PC News Zone » Storage

Microsoft details SkyDrive overhaul, Windows 8 app and desktop sync in tow (Update: video)

PC News Zone — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 13:41:00 +0000

We heard whispers of SkyDrive desktop applications a few days ago. Today, Microsoft confirmed just that alongside a Metro-style offering for Windows 8 and other improvements to its cloud storage tech. In a post on the Building Windows 8 blog, the outfit discusses file sync via desktop app for easy drag-and-drop use -- much like we've become used to with Dropbox. The overhaul will support 2GB max file uploads through Windows Explorer and the desktop software will play nice with both Vista and Windows 7. Upgrades will also bring snappy, "touch-first" perusal of your files in a dedicated Windows 8 app and will offer accessibility in other Metro-syle applications should the need arise. The post states that "For app developers, this means that, so long as your app supports opening and saving documents and photos, it will automatically support SkyDrive without any additional work." Similar to its cloud storage competitor, SkyDrive will also enable remote access via its web site in case you need to "fetch" that presentation on a co-worker's PC. Still no word on extended storage options / pricing that we've heard rumblings about, though. For a closer look at the some of the tweaks, peep the gallery below or hit the source link for more on the particulars.

Verizon bringing storage to mifi with Seagate LTE mobile drive

PC News Zone — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 11:54:00 +0000

If you want a small more enterprise-friendly functionality in your broadband mobile router, Seagate and Verizon have a treat for you. Their new combination storage/mobile access draw allows for sharing both a Verizon LTE mobile connection and files across the built-in hard drive. The 500GB conventional crawl acts as a faithful shared drive/file server for up to three busy users, fair like Seagateâ€™s similar WiFi-only FreeAgent product available today. It comes with a battery as well, so untethered access should be god for a few hours, though immoderate use of the hard crawl will lower this. The unit is being developed for corporate customers at the moment, with consumers coming some time after initial release. To that end, the crawl also includes remote server access built-in t its software. Connect to your FTP site, and files can be automatically downloaded to the driveâ€™s on board storage. To keep matters fascinating while youâ€™re waiting for your flight, it connects naively with Netflix and streams it to any computer or mobile draw â€“ no app required. The draw has no set free date, but a Seagate representative said theyâ€™ve been working on it for 18 months, and it would be available soon.

AppliedMicro’s Catalina: Integrated USB 3.0 and 802.11ac Support for NAS Platforms

PC News Zone — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 10:54:00 +0000

AppliedMicro (AMCC) announced the availability of the Catalina SoC (APM86491) for low power and cost effective NAS systems today. The preceding generation version (APM82181) was the heart of the Western Digital My Book Live reviewed by us final year as categorically as the recently launched My Book Live Duo. Serving to remind us that the PowerPC architecture is still around in consumer devices, the modern platform manages to reduce the cost of USB 3.0 enabled NAS systems by integrating two USB 3.0 controllers (one host and one host/device) in the SoC. In the USB 3.0 enabled NAS systems we have seen so far, the controllers are from NEC or Fresco Logic, and they interface with one of the PCI-E lanes in the SoC / chipset. By integrating the USB 3.0 controller, the BOM cost is bound to get reduced. AppliedMicro also indicated that the Catalina SoC has QoS, TCP offload and packet classification engines to assist interface better with 802.11ac radios connected to either of the SoC's two PCI-E ports. In addition to the two PCI-E and two USB 3.0 ports, we also have two SATA ports and two GbE ports. Instead of targeting the SMB market with support for 4 or more bays, this solution seems to be geared towards an all-in-one appliance with the ability to function as a router, a wireless access point as categorically as a network attached storage device. The Catalina SoC has a single Power 465 core (along wtih a FPU) operating at 1 GHz. 64 KB of L1 cache is equally divided between the instruction and the data. 256 KB of L2 cache rounds up the internal memory subsystem. The SoC's DDR3 interface can be clocked at 533 MHz and can hump in either 16 or 32 bit mode. NAS platforms based on the Catalina SoC are expected to operate within a power envelop of 3W (excluding the drives, obviously!). It is refreshing to see that the consumer electronics market is not all ARM or MIPS. PowerPC based NAS platforms have proved to be fairly cost effective and power efficient and the APM86491 will be expected to carry that forward.

