EZQuest has launched higher capacity versions of its Cinema Pro rack-mountable RAID and Thunder RAID products. Both storage devices are geared towards video professionals with flexible RAID settings for fast data-transfer rates or a balance between speed and redundancy.
Trans International has introduced the DX4, a new drive mount for Mac Pros. The unit fits inside a Pro's case, and supports up to four 2.5-inch SSD or conventional hard drives. Using a third-party SAS/SATA RAID adapter, drives can be connected in RAID 0, 1, 5, 10 or JBOD configurations.
Apple has posted two new firmware updates, addressing separate pieces of hardware. The iMac Graphics FW Update 1.0.2 fixes stability problems on iMacs running an ATI Radeon HD 2600 Pro video card, or else the Radeon HD 2400 XT. Systems must also be operating on Mac OS X 10.5.2 or later.
Sonnet Technologies has introduced the Fusion RX1600Fibre, its latest expandable RAID storage system. Designed for small video-editing workgroups, the system provides a 4-port, 8Gb Fibre Channel interface that supports up to four users and delivers maximum read speeds of 1,000MB/s or write speeds of 740MB/s. It features sixteen 1TB drives configured as RAID 5, although users can also choose between RAID 4 and RAID 6 arrays.
Radion has introduced several GearRAID quad-bay data storage subsystems with enhanced data protection when the drives are configured as a RAID 5 array. The storage devices integrate an Oxford936QSE chipset, enabling four 2TB drives to be configured as a RAID 5 array with a maximum of 6TB of overall storage space. The drives are capable of automatically backing-up data, while one hard drive can fail without any loss of data. Each storage system also supports eSATA, 1394b and USB 2.0 host interfaces.
Sonnet Technologies has announced a desktop RAID system, the Fusion D400QR5, along with its rackmount counterpart, the R400QR5. Both devices build upon the company’s previously released D400Q and R400Q four-bay systems, adding a RAID 5 controller for improved balance between data protection and usable capacity. Both systems support eSATA, FireWire 800 and 400, and USB 2.0 interfaces, while enabling users to select a preferred RAID mode or configure each individual drive.
Buffalo Technology on Tuesday announced its latest storage product, the rackmount TeraStation III, aimed at small- to medium-size businesses. The network device is built on the same platform as the company's standalone TeraStation III, with support for hot swapping, replication, NFS, Active Directory and Time Machine backup. Users can configure the drives in RAID arrays or apply disk encryption for sensitive data.
Squashed Software, formerly Maza Digital, says it has released RAID Monitor 3, a major update to its RAID status utility. The app performs background tracking of drive errors, which are then passed on to administrators through alert messages. Version 3 has been entirely rewritten, and redesigned with a new interface.
CalDigit has released the CalDigit VR mini, a compact digital storage unit. The product includes two digital storage drives and a frontside LCD display. The CalDigit VR mini supports both RAID 0 (striping), RAID 1 (mirroring), and JBOD and the device can work fast enough to complement high definition video editing. The product features RAID hardware that provides an independent CPU and cache memory to manage the RAID volume. This process eliminates the strain from the host system's CPU and gives applications full system access.
HighPoint has released the RocketRAID eSATA controller, specifically designed for the Mac Pro. The device is used to manage disk drives and provides additional disk cache. The controller features PCI-Express x4 bus speed, enabling transfer rates of up to 1000MB per second. RocketRAID eSATA also has integrated boot support allowing the controller to boot a Mac Pro system from a single drive or RAID configuration. The controller is also capable of supporting almost every type of eSATA hard disk configuration, such as Silicon Image Port Multipliers and eSATA drive kits.
Sans Digital has relaunched its dual-bay RAID network-attached server, the MobileNAS MN2LP - 2 Bay RAID NAS Server, featuring an LCD readout display. The new LCD provides RAID, system info and the IP address. The two-disk server is geared towards file sharing on a home or office network. It offers both RAID 0 striping for better performance or RAID 1 mirroring for redundancy and better backup. It works over Mac networks via Bonjour networking and is compatible with Windows via CIFS as well as Linux via NFS -- it can support all three platforms at once.
QStar Technologies has upgraded its flagship product, HSM, to be compatible with the upcoming Mac OS X 10.5 Snow Leopard. The software is geared for storage systems, with tools that can be used to manage data movement between multiple tiers of storage, both online and offline. A variety of storage technologies are supported, including DVD-RAM, BD, CAS, and PDD.
