 2013, succeeding John Coyne, who is retiring on that same date. Milligan, 49, is currently president of Western Digital and will retain the title of president when he becomes CEO. Following Coyne's retirement, Milligan will be appointed to the Western Digital board of directors.

"We are grateful to John Coyne for his many years of dedication and strong leadership," said Tom Pardun, chairman of the board. "He and his team have strategically positioned the company at the center of the storage industry, as a consistently profitable market and technology leader well positioned to address the tremendous opportunities in the changing digital world.

WD, a subsidiary of Western Digital Corp., today introduced its newest version of My Passport line of portable hard drives for PC and Mac with the debut of My Passport Edge. The My Passport Edge and My Passport Edge for Mac feature 500 GB of storage and a USB 3.0 interface for fast read/write speeds to help consumers effectively manage, share and enjoy digital content everywhere they go. Its sleek, ultra-slim design makes transport easy and convenient while a variety of security features protects the drive's content from unauthorized access.

The My Passport Edge for Mac portable hard drive complements popular MacBook computers and MacBook Air computer designs with an all-aluminum exterior to protect the drive and its contents from everyday bumps. The My Passport Edge for Mac is also compatible with Apple Time Machine for added peace-of-mind and seamless operation out of the box with one's Mac computer.

Six months after losing the top spot in the global hard disk drive (HDD) segment due to the Thai flooding disaster, Western Digital Corp. in the second quarter recovered its market lead from chief rival Seagate Technology, according to an IHS iSuppli Storage Space Market Brief from information and analytics provider IHS.

Western Digital produced approximately 71.0 million HDD units in the second quarter, including production from Hitachi GST, a company acquired by Western Digital earlier in the year. Revenue for Western Digital amounted to $4.8 billion-a company record.

In comparison, Seagate shipped 65.9 million HDD units during the same period, with revenue reaching $4.5 billion-also a record in Seagate's books.

WD, a subsidiary of Western Digital Corporation, and a world leader in external storage and connected home solutions, is combining two high-speed technologies to produce one of the fastest and most robust dual-storage systems ever offered. Supported by the Mac OS X operating system, the new My Book VelociRaptor Duo dual-drive storage system becomes the ultimate storage drive for performance hungry Mac computer users and creative professionals.

My Book VelociRaptor Duo provides ultimate speed and performance with two 1 TB 10,000 RPM WD VelociRaptor drives along with two Thunderbolt ports. The 2 TB dual-drive storage system is ideal for editing high resolution video, 3D rendering, graphic design, and other demanding digital media applications. This boost in performance delivers solid state drive (SSD) -like data transfer rates of up to 400 MB/s for greater work-flow productivity. The dual-drive storage system offers RAID 0 for performance or RAID 1 for protection; and the twin Thunderbolt ports offer daisy-chaining multiple My Book VelociRaptor Duo drives and other high performance peripherals without impacting data transfer speeds or performance. The My Book VelociRaptor Duo also comes complete with a Thunderbolt cable in the box and is user-serviceable.

WD, a subsidiary of Western Digital Corporation, today announced that it has added the USB 3.0 interface to its line of My Passport for Mac portable hard drives and increased capacity for Mac computer users up to an unmatched 2 TB. Popular among students and other Mac users who take their digital content everywhere, the My Passport for Mac with USB 3.0 allows users to quickly and conveniently take advantage of the faster transfer speeds USB 3.0 provides when connecting the drive to their MacBook computer or MacBook Air computer with that interface.

While continuing to provide a sleek and slim design, the My Passport drive also has been a favorite among consumers and professionals who have safety and security at the top of the list of requirements for portable drives, which is why the My Passport for Mac includes password protection and hardware encryption features to protect content from unauthorized use or access. The My Passport for Mac drive is also compatible out of the box with Apple Time Machine for easy backup to further protect valuable files.

Western Digital's new high-capacity 2.5-inch hard drive, the WD Green WD20NPVT made an appearance in Japanese ground stores. Strangely enough, while the drive is built in the 2.5-inch form-factor, it is 15 mm-thick, making it unfit for most notebooks. The drive provides a staggering 2 TB of unformatted capacity, and features IntelliPower variable spindle speed (4,500-5,400 RPM?), 8 MB cache, SATA 3 Gb/s interface, 0.2W idle (parked) and 1.7W (active) power consumption. It is priced at 18,800 JPY (US $240).