AppliedMicro’s Catalina: Integrated USB 3.0 and 802.11ac Support for NAS Platforms

PC News Zone — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 10:54:00 +0000

Corsair’s speedy, flaming red Force GT SSD goes on sale this month for $149 and up

PC News Zone — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 19:59:26 +0000

Corsair's Force GT solid-state drives caught our eye earlier this year, and their fire engine-red shells were only half the reason. These bad boys also promise up to 85,000 random write IOPS and are rated for impressive read / write speeds of 550 MBps and 525 MBps -- a shade higher than the specs being bandied-about when Corsair showed it off back in March. The drive also supports SATA 3, is backward-compatible with SATA 2, and ships with a 3.5-inch adapter that'll work with both desktops and laptops. Look for it this month in two sizes: 60GB ($149) and 120GB ($279). No word, alas, on the 240GB version that was strutting its stuff on the show floor in Hanover, Germany. PR after the break.

Corsair Announces Shipment of Force Series GT Solid-State Drives
– New high-performance line takes full advantage of SATA 6Gb/s technology –

FREMONT, California - June 30th, 2011 - Corsair®, a worldwide designer and supplier of high-performance components to the PC gaming hardware market, today announced the first shipments of the Force Series™ GT line of solid-state drives.

The new Force Series GT is designed for enthusiasts who demand the fastest performance available. It uses the new SandForce SF-2280 SSD Processor, with native support for SATA 6Gb/s (SATA 3), combined with ONFI synchronous flash memory. Force Series GT SSDs deliver outstanding read/write performance and significantly faster system response, boot times, and application load times than SATA 2 solid-state drives, with out-of-box performance of up to 85K Random Write IOPS, read speeds of up to 555 MB/s, and write speeds of up to 525 MB/s. The use of synchronous flash memory makes the Force GT Series particularly adept at reading and writing non-compressible data, such as video and music files.

All Force Series GT models are also backward compatible with SATA 2, and include an easy-to-use 3.5" adapter for use in both notebook and desktop PCs.

"With the rapid adoption of systems with SATA 3 support, enthusiasts are demanding SSDs that can push the limit of SATA 3 bandwidth," said Thi La, Vice President of Memory Products at Corsair. "The new Force Series GT line delivers amazing speed under the most demanding conditions, making them ideal for high-performance systems."

Force Series GT SSDs are currently shipping to Corsair's network of authorized distributors and retailers worldwide and will be available in July at a US suggested retail price of $149 USD for the 60GB model and $279 USD for the 120GB model. Note that stated capacities are unformatted and actual capacities will vary depending on the formatting and operating system used. For more information on Force Series GT solid-state drives, please visit the Corsair web site.

Buffalo debuts new MiniStation Plus portable storage solution

PC News Zone — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 16:58:00 +0000

Buffalo has launched a new portable storage device called the MiniStation Plus. Previously we talked about other MiniStation storage devices and this new offering is similar. The new MiniStation Plus connects to a USB 3.0 port to offer fast storage for whatever the user needs. The storage device is compatible with USB 2.0 ports as well, but using a USB 2.0 port will reduce the performance of the drive. The Plus version of the MiniStation is inside an attractive looking lightweight and shockproof chassis. It will work with a Mac or a PC and offers data transfer speeds of up to 5Gbps thanks to the speedy USB 3.0 port. The drive is also USB powered so it needs no external AC adapter. That is great news for mobile users and for desktop users that are tight on AC outlets. The Ministation Plus will encrypt the data stored on it with 256-bit AES encryption and a password will unlock the data you store on the drive. Controlling the MiniStation Plus is done with included Buffalo Tools utility suite for Windows computers. The MiniStation Plus has a 1-year warranty and will ship this month. The 500GB version is $84.99 and a 1TB version is $119.99.

