WD XE: 2.5-Inch 6Gb SAS HDDs Mounted in 3.5-Inch Adapter
10,000rpm, up to 900GB ($600), 2 million hour MTBF
This is a Press Release edited by StorageNewsletter.com on April 23, 2013 at 3:04 pmWD, a Western Digital company, announced a 3.5-inch SAS hard drive solution for legacy data center storage systems with the release of the WD XE, 2.5-inch, 10,000 RPM SAS hard drive, now available mounted in a 3.5-inch adapter.
Shipping, the WD XE hard drives provide performance, low power consumption, and an upgrade path for existing 3.5-inch storage systems.
While demand for 3.5-inch, high-performance enterprise-class hard drives slows, a need remains for an alternate high-performance storage device as a transitional solution for legacy systems. XE hard drives offer sequential performance and provide a compelling upgrade for data centers migrating away from legacy drives nearing end-of-life.
"Delivering up to 50% higher capacity, similar or better maximum sequential performance, higher reliability and up to 67% lower power consumption versus 3.5-inch, 15,000 RPM drives, the new WD XE drives are the answer for data center server and storage solutions needing a transition strategy," said Rich Rutledge, SVP of WD’s datacenters business unit. "IT managers now have a worry-free migration path to the latest enterprise performance drives from WD, while preserving their chassis and solution investments."
XE 2.5-inch SAS HDDs
- in 3.5-inch performance adapters feature:
- Performance – They deliver 6Gb/s transfer rates, sequential data rate of 204MB/s, and random I/O performance;
- Power consumption – They deliver up to 67% lower power versus 3.5-inch 15,000 RPM drives, which can result in lower TCO while increasing capacity and reliability;
- Form factor – 2.5-inch drive mounted in 3.5-inch performance adapter for ease of upgrade and cool operation;
- Dual port, full duplex connectivity – Offers reliability, performance and data availability by eliminating single points of failure, designed for HA data center systems;
- No touch ramp load technology – The recording head never touches the disk media ensuring less wear to the recording head and media as well as better drive protection in transit; and
- Reliability – 2 million hours MTBF.
Price and Availability
The WD XE SAS enterprise hard drives in 3.5-inch performance adapters, shipping in capacities ranging from 300GB to 900GB, (models: WD3001HKHG, WD6001HKHG, and WD9001HKHG) are available through select distributors and resellers. MSRP for the WD XE hard drives in performance adapters range from $229.99 (€199) to $599.99 (€499). They are covered by a five-year limited warranty.
Comments
WD continues alone since several years in this strange idea of
2.5-inch 10,000rpm HDDs that can only be used into a 3.5-inch box to
avoid too much heat.
It was the same architecture for the VelociRaptor
launched in 2008 (10,000rpm, 300GB, 15mm high, 150GB/disk), and then at
600GB but with SATA interface.
New XEs are not really
enterprise HDDs - in 2.5-inch form factor at 10,000 and 15,000rpm -
but they are faster than 3.5-inch 7,200rpm SATA devices. They used a
32MB buffer. Z-height is 26.1mm.
Between desktop and enterprise HDDs, these WD devices were not highly successful. They have big margin but are low volume products.
The
company never was a valuable manufacturer of enterprise rotating
devices. Fortunately, it acquires HGST, a real competitor of Seagate in
high-end units.
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