Western Digital unleash beast
Western Digital have just annouced the 4th generation Raptor drive, the 300GB VelociRaptor (WD3000GLFS), the world's fastest SATA drive.
The VelociRaptor has a 2.5in form factor, a 10,000rpm spin speed, 16MB of cache and a claimed seek time of 4.2ms.
The 2.5in drives are enclosed in a 3.5in frame that Western Digital has named IcePack which has a built in heatsink to help keep the beast cool. A version for the enterprise space will be launched later without the IcePack.
The MSR price for the new drive is £250.
Posted by Simon Crisp on April 22, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Super-thin DVD disc promises eco-friendly covermounts
German optical disc manufacturer ODS has just announced a super-thin flexible DVD disc that it claims will revolutionise the enormous DVD covermount market. At 0.6mm thin and weighing 8 grams, the EcoDisc uses only half the amount of polycarbonate found in a standard DVD. As it's only a single-layer construction, it doesn't need the usual non-biodegradable bonder and so is should be more environmentally friendly than standard discs.
According to ODS, 1.6 billion discs were distributed via newspapers and magazines in 2005 in Western Europe, consuming 18,000 tons of polycarbonate.
The only major downside is that the disc won't work in slot-loading DVD drives.
Posted by Kelvyn Taylor on June 7, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack
Iomega 2TB drive available
We flagged the US release of Iomega's 2TByte Storcenter Pro NAS 150d Server drive last month. It is now shipping in Europe for £775 ex Vat, with a 1TByte version costing £535.
It will act as a server for up to four printers connected via its USB 2.0 ports and Iomega says it one of the first products of this class to support hot-swapping of any of its four internal hard drives.
Posted by Clive Akass on February 12, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
A tiny media streamer for tiny customers
Agere is starting production of a "mobile content server" called the BluOnyx.
The 6-15mm thick rectangular box sports Bluetooth, a mini-USB port and an SD slot to increase capacity.
The units won't be available until April 2007 but like MSI's similar box, I'm struggling to see an audience for this kind of a device.
Agere hypes the ability to stream content to mobiles phones. It says the unit is "for the YouTube generation" but surely the YouTube generation will be watching YouTube...
Serious users may be better off spending a little more on a proper network attached storage device, like the HP Media Vault we reviewed last month which has a decent sized hard disk and can read and write at 50Mbits/sec, much faster than Bluetooth's theoretical maximum of 3Mbits/sec - if more than one person tries streaming from this "mobile content server" the thing may grind to a halt.
I suspect the real inspiration behind these hard disks is the ever thinning margins and Bluetooth, SD and flashly light add-ons may be the only way to make a profit. Prices range from £50 for a 1GB flash based unit scaling up to £130 for the 40GB 1.8in hard disk device.
Posted by Emil Larsen on January 23, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
CES 07: Seagate aims to make backup chic
Seagate is aiming to give an air of sex to storage, with its sleekly designed FreeAgent external backup family of products.
The FreeAgent Pro comes in 320GB, 500GB and 750GB versions and is aimed
at being more of a lifestyle and backup device.
It includes 500MB of online storage that is free for six months, after which it is a paid for service (the capacity can be increased).
The idea, said Seagate, is to have a limited amount of data available from anywhere where there is internet access. Prices range from $200 to $400.
The base FreeAgent Desktop version, which comes with 250GB, 320GB and 500GB, is designed to be a pure back up device. Prices range from $149 to $249.
The FreeAgent Go is the portable version, coming with an 80GB, 120GB or 160GB hard disk drive, costing from $130.
Posted by Rob Jones on January 11, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
CES 07: 1.5TB hard disk drives in 2008
Hard disk capacities have shot up over the past couple of years, and speaking with Hitachi today – which launched it 1TB drive a few days back – the company predicted we could be seeing 1.5TB or 2TB 3.5in drives next year.
A spokeswoman said the company was waiting to see customer reaction first to the 1TB – if it is well received then a bigger capacity will be arriving quicker.
She didn’t know if the next drive would be a mere 500GB bigger or doubled to 2TB. But she said: “There will be another capacity jump in 2008."
Posted by Rob Jones on January 11, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
CES 07: LG to launch hybrid Blu-ray and HD DVD PC drive
The dual standard high definition player announced by LG at CES has had a lot of attention, but it does have a smaller brother also due out soon – the Super Multi Blue internal Blu-ray Disc Rewriter and HD DVD Rom drive.