PR: OWC Mercury Electra 6G SSDs

pcnz_admin — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 06:11:36 +0000

OTHER WORLD COMPUTING EXPANDS BUILT IN USA 6Gb/s SOLID STATE DRIVE LINE WITH NEW MERCURY ELECTRA 6G SSD

Consumer/Prosumer SSD Available in Capacities up to 480GB Starting at $229.99 Provide Incredible Performance at an Exceptional Price — Unmatched Data Reliability & Longevity

Highest Quality Components Including Tier 1/Grade A NAND Makes any Mac or PC “Faster in a Flash” with Sustained Data Rates over 500MB/s

June 15, 2011 Woodstock, IL — Other World Computing (OWCÂ®) http://www.macsales.com, a leading zero emissions MacÂ® and PC technology company, today announced the OWC Mercury Electraâ„¢ 6G SSD, a new consumer/prosumer targeted SandForce Drivenâ„¢ SATA Revision 3.0 6Gb/s Solid State Drive. Designed and built in the USA utilizing the highest quality components available, including Tier 1/Grade A NAND, the OWC Mercury Electra delivers 556MB/s read and 523MB/s write sustained data rates for over 7X faster performance than a standard factory hard drive found in Mac and PC computers.

Three Consumer/Prosumer Models Offered Starting At $229.99

Offering the SATA Revision 3.0 performance of a 6G SSD, but aggressively priced like a SATA Revision 2.0 3G SSD, the OWC Mercury Electra 6G is ideal for high speed personal computing, home office environments, gaming, and production workstations, can be incorporated into a RAID 1 or SPAN configuration, and is available for immediate ordering in three capacity sizes:

120GB OWC Mercury Electra 6G with Tier 1/Grade A NAND $229.99 MSRP
240GB OWC Mercury Electra 6G with Tier 1/Grade A NAND $479.99 MSRP
480GB OWC Mercury Electra 6G with Tier 1/Grade A NAND $929.99 MSRP

For more information on the OWC Mercury Electra 6G SSD, including reseller inquiries, visit: http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/SSD/OWC/Mercury_Electra_6G/

For more information on the complete OWC Mercury SSD line, including expert reviews and user comments, visit: http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/SSD/OWC/

Maximizes Any Computer’s 3G And 6G Data Bus

Whether a consumer has a Mac or PC with the SATA Revision 2.0 (3Gb/s) data bus or computer with the latest SATA Revision 3.0 (6Gb/s) interface, the OWC Mercury Electra 6G SSD is able to deliver near bus saturating speed when installed in either interface. OWC benchmark testing confirms the Mercury Electra 6G SSD delivers up to 284MB/s sustained reads and 268MB/s writes in the “3G’s” 300MB/s max speed bus. Taking advantage of “6G’s” interface’s maximum bandwidth of 600MB/s, the Mercury Electra 6G SSD provides up to 556MB/s sustained reads and 523MB/s writes.

Doesn’t Slow Down With Use Like Ordinary SSDs

Ordinary SSDs offer fast read/write performance during first initial uses, but can then experience significant write speed degradation over repeated, long-term usage. Independent simulation tests by leading drive performance experts confirm OWC Mercury SSDs’ ultra-efficient block management, wear leveling technologies, and real-time data redundancies enable incredibly high performance and extreme reliability, both of which are maintained over long-term intensive use.

Up To 100X Greater Data Protection

Speed doesn’t matter if it can compromise data integrity. Thanks to SandForceÂ® DuraClassâ„¢ technology, the OWC Mercury Electra 6G is able to provide up to 100X higher data protection than provided by ordinary SSDs as well as leading enterprise class hard disk drives. By combining the highest level of Error Correction Code (ECC) and SandForce RAISEâ„¢ (Redundant Array of Independent Silicon Elements) technology along with 7% over provisioning reserve/overhead flash allocation, the OWC Mercury Electra 6G provides RAID like data protection and reliability in a single drive application.

