Recently in Storage Category

Sandisk has announced a new line of solid state drives (SSDs) designed with ultra low power computers in mind: many SSDs are designed to fit in a standard 2.5" or 1.8" hard drive enclosure but often ULPCs can't spare the space for a full drive so a SSD on a circuit board like this is a better solution.

The press release is full of marketing speak but light on facts: no size, no power consumption and no prices are specified... so what do we know? they will come in 4GB, 8GB and 16GB sizes with read speeds of 39MB/sec and write speeds of 17MB/sec.

Full press release follows:

In the past we have told you about home made adapters that let you turn one of more compactflash cards into a 2.5" SSD drive, well now SansDigital has come out with a finished product that does exactly that.

The CompactSTOR CR2T supports RAID 1 mirroring of two compactflash cards up to 32GB each for a cost of $99.

Compact Flash 2.5" SATA SSD Enclosure via engadget

Samsung has announced the largest solid state drive (SSD) so far, and at 256GB it's storage capacity is up there with the needs of most computer users (yes there are some of us who need terabytes of storage space for recorded tv/movies etc but for the average user 256GB is currently more than enough).

Not only is is big on storage space but it is as fast as most smaller SSDs with a 200MBps sequential read and a 160MBps sequential write speed.

How did Samsung do it? they managed to create a multi-level cell drive that overcame the previous speed and lifespan problems.

The 250GB drives in 2.5" form factor should be out in September and be in mass production by the end of the year. No word yet on price.

Full press release follows.

EeeUser Forums have tested the read/write speeds of the solid state drives (SSDs) shipping with the EeePC 900 and found one of them to be lacking in performance.

The EeePC 900 comes with two SSDs: a 4GB one with the operating system and a 8GB (XP) or 16GB (Linux) one for your data - they system drive performed adequately (faster than the older EeePC 700) but the data drive was slower than a retiree in an oldsmobile "out for a leisurely drive".

Head on over to EeeUser forums for their full testing results, and don't go planning on using that 8/16GB SSD for efficient dual booting.

Eee PC 900 SSD is slow via liliputing

digitimes has reported that shortages of 1.8" and 2.5" hard disc drives are expected later this year due to the fast growing demand for ultra-portable laptops:

"Global supply of 2.5-inch hard disk drives (HDDs) may fall short in the third quarter of 2008 due to fast growing demand for use in Eee PCs, mini notebook PCs and UMPCs (ultra-mobile PCs), in addition to demand from traditional applications such as notebook PCs, according to industry sources in Taiwan.

WD's production capacity of 2.5-inch HDDs has been booked up until September 2008, the sources cited WD Taiwan as saying. "

It sound to us that all the Eee PC clone manufacturers are going to have a hard time sourcing hard drives for their machines which can only benefit the more established players (HP, MSI, Asus) who probably already have supplies organized.

It seems like we have new solid state drives (SSDs) coming out weekly, and the latest one from Mtron also claims to be the fastest SSD ever.

The Pro 7500 series SSDs from Mtron are said to have a read speed of up to 130MBps and a write speed of up to 120MBps through a SATA II interface in capacities from 32GB to 128GB.

It's great that they're speedy but what is the point of speedy when they are so costly that no average joe can afford one. Wake me up when the prices drop.

Full press release follows.

Mtron claims fastest SSD ever (via akihibaranews)

Fujitsu has come out with a 400GB version of their "handy drive" portable 2.5" hard drive.

This thing is about 5.6" x 3.3" x 0.9", weighs 9oz and gets it power through it's USB 2.0 connector. What's the downside? it's only a 4200rpm drive: usable for backups not so good for something you access regularly.

It's out in Japan now for about $335.

Fujitsu 400GB Handy Drive at Akihibaranews

Corsair 32GB Flash Survivor USB Drive is the subject of a new review posted at OhGizmo.

