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Western Digital's Drivezilla Joins Special Edition HD Family

Western Digital Corp has announced the addition of its 200 GB capacity "Drivezilla" hard drives to its WD Caviar Special Edition product family. Western Digital's Special Edition hard drives feature an 8 MB cache size, which is four times larger than the industry standard 2 MB cache size. The Company's 200 GB capacity WD Caviar 7,200 RPM hard drives, nicknamed "Drivezilla," are the largest IDE and fastest spinning desktop hard drives currently shipping in the industry.

"Western Digital was first to introduce a Special Edition EIDE hard drive with an 8 MB buffer," said Dave Reinsel, IDC research manager. "Western Digital has been able to satiate the demands of PC devotees who demand the largest capacity and highest performance EIDE disk drives by leveraging its Special Edition drive configurations."

"By offering a new model with 6 MB of extra cache, Western Digital has made one of the world's fastest desktop ATA storage devices even faster," said Richard E. Rutledge, vice president of marketing for Western Digital.

The additional cache size, in the Special Edition hard drives, increases overall system performance under most benchmarks and real world situations -- an ideal choice for computing needs that range from top-of-the-line desktops and work stations to high-end IDE applications such as entry-level enterprise servers. Western Digital Special Edition hard drives are available in capacities of 40, 60, 80, 100, 120, 180 and 200 GB.

The 8 MB buffer on the WD Caviar Special Edition 200 GB hard drives provide a higher percentage of cache hits and significantly faster time to data than industry-standard 2 MB versions. The larger buffer improves performance because there is a reduction in the number of physical accesses to the disk. End-user performance is enhanced through increased speed in gaming; faster music and video downloads; faster storage and retrieval of digital photos. This allows data to stream from the disk uninterrupted by mechanical operations.

PC World Magazine (September 2002) states about Western Digital's WD Caviar Special Edition 120 GB (WD1200JB), "With speed and high capacity, this drive is for people who want it all ..." WD Caviar Special Edition 120 GB precedes the release of 200 GB model.

The 8 MB buffer can also offer an advantage in a server environment, where data typically is accessed across wider portions of the disks. With additional buffer resources, read and write commands are more quickly queued and served to the user.

This Special Edition drive is currently available through WD retail and distribution partners.

Concurrent with the expansion of its Special Edition product offerings, the Company has adopted a new warranty policy effective October 1, 2002. WD Caviar Special Edition hard drives are covered under warranty for a three-year period. Consistent with the current PC industry standard, all other Western Digital products will be covered under a standard warranty for a period of one year. Extended warranties will be available for an additional fee via the Company's Website at support.w dc.com/warranty/policy.asp#extwarranty.

About Western Digital

Western Digital, one of the storage industry's pioneers and long-time leaders, provides products and services for people and organizations that collect, manage and use digital information. The Company produces reliable, high-performance hard drives that keep users' data close-at-hand and secure from loss.

Western Digital was founded in 1970. The Company's storage products are marketed to leading systems manufacturers and selected resellers under the Western Digital brand name. Visit the Investor section of the Company's Website at www.westerndigital.com to access a variety of financial and investor information.

Contact: Bob Blair, 949-672-7834, robert.blair@wdc.com.