Like the BH100 Super Multi Blue Player, the GGW-H10N can also read both Blu-ray and HD DVD discs, as well as standard DVDs and CDs. It also, as the name suggests, writes to Blu-ray discs, although not to HD DVD discs.
It can write to a disc up to 50GB in size – holding nine hours of HD content or 23 hours at standard definition. LG claims its 4x write speed for Blu-ray discs is the fastest around.
Due out around March in the US – and shortly after that in the UK, it will cost around $1,199.
Posted by Rob Jones on January 10, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
CES 07: TDK to release 200GB Blu-ray disc
TDK is showing off its 200GB Blu-ray disc at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas next week.
There are few details as yet (as it wants journos to turn up to its press briefing), but most likely you can expect the disc to be available in the US first before making its way to the UK. But at 200GB, it's going to be a mass storage device for those with heavy backup needs. It could also herald a new type of movie box set - as a single disc.
Being a new year, the Blu-ray camp must be hoping for a better 2007, as 2006 was fraught with set backs for their high definition standard, while HD-DVD managed to get products out on time, and with slashed prices, at a cost that attracted consumers.
Posted by Rob Jones on January 2, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Iomega refreshes network storage boxes
Iomega has launched a new generation of its StorCenter network-attached storage (NAS) devices. The Pro NAS 250d Servers, in four capacities ranging from 500Gbyte to 1.5TBbyte, use Microsoft Windows Storage Server 2003 R2 operating system and hot-swappable Sat all drives. US prices range from £1999 (£1020) to $3999 (£2050.
Posted by Clive Akass on November 29, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
MP3 phone market coming of age
As mp3 playing phones become more common we're seeing an increase in the quantity and quality of the accessories available for them.
Some have caught our eye and manage to enhance the functionality of mp3 phones beyond that of dedicated music players. An example of such a peripheral is the bluetooth headset which now plays audio wirelessly as well as handling calls.
Unlike most phones, it's unusual for an mp3 player to have bluetooth capability. Jabra's BT620s Bluetooth stereo headphone is one model we've reviewed recently.
Another feature of mp3 mobile phones which is uncommon in conventional mp3 players is the expandable memory slot (an exception being Sandisk's Sansa e260). Mobile phones generally don't have a lot in the way of on-board storage so rely on removeable media such as microSD cards to store mp3s.
An advantage of this storage method is the sheer ease with which music can be moved between devices - no PC or cables needed.
With Sandisk releasing a 2GB microSD card (pictured with the SD adaptor) earlier today, this market is set to grow and grow ...
Posted by Marc Delehanty on July 31, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Because size matters ...
On the left you can see a specimen of Sony's new Micro Vault Tiny USB storage key. It's small, very small. In fact it measures just 30mm x 14.5mm x 2.7mm and weighs a mere 5g.
Why would you want one of these guys? It's got to be the cool factor associated with their size. Yes, smaller is better especially when you consider that Sony can pack up to 2GB of data on the high end models.
Think about it, up to 2GB of important data lost down the back of the couch ... great.
Posted by Marc Delehanty on July 5, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Hitachi launch 2.5" PMR hard drive
The Travelstar 5K160 represents Hitachi's first foray into the perpendicular magenetic recording (PMR) hard drive market. It's a 2.5" drive for laptops and at 160GB is quite sizeable indeed.
PMR enables manufacturers to cram more bits into each disk by aligning the bits in a perpendicular, as opposed to longitudinal, fashion.
We're looking forward to getting this drive into our labs and putting it through its paces.
Posted by Marc Delehanty on May 16, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack
Backup your data on a friends PC for free
Back up is a dull subject we'd all rather not think about. Trouble is, with so much stored on our PCs and laptops, we don't have a choice, unless you're happy to gamble with your photos or to spend hours re-ripping CDs.
Online backup that stores everything offsite is the safest approach, but expensive.
We spoke with Databarracks today, which has just launched a free service for home users that encrypts your data and saves it on a friend's machine.
Called BuddyBackUp, it uses a buddy system, so they can store stuff on your's as well, but does mean your backups are kept elsewhere.
We think it's a smart idea - there's a 5GB restriction to the free service, but the full service is unlimited and only costs £10.
What happens, we asked, when you find your mate has been saving hardcore porn to your PC and the police are knocking on your door. No worries, we were told. It's encrypted, so as long as you didn't know what they were storing, you are in the clear.
