Western Digital is now shipping the new WD VelociRaptor 1TB hard drive, which it says is the largest capacity 10,000 RPM hard drive on the market today.

Designed for high-performance Macs, PCs and professional workstations, it will also come in capacities of 500GB and 250GB. The WD VelociRaptor 2.5-inch hard drive comes in the IcePack enclosure, a 3.5-inch mounting frame with built-in heat sink. This is a factory customization that fits the drive into a standard 3.5-inch system bay and keeps the drive extra cool when installed in a high-performance desktop or workstation system, according to Darwin Kauffman, vice president and general manager of WD’s enterprise storage.

A SATA 6 Gb/s interface and 64 MB cache optimize the 10,000 RPM WD VelociRaptor. The drives’ Rotary Acceleration Feed Forward (RAFF) – Optimizes operation and performance when the drives are used in vibration-prone, multi-drive chassis.

WD VelociRaptor hard drives are available now at select distributors, resellers and e-tailers, and come with a five-year limited warranty. Manufacturer’s suggested retail pricing for the 1TB model is US$319.99; $209.99 for the 500GB version; and $159.99 for the 250GB drive. More info can be found at http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.aspx?id=20 .