Here's what they thought of this ultra rugged USB flash drive:

"There's no question that the Corsair Flash Survivor delivers on all of its promises. The overall build quality and use of aircraft-grade aluminum makes the drive feel like it will survive whatever tortures or trials you put it through. While it might be overkill for the average commuter, if your job has you traveling to areas that are a bit more extreme than the subway or an office tower, you can rest easy knowing your files are extremely safe. Of course I have to point out that 32GB of flash storage in your pocket doesn't come cheap at this point in time ($180-$200) but Corsair also sells versions of the Flash Survivor in 16GB, 8GB and 4GB capacities that are considerably more affordable."

They forgot the best part of the review: throwing it off stuff and running over it with trucks to see just how tough it really is. One other thing we would add is that no matter how rugged your storage is your #1 priority should still be regular backups.

Corsair 32GB Flash Survivor USB Drive review at OhGizmo

Is it a book or is it an external HDD? well the ventilation slots, the led lights, and the power and USB cables coming out the back will probably give away the fact that it is a new 3.5" external hard drive called the WIZPLAT W-31 from Korean company Sarotech.

It supports up to 1TB hard drives but it isn't clear what configurations it is offered in and what comes with the 315,000 Won price tag (approx. $300)

We have to admit though: it looks a lot classier than most hard disk drives on the market.

Sarotech Hardbox via aving

We told you about the Eye-Fi wireless SD a little while back and we were of the opinion that it was too pricey and they should just come out with a basic version that just uploads to your home network.

Guess what they just came out with? yep, 3 new eye-fi wireless SD cards, one of which does just what we wanted.

The Eye-Fi home is $79 for 2gb and just supports uploading to your home network, the Eye-Fi Share is identical to their original model adding uploads to online services such as Flickr for $99, and the Eye-Fi Explore adds a year of uploading at any of the 10000 wayport wi-fi hotspots across the US for $129.

Buyer beware though: we have heard reports that the read/write speeds on these cards are slow and that is a limiting factor on many digital cameras.

Eye-Fi wireless card article at Gizmodo

Hp Mini-Note PC Blog has posted a how-to with some photos of how to upgrade the hard drive in the HP2133 mini-note PC.

Compared to some of the upgrades posted for the eee pc and the min-note this one is easy, all you need is a new 2.5" hard drive (like the nice new hitachi 320gb ones) plus some basic tools (small philips screwdriver, small torx screwdriver, pliers).

This is a great upgrade for people that got the basic 4GB mini-note and need more storage space.

Don't have the right tools? worried about causing damage to your mini-note? hand in your "man card" right now and go take up a more relaxing hobby, knitting maybe.

source

Toms Hardware has reviewed the Memoright 32GB solid state disk (SSD).

Here's what they thought of it:

"The benchmark results for the Memoright flash SSDs (we used four 32-GB models MR25.2-032S) speak for themselves. A sequential throughput of 115 MB/s is a new record for flash-based drives, and Memoright even managed to sustain almost the same throughput for write operations as well. I/O performance is stellar and the drive's power consumption is lower than the power requirements of the direct competitor, the Mtron Flash SSD. The only benchmark sections where it cannot beat everything else is the PCMark05 Windows XP startup benchmark and the IOmeter Webserver benchmark. In every other test, Memoright slaps the other drive manufacturers in the face by providing bone-crushing storage performance. Server administrators should especially study the benchmark results carefully, as we're talking about many hundreds to thousands of I/O operations per second on an individual drive."

source

So this guy was looking for a way to hide his "sensitive" files (also known as stopping mom finding his adult movie collection), so he decided to rewire a phone outlet so you could use it to access a hidden 4GB USB drive.

He soldered some wires to the USB drive, opened up the outlet and connected the USB drive to the phone plug, built a USB to phone cable, and hooked everything up.

Personally I would have just encrypted my files with some free software like TrueCrypt, but one area where this idea has potential is in security camera recording:

A thief gets into your house and steals the computer where the video from your security cameras is stored, what he doesn't know is that the video is really being stored on a 1 terabyte linkstation mini hidden in the wall behind a phone jack.

source

Greenhouse has come out with two new products that allow you to add eSATA to your laptop or desktop PC so you can run external hard drives faster than over USB.