Sans Digital had announced an expansion of its TowerRAID series through the addition of mini-SAS interfaces to its TowerRAID TR4X/TR4X-B and TR8X/TR8X-B. Features of the integrated mini-SAS ports combine four hard drive connections into one, reduce possible points of failure, and help to maintain uninterrupted data transfer. The mini-SAS technology is geared towards uses such as video editing, and provides Fibre Channel connectivity while enabling the TR4X and TR8X to support 3Gbps SAS or SATA hard drives.
Sonnet has released the Fusion R400P, a four-drive RAID SATA rackmount storage system. The system supports RAID 0, 1, and JBOD and arrives in a 1U rackmount enclosure. It is available in configurations from driveless to 6TB and has an eSATA single-cable port. The new unit is based on Sonnet's Fusion R400Q series and can reach speeds of 220MB/sec in a RAID 0 configuration.
Sans Digital has released the AccuSTOR AS212X2 2U 12-bay SAS enclosure, which it says is the first JBOD rackmount to overcome the lack of monitoring ability when utilizing a RAID controller card. The enclosure is built with a selectable switch that allows hardware monitoring with various RAID controller interfaces. The feature also allows system administrators to check hard drive status, power supply and cooling fan information.
QNAP Systems has announced its latest Intel-based network attached storage (NAS) system, the TS-439 Pro Turbo NAS. The device utilizes a 1.6GHz Atom CPU and provides up to 6TB of storage, with support for online RAID capacity expansion and RAID level migration without turning off the server. The NAS can be connected using five USB 2.0 ports and two eSATA ports. Data can be protected with 256-bit volume-based encryption, automatic policy-based IP blocking, and instant SMS or e-mail alerts to warn of drive problems or failure.
Sans Digital has launched a new series of 8-bay MobileRAID towers, featuring dual channel SCSI, SAS and Fiber Channel connections and hardware RAID 6. RAID 6 balances between parity and speed, while allowing for up to two drive failures at one time without data loss. The MobileRAID towers utilize the engine structure of Sans Digital's AccuRAID rackmount systems, allowing for dual channel support, online expansion, online RAID migration, and RAID roaming. The three towers, the MR8S, MR8X and MR8F4, feature embedded Ethernet web management, allowing for local and remote access of the system status and alerts for system events.
Storage gear maker HighPoint has unveiled the RocketRAID 2684, its newest SATA/SAS-based RAID controller. The hardware uses an internal SFF-8087 connector, paired with an external SFF-8088 one. It supports SATA drives up to 1.5TB in size, and SAS drives spinning as fast as 15,000rpm.
LaCie has unveiled its latest external devices, the d2 DVD burner and a dual-drive RAID system. The DVD burner is driven by Windows XP Embedded and touts a maximum write speed of 22x. Users can choose from a USB 2.0 connection or FireWire, and write to DVD-R, DVD-RW, Dual Layer, CD-R or CD-RW media. The drive also features LightScribe technology for burning custom labels directly onto the discs.
EZQuest has revealed the Cinema Pro, a new RAID storage system geared towards video editing. The unit provides 16 bays in a 3U rack format, allowing for up to 24TB of capacity. It uses a 20Gbps external PCIe bus, and transfers approximately 900MBps in RAID 0 mode, or 870MBps in RAID 5; 1, 1E, 3, 6 and JBOD configurations are also supported. Tasks on the Pro are aided by an 800MHz Intel processor equipped with 2GB of SDRAM cache.
Storage tech builder ATTO has announced a preview demonstration of the FastStream SC 8500, a new RAID controller, for this week's Macworld Expo. The 8500 is meant for high-end storage functions such as video editing, and can handle as many as five uncompressed HD streams simultaneously. It includes four 8Gb Fibre Channel host interfaces, and can connect up to 128 3Gb SAS or SATA drives, or else eight to 16 JBOD enclosures.
Small Tree Communications has announced its abcSAN shared storage disk, launching at Macworld 2009 in January. The new SAN (storage area network) disk is a member of Small Tree's GraniteSTOR family, an iSCSI-based Ethernet-attached unit capable of over 600MB-per-second speeds. The disk array arrives with a user interface that features a one-pane window for managing RAID sets, volumes and shares. It can be set up as a SAN or network-attached storage, with 4 and 16 drive configuration to be offered.
