Western Digital's 1TB internal HDD is Caviar Black

Western Digital's Caviar Black 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM HDDs are impressively specced, of course: "twice" the processing power, 32MB caches and StableTrac / NoTouch technology... $249.99.That's all lovely, even though writing about hard drives gives me a big rubbery one. What's more interesting to me is the branding. As much as Western Digital should be lauded for giving their new hard drives an actual name as opposed to a mere alphanumeric slurry, "Caviar Black" is a curious choice, in that it implies there is someone out there who might actually want to color coordinate the inner, lightless guts of their PC case.

The press release clarifies things a bit: Caviar Black is WD's "ultimate performance line" of hard drives, where as the Caviar Green HDD is more eco-friendly and the Caviar Blue is somewhere in-between. That makes sense. I guess, then, it's really the "Caviar" brand I find so odd, in that it somehow attempts to link data storage with a fetal piscine goo spurted from the bottom of a sturgeon.

Press Release [Western Digital]

[#1 posted by Anonymous , June 11, 2008 10:10 AM]

Looks like the title should day 1 TB, not 1 GB

[#2 posted by dukerayburn , June 11, 2008 10:11 AM]

You may want to check that headline once more. I don't think a 1GB hard drive is making waves these days.

Additionally, never underestimate the coordinative efforts of computer modders.

[#3 posted by John Brownlee , June 11, 2008 10:16 AM]

Ha. Nice catch! Thanks, Duke...

[#4 posted by meerkat , June 11, 2008 11:28 AM]

That sounds some weird mix of the Johnny Walker colors...

The "caviar" seems to imply quality, the root of caviar is egg/oval which does not really translate well to hard drive tech.

[#5 posted by jesseg , June 11, 2008 11:35 AM]

Doesn't caviar usually come from sturgeon, not salmon?

[#6 posted by John Brownlee , June 11, 2008 11:45 AM]

It does now!

[#7 posted by KurtMac , June 11, 2008 12:11 PM]

Caviar has always been the brand name of Western Digital's mainstream internal hard drives. I always thought it was a weird choice. Then again, Seagate calls their hard drives Barracuda. Is there something I am missing that correlates internal hard drives with fish?

[#8 posted by randalll , June 11, 2008 12:46 PM]

It's called caviar because you're paying way too much for something that later makes you want to vomit.

[#9 posted by Bob Doles Communist Doppelganger , June 11, 2008 12:54 PM]

@7

The barracuda is known for its considerable speed.

Whereas Western Digital hard drives are known for being gelatinous, nodular, and requiring the use of a natural bone or horn spoon for best effect.

[#10 posted by certron , June 11, 2008 1:36 PM]

Looking at this exposed model, there are two features that are previously unknown to me: The orange 'feelers' at the mid-right side and the crescent shield over the top platter.

What are these two used for, and why haven't I yet seen them on previous hard drives? Is the shield just for dust and particle abatement, is it magnetic, is it just for show? Are the orange feelers for the platters or a shock absorber for the drive heads? Maybe that is where the head 'parks' at shutdown?