The GH-ESC-ESA2 has 2 eSATA slots that transfer data at up to 3GB/sec (much faster than USB or firewire), and it supports RAID 0/1.

source

Trusted Reviews has reviewed the 2.5" 64GB SATA II solid state drive (SSD) from ocz.

Here's what they thought:

"It's the same story when we look at the PCMark scores - the SSD simply trounces the competition - and our own more subjective tests also backed this up. Quite simply, this is the fastest drive we've ever tested, and by a long way. It'll be interesting to see how Western Digital's new VelociRaptor compares as it looks like this is the only hard drive that stands a chance of competing with this (and no doubt many upcoming) SSD. Even considering the cost, this is a tempting proposition.

The OCZ 64GB SATA II SSD is undoubtedly very expensive and won't even be worth considering for most. However, if you do have deep pockets and want the ultimate performance from your desktop or notebook, then this drive is the way to go."

source

Hitachi has joined Fujitsu in promising a 320GB 7200rpm 2.5 inch laptop hard drive.

The Travelstar 7K320 is said to have all the benefits of a 7200rpm drive (speed) without most of the problems.

it's battery performance is 22% than previous drives sucking up 1.8 watts when reading/writing (the same as a 5400rpm drive) but it's idling power consumption is higher: 0.8 watts compared to 0.55 watts for a 5400rpm drive.

No price yet but Hitachi claims they will have the drives for sale later this month which means they could be out sooner than the Fujitsu drives which aren't expected to appear until June.

(via crave)

We told you about the buffalo linkstation mini 1TB NAS solution last month, and now Trusted Reviews has got their hands on one to review.

Here's what they thought:

"The LinkStation Mini may not be as fast as larger boxes sporting 3.5in hard disks (it took around one minute 30 seconds to write a 1GB file), and it may not offer quite as much RAID flexibility either. However, it does offer something that no other NAS appliance does - 1TB in a truly tiny chassis. It's also reasonably priced, considering the amount of storage on offer, and that Buffalo has used 7,200rpm SATA notebook drives.

Anyone who has been put off the idea of a NAS box for home, will welcome the diminutive dimensions of the LinkStation Mini, while the silent running means that you could house it in any room of your house without it annoying visually or audibly. If I could have got the web access working, the LinkStation Mini could have walked away with 10/10 and an Editor's Choice, but as it stands it still warrants a whole hearted Recommended."

(more at trustedreviews)

New from Savit Micro in Korea is this twin USB/eSATA hard disk drive enclosure.

It support 2 3.5" SATA hard drives, as well as RAID0/RAID1/NORMAL/JBOD/JBOD33/JBOD50, and it has a Silicon Image Sil5744 SteelVine RAID processor which supports hot-plugging.

(via akihibaranews)

Sony has announced two new network attached storage (NAS) solutions.

Both have an all-in-one memory card reader and am internal 1 or 1.5TB drive amd support a wide variety of file formats: MP3, WAV, ATTRAC, ATTRAC Advanced Lossless, AAC, WMA files and AVCHD, MPEG2, and HDV (MEPG2-TS) video files.

The 1.5TB version will sell for around $1500.

There's a video after the jump.

(via akihibaranews)

The Space Shuttle Columbia exploded during reentry on February 1, 2003, killing all seven crewmembers.

A hard drive was recovered from the wreckage, that hard drive was part of an experiment to study how xeon gas flows in microgravity.

Amazingly 99% of the data of the hard drive was able to be recovered and now, over 5 years after the explosion, the results of that experiment has been published in the journal Physics Review E.

RIP Colonel Rick Husband, Commander William McCool, Lt. Colonel Michael Anderson, Colonel Ilan Ramon, Kalpana Chawla, Captain David Brown, and Captain Laurel Clark.

(scientificamerican, via engadget)