Sonnet Technologies has unveiled the DX800RAID, an eight-bay SATA storage system with an integrated Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) expander that can be used to connect up to 16 individual eight-drive enclosures to a single RAID controller. The new system supports RAID 5 and RAID 6, protecting against data-loss if one or two drives fail. The company claims read speeds of up to 680MB per second and write speeds of up to 640MB per second.
Sans Digital has unveiled its latest RAID storage device, the 4-bay MR4UT enclosure. A RAID controller and 400MB per second I/O processor are integrated into the housing, eliminating the need for separate hardware or drivers. Users can configure the drives as RAID 0, 1, 0+1, 3, 5 or JBOD arrays, with the option to keep one drive as a hot spare to be used if an active drive fails. The HDD trays support 3.5-inch hot-swappable SATA I and SATA II drives, with write speeds claimed to reach 210MB per second and write speeds of 170MB per second via eSATA connections, with lower speeds when using the USB 2.0 interface.
EZQuest has introduced the Thunder Pro Triple series of A/V RAID storage devices. Each unit offers two FireWire 800 ports, a FireWire 400 port and a USB port. The three-drive arrangement ships pre-configured as RAID 0 for the highest capacity and speed. The Oxford-chipset Hitachi SATA II drives run at 7200RPM with up to 64MB buffer cache. EZQuest claims data transfer speeds up to 80MB per second, with support for DV, HDV and DVCPRO HD with real-time effects.
HighPoint Technologies has introduced the RocketRAID 2680 SAS host bus adapter (HBA). The company focused on making an adapter with a small form factor measuring only 3.3 inches long, terminating at the end of the PCIe x4 slot. The company claims RAID 5 performance of up to 561MB per second read and 654MB per second write. The device features 8 SAS/SATA ports and supports RAID levels 0, 1, 5, 10, and JBOD with scaling up to 128 devices if an expander is also used.
Storage device company ATTO has unveiled new products at the Storage Networking World trade show, a line of ExpressSAS 6-Gb SAS/SATA host adapters, and the FastStream SC 8500 8-Gb RAID storage controller. The ExpressSAS 6-Gb SAS/SATA host adapters combine the company's Advanced Data Streaming (ADS) technology with management software for Windows, Mac, and Linux platforms. Six models will be released in the line, which are in the process of being shipped to OEMs and partners for certification and qualification.
HighPoint has released a series of SAS Connectivity Plus RAID 5 capable PCI-Express controllers. The three new models are the RocketRAID 2644x4, RocketRAID 2640x4 and RocketRAID 2640x1. The 2644x4 connects externally, while the 2640x4 (a four-lane PCI card) and 2640x1 (a one-lane card) offer internal connections and all three connect to both SAS and SATA hard disks. The controllers offer RAID levels 0, 1, 10, 5 and JBOD.
Trans International has released its new Pro Drive for the Mac Pro. The Pro Drive is a 2.5-inch dual hard drive enclosure, designed to replace a Mac Pro's hard drive. The drive can be setup (via a switch on the enclosure) to run in a RAID 0 or 1 configuration, for speed (RAID 0) or redundancy (RAID 1), while occupying the space of a single 3.5-inch drive. Trans International is promising 400MB per second performance when four Pro Drives are loaded in a Mac Pro and set for RAID 0.
Eric Cheng of Echeng.com says he has successfully installed and run a RAID 0 SSD array in a MacBook Pro, with strong performance results. Utilizing two 120GB OCZ SATA SSD notebook hard drives, and an MCE OptiBay hard drive adapter (placed in the MacBook Pro's SuperDrive bay), Cheng was able to configure the two drives and set them up in a striped RAID 0 array, and install a bootable copy of Mac OS X.
MicroNet has announced what it says is the "world's smallest" RAID subsystem. The OS-independent RaidBank4 device comes with eSATA and USB interfaces in sizes up to 4TB, with a 6TB version promised soon. At 6.5 x 4.75 inches, MicroNet claims RAIDBank4 is small enough and sturdy enough for users to carry between home and work.
Sans Digital has unveiled two new hard drive storage rackmounts, each allowing up to 42 drives, the AccuRAID AR442F4 and AR442F4R. 42TB of storage space can be supported when operating as direct attached storage, but also allowing setup as a network-attached service. Drives are interfaced using fibre-channel technology (4GB/s) for maximum speed and can be configured up to RAID 6 to protect against multiple drive failures. Both devices contain three hot-swappable power supplies and two hot swappable cooling fans.
