They are commonly found in the drive bay and are connected to the motherboard via an Advanced Technology Attachment (ATA), Serial ATA, parallel ATA or Small Computer System Interface ( SCSI) cable, among other formats.

HDDs are used either as the primary or secondary storage device in a computer.

More specifically, hard disk drives control the reading and writing of the hard disk that provides data storage. They can store operating systems, software programs and other files using magnetic disks. HDDs are usually installed inside desktop computers, mobile devices, consumer electronics and enterprise storage arrays in data centers. All computers need a storage device, and HDDs are just one example of a type of storage device. Non-volatile refers to storage devices that maintain stored data when turned off. Gillis, Technical Writer and EditorĪ computer hard disk drive (HDD) is a non-volatile data storage device. The Purple WD drives are aimed for write-heavy workloads-security applications (recording video)-and feature AllFrame technology, which attempts to reduce video frame loss, time limited error recovery, and support for the ATA streaming command set. The WD Green drives are energy efficient and are currently only available as an SSD as the WD Green HDD series was discontinued in 2015. As of 2019, the WD Elements line consists of WD Elements Portable (1-5TB, 4.3 x 3.2 x 0.5 inch), WD Elements Desktop (3-14 TB, 5.3 x 1.8 x 6.5 inch), and WD Elements SE.īased on their intended use, Western Digital color-codes certain cases of storage devices. While these products have traditionally used HDDs (hard disk drives), Western Digital does offer SSD versions of their newer drives. The WD brand has product families called the My Passport, My Book, and WD Elements. Western Digital sells its products under several of its own brands including the WD brand, SanDisk, and G-Technology.

Competitors of WD include Seagate Technology and Micron Technology. By designing and producing data technology products, WD is one of the largest manufacturers of computer hard drive disks, SSDs (solid state drives) and flash memory devices. Western Digital (WD) is an American hard drive disk manufacturer and data storage company founded in 1970.

Western digital hard drive tools