WD Unveils Dual-Drive Storage For Homes, Small BusinessesWD Unveils Dual-Drive Storage For Homes, Small Businesses

Western Digital on Wednesday introduced a dual-drive storage system for protecting small-business data and personal collections of digital content, such as photos, music and video.

My Book Mirror Edition uses one drive for storing content from desktops and notebooks and the other for storing another copy for added protection. The RAID-based feature, called mirroring, provides data redundancy typical of what's found in corporate data centers. "Personal and business content are extremely valuable - both emotionally and financially," Jim Welsh, VP and general manager of the consumer electronics group at WD, said in a statement. "Our new My Book Mirror system helps users sleep easy, knowing that their data is safe." The drives are formatted for Windows PCs and feature a USB 2.0 interface for moving data. The system is configured for mirroring out of the box and is available in capacities up to 1 terabyte and 2 TBs. The unit has a capacity gauge on the outside for easy viewing, and users can open the enclosure to replace drives. The system also comes with a three-year limited warranty. Besides mirroring mode, users can choose to configure the systems for storage only. The unit is fan-less for quieter operation. My Book Mirror Edition is available at retailers and WD's online store. The manufacturer's suggested retail price is $290 for the 1 TB model and $550 for the 2 TB model. In May, WD launched a 320-GB portable storage device for Apple Macs. My Passport Studio is equipped with FireWire 400 and USB 2.0 interfaces and weighs less than five ounces. Besides being useful for carrying office files and personal digital content, the device also can be used for backing up a Mac notebook using Apple's Time Machine software utility. The device costs $220.