AfterDawn: News

Western Digital releases 314GB PiDrive for Raspberry Pi computers

Western Digital has cleverly released a 314GB PiDrive this week, a hard drive built for the Raspberry Pi micro computer.

"Adoption of Raspberry Pi computing devices is expanding at a tremendous rate, reaching eight million units in about four years. However, the millions of Raspberry Pi users are finding limitations from data storage devices (SD card, USB hard drive or cloud storage) originally designed for other applications," said Dave Chew, chief engineer, WDLabs. "The WD PiDrive 314 GB HDD is designed to support Raspberry Pi growth by addressing barriers to hard drive adoption such as affordability, power loading and system set-up. In addition, we've maintained the key strengths of hard drive technology, including mass-storage value, high data integrity and reliability."



Raspberry foundation CEO Eben Upton was happy with the release, as well. "With the extended capabilities of Raspberry Pi 3, we can't wait to see what new projects our community comes up with. WD PiDrive 314GB gives our members a low-cost, purpose-built hard drive solution that helps them develop even more innovative and unique ways to use Raspberry Pi."

WD says the company has customized the hard drive's "magnetic recording and electrical system operating set-points to align with Raspberry Pi's USB data and power design to reduce the electrical power load of the hard drive on Raspberry Pi, while still maintaining sufficient performance to deliver maximum USB data transfer rate." Theoretically, this makes the drive ideal for the device.

Additionally, the company is including BerryBoot, a free software solution for booting different operating systems.

The company is also selling the drive at a pretty cheap price, $31.42, although it will nearly double the price of the Raspberry Pi.

Source:
Western Digital

Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 14 Mar 2016 23:26

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• 15 comments

• ivymike

  Interesting......I wonder if the drive is USB 3.1, USB 3.0 or USB 2.0.....
  

  15.3.2016 02:10 #1

• skeil909

  Originally posted by ivymike: Interesting......I wonder if the drive is USB 3.1, USB 3.0 or USB 2.0..... Specs show it's an integrated USB 3.0
  

  15.3.2016 17:48 #2

• Captain_WD

  Originally posted by ivymike: ~snip~ Hey ivymike :)
  
  As skeil909 pointed out, the drive uses a USB3.0 connection and has a soldered USB3.0 port on it so you can utilize the full speed of the drive instead of having a bottleneck from the USB2.0 bandwidth.
  
  I'd be happy to answer other questions about our new drive if you happen to have any. :)
  
  Captain_WD.
  

  17.3.2016 10:18 #3

• ivymike

  I see.....I don't recall the R-Pi 3 having USB 3.0 but I could be mistaken.
  

  18.3.2016 02:49 #4

• Captain_WD

  Originally posted by ivymike: I see.....I don't recall the R-Pi 3 having USB 3.0 but I could be mistaken. The Raspberry Pi 3 indeed has four ports that are only USB2.0.
  The PiDrive is based on our 2.5" drives that use the USB3.0 port for better speed and power management so in case you need more power provided to the drive or to the Pi, you can use a cable like the one that we have in the Pi Kit and supply more power to the device.
  There are also other advantages that the USB3.0 micro female port offer over the USB2.0. :)
  
  Captain_WD.
  

  18.3.2016 06:29 #5

• ivymike

  Hopefully, the next version of the R-Pi will have USB 3.0......
  

  18.3.2016 06:38 #6

• Captain_WD

  Originally posted by ivymike: ~snip~ I'm sure the guys developing it will come up with something. :) Regardless, all new drives are made for SATAIII and USB3.0 usage so their bus isn't bottle-necking their performance.
  
  Feel free to ask if there are other questions that I can help you with :)
  
  Captain_WD.
  

  18.3.2016 07:56 #7

• pmshah

  Any exposed circuits at the bottom ? It would make an excellent shirt pocket size portable drive.

  19.3.2016 22:10 #8

• Captain_WD

  Originally posted by pmshah: ~snip~ It's not recommended to use the drive as a portable one without an enclosure not only due to the open PCB on the back, but because it would be risky to physically damage it (just as any regular internal drive, regardless if it's a 2.5" or 3.5"). :)
  
  Captain_WD.
  

