Western Digital today became the first manufacturer to announce the jump to 2TB in a single 3.5-inch hard disk drive. The announcement marks a shift among hard disk manufacturers: WD is not normally known for being at the forefront of capacity jumps (typically Seagate is first to market with new capacities, including the previous capacity high-point, the Barracuda 7200.11 1.5TB drive).

But no word from Seagate on when it might offer a 2TB model. The company is currently drowning in issues with its flagship Barracuda 7200.11 series; drives in that series are reportedly having self-bricking issues.

The drive packs four 500GB platters, with 400 gigabits per square inch areal density. The drive is also part of WD’s Green Power line of hard disk drives. This line of drives first shipped a year ago, and was the first to actively bill themselves as environmentally friendly drives due to lower power consumption. The 2TB drive has several WD technologies inside that enable its combination of capacity and power performance. StableTrac reduces vibration by securing the motor shaft at both ends, which in turn allows for accurate head tracking during read and write operations; IntelliPower, which WD says adjusts the balance of spin speed, transfer rate and caching algorithms for optimal balance between performance and power consumpetion; IntelliSeek, which optimizes seek speeds to enable lower power consumption, noise, and vibration; and WD’s NoTouch ramp load technology, which keeps the recording head from touching the disk media.

WD notes that, according to market research firm Trend Focus, over 10 percent of the 3.5-inch hard drive market is already at 1TB or higher.