Risk-Free 30-Day Satisfaction Guarantee

To ensure the highest level of customer satisfaction and confidence, OWC is extending its renowned 30-Day Money Back Guarantee on its SSD line to include the new Mercury Electra 6G SSD. If a consumer is not completely satisfied with an OWC Mercury Electra 6G SSD for any reason, they simply need to contact OWC’s award-winning Customer Service department â€“ which offers 24/7 Live Chat support – to request a full, hassle-free refund.

“We’re very excited to continue the evolution of our solid state drive line with this new Electra model,” said Larry O’Connor, Founder and CEO, Other World Computing. “We’re being very aggressive in pricing this model to appeal to consumers and prosumers who have yet to make the SSD switch. With over 500MB/s of highly reliable performance, the OWC Mercury Electra 6G helps Mac and PC owners make their machines quickly and easily ‘faster in a flash’”.

“The new SandForce Driven 6Gb/s Mercury Electra line, using our latest SF-2000 SSD Processors, is well suited for further expanding the deployment of SSDs into both the Mac and PC environments,” said Kent Smith, Sr. Director of Product Marketing for SandForce. “SandForce is already in volume production with these latest award-winning SSD Processors and fully prepared to support this new OWC product line expansion.”

Expands Most Comprehensive SSD Line For Macs And PCs
The new Mercury Electra 6G SSD joins OWC’s existing line of performance leading, world speed record breaking Mercury Pro SSDs for nearly every Mac and PC produced over the past decade available in capacities from 40GB to 480GB starting from $99.97:

OWC Mercury Auraâ„¢ Pro
First and only high performance SandForce processor based SSD for 2008-2010 Apple MacBookÂ® Air models for up to 4X the maximum factory available SSD capacity; as well as a SandForce processor based model specifically for use with netbook/subnotebook computers that use an internal 1.8″ sized SATA drive.

OWC Mercury Legacyâ„¢ Pro
First and only SandForce processor based IDE/ATA SSDs available for pre-Intel PowerPC based Mac and PC notebook/laptop and desktop/tower computers.

OWC Mercury EXTREMEâ„¢ Pro 3G SSD
High performance 2.5″ SATA Revision 2.0 SSD with up to 285MB/s sustained reads and 275MB/s writes for demanding portable and desktop tower use.

OWC Mercury EXTREME Pro 3G RE SSD
RAID-Ready Enhanced performance with 28% over-provisioning for data centers, network operation centers, and dedicated RAID installations. Used to set overclocking world record: http://eshop.macsales.com/NewsRoom/Framework.cfm?page=PR/ssdre_032411.html

OWC Mercury EXTREME Pro 6G SSD
Ultra high performance 2.5″ SATA Revision 3.0 SSD with over 500MB/s sustained data rates and up to 479MB/s incompressible data rates for nearly SATA 3.0 bus saturating speed for prosumers and A/V, photography, and graphic production professionals.

About Other World Computing (OWC)

Other World Computing (OWC) has been providing quality hardware products and support to the computer industry since 1988 and features one of the largest online catalogs of computer, iPodÂ®, iPhoneÂ®, and iPadÂ® enhancement products through its e-commerce portal www.macsales.com. As a member of the AppleÂ® Developer Program, OWC also provides extensive US based technical support for Macintosh users around the world as well as Internet access via www.fastermac.net and www.owc.net

OWC’s industry awards and recognition include: Crain’s Chicago Business 2009 and 2011 “Fast 50″ List of 50 Fastest Growing Companies in the Chicago Area; Inc. 5,000 “Fastest Growing Privately Owned Companies in America” honoree 2007-2010; Reseller Ratings Elite Member 2009 & 2010; Better Business Bureau Top Rating of A+ 2010-2011; Reflex Packaging Commitment to Excellence Recycling Award 2009; Computerworld Magazine Top Green-IT Companies for 2008; and McHenry County Economic Development Corporation 2008 Business Champion Award.