Sans Digital has announced the TowerRAID TR2UT, a two-bay storage enclosure, offering eSATA and USB 2.0 interfaces and hardware RAID striping and mirroring. The TR2UT uses a Silicon Image 5744 chipset for its built-in RAID features and the two bays support up to 2TB of storage (1TB in RAID 1 mirroring mode). The tower also offers spanning and JBOD (just a bunch of disks) RAID modes, and offers a trayless design. The new tower will support the Mac OS, as well as Linux and Windows. (Pricing has not been announced.)
HighPoint Technologies has unveiled the RocketRAID 4320 SAS RAID Controller. This hardware, featuring the Intel Xscale IOP348 at 1.2GHz, was designed by HighPoint to meet the scalability, performance, reliability, and manageability requirements for enterprise. RocketRAID 4320 is a PCI-Express x8 SAS RAID controller capable of supporting eight SAS/SATA hard drives. HighPoint claims transfer rates over 1004MB/s read and 913MB/s write using their second generation "TerabyteArchitecture".
Sans Digital has introduced a new direct attached storage enclosure, the TowerRAID TS2UT. The TS2UT is a tray-less, 2-bay storage tower with RAID capabilities. The tray-less feature is designed for fast installation and access of hard drives: each hard drive can easily be installed or removed by opening the front plate handle. A turn-lock located at the front of each handle allows the drives to be secured without the need of screws or other tools. In addition to easy hard drive access, the TS2UT offers users four different RAID modes, FAST (RAID 0), SAFE (RAID 1), JBOD (individual drive access), and BID (spanning). The different RAID modes are selectable by a switch located on the front panel.
HighPoint Technologies announced today it is releasing the RocketRAID 2644x4 SAS RAID controller card that will deliver throughput speeds as high as 1000MBps and is capable of supporting as many as 128 SAS and SATA hard drives (via SAS expanders from LSI and Vitesse). The controller can connect with up to four PCI-Express busses capable of tranferring data at 1000MBps speeds in both directions at the same time.
HighPoint Technologies on Wednesday unveiled the RocketRAID 3122 PCI-Express controller card, offering users a low-cost, performance solution for connecting eSATA hard drives to a Mac Pro. The RocketRAID 3122 requires a 1x PCI-express slot, and can use up to 10 daisy-chained drives on two external 3Gb/s eSATA ports. Users can choose between RAID levels 0 and 1. HighPoint is selling the RocketRAID 3122 for $170, available from the company or its various certified resellers.
CalDigit has announced the CalDigit RAID Card, a Mac hardware RAID card, capable of RAID 0, 1, 5, 6 and JBOD. The new card works with any PCIe-equipped computer, and supports four internal drives, with up to twelve external drives and offers full RAID hardware support. It is Mac-bootable and can boot a Boot Camp Windows volume as well. It offers speeds up to 500 MB per second and a current maximum capacity of 16 TB. The card requires Mac OS X 10.4 or higher (and works with Windows and Linux as well) and is available now and lists for $550.
Sans Digital on Friday unveiled the AccuNAS AN2L two-bay RAID NAS enclosure, providing users with a compact storage unit that can link disks in RAID levels 0, 1, JBOD and Spanning. The box is said to share media with Mac, Windows, and Linux boxes, as well as Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PlayStation Portable, or any UPnP/DLNA-based media player. Sans Digital is selling the AccuNAS AN2L for $365, available from the company's website.
Power Mac G5 and Mac Pro gamers have a new high-performance disk system available to them, through HighPoint Technologies' RocketRAID 2640x4, a 4x PCI-E SAS hard drive RAID system. The system offers users 56-percent increased performance over 10,000 RPM SATA drives, with 128MB per-second transfer speeds, offering users lower average latency and lower read/write seek times. The RocketRAID 2640x4 sells for $165 from HighPoint's website.
Sonnet Technologies has announced a 1TB-version of its Fusion F2 portable SATA RAID system. The system contains two 2.5-inch drives mounted side-by-side in an aluminum enclosure. It features two eSATA data ports for maximum data throughput, and is geared for use with ExpressCard/34 controllers on MacBook Pros. The RAID delivers up to 134MB-per-second data-transfer rates. It costs $1000 and is listed as shipping soon on Sonnet's website and is compatible with any SATA-capable Mac.
Sans Digital has announced three PCI RAID cards that feature a new set of Silicon-Image-based host bus adapters with selectable RAID and BASE BIOS jumpers. The new series includes three different models. A 2-port eSATA PCIe 1x card, a 4-port eSATA PCI-X card and single-port Infiniband SFF-8470 PCI-X card. They are available now via the Sans Digital website, with the 4-port eSATA card retailing for $110 and the Infiniband card retailing at $120 (the 2-port eSATA card's price was unavailable at press time). The cards work with machines running Mac OS X 10.4 or later.