If curiosity is too much, you can try and crack that 128bit encryption, just to prove your computing skills. Otherwise, it's a neat way of keeping as many backup copies as you want on different machines.
We'll be testing it over the coming week, and post a review as soon as it's ready.
Posted by Rob Jones on April 18, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Western Digital fits 6GB disk into matchbox device
Western Digital has again updated its WD Passport Pocket Drives range of portable hard disks, pushing capacity to 6GB in a device that is roughly the size of a matchbox.
While 6GB is a tiny storage capacity in today's world, these USB2 disks are aimed at people that need to carry software applications, files and documents around with them. They weigh only 45 grams (or 1.6 ounces in old money), so are very light.
They work with both PCs and Macs, and are powered by the machine they are connectred to. Western Digital is pushing the latest Pocket Drives as devices to store your home entertainment, such as music, films or photos, but at 6GB, they are more likely to attract business users.
Posted by Rob Jones on March 29, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Sony backs off on Blu-ray analogue copy protection
According to an article in Sound and Vision Magazine , Sony has stated that its first movie releases in the Blu-Ray format will not degrade the signal resolution when movies are played on older TVs that don't support the latest copyright-protected HDMI connections. Quoting Dan Eklund of Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, the article says that Sony has no plans to implement the 'Image Constraint Token' feature of the AACS copy-protection technology that lets producers reduce the resolution on analogue video outputs.
It also says that the first Blu-Ray titles are slated to appear in the US on 23rd May. We'll be looking at the first Blu-Ray players and PC drives from Samsung and Pioneer when they arrive at PCW over the next couple of weeks.
Posted by on March 17, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack
Colour coded USB key shows if you're JetFlash
Transcend
Information has brought out its JetFlash 150 range of USB keys.
The company
has clearly decided that the female sector is where it’s at, because the tiny flash
drives are described as being the size of a tube of lip balm.
They’re
also in a choice of colours, and each represents a different capacity size. See
someone with a metallic green key – they’re stingy and only paid €29 for a 256MB
flash drive.
Spot a metallic silver one and it says you’re a flash git (or
gitess) who carries around loads of important files and needs a 2GB key - and can afford €129.
They all
come with various software apps as well, including Password to protect your data,
PC-Lock to lock your PC when you are away from it and Boot-Up, which configures
the JetFlash 150 as a bootable drive.
Posted by Rob Jones on February 9, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Western Digital ups Passport Portable disk capacity to 120GB
Western Digital has added a 120GB capacity disk to its
range of small Passport Portable USB Drives.
The WD Passport range doesn't need a separate supply to operate, running instead from the power they draw when plugged into a computer's USB port. They are aimed at anyone with fairly high storage needs while on the go, or who wants to easily back up valuable files, such as photos, and hide the disk for safety.
The capacity is a little small for home users with massive digital music and photo collections, but these 2.5in drives are highly portable. Plus, the casing has rounded corners and is a textured, non-slip rugged design to make it easier to carry.
The 120GB drive costs £159, but if that's a little steep for your portable storage needs, you can buy them with capacities of 40, 60, 80, 100GB.
See also:
Western Digital fishes out 500GB Caviar
Western Digital updates the Raptor
Performance results for hard disks
Posted by Rob Jones on February 7, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
NEC's Labelflash sets Lightscribe in its sights
Lightscribe has proved a popular subject among readers of the Test Bed. It gives PC users the chance to burn labels directly onto optical media, rather than getting out their scissors, glue and paper.
A lot of people have shown interest in the technology, which is still very niche but likely to grow now that prices have started to drop.
We've posted our review of NEC's alternative technology, Labelflash. Write speeds were impressive (like Lightscribe, you need to buy compatible discs, which cost around £5), but as you'd expect, there are pros and cons to both technologies - you can read what they are in our review.
The article also has links to reviews we've written on Lightscribe, or you can read what others think of the technology here.
Posted by Rob Jones on February 2, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Western Digital fishes out 500GB Caviar
Western Digital has followed up its clear
top Raptor – so that modders can see the hard disk platters – with a 500GB
Serial ATA drive.
The WD Caviar SE16 uses a four platter
design, spins at 7,200rpm, has a 300MB/s transfer rate and 16MB cache.
The company says it’s designed to run cooler and quieter, which will attract anyone that wants to use the drive in an entertainment PC. It’s available in the US now for $350, but won't be in the UK for a few weeks.
