All currently shipping WD Green models will remain available through their lifecycle, as they transition to the WD Blue label. WD Black® models will remain in the PC drive family, yet designed for high-performance applications such as gaming and workstations and for those building high-end systems for creative professionals.
WD's color-coded product portfolio enables customers to easily choose the right hard drive designed for their intended application. Its other colors include WD Red® for network-attached storage (NAS) appliances and WD Purple™ for video surveillance systems. WD's datacenter drives are identified with gold labels.
"The market for mass storage has expanded broadly beyond the PC," said Margaret Koh, director of sales - South Asia Sales of WD. "Every application for storage requires different hard drive attributes for optimal data recording and preservation, and every drive WD designs has a specific purpose. What can be easier for customers than matching a color to their application? Moving forward, they will only need to know whether they are building PC, high-performance, NAS, video surveillance or datacenter systems."
The new WD Blue model numbers inherit the same nomenclature as the prior WD Green generation products, but end with a 'Z' instead of an 'X' (example: WD60EZRX to WD60EZRZ).