WD will be phasing out the HGST branding, perhaps not the best move? HGST HDDs gained much popularity due to strong reliability. The first move is the name change of the Western Digital Ultrastar DC HC320. The HDD, targeted at data center usage, earlier released as HGST Ultrastar 7K8.

WD feels the old branding is not in line with Western Digital’s new branding policies, mentioned WD in a blog on the Western Digital website, writes myce.

HGST’s director of HDD product line management, Lenny Sharp, writes, “all new commercial and enterprise products going forward will carry this new Western Digital branding as we transition away from the HGST brand. Western Digital has gone through a significant transformation with the integration of multiple companies.  Moving to the Western Digital brand for all of our commercial and enterprise products is the first step in unifying the brands in our portfolio.”

Hitachi Global Storage Technologies (HGST) was founded in 2003, and was a merger between the hard disk drive businesses of IBM and Hitachi. In 2012, Western Digital acquired HGST and it was planned that HGST would continue with its own brand name and product lines. That era now ends. In 2015, Western Digital also acquired Sandisk, according to today’s announcement also that brand name will likely disappear for commercial and enterprise products and will be replaced by the Western Digital brand.

Western Digital moves away from the HGST branding