Western Digital
Western Digital at present introduced bigger-capacity variations of its My E book and dual-drive My E book Duo exterior laborious disk drives (HDDs). The brand new 22TB and 44TB choices signify a number of the roomiest client choices the corporate has ever supplied.
Concentrating on individuals needing large-scale choices and prioritizing value per GB over velocity, the brand new exterior storage gadgets consist of 1 (within the case of the 22TB My E book) or two (My E book Duo) 3.5-inch drives. Western Digital’s announcement at present mentioned the 22TB My E book is its “highest capability client drive ever,” however, as famous by Tom’s {Hardware}, the corporate began promoting 22TB network-attached storage (NAS) drives ($400 MSRP as of writing) in July. However with the My E book line providing the elements neatly packed into an enclosure and able to stay on prime of a desk as backup storage, the collection has broader enchantment.
Western Digital
The My E book Duo, which Western Digital had already been promoting in 16TB to 36TB capacities, additionally provides ports to your setup. It has a USB-C port supporting as much as 5Gbps for connecting to techniques and likewise offers you two USB-A ports.
The 44TB possibility arrives in a RAID 0 configuration for prime speeds. Nevertheless, should you’d relatively use a RAID 1 configuration for redundancy or have your system view the storage gadget as two separate drives, the My E book Duo permits each by way of software program.
It is no secret that HDDs have been much less standard than solid-state drives (SSDs) in recent times because of SSDs’ usually sooner speeds and sturdiness. However should you want a number of storage and do not wish to spend a lot cash, HDDs stay a viable possibility. With their mechanical components driving sooner put on and tear than SSDs and susceptibility to knowledge loss with unintentional drops, although, it might be smart to make use of HDDs as a secondary possibility, the place knowledge can also be saved elsewhere.
Western Digital’s My E book drives work with Home windows 10 and later and, by way of the NTFS driver, macOS 11 and later, permitting you to work throughout Microsoft’s and Apple’s OSes with out having to reformat.
Whereas laborious drives are simpler on the pockets than SSDs, Western Digital’s My E book lineup would not fairly provide the most GB per greenback. For a fast comparability, the 22TB My E book has a $600 MSRP, however you may get a 22TB (standard magnetic recording) NAS laborious drive from the identical firm for $500. Western Digital has additionally began promoting a 22TB Parts exterior laborious drive for $550, however it’s lacking some options in comparison with the My E book, corresponding to backup software program, password safety, and USB-C, and it requires reformatting for macOS.
In the meantime, the 44TB My E book Duo has a $1,500 MSRP. Whereas you may get a premium laptop computer for that value, the drive continues to be way more spacious and inexpensive than an exterior SSD. Western Digital’s largest exterior SSD, which targets skilled use, maxes out at 32TB with a jaw-dropping $7,500 MSRP.
