Western Digital - Key Innovations

Key Innovations

Western Digital is responsible for a number of innovations, including

  • c.1971 – WD1402A, the first single-chip UART
  • c.1976 – WD1771, the first single-chip floppy disk controller
  • 1981 – WD1010, the first single-chip ST-506 controller
  • 1983 – WD1003 hard disk controller, predecessor to ATA
  • 1986 – Co-developed ATA with Compaq and Control Data
  • 1986 – WD33C93, one of the first SCSI interface chips
  • 1987 – WD7000, first bus-mastering ISA SCSI controller
  • 1987 – WD37C65, first single-chip PC/AT-compatible floppy disk controller
  • 1988 – WD42C22, first single-chip ATA hard disk controller
  • 1990 – Caviar drives introduced
  • 2001 – the first mass market IDE drive with an 8 MB buffer
  • 2003 – the first SATA drive running at 10,000 rpm

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