Western Digital adds a meaty 10TB model to its WD Purple family of hard drives

Why it matters to you

Surveillance systems now have a larger storage option with the launch of a new WD Purple 10TB hard drive supporting up to 64 high-definition cameras.

Western Digital announced on April 5 the availability of a new 10TB model in its line of WD Purple hard drives for surveillance applications. It joins the eight other models currently on the market spanning storage capacities between 500GB and 8TB. They’re designed to be in use 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and support a workload rate of up to 180TB per year. Each WD Purple drive can support up to 64 high-definition cameras on a single surveillance system as well.

On the whole, the WD Purple hard family consists of 5,400RPM-class, 3.5-inch storage solutions that connect to a SATA 3 (6Gbps) or older interface. Their overall dimensions are 1.028 (H) x 5.787 (L) x 4 inches with a weight ranging from 0.99 to 1.65 pounds, depending on the model. Here are the individual specs and their pricing:

Capacity
Cache
Sustained
Speed
Read/Write
Power Use
Price
WD100PURZ:
10TB
256MB
210MB/s
6.2 watts
$400
WD80PUZX:
8TB
128MB
178MB/s
6.4 watts
$284
WD60PURX:
6TB
64MB
175MB/s
5.3 watts
$250
WD50PURX:
5TB
64MB
170MB/s
5.3 watts
$200
WD40PURX:
4TB
64MB
150MB/s
5.1 watts
$140
WD30PURX:
3TB
64MB
145MB/s
4.4 watts
$105
WD20PURX:
2TB
64MB
145MB/s
4.4 watts
$80
WD10PURX:
1TB
64MB
110MB/s
3.3 watts
$60
WD05PURX:
500GB
64MB
110MB/s
3.3 watts
$50

“Our new 10TB drive inherits the high performance, reliability, and endurance qualities of our WD Purple family, with maximum capacity to offer VARs, integrators, and consumers a 4K-ready solution for current and next-generation surveillance systems,” said Brendan Collins, vice president of product marketing.

The WD Purple drives rely on the company’s proprietary IntelliSeek technology for optimal performance. According to Western Digital, this tech reduces possible damage and early wear-and-tear by calculating optimal seek speeds, which in turn lowers power consumption, noise, and vibration. This helps sustain their promoted 24/7 constant-use capability.

More: The Western Digital My Passport gives you 4TB of compact storage ($110 for Prime members)

And that is essentially what makes WD Purple drives different than the standard desktop hard drive: their specific, optimized design for DVR and NVR security systems that are in constant use. WD Purple drives support three times the workload rating of desktop drives, Western Digital claims, and are backed by the company’s proprietary AllFrame 4K technology so that missed frames and lost footage aren’t issues.

“AllFrame 4K technology enhances ATA streaming support to help reduce video frame loss with proprietary cache policy management technology to improve overall data flow and playback, Western Digital said. “WD Purple 10TB HDDs include exclusive firmware enhancements that help protect against video pixilation and interruptions within a surveillance system.”

Finally, the new WD Purple 10TB model is based on Western Digital’s third-gen HelioSeal tech. This enables the company to cram more storage platters and read/write heads inside the hard drive package by using helium to reduce the amount of turbulence caused by storage platters spinning in close proximity to each other. The tech also reduces power consumption because the platters spin more easily in a helium-filled environment.

The new 10TB model is available now through Western Digital’s online shop.