Company's My Book Pro Edition II External Storage System with RAID Mirrors Data Instantaneously or Accelerates Data Delivery

With consumers increasingly relying on their computers to safe keep their financially and emotionally valuable digital libraries of photos, videos and music, as well as business documents, Western Digital (NYSE: WDC) announced today that its newest My Book? storage system provides users a safe place to secure up to one terabyte (1 TB) of digital content. Available now, the My Book Pro Edition II system uses RAID technology to instantaneously duplicate user data for extra protection or to accelerate the delivery of data to users.

The My Book Pro Edition II system can be set by users to reserve half of its capacity to mirror users' data in real time using RAID technology - in this case, the RAID 1 setting. This means that when data is saved to the My Book Pro Edition II system, two copies of the data are instantaneously recorded - each on separate internal hard drives. RAID 1 ensures the protection of users' data because in the unlikely event that one of the hard drives inside fails, the other hard drive will continue to read and write data until the faulty hard drive is replaced and rebuilt to once again safely mirror the data.

New My Book Pro Edition II units are shipped in the RAID 0 setting, which spreads data across both internal hard drives, enabling the 1 TB capacity and accelerated reading and recording of data. RAID technology cleverly combines the work of two internal drives to increase performance, much like using two garden hoses to fill a bucket rather than one. The high performance of My Book Pro Edition II provides users an advantage for advanced applications such as editing multiple streams of video without dropping frames.

My Book Pro Edition II is designed for small-office environments where large amounts of content are managed, such as groups of creative professionals, as well as consumers who have highly valuable libraries of music, photos and video. In addition to capacities as large as 1 TB and two RAID options, the new system features advanced backup software, unique My Book features that simplify operation and three interfaces: FireWire? 800, FireWire 400 and USB 2.0.

A challenge for many office and home users is physical desk space. Consuming less than 26 square inches of desk space, My Book Pro Edition II has a smaller footprint than competitive systems using two internal drives for 1 TB of capacity and is comparable to some storage systems using only one internal hard drive for much less capacity.

The My Book Pro Edition II also 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 warranty.

"Content libraries are growing exponentially in size, as well as in financial and emotional value, and professionals and consumers want them secured in a safe place and readily available," said Jim Welsh, vice president and general manager of WD's Branded Products Group. "There is no safer place to store data than My Book Pro Edition II. Included backup and system recovery software enables users to back up as much as one terabyte of data in standard RAID 0 mode. Or, by using the RAID 1 setting, they can save their data in two places simultaneously for extra peace of mind."

My Book Pro Edition includes EMC? Retrospect? Express version 7.5 backup and system recovery software with a customized setup wizard to deliver easy-to-use, proven data protection capabilities. The powerful, feature-packed software provides professional users with the tools needed to back up and restore a single file or an entire system in a few simple steps. Especially compelling for Mac? users is the ability to use My Book Pro Edition's FireWire interface for bootable disaster recovery.

The backup and system recovery software, as well as the RAID 1 mirroring function, are data protection features additional to WD's built-in Data Lifeguard? technology, which automatically finds, isolates and repairs internal drive problems that may develop over the life of a hard drive.

WD's My Book Pro Edition II system preserves the advantages built into the original My Book, with its book-shaped, elegant design, small footprint and simplification of its advanced features. Its intelligent drive management system - SmartPower - automatically powers the device on and off with the computer; the Safe Shutdown feature ensures data is saved before shutting down; and LED activity lights, with a unique capacity gauge, make this drive easy to use.

WD's My Book Pro Edition II is available now through retail stores and online retailers at an estimated price of $549.