This post was written by Carrie Smith
The Iomega StorCenter ix2 is a network-attached storage (NAS) drive with a unique feature set. It’s the first NAS drive tested by CNET that supports Bluetooth devices and it’s also the first that doesn’t offer remote, over-the-Internet access. The Iomega StorCenter ix2 is about as compact as a NAS server can get with two internal hard drives; it’s barely larger than two 3.5-inch hard drives put together. Iomega backs the StorCenter ix2 with only a one-year warranty, which is very short for a storage device.
Paragon’s Hard Disk Manager features improved support for solving problems with Master Boot Record (MBR) and Boot Configuration Data errors and much better support for Vista. The idea of one program which performs all your hard drive, partition and file management tasks is an appealing one. Hard Disk Manager 2009 Suite does most of this on most systems, though it can’t split an existing partition, nor work with partitions on Windows Dynamic disks. There are plenty of things it can do, though, and overall it’s good value at the price, though niggling errors remain.
Patriot’s Warp V.2 stands out among solid-state hard drives due to being inexpensive. The only test on which it showed a benefit was the transfer speed benchmark. The Patriot delivers on its promise to access data quicker than the standard 5,400rpm Fujitsu drive, but still can’t quite keep up with the 7,200rpm Seagate Momentus, even though the difference is far from severe. In the battery drain test, the Patriot drive lasted the least amount of time, shutting off at the 86-minute mark.
Hewlett-Packard has introduced the next generation of its Windows-based home server, which includes nearly four times the memory as the previous version and more storage capacity. The new HP MediaSmart Server comes in two models, the ex485 and ex487. The only difference in the two is in storage capacity. The ex485 comes with one 750-GB, 7200 RPM SATA hard disk drive and the ex487 with two of the same drives for a total of 1.5 TB. The first generation server, released in late 2007, had a base capacity of 500 GB.
StrataScale has announced the availability of a new managed server environment that gives users on-demand control of automated server and storage provisioning via the Web. The new offering, dubbed IronScale, is an automated managed server hosting environment designed to provision and re-provision entire IT environments with a few mouse clicks. The approach is slightly different from some other managed services because it relies on physical servers rather than virtual machines. The IronScale non-virtual, dedicated-server environment offers users the benefits of both physical and virtual infrastructures by automating the provisioning of servers and storage.
Sun Microsystems Inc. has unveiled its first JBOD storage appliances, calling them an expansion of its Open Storage initiative. The new Sun Storage J4000 product line of JBOD (just a bunch of disks, or non-RAID storage) appliances compete is a greenfield opportunity for Sun, which has never had a stand-alone JBOD offering, said Ray Austin, group manager of storage product management for the vendor. The new offerings, Sun Storage J4200, Sun Storage J4400 and Sun Storage J4500, are currently available.
Seagate Technologies Inc. has launched a 300-GB 2.5-inch hard drive for computer servers and storage arrays. The Savvio 10K.3, which is more than double the capacity of its predecessor, consumes 70% less power and can hold more information than traditional 3.5-inch drives. The drive has a speed of 10,000 revolutions per minute. In addition, the product has a reliability rating of 1.6 million hours, which is the mean time between failures, and a SAS 2.0 interface, which delivers a data rate of 6 Gbps. The drive also has government-grade full disk encryption data protection.
Netgear Technologies has announced the availability of the industry s first six-bay desktop network-attached storage solution (NAS) for small- and medium-sized businesses. The product is designed to meet the centralized network storage upto 200-user SMBs. 5TB (RNDP6350), 3TB (RNDP6310), and 6TB (RNDP6610) broadening the company s already existing ReadyNAS product portfolio. ReadyNAS Pro, the newest member of the ReadyNAS product family, provides up to 6TB of network-attached storage, enabling users across the LAN or WAN to store, back up and share digital data from a combination of Windows, Macintosh and Linux platforms.
Advanced Media Inc. has announced that FryÕs Electronics now carries its Ridata 233x Lightning Series CompactFlash cards, apart from the Ridata award-winning Turbo Series 16GB/32GB SATA SSD that the store already carries. The capacity of CompactFlash cards range from 4GB to 32GB. Proving size does matter in memory cards, these cards boast some of the largest capacities and fastest transfer rates available. 32GB 233X Lightning Series CompactFlash card delivers the faster read and write times and larger capacities for more sophisticated devices.
ATTO Technology Inc. has announced that its Celerity FC-84EN, FC-82EN, and FC-81EN Fibre Channel Host Adapters have been verified by Brocade Communications Systems Inc. as compatible with Brocade-based Storage Area Networking (SAN) infrastructure, according to the testing requirements of the Brocade Data Center Ready Program. The program is an initiative designed to foster interoperability in multi-vendor Brocade-based data center environments. Testing was conducted at the Brocade Data Center Ready labs, which are state-of-the-art facilities supporting end-to-end interoperability and performance testing of SAN products in multi-vendor and large fabric environments.