WD Demonstrates Highest Hard Drive Density

<p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"><strong><br/>
Company Achieves 520 Gb/in2 Areal Density in Demonstration; Result of Ongoing
Technology Investments</strong></font></p>
<p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"><br/>
<strong>Sydney, Australia – Oct 23, 2007</strong> - Western Digital announced
that it has achieved 520 Gb/in2 areal density – the hard drive industry’s
highest demonstrated density to date using continuous media. The company revealed
the milestone at the Perpendicular Magnetic Recording Conference in Tokyo after
an earlier demonstration in California. </font></p>
<p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Following WD’s growing investments in technology the past
five years, the company achieved 520 Gb/in2 using its own perpendicular magnetic
recording (PMR)/tunneling magneto-resistive (TuMR) head technology. This level
of density produces a 3.5-inch hard drive storing 640 GB-per-platter and single
hard drive capacities as large as 3 TB. Based on the industry’s current
density growth rate of more than 40 percent per year, those capacities are expected
to be available in the 2010 timeframe.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Current industry-leading hard drive densities shipping in high
volume are about 200 Gb/in2, as featured in WD’s 250 GB WD Scorpio 2.5-inch
drive for notebooks and mobile applications, which began shipping in May 2007.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">“WD was the first hard drive manufacturer to ship in volume
the 250 GB capacity point in the 2.5-inch form factor,” said Hossein Moghadam,
chief technology officer for WD. “Our technology investments position
WD with our customers as a leading choice for the highest, cutting-edge capacities.
Our top priority will be to remain keenly focused on providing the highest quality
and reliability, which customers have come to expect from WD after years of
relying on our products.”</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">WD demonstrated 520 Gb/in2 density in its Magnetic Head Operation
labs in Fremont, Calif., earlier this month. Moghadam added, “The milestone
was realized using our current-technology MgO reader, illustrating the extendibility
of PMR-TuMR head technology generations into the future.”</font></p>
<p><strong><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">About WD</font></strong><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"><br/>
WD, one of the storage industry's pioneers and long-time leaders, provides products
and services for people and organizations that collect, manage and use digital
information. The company produces reliable, high-performance hard drives that
keep users' data accessible and secure from loss. WD applies its storage expertise
to consumer products for external, portable and shared storage products. <br/>
<br/>
WD was founded in 1970. The company's storage products are marketed to leading
systems manufacturers, selected resellers and retailers under the Western Digital
and WD brand names. Visit the Investor section of the company's Web site (<a href="http://www.westerndigital.com">www.westerndigital.com</a>)
to access a variety of financial and investor information.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"><br/>
<strong>PR Contact</strong><br/>
Renato Catalan<br/>
Gap Marketing and Management Pty Ltd<br/>
Website: <a href="http://www.gapmarketing.com.au">www.gapmarketing.com.au</a></font></p>

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