I'm always looking for new technologies and hardware that improves our systems, and also improves our customer experience.
Western Digital recently announced a clear top hard drive to add to their stellar Raptor line of hard drives. Even though most people wouldn’t pay the extra $50 or whatever it is to get the clear top, there are enthusiasts out there who are chomping at the bit for this type of hard drive.
Based on this move it’s clear that Western Digital is the one company who is listening to enthusiasts and executing. In a world of giants it's nice to see a company out there willing to go out on a limb and launch something clearly different.
The original Raptor series was a bold step for Western Digital who took it upon themselves to pave a new category of hard drives. While all of their competition balked at this move, Western Digital saw it as a way to promote themselves as the leader in performance and innovation in their category. Even though they may not sell as much as some of the other 7200 RPM drives on the market the Raptor is a feather in their cap and continues to be popular amongst enthusiasts from all over the world.
Now that Seagate digested Maxtor, very few contenders in the hard drive market remain. Western Digital is comparatively small to the most visable of their competitors, but I parallel their approach to innovation to companies like Chrysler and AMD. They are setting trends and other manufacturers should take notice now.
If I were a betting man I’d say that they are a prime target for acquisition, and I’d love to see a company like Hitachi throw down and pick up Western Digital before someone else does. The only worry of course is whoever picks up Western Digital (if they are indeed acquired) should allow them to keep their brand autonomy in order to build on their bold drive line up.
2 blogger comments:
This is yet another piece to the puzzel. When I first saw this drive I thought it was possibly the coolest drive ever. Seriously a clear top and a Raptor on top of that. Think abuot a couple of those in Raid 0. This year is 16 days old and already has insane promise. My when built top of the line 3500+ and RX800 Pro are starting to look like relics. It is going to be a hard year to not dip into the ole checking account and build a new box. I hope that AMD blows everyone away this year. I hope that that ATI puts 24 pipelines on a card (seriously). I hope it is a good year for the OEM guys. Hopefully my checking account has money in it at the end of it. Hope Voodoo has a good year too.
You mention crash issues? Is Western Digital's new drive likely to be more crash-prone with a clear top?
Hitachi purchased IBM's drive technology (Deskstar) and since many had trouble with the Deskstar (including me!) I would be nervous if Western Digital were bought out by Hitachi.
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