Western Digital Introduces FireWire 60 GB External Hard Drive

Addition to Product Line Delivers Easy-To-Add, Secure Storage To PC and Macintosh Computers
May 2 -- Western Digital Corporation (NYSE: WDC) today announced the availability of its new 60 GB FireWire external hard drives. Western Digital's FireWire external hard drives offer personal storage with plug-and-play connectivity to high-speed devices such as digital cameras, digital video camcorders, and scanners and are ideal for transferring digital video and audio in real-time to desktop or portable computers.

"The number of digital cameras and digital camcorders sold to consumers doubled over the past year according to industry research firm Gartner," said Richard E. Rutledge, vice president of marketing for Western Digital. "These WD FireWire hard drives provide additional, secure storage and most digital camera and digital video cameras on the market today are equipped with FireWire terminals. If a PC or Macintosh is not FireWire-enabled, WD's FireWire PCI adapters provide a simple solution."

Each WD FireWire hard drive includes full-featured digital video editing software (Adobe Premier 5.1 LE for Macintosh and Ulead VideoStudio for Windows). The external hard drives provide a complete solution for Internet downloads, music files, video files, data files and photos.

Western Digital's FireWire product line also includes 30 GB FireWire external hard drives. The hard drives are compatible with any PC or Macintosh with a built-in FireWire port or a FireWire adapter, using either Windows 98 SE or Mac OS 8.6 or higher operating systems. For computers without FireWire ports, Western Digital offers a PCI adapter for desktops and a CardBus PC Card for notebooks, which will add the FireWire interface to these legacy systems.

All WD FireWire products carry a one-year warranty.

Widespread availability of WD's FireWire 60 GB external hard drives is expected in early May through Western Digital's retail partners, Internet resellers including catalog partners, selected distributors, and the Company's online store. Pricing is to be determined.

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's core business produces reliable, high-performance hard drives that keep users' data close-at-hand and secure from loss.

Applying its data storage core competencies to emerging markets, Western Digital's new ventures meet the increasing demand for innovative information management solutions arising from the proliferation of the Internet and broadband services. Keen Personal Media provides interactive TV4me(R) personal video recorders and set-top box software, services and hardware for broadband television content management and commerce. Connex designs Network Attached Storage products that enable IT managers to quickly expand network storage. SANavigator develops and markets software that simplifies the central management of Storage Area Networks. SageTree is a software company providing enterprise manufacturing and supply chain analytic applications. 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 Web site (www.westerndigital.com) to access a variety of financial and investor information.

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SOURCE Western Digital Corporation