Western Digital Corp. (NASDAQ: WDC) today reported revenue of $12.5 billion and net income of $1.6 billion, or $6.58 per share for fiscal year 2012, compared to fiscal 2011 revenue of $9.5 billion and net income of $726 million, or $3.09 per share. On a non-GAAP basis, fiscal 2012 net income was $2.1 billion or $8.61 per share, compared to fiscal 2011 net income of $770 million or $3.28 per share. Both the GAAP and non-GAAP fiscal 2012 results include results from the company's newly acquired HGST subsidiary from the acquisition date of March 8 through the end of fiscal 2012.

For its fourth fiscal quarter ended June 29, 2012, the company reported revenue of $4.8 billion, hard-drive shipments of 71.0 million and net income of $745 million, or $2.87 per share. On a non-GAAP basis, net income was $872 million, or $3.35 per share.2 In the year-ago quarter, the company reported revenue of $2.4 billion, net income of $158 million, or $0.67 per share, and shipped 53.8 million hard drives. Non-GAAP net income in the year-ago quarter was $193 million, or $0.81 per share.

Western Digital Corp. (NASDAQ: WDC) today announced the appointments of Tim Leyden and Mike Cordano as presidents of the company's WD and HGST subsidiaries, respectively, reporting to Steve Milligan, president of Western Digital Corporation. Milligan reports to John Coyne, who continues in his role as chief executive officer of Western Digital Corporation.

Before the acquisition of HGST by Western Digital in March 2012, Leyden served as chief operating officer of Western Digital and Cordano served as executive vice president, sales and marketing and president, branded business division of HGST.

Why is July 11th 2012 a big day for Western Digital and the storage industry? The reason is exciting; the data storage expert is to launch, on that day, their new line of product, the Red drives. Bringing to the market a drive made especially for NAS devices, WD Red drives combine with a Thecus NAS will show the storage world what digital data is all about.

WD Red hard drives are designed specifically for NAS systems that range from 1 to 5 bays. The drives are designed and extensively tested for compatibility in the unique 24x7 demanding system requirements of home and small office NAS. Already tested by Thecus engineers, the Red series have passed the test with many of our devices. As announced at the launch, the NAS listed below were showing great performances with the Red HDD mounted inside:

WD, a storage industry leader, today announced the debut of WD Red NAS hard drives, an innovative line of SATA hard drives specifically designed for home and small office NAS (network attached storage) systems with one to five drive bays. Compatibility-tested with top NAS box manufacturers and optimized for power and performance, WD Red hard drives are now shipping in 3.5-inch 1 TB, 2 TB and 3 TB capacities.

The WD Red line features NASware technology, designed to improve reliability and system performance, reduce customer downtime and to simplify the integration process. This new product line addresses the unique environment of NAS and the growing demand for affordable, reliable and compatible storage that reduces customer total cost of ownership. WD Red hard drives also feature 3D Active Balance Plus, an enhanced balance control technology, which significantly improves the overall drive performance and reliability. In an exclusive for WD Red customers, WD is offering free premium 24x7 dedicated support and a three-year limited warranty.

Western Digital, the world's leader in external storage solutions and maker of the popular WD TV media player family, today unveils its first line of wireless home networking products, designed specifically to accelerate movies, video and gaming, delivering a premium high-definition entertainment experience. With the My Net family of powerful and easy-to-use home networking products, WD debuts its exclusive FasTrack technology that instantly detects entertainment traffic on the network and fast-forwards it to gaming consoles, media players, smart TVs, tablets, smartphones, computers and other Wi-Fi connected devices.

Western Digital Corp. today announced that it is transferring its stock exchange listing to NASDAQ Global Select Market from the New York Stock Exchange. WD shares will begin trading on the NASDAQ exchange beginning June 1, 2012, and the ticker symbol will remain WDC.

"This is part of a new beginning for the new WD following our recent acquisition of HGST to become one of the world's leading storage solutions providers," said John Coyne, chief executive officer. "WD is focused on achieving sustained profitable growth and delivering value to our customers and shareholders. Listing our shares with NASDAQ provides us with a cost-effective stock listing and excellent services and public exposure."

Western Digital Corp. (NYSE: WDC) today announced an increased authorization of $1.5 billion of its common stock under its share repurchase program.

The additional repurchase authorization is effective immediately and extends the program by five years, during which time additional shares can be authorized for repurchase. The amount of purchases will depend on market conditions and corporate considerations. Share repurchases will be made on the open market.

Western Digital Corp. today announced that it has appointed Kensuke Oka and Masahiro Yamamura to its board of directors, effective May 17, 2012. Mr. Oka is president and CEO of Hitachi America, Ltd., and Mr. Yamamura is corporate officer, general manager of the Semiconductor Business Division of Hitachi, Ltd.