In March 2010, OWC’s corporate campus was designated as LEEDÂ® Platinum by the Green Building Certification Institute (http://eshop.macsales.com/green/index.html). Platinum is the highest achievable LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Program level, which began in 1998. Out of more than 14,000 LEED projects engaged worldwide since the program’s inception, OWC is one of less than three hundred to achieve the Platinum standard. In September 2010, OWC’s headquarters earned the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ENERGY STARÂ® rating for building operations that perform in the top 25 percent of similar facilities nationwide for energy efficiency.

###

OWC is a registered trademark; and Mercury Aura, Mercury Legacy, Mercury EXTREME, and Mercury Electra are trademarks of New Concepts Development Corporation.

SandForce is a registered trademark and DuraClass, RAISE, and SandForce Driven are trademarks of SandForce, Inc.

Apple, Mac, iPod, iPhone, and iPad are the trademarks of Apple, Inc.

All other trademarks or registered trademarks are the property of their respectful owners.

PR: Samsung Electronics Unveils 1TB Hard Drive for Notebooks

pcnz_admin — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 08:19:06 +0000

Samsung Electronics Unveils Terabyte Hard Drive for Notebooks :: SEOUL, Korea, June 9, 2011: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., a world leader in digital consumer electronics and information technology, today announced its 500 gigabyte per platter, one terabyte internal hard disk drive, Spinpoint M8 for use in mobile computing applications such as notebooks.

Samsung’s Spinpoint M8, which consists of two 500 gigabyte platters, provides users with one terabyte storage space. The form factor support the 9.5mm height to comfortably fit in mobile computing applications.

The high density was achieved by utilizing advanced format technology (AFT), which raises the data storage density per unit area, enabling efficient and convenient data storage. A reduced number of components such as disks and heads also contribute to approximately seven percent increase in operation speeds and eight percent decline in power demand.

The dual-platter Spinpoint M8 operates on a high-performance 3 gigabits per second SATA interface, provides an eight megabyte buffer memory and incorporates EcoSeekâ„¢ and NoiseGuardâ„¢ features for minimal noise levels. A redesign of the overall structure ensures enhanced shock resistance to protect the disk from physical fracture and data loss.

Samsung’s C.H. Lee, vice president of storage strategic marketing said, “The new Spinpoint M8 line-up supports the ongoing growth curve for high density data storage densities, especially as it raises the bar to exceed terabyte density levels in the mobile computing space.”

Spinpoint M8 is currently in mass production and available worldwide with the 1TB drive at an MSRP of $129.00.

About Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. is a global leader in semiconductor, telecommunication, digital media and digital convergence technologies with 2010 consolidated sales of US$135.8 billion. Employing approximately 190,500 people in 206 offices across 68 countries, the company consists of eight independently operated business units: Visual Display, Mobile Communications, Telecommunication Systems, Digital Appliances, IT Solutions, Digital Imaging, Semiconductor and LCD. Recognized as one of the fastest growing global brands, Samsung Electronics is a leading producer of digital TVs, semiconductors, mobile phones and TFT-LCDs. For more information, please visit www.samsungelectronics.com.

OWC Extends Warranty on Mercury Extreme Pro 6G SSD to Five Years

pcnz_admin — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 09:47:36 +0000

Last month, Intel increased the warranty period on solid-state drives in its SSD 320 range from the original three years to five years, making them the first consumer SSDs to have such a long warranty period. Now, Woodstock, Illinois-based Other World Computing (OWC) has taken a leaf out of Intelâ€™s book and extended the warranty on its Mercury Extreme Pro 6G SSD line to five years. According to OWC, this move has made it â€œthe industryâ€™s first SandForce processor-based 6Gb/s SATA Revision 3.0 SSD offering an enterprise-class level 5 year warranty.â€

Those who bought the Mercury Extreme Pro 6G SSD prior to this announcement need not worry, as â€œOWC is also retroactively extending two additional years of warranty coverage to owners of the Mercury EXTREME Pro 6G who purchased their drive beginning mid April 2011 when it was offered with a three year warranty.â€

The SSD, which promises up to 559MB/s sustained reads and 527MB/s writes, is available in 120GB SSD, 240GB and 480GB capacities priced at $297.99, $569.99 and $1279.99, respectively.

