Article of the Month!
July 2007

Western Digital Unveils GreenPower Hard Drives

Company's First One Terabyte Drive Enables Up To 40% Hard Drive Power
Savings for Desktop, Enterprise, CE and WD Branded Customers

      Western Digital Corp. (NYSE: WDC) today announced a new environmentally friendly GreenPower(TM) family of WD(R) desktop, enterprise, CE and external hard drive products. The new GreenPower (GP) family will ship in capacities from 320 gigabytes (GB) to one terabyte (TB), and will save up to 40% in hard drive power consumption, or as much as $10 per drive per year.
      Based on extensive customer input toward supporting ENERGY STAR 4.0 compliance and incorporating the latest in engineering technology, WD has delivered the first 3.5-inch hard drive platform designed with power savings as the primary attribute. The GreenPower family gives customers more choices when it comes to purchasing hard drives. The initial drive that will take advantage of WD's new GreenPower technology is the WD Caviar GP. The WD Caviar GP 1 TB hard drive will first ship in July in the My Book(TM) range of storage appliances, with 1 TB desktop channel shipments following in August. GreenPower versions of Western Digital RE enterprise drives and WD AV consumer electronics drives will ship in volume within calendar Quarter 3.
      ENERGY STAR 4.0 computing systems are designed to enable organizations to minimize their carbon footprint as well as realize significant savings in electricity costs. By WD estimates, in certain applications, the new GreenPower platform can save greater than $10 per drive per year in electricity costs. For example, a data center with 10,000 drives can save $100,000 in annual energy costs, and reduce CO2 emission by 600 metric tons -- the equivalent of taking almost 400 cars off the road for a year.

     By WD estimates our new GreenPower platform can save large data-hungry organizations like financial institutions and search engine services, up to $10 per drive per year in electricity costs (U.S.). Ten dollars per year doesn't sound like much until you consider, for example, a large data center with say 10,000 drives. Do the math, that's up to $100,000 in saving per year.

     "With the GreenPower family, WD is improving the environment while reducing cost of ownership," said John Coyne, WD president and chief executive officer. "Our focus on energy efficiency benefits commercial customers and consumers alike."
      Other 1 TB hard drives have a typical power consumption of 13.5 watts. Replacing these drives with WD GreenPower hard drives can cut that rating by over 5 watts, significantly reducing heat, power consumption and cost.

Ensuring Energy Efficiencies:
The GreenPower Platform is designed with power savings as the primary attribute. GreenPower drives from WD deliver exceptional power conservation, ultra-cool, quiet operation and solid performance. The following technologies enable WD's GP platform.



For more information on WD's new GP hard drive family, visit WD at http://www.wdc.com/en/company/greenpower.asp