Western Digital (WD), a leader in external storage solutions, has launched a 2 TB (terabyte) external drive, largest available in a single-drive system, thus expanding its My Book family of external hard drives.

The new 2 TB My Book family includes: My Book Studio edition, My Book Mac edition, My Book Home edition and My Book Essential edition models.

Market research shows that consumer creation and acquisition of digital media is growing rapidly, driving demand for increasing storage capacities. According to a March 2008 market research of IDC, the number of digital cameras and camera phones in the world surpassed one billion.

Separately, market research firm GfK reports that HD video camcorders are experiencing record growth and now account for 42 per cent of total camcorder sales (as of August 2008).

HD video requires massive amounts of drive space: at least 8 GB per hour of video. Since 2006, when Apple began offering movie downloads, the Apple store has already sold more than 250 million TV episodes and sold or rented more than 33 million movies.

“The popularity among consumers of high-definition video cameras, digital photography and digital music downloads means that users are filling up their computers with massive amounts of digital content as fast as they can click ‘save’,” said Khwaja Saifuddin, sales director, WD, Middle East & Africa.

“As the volume and value of users digital content grows, backing up data on multiple CDs or DVDs becomes time consuming and inconvenient,” he added.

“At the same time, consumers are realising the monetary and emotional value of content and need to back up their most important files. The My Book family, with its massive 2 TB capacity allows users to backup all their data in one easy step and keep it in one easily accessible place.”

My Book Studio edition and My Book Mac edition

Formatted for Mac drives are an ideal solution for creative professionals and video editors. The My Book Studio edition is equipped with high speed FireWire 400/800 and eSata interfaces as well as the popular USB 2.0 interface and a 5-year limited warranty. My Book Mac edition external drives feature a USB 2.0 interface and a 1-year limited warranty.

My Book Home edition

Equipped with continuous backup software and high-speed eSata and FireWire 400 as well as USB 2.0 interfaces, My Book Home Edition carries a 3-year limited warranty.  My Book Home Edition is designed for PC users that need an effortless way to preserve digital pictures.

My Book Essential edition

My Book Essential Edition offers an easy way to add storage capacity to home or office computers. The drives are equipped with a USB 2.0 interface that provides convenience and compatibility among multiple computers.

The entire family of My Book external hard drives features:

• New 2 TB capacities allowing users to store and backup all their data in one central location
• Elegant, small footprint design
• Capacity gauge to see at a glance how much capacity is available on the drive (not available on the My Book Essential Edition drive)
• Environmentally friendly design that saves power by going into standby mode after 10 minutes of inactivity
• SmartPower features that turns the drive on and off with the computer and Safe Shutdown™ that prevents the drive from being powered down until all the data has been written
• Kensington Security Slot that allows users to secure drive to their desk with the separate purchase of a Kensington lock kit
• 1-year limited warranty

 - TradeArabia News Service