The company’s new mechanical drives in a volume that stretches CMR technology almost to the limit are also finding their way to external configurations
In July 2022, Western Digital managed to open a small gap from its competitors Seagate and Toshiba when it introduced first-of-its-kind 22TB mechanical drives, based on its ePMR technology, which is the current trade name for CMR (Conventional Magnetic Recording, also known as Perpendicular Magnetic Recording). With ten internal magnetic platters with a volume of 2.2TB each inside a space filled with helium.
These drives were launched both for the server world through the WD Gold and Ultrastar DC families and for the home or office market with the WD Red Pro family for NAS systems and the WD Purple Pro family for recording systems that operate cyclically without respite – thus becoming technologically superior according to The rivals that remained “stuck” with drive volumes of up to 20TB, when even today they still haven’t officially launched their answer to the general public.
Western Digital, for its part, does not rest for too long, and chooses to promote its advantage to the domestic external drive market as well – with the launch of a first-of-its-kind 22TB model within the My Book family and a formidable 44TB model that houses a pair of physical drives inside.
WD hasn’t launched a 20TB My Book series drive yet, but now it’s offering a single 22TB drive in the same familiar black shell, with a single USB Type-A connection and weighing in at about a kilogram, which reaches transfer speeds of up to 250MBps and carries a price tag Official $600.
It’s hard to impossible to justify the purchase of such a product for $600 when a 20TB external mechanical drive from the WD Elements series reached the price of $310 as part of the highest discount it has received so far (and the 22TB models from the WD Red Pro series were offered for $330 at the affordable point the most since their launch), but past experience indicates that the cost of the 22TB model will also gradually drop to more reasonable levels – especially when Seagate starts offering a similar volume in the coming months.
The My Book Duo model with a volume of 44TB comes with one USB Type-C connection and another pair of USB Type-A connections for convenient expansion of the connectivity of the system to which it will interface, a weight of 2.63 kilograms and the possibility of operating under RAID 0 or RAID 1 settings, with transfer speeds that can reach up to 360MBps in the second case. This drive is priced at $1,500 on the manufacturer’s official website – and although this is a relatively higher price than the pair of My Book drives with a volume of 22TB, it is also the same price as the My Book Duo model with a combined volume of 36TB which was the largest in this series so far. It is encouraging that this option is available to those who need it, but in this case we would not actually suggest waiting for a significant price drop in the near term due to the popularity and limited competitiveness of the category.