Newertech has announced its Guardian MAXimus RAID-1 Mirror triple interface model. The FireWire 800/400+USB 2.0 drive has two 300GB 10,000RPM drives in a RAID-1 (mirror) for redundant, high-speed storage. The company claims data rates up to 100MB per second and utilizes Western Digital VelociRaptor SATA drives. The MAXimus is ready for Time Machine and geared toward Audio/Video and photo editing, as well as 3D rendering projects. The drive is available immediately for $900 and is compatible with Mac OS X 10.1 and later (as well as legacy Macs on OS 8.6-9.2), requiring Mac OS X 10.2 and later for FireWire 800 and USB 2.0.
Newertech on Thursday unveiled its first “green” storage device promising significant energy savings. The Guardian MAXimus eMax is a triple-interface 5400rpm 1TB external drive with a 64MB buffer. NewerTech claims the "plug & play" device uses 15-50 percent less power than competing products while providing the speed and low-noise features sought by creative professionals looking for a back-up solution. The device also supports Time Machine.
Sans Digital has introduced Compact Flash (CF) enclosures, a new class of storage designed around flash media. The CompactSTOR CS1T and CompactRAID CR2T convert the widely popular Compact Flash card to a single 2.5-inch SATA hard drive storage device. The CS1T houses one Compact Flash card, while the CR2T supports spanning and RAID 1 (mirroring) by housing up to two Compact Flash cards. Unlike existing RAID units that utilize hard drives for storage space, the CS1T / CR2T uses pocket-sized lightweight Compact Flash cards as storage memory.
HighPoint Technologies recently announced a new firmware update to the RocketRAID 3522 SATA hardware RAID controller, which will support booting to Mac OS X on Apple Mac Pro and Xserve models released from (2006 through 2008). The RocketRAID 3522 is a PCI-Express x8 external hardware RAID controller with Intel IOP 341 (800MHz) RAID engine and will support up to 8 SATA hard drives.
HighPoint has released the RocketRAID 2640X4, a four-channel PCI-Express x4 SAS RAID controller that supports RAID levels (0, 1, 5, 10 and JBOD). The company claims the new SAS RAID controller offers a new level of flexibility, performance and reliability at an affordable price. The RocketRAID 2640X4 PCI-Express x4 bus speed delivers "true SAS performance" that is 2X the throughput speed of SATA bypassing performance bottlenecks that occur with PCI-Express x1 bus speeds limiting SAS performance throughput to SATA speeds, Highpoint claims.
Netgear has debuted a new series of small form-factor, 6-bay network attached storage (NAS) devices under the ReadyNAS nameskae. They include 1.5TB, 3TB and TB offerings, delivering centralized network storage to up to 200 users. The devices support RAID 0, 1, 5, 6, and auto-expandable X-RAID2. They also feature dual redundant Gigabit Ethernet ports for failover protection. The ReadyNAS Pro products support up to six SATA I or SATA II hard drives via six lockable, hot-swappable disk trays. Three USB 2.0 ports enable the connection of USB drives or printers.
FirmTek on Monday announced the SeriTek/SpyderHUB, which provides USB and FireWire host connection options plus hardware RAID, eSATA Mac OS boot capability and FireWire daisy chaining capability in an ultra-small external design. The ultra small, four-ounce device offers the ability to connect to external hard drives using any eSATA enclosure such as the SeriTek/2EN2, allowing users to attach and boot from up to two eSATA hard drives at a remote location. Supporting both desktop and notebook computers, it allows professionals to utilize eSATA enclosures from computers that do not support a Serial ATA host adapter.
G-Technology on Monday added a new G-RAID Pro drive to its product line, increased the performance and quiet operation of its G-RAID drive, and added RAID 1 protection and eSATA connectivity to its G-RAID mini portable drive. The company's triple interface G-RAID Pro solution features FireWire 800, FireWire 400 and USB 2.0 connectivity and storage capacities up to 4TB to handle both the bandwidth and storage-intensive requirements of compressed HD formats. The on-board hardware RAID controller supports both RAID 0 and fail-safe RAID 5 operation with auto-rebuild functionality, and utilizes four hot-swappable 7200RPM SATA 3Gb/s disk drive modules.
