WD®, a Western Digital (NASDAQ: WDC) company  and a world leader in hard drives, today announced the expansion of its award-winning WD Black™ line of  performance hard drives up to 6 TB capacity. Shipping now, the 3.5-inch, 7200  RPM drive is the perfect solution for gamers and professionals in need of  high-performance desktop systems and workstations.

WD Black hard drives combine  7200 RPM spin speed, 128 MB cache, dual stage actuator technology, SATA 6  gigabits per second (Gb/s) interface, and an integrated dual processor to deliver ultimate performance in a  maximum-capacity drive. The WD Black 6TB is up to 29% faster than the previous  WD Black 4TB version in maximum data rate throughput and 10% faster in PCMark Vantage.

“Combining  maximum system performance with generous capacity, the expansion of WD Black to  6 TB allows gamers, enthusiasts and creatives to push the boundaries of  personalization without compromise,” said Cindi Grace, senior vice president of  WD storage technology group. “In choosing WD Black hard drives, WD desktop  customers get the best possible mix of capacity, performance and reliability to  handle intense desktop computing with ease.”

WD Black 6 TB hard drives feature the following:

Increased Reliability – StableTrac™  Technology (2 TB and larger models) secures the motor shaft inside of the hard  drive to increase reliability and help reduce impact due to system-induced  vibrations from other components. By stabilizing the platters inside, the WD  Black drive results in more accurate tracking in a particular sector during  read and write operations, optimizing performance and reliability.

Increased DRAM cache – The Dynamic  Cache Technology improves caching algorithms in real time to allocate and  optimize cache between reads and writes. This movement of cache for read data  helps to reduce congestion and increase overall performance.

Efficient dual processing – A dual-core  processor offers twice the processing capability as a single-core processor to  maximize drive performance for faster read and write speeds.

Industry-leading 5-year limited warranty – Compared to standard hard drives, the WD Black drive endures more strenuous  and aggressive internal testing over a longer period of time, resulting in it  being backed by an industry leading 5-year limited warranty.

Price and Availability
  Available now through select distributors  and resellers, WD Black drive is covered by a five-year limited warranty. Manufacturer’s  Suggested Retail Price (MSRP) for the WD Black 5 TB drive (model # WD5001FZWX)  is $264.00 USD and the WD Black 6 TB drive (model # WD6001FZWX) is $294.00 USD.  More information about WD Black desktop hard  drives, including terms of the limited warranty, may be found on the company  website at http://www.wd.com/en/products/products.aspx?id=760.