WD is now shipping in volume its WD Caviar SE16 640 GB 3.5-inch hard drives based on 320 GB-per-platter technology. 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.

WD Caviar SE16 640 GB (model WD6400AAKS) hard drives may be ordered on the company's online store (www.shopwd.com) and through select distributors and resellers. Manufacturer's Suggest Retail Price (MSRP) for the WD Caviar SE16 640 GB is $139.99 USD.