Technabob » raid

Hitachi Intros 4TB G-DRIVE and G-RAID Drives