Western Digital, a leading global hard drive manufacturer, today announced the introduction of its new range of external storage products for the Indian market. As consumers increasingly demand high capacity digital storage to secure their important documents and valuable personal content, WD’s new launches - My Book Premium ES Edition, 250GB WD Passport® Portable and My Book ™ Family - provide consumers with data protection, easy connectivity and high capacity storage solutions.

The My Book Premium ES Edition external hard drive incorporates eSATA (external Serial ATA) and USB 2.0. eSATA is a new technology that transfers data between the external device and the computer at higher rates than ever before. The technology offers consumers superior performance for multimedia applications such as streaming music or movies, or video editing. The eSATA interface on My Book Premium ES Edition can move data to and from a PC or Mac as fast as 300 megabytes (MB) per second - much faster than USB 2.0, which has a standard transfer rate of about 60 MB/s (480 megabits per second). PC and Mac compatible, My Book Premium ES Edition includes EMC™ Retrospect™ Express HD 2.0 backup software, which provides users the tools needed to back up and restore a single file or an entire system in a few simple steps. 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. The estimated price of 320 GB capacity of the product is Rs. 6,950 and of 500 GB capacity is Rs. 9,450.

The 250 GB WD Passport® Portable Drivewith a plug-and-play capability is a travel-friendly stylish pocket-sized appliance. WD Sync™ software allows consumers to take desktop content with them by simplifying the synchronization of essential personal files and Microsoft® Outlook® data on a PC. Should owners misplace the drive, they know their data is protected with 128-bit encryption. Google™ software on the drive allows users to quickly locate files with the Google Desktop Search™ search tool, manage photos with Picasa™ photo organizer software and simplify Web searches with the Google Toolbar™ search bar. The estimated price of 250 GB WD Passport Portable Drive is Rs. 9,950.

The My Book™ Family is now available with capacities of 750 GB and 1.5 TB. From remote access and sharing anywhere in the world to simple add-on storage and back up, the My Book family meets a variety of needs generated by today’s increasingly large files from digital pictures, HD (high definition) video and music. WD’s My Book family includes My Book World, My Book Pro, My Book Premium and My Book Essential Editions. WD’s My Book Pro, Premium and Essential Editions are the easiest way to add extra storage to a PC or Mac® and offer plenty of room to back up and store precious data. Each member of the My Book family solves storage needs for the variety of consumers and their respective purposes: from simple, plug-and-play backup to high-performance additional storage for massive audio/video projects. The estimated price for the My Book family ranges from Rs. 13,950 to Rs. 34,950 depending upon the model and the capacity.

These products and other WD external storage systems are available through WD’s external drive distributors - Champion Computers, Mediaman Infotech and Venktron Digital Systems in India. All these products will carry standard three-year limited warranty except My book Pro Series which carries five-year limited warranty in India. The warranty service will be handled through WD Express Service.

Commenting on the announcement for Indian market, Mr. Sharad Srivastava, Sales Director, South Asia and India, Western Digital said, “WD has always pioneered cutting edge hard drive technologies across the world. This new range of external hard drives is testament to this expertise. With the growth in the consumer segment and disposable incomes, the consumption of content is expanding exponentially. This has made reliable and secure storage and archival systems, the need of the day. In launching our new range of products, WD is reiterating its commitment to this market while providing it with the best technology.”

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About WD

WD, one of the storage industry's pioneers and long-time leaders, provides products and services for people and organizations that collect, manage and use digital information. The company produces reliable, high-performance hard drives that keep users' data close-at-hand and secure from loss.

WD was founded in 1970. The company's storage products are marketed to leading systems manufacturers and selected resellers under Western Digital and WD brand names. Visit the Investor section of the company's Web site (www.westerndigital.com) to access a variety of financial and investor information.

Western Digital is registered trademark of Western Digital Technologies, Inc. WD and the Western Digital logo are trademarks of Western Digital Technologies, Inc. All other trademarks herein are property of their respective owner.

EDITOR’S NOTES:

Western Digital product photos:

http://www.westerndigital.com/company/branding/digitalphotos.asp

Product Spec Sheets: http://www.westerndigital.com/en/products/index.asp

To submit editorial review requests:

http://www.westerndigital.com/company/pr/eval_request.asp

Examples of the number of photos, songs, videos and any other files that can be stored on a hard drive are provided for illustrative purposes only. Your results will vary based on file size and format, settings, features, software and other factors.

1MPEG-4 video was calculated at 720 x 480 resolution and on a data rate of 1.25 Mb/s, which translates to an average of .56 GB per hour.

2 Figure represents that average number of photos taken with a 6 megapixel camera in high-resolution JPEG mode with an average file size of 3.5 MB per photo. The actual number of images will vary by camera model and compression setting.

3MP3 music files: Music capacity is based on 4 minutes per song. MP3 capacity is based on 128 kb/s bit rate and 11:1 audio compression ratio

For further editorial information please contact:
Jensen Baptista
Text 100, Mumbai
Email: jensen.baptista@text100.co.in
Cell No: 9820587678
Tel: 66595519 / 20