  21.3.2016 06:04 #9

• Jemborg

  Originally posted by Captain_WD: Originally posted by pmshah: ~snip~ It's not recommended to use the drive as a portable one without an enclosure not only due to the open PCB on the back, but because it would be risky to physically damage it (just as any regular internal drive, regardless if it's a 2.5" or 3.5"). :)
  
  Captain_WD. I suppose you could wrap it in clingwrap. :P
  
  
  

  Its a lot easier being righteous than right.
  
  
  DSE VZ300-
  Zilog Z80 CPU, 32KB RAM (16K+16K cartridge), video processor 6847, 2KB video RAM, 16 colours (text mode), 5.25" FDD

  21.3.2016 06:06 #10

• Captain_WD

  Originally posted by Jemborg: ~snip~ I would try to avoid that :) you'd need quite a lot of it to make the drive safe but then you'd run into troubles with overheating.
  A regular External enclosure should do the trick perfectly fine if you find one without a USB port as the drive already has one. :)
  
  Captain_WD.
  

  21.3.2016 09:19 #11

• Jemborg

  Awww
  
  :)
  

  Its a lot easier being righteous than right.
  
  
  DSE VZ300-
  Zilog Z80 CPU, 32KB RAM (16K+16K cartridge), video processor 6847, 2KB video RAM, 16 colours (text mode), 5.25" FDD

  21.3.2016 10:30 #12

• pmshah

  Originally posted by Captain_WD: Originally posted by Jemborg: ~snip~ I would try to avoid that :) you'd need quite a lot of it to make the drive safe but then you'd run into troubles with overheating.
  A regular External enclosure should do the trick perfectly fine if you find one without a USB port as the drive already has one. :)
  
  Captain_WD. If this drive becomes popular I am pretty sure some enterprising Chinese firm will come up with a casing to turn it into an external USB drive costing maybe $4/- or $5/- delivered to my place. I think I will wait for it. Hopefully by that time price for the drive too will have fallen. BTW I have one plastic enclosure for 3.5" drive which has a flap that exposes the SATA port for connecting while being used that can be closed to protect the drive and the Sata port from dust and other environmental elements. The other side flips open like a Zippo lighter and you just drop the drive in and snap it shut.
  
  BTW if this can run off of a USB 2.0 port than power consumption would be under 2.5 Watts. Don't think there should be any overheating problem. I am using a couple of laptop drives in alluminium casing where there is may be a 0.3 mm fiber sheet screwed onto the bottom to prevent short circuiting. Have never had any overheating problem. My idea would be to simply use it as bootable USB drive to boot DVD images for OS installation purposes.

  21.3.2016 11:12 #13

• Captain_WD

  Originally posted by pmshah: ~snip~
  If you decide to use such enclosure that should be fine :) do post back with some test results if you try it so other people can know if it's a good idea!
  
  The drive produces more or less heat and it does need some space to "breathe" (as any regular HDD). My point was that wrapping it with foil or something else might result in higher temperature levels. A regular plastic or metal enclosure should do just fine and the drive should serve you well for the purpose that you intend to use it. :)
  
  Captain_WD.
  

  22.3.2016 04:11 #14

• pmshah

  Originally posted by Captain_WD: Originally posted by pmshah: ~snip~
  If you decide to use such enclosure that should be fine :) do post back with some test results if you try it so other people can know if it's a good idea!
  
  The drive produces more or less heat and it does need some space to "breathe" (as any regular HDD). My point was that wrapping it with foil or something else might result in higher temperature levels. A regular plastic or metal enclosure should do just fine and the drive should serve you well for the purpose that you intend to use it. :)
  
  Captain_WD. I just wish I could have posted the photo of the plastic housing I am talking about.
  
  Here is a link to something similar to what I am talking about. You could use it without the included USB to SATA adapter.
  
  http://www.dx.com/p/maiwo-usb3-0-k104-m...00#.VvFBtZDNnA0

  22.3.2016 09:02 #15