Western Digital announced today that it is now shipping in volume its WD Caviar SE16 640 GB 3.5-inch hard drives based on 320 GB-per-platter technology — a platform that it has been shipping since January 2008 and is serving as the foundation of all of the company's 3.5-inch drive families. The WD Caviar SE16 640 GB (model WD6400AAKS) hard drives may be ordered now and have a manufacturer's Suggest Retail Price (MSRP) of $139.99 USD, but can be found at retailers like Newegg for $129.99 plus shipping.

“The 640 GB capacity point will be an important one for our desktop customers, and WD is leading high-volume shipments to the channel and OEM customers, said Don Bennett, general manager and vice president of WD's desktop business unit. “Two-platter hard drives have always been the perfect balance of value, capacity and performance for many of our customers. Today's common two-platter drives are limited to 500 GB, but we are expanding capacity by 28 percent on the same design with WD's leading technology heads and disks.