"The additions of Mr. Oka and Mr. Yamamura offer our leadership team vital insight as we operate WD and HGST as independent subsidiaries in the competitive hard drive industry," said Thomas Pardun, WD chairman of the board. "Both have deep executive management experience leading operations in the electronics and industrial systems industries, primarily for Hitachi, providing new perspectives to WD as we continue our focus on sustained profitable growth."

HGST (formerly Hitachi Global Storage Technologies and now a Western Digital company, NYSE: WDC) today announced a new family of CinemaStar 2.5-inch hard disk drives (HDDs) for the growing traditional and small form factor audio/video (A/V) and consumer electronics (CE) HDD markets. With continued technological advancements and increased capacities, 2.5-inch hard drives are satisfying the needs of both the traditional 3.5-inch CE market as well as the small form factor market, while allowing OEMs to design smaller, more compact A/V streaming devices.

From slim 7mm z-height 500GB HDDs to high-capacity, 2.5-inch, 9.5mm 1TB HDDs, HGST's new CinemaStar family targets the vast majority of CE capacity needs, while providing the right balance of performance, low power and quiet acoustics for multi-stream digital video recorders (DVRs) and set-top-boxes (STBs). Now in its sixth generation, each CinemaStar drive is fine-tuned with advanced streaming technology to efficiently optimize the 24/7 recording and playback of A/V content.

Western Digital Corp. today announced that it has completed its divestiture of certain 3.5-inch hard drive assets to Toshiba Corporation, as required by regulatory agencies that conditionally approved the company's completed acquisition of Viviti Technologies Ltd. (formerly Hitachi Global Storage Technologies).

The assets will enable Toshiba to manufacture and sell 3.5-inch hard drives for the desktop and consumer electronics markets and will enhance its ability to manufacture and sell 3.5-inch hard drives for near-line (business critical) applications.

HGST (formerly Hitachi Global Storage Technologies and now a Western Digital company) today announced the storage industry's first technology demonstration of a 12 gigabit per second (12 Gb/s) SAS solid state drive (SSD), representing the next performance step in the evolution of SAS, the preferred interface technology for enterprise servers and storage solutions. HGST is participating in the 12 Gb/s SAS demonstration at the SCSI Trade Association Technology Showcase on May 9, 2012, at the Hyatt Hotel in Santa Clara, Calif.

SAS SSDs and hard disk drives (HDDs), with their rich SCSI heritage, continue to be the building blocks of choice for enterprise and cloud storage. Enabling next-generation storage solutions, 12 Gb/s SAS is a broadly supported industry standard as it delivers twice the throughput compared to today's 6 Gb/s SAS solutions, while maintaining established enterprise protocols and attributes. It is also backward compatible with 6 Gb/s SAS for investment protection in current SAS infrastructures.

Western Digital Corp. today reported revenue of $3.0 billion, hard-drive unit shipments of 44.2 million and net income of $483 million, or $1.96 per share, on a GAAP basis for its third fiscal quarter ended March 30, 2012. On a non-GAAP basis, net income was $619 million, or $2.52 per share. Both the GAAP and non-GAAP results include the results of the company's newly acquired HGST subsidiary from the acquisition date of March 8 through the end of March. In the year-ago quarter, the company reported revenue of $2.3 billion, net income of $146 million, or $0.62 per share, and shipped 49.8 million hard drives. Non-GAAP net income in the year-ago quarter was $156 million, or $0.66 per share.

The company generated $1.2 billion in cash from operations during the March quarter, ending with total cash and cash equivalents of $3.4 billion.

Western Digital today announced it is now shipping the new WD VelociRaptor 1 TB hard drive, the latest addition to its award-winning drive family, the largest capacity 10,000 RPM hard drive on the market today. Designed for high-performance PCs, Mac computers and professional workstations that require a balance of high performance and capacity, the WD VelociRaptor drive is a favorite among enthusiasts and creative professionals. The WD VelociRaptor will also come in capacities of 500 GB and 250 GB.

Leveraging enterprise-class mechanics to provide 24x7 durability under high-performance workloads, the new WD VelociRaptor 1 TB hard drive is geared for creative professionals who demand the ultimate SATA drive. Creative pros use write-intensive applications that manage large, dynamic files; for example, video editing and digital content creation and management, which ultimately put a strain on storage devices that utilize write-challenged NAND memory for performance enhancement. WD VelociRaptor's outstanding read and write performance across the entire disk capacity makes it a perfect match for the creative professional and enthusiast who want to optimize their tools, enhance productivity, and increase storage space at the same time.