Western Digital today announced the Caviar Black in terabyte and 750GB capacities, both of which will use the same 333GB platters. Shipments begin next week, and we're told that drives may be available for purchase as early as June 20. Expect to pay $249 for the terabyte model and $199 for the 750GB, although WD notes that initial production will heavily favor the higher capacity drive. Caviar Blacks will feature StableTrac motors that anchor the spindle at both ends to maintain performance in vibration-prone environments, IntelliSeek just-in-time actuator delivery, and off-disk drive head parking that WD now calls NoTouch. WD claims the Black will be the fastest terabyte hard drive on the market!

In HDD related news, ioSafe Inc has introduced the ioSafe 3.5 series, the industry's first internal hard drive with disaster protection that offers computing systems - from PCs to servers - convenient, affordable, integrated data protection. The ioSafe 3.5 drives are the first internal hard drives rated to protect data from fire and full immersion in water. They can be deployed and used exactly like any other industry-standard 3.5-inch disk drive, but with the added capability of disaster protection.