WD ships two-platter 640GB hard drive

Western Digital on Wednesday said it had started shipping its 640GB Caviar SE16. The 3.5-inch desktop drive stores less than the 750GB and 1TB drives that have reached shelves but achieves its 640GB capacity using only two platters. With such sheer density, the drive is both faster than some other drives and also runs at cooler (and thus quieter) levels than disks which would need three or even four platters to push past the 500GB mark, according to the company.

The disk connects to any SATA or SATA II-capable system and supplies 16MB of cache to handle the higher data traffic created by the extra space. Western Digital officially lists the drive for $140 and says it should be available both through the company's online store as well as through computer resellers.