Western Digital unveils new high-capacity drives in Australia
Western Digital has announced the availability of higher-capacity storage solutions in its Professional product suite across Australia, aiming to address the increasing storage needs driven by advancements in artificial intelligence, video, analytics, virtual reality, photography, and media and entertainment sectors.
Professional storage upgrades
The new products feature enterprise-class Ultrastar 7200 RPM hard disk drives (HDDs), designed for enhanced performance, reliability and high read/write speeds. The updated offerings include several desktop RAID and stand-alone storage systems for creative workflows and business environments.
The G-RAID SHUTTLE 8 now supports up to 208TB of storage and is positioned for large-scale workflows such as backup consolidation and production projects. The eight-bay hardware RAID solution offers multiple RAID configurations, with default RAID 5 providing transfer speeds up to 1700MB/s read and 1500MB/s write. It features eight removable enterprise-class HDDs and can be daisy-chained with up to five additional devices. The recommended retail price is AUD $15,999.
For those requiring a smaller footprint, the G-RAID SHUTTLE 4 delivers 104TB of capacity across a four-bay, transportable design for businesses engaged in real-time video editing or multi-stream 4K, 8K and VR workflows. Preconfigured in RAID 5, it also offers RAID 0, 1, and 10 support. It can also be daisy-chained with up to five additional devices and is priced at AUD $9,999.
The G-RAID PROJECT 2 offers 52TB with two enterprise-grade HDDs, pre-configured in RAID 0 for maximum data transfer speeds, and features Thunderbolt 3 and USB-C (10Gbps) connectivity. It is available at AUD $3,849. The 26TB G-DRIVE PROJECT, compatible with Thunderbolt 3 and USB-C, includes a SanDisk Professional PRO-BLADE SSD Mag slot, supporting modular SSD performance for improved sharing and editing workflows, with a retail price of AUD $1,999.
A 26TB G-DRIVE is also introduced, focused on reliable office and studio backups with USB-C connectivity, read speeds up to 260MB/s, and write speeds up to 270MB/s. Its aluminium enclosure is stackable and adaptable for field and studio configurations, with a suggested price of AUD $1,399.
NAS storage enhancements
In addition to these updates, Western Digital has expanded its NAS product line with the 26TB WD Red Pro HDD. The drive is designed for demanding workloads in multi-bay, RAID-optimised network attached storage (NAS) systems, supporting up to 550TB per year workload rates and offering a mean time between failure (MTBF) of 2.5 million hours.
The new NAS HDD model utilises OptiNAND technology for improved data tracking and efficiency. The WD Red Pro 26TB is priced at AUD $1,349 and is positioned for both businesses and creative professionals seeking scalable, durable, 24/7 storage environments.
"At Western Digital, we are constantly redefining what's possible to meet the evolving storage demands of creatives and professionals, from 4K and 8K video production to AI analytics and critical workload storage," said Nitin Kachhwaha, Director of Product Management at Western Digital. "With the introduction of our expanded 26TB-based Professional lineup and WD Red Pro HDDs, we're offering the capacity and reliability that today's consumers and businesses need to stay ahead in an increasingly data-driven world. These solutions represent our ongoing commitment to delivering innovative storage solutions that empower creativity and drive digital transformation."
Market context
Western Digital's updates to its storage solutions come as professional workflows increasingly depend on higher file resolutions, longer project lifecycles, and collaborative editing environments. The availability of higher-capacity and performant HDDs is viewed by many in the industry as a necessary step to address the exponential growth in data produced by creative professionals, businesses, and cloud applications.
The new Professional suite and WD Red Pro 26TB HDD are now available through Western Digital's distribution channels and select resellers in Australia. Product capacities are quoted as one terabyte equalling one trillion bytes, with actual user capacity potentially varying depending on the operating environment.