“We’re very pleased to offer the industry’s longest warranty coverage on the latest and fastest SSD data interface and make it retroactive on all purchases of our Extreme Pro 6G SSD,” said Larry O’Connor, founder and CEO, OWC. “By building OWC Mercury SSDs with the best components and engineering processes available, we can offer consumers the best pre and post purchase assurances for the ultimate in SSD ownership confidence.”

Micron’s P320h: A Custom Controller Native PCIe SSD in 350/700GB Capacities

pcnz_admin — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 06:54:52 +0000

SSDs are beginning to challenge conventional drive form factors in a major way. On the consumer side we’re seeing more systems use new form factors for SSDs, enabled by mSATA. The gumstick form factor used in the MacBook Air and ASUS UX Series comes to mind. SSDs can offer performance in a smaller package, thus helping scale down the size of notebooks.

The 11-inch MacBook Air SSD, courtesy of iFixit

The enterprise market has seen a form factor transition of its own. While 2.5″ SSDs are still immensely common, there’s a lot of interest in PCIe solutions.

The quick and easy way to get a PCIe SSD is to take a bunch of SSDs and RAID them together on a single PCIe card. You don’t really get a performance benefit, but it does help you get a lot of performance without being drive-bay limited. This is what we typically see from companies like OCZ.

The other alternative is a native PCIe solution. In the aforementioned example, you typically have a couple of SATA SSD controllers paired with a SATA to PCIe RAID controller. With a native solution you’d skip the RAID controller entirely and just have a custom SSD controller that interfaces directly to PCIe. A native PCIe SSD is just an SSD that avoids SATA entirely, thus avoiding any potential bottlenecks. Today Micron is announcing its first native PCIe SSD: the P320h.

The P320h is Micron’s first PCIe SSD as well as its first in-house controller design. You’ll remember from our C300/C400/m4 reviews that Micron typically buys its controllers from Marvell and simply does firmware development in house. The P320h changes that. While it’s too early to assume that we’ll see Micron designed controllers for consumer drives as well, clearly that’s a step the company is willing to take.

The P320h’s controller is a beast. With 32 parallel channels and a PCIe gen 2 x8 interface, the P320h is built for bandwidth. Micron’s peak performance specs speak for themselves:

Sequential read/write performance is up to 3GB/s and 2GB/s respectively. Random 4KB read performance is up at a staggering 750,000 IOPS, while random write speed peaks at 341,000 IOPS. The former is unmatched by anything I’ve seen on a single card, while the latter is a number that OCZ’s recently announced Z-Drive R4 88 is promising as well. Note that these aren’t steady state numbers nor are the details of the testing methodology known so believe accordingly.

There is of course support for NAND redundancy, which Micron calls RAIN (Redundant Array of Independent NAND). Micron calls RAIN very similar to RAID-7 with 1 parity channel, however it didn’t release information as to what sorts of failures are recoverable as a result. RAIN in addition to typical enterprise level write amplification concerns result in a some pretty heavy overprovisioning on the drive as you’ll see below.

Micron will offer the P320h in two capacities: 350GB and 700GB. The drives use 16Gbit 34nm SLC NAND (ONFI 2.1). The 700GB drive features 64 package placements with 8 die per package – that works out to be 16GB per die, or 1TB of NAND on the card.

The 350GB version has the same number of package placements (64) but it only has 4 die per package, which works out to be 512GB of NAND on board. Obviously with twice as many die per package there are some interleaving benefits which result in better 4KB random write performance.

Pricing is unknown at this point, although Micron pointed out that it is expecting cost to be somewhere south of $16 per GB (at $16/GB that would be $5600 for the 350GB board and $11,200 for the 700GB board).