It’s also come out with a 2.5in 120GB laptop hard drive, the WD Scorpio. These have either EIDE or Sata interfaces and a spin speed of 5,400rpm.
We've got a WD Caviar SE16 coming in for review, and will post as soon as it's been tested.
Posted by Rob Jones on January 27, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Seagate announce world's first Perpendicular notebook drive
Seagate have announced details of the world's first notebook drive based on Perpendicular recording technology. The Momentus 5400.3 will have a 160GB capacity through two 80GB platters (discs) and an areal density of 130Gbit/in² and will feature Seagate's Full Disc Encryption technology. Seagate plan to have it available from early 2006.
For more about Seagate's Full Disc Encryption technology click here
For more about Seagate's Perpendicular technology click here
Posted by Simon Crisp on October 24, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Evesham launch SilverSTOR XS
Evesham Technology has just announced their latest storage solution, the SilverSTOR XS. Based on Intel’s XScale processor architecture with Serial ATA Technology and RAID Level support it delivers up to 1.6 Terabytes of Network Attached Storage (NAS) using a maximum of 4 hard drives in each SilverSTOR XS Storage Server.
SilverSTOR XS is architected to act as a central data server. This means users with different operating systems such as UNIX, Linux, Apple OSX and Windows can read, write and execute the files saved on the SilverSTOR XS via their network. As data requirements increase the SilverSTOR XS can grow too, as it’s easy to add additional SilverSTOR XS devices to the network, giving businesses virtually unlimited scalability.
Posted by Simon Crisp on October 21, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Condoms for DVDs
D-Skins are a novel idea for protecting your cherised CDs and DVDs from scratches and dirty fingers - they're a transparent plastic film with a thin orange surround that clips over the edge of the disc. They're intended to be left on permanently, and can be quickly changed if they become damaged.
We've tried them on a variety of CD/DVD players and they seem to work fine. They're expensive for small quantities (£5.99 for 5), but are more economical in quantities of 100 for £49.99.
Posted by on September 30, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack
2GB SD Card from Kingston
Kingston technology have annouced an addition to its SD Ultimate card line. The new card comes with a 2GB capacity and has 120X transfer rate, offering much better performance than the Standard and Elite Pro cards. Kingston's X-speed ratings are based on 'write' speed (MB/sec).
Price should be around £105 (ex VAT).
Posted by Simon Crisp on August 23, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Speedy notebook drive from Toshiba
Toshiba has just launched a new addition to their notebook
range of hard drives, the MK1032GAX.
The ATA/100 drive has a 100GB capacity, a 5,400RPM spin speed and a whopping 16MB buffer.
Price £129.25 (£110 ex VAT) available from Span.com
For test results click here
Posted by Simon Crisp on May 12, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Nexon NAS1000
The Nexon NAS1000 provides a strong range of features designed for business networks. Security, quote levels and very good support for heterogeneous OS environments make it a well worth looking at. Overall a well balanced product that offers a Terabyte of storage in a compact no-nonsense looking case.
Product Information
Price £850ex VAT
Posted by Alex Arias on May 5, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Colour is the Key
We've just got wind of a new range of USB keys from PNY - designed especially for the fashion-conscious PC user. The Color Attache range comes with interchangeable covers, allowing you to change the colour of your flash memory drive to your professional or pleasurable frame of mind.
PNY representative Alicia tells us that when she's feeling studious, she straps on the black matt cover, whereas the metallic pink covers are reserved for impressing her friends on a night out.
You'll be pleased to hear that each Color Attache drive is supplied with an additional cover. Four colour combinations are now available at the following recommended prices:
In 128 MB with blue metallic and blue matt covers (£24.99 VAT incl)
In 256 MB with pink metallic and black covers (£34.99 VAT incl)
In 512 MB with green metallic and green matt covers (£59.99 VAT incl)
In 1 GB with white metallic and black matt covers (£89.99 VAT incl)
Check out www.pny.co.uk for more details
Posted by Rory Reid on April 22, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Buffalo TeraStation
Yes as the name suggests, a Terabyte of storage is now available courtesy of Buffalo Technology latest NAS appliance. It provides a good solution for home storage problems, ideal for both music and DVD collections, so it should prove popular. In addition the available USB ports provide opportunities to expand the capacity or add a printer. There are minor drawbacks for business use but otherwise a well priceds NAS appliance.
Price £555 ex Vat
Product information
Posted by Alex Arias on April 4, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Fingers and thumbs
SanDisk recently announced doubling of its xD-Picture Cards too one gigabyte. They hope to have products avialable in April although pricing in Europe has yet to be rubber stamped. Whilst also introducing a new secure USB flash storage drive with biometeric fingerprint identification - we hope to get one in soon for testing.
Posted by Alex Arias on March 15, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Buffalo FireStix Flash Drive
A new compact range of USB 2.0 Flash Drives (RUF-GP256m/U2) have been announced by Buffalo. A quick test confirmed read speeds at a little over 19MB/Sec and write speeds at 16.5MB/sec.
Avialable in 256, 512 and 1GB (76.50 ex.VAT) models
Product Information
Posted by Alex Arias on March 15, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBack
Bigger, faster storage from Kingston
Kingston Technology has added two larger capacity cards to their lineup of Secure Digital media. The 512MB SD/512-S joins the high speed Elite Pro family with up to 7.7MB/sec write rates and up to 8.2 MB/sec read rates while the SD/1GB is a normal speed card, but is Kingston’s largest capacity SD card to date at 1GB.
Both are available from ebuyer.com
SD/512-S £31.06 (£26.43 ex VAT)
SD/1GB £51.69 (43.99 ex VAT)
Posted by Simon Crisp on March 9, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
CE- ATA 1.0 Spec
It looks like a we have a new spec for handhelds and portable consumer electronic devices, finalised at break neck speeds- under six months. But whats the fuss, well CE-ATA-based products may offer compatibility and interoperability with other CE-ATA devices enabling mobility and "plug and play". Based on the MMC electrical interface, also using an optimised subset of the ATA command, it is designed to improve performance for multimedia applications in handheld and consumer electronic devices. - We may even have commercial products within 6 months.
The Spec & more info
Posted by Alex Arias on March 4, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (0)
Firewire 800 External Storage
Miglia Technology recently released their next generation DualDisk system, based on Firewire 800. A stylish slim robust aluminum casing, houses a Miglia Catalyst 912 board, created in partnership with Oxford Semiconductor and provides hardware level support for Raid 0 (Striping). Overall it is a fast (HDTach- 69.3MB/sec Average Read) and impressive external storage system.
DualDisk™ 320: £219 ex VAT.
DualDisk™ 500: £322 ex VAT.
Product information
Note: Whilst there have been problems with Firewire 400 / 800(IEEE 1934b) and Windows XP SP2 these have been addressed by Microsoft.
Knowledge based article
Posted by Alex Arias on February 22, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (0)
Small format, large capacity drive from Toshiba
With more 2.5 inch drives becoming available in the channel it’s becoming easier to upgrade your notebooks hard drive or to seriously think about small (in physical size) RAID arrays.
The latest drive from Toshiba, the MK-1031GAS is the world’s first 100GB 2.5in drive. The drive uses two discs to achieve its capacity, with an areal density on each disc of 80Gb per sq.in.
With a spin speed of 4,200rpm and an 8MB buffer, data transfers should be nice and fast.
Price
£122.86 (£105.56 ex VAT)
Contact Ebuyer.com
Posted by Simon Crisp on February 18, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (1)
Shuttle CR40 - dual layer burner
If you are after a new DVD burner,
we've just tested the CR40, the latest dual layer, dual format drive from Shuttle.
DVD +R 16x burned on 16x media 6m
40sec
DVD+RW 4x burned on 4x media 13m
2sec (including quick format time)
DVD -R 16x burned on 4x media 14m
9sec
DVD-RW 4x burned on 4x media 14m
16sec (including quick format time)
DVD-DL 4x burned on 2.4x media, at 4x
speed was 29mins 18sec (7.8GB)
Posted by Rob Jones on February 17, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Holographic Storage gathers pace
Japanese based Optware Corp. recently announced plans to create products based on its HVD (Holographic Versatile Disc). It will store between 100GB and 1TB of data and be able to transmit data as fast as 1G bit per second, using Collinear technology.
Whilst American based InPhase Technologies Inc. recently began shipping its Tapestry HDS5000 media, a recordable holographic drive based on WORM (Write Once Read Many) technology.
Along with a HVD Alliance launch set for early spring, you should expect to hear a lot more about these technologies in the coming months.
Posted by Alex Arias on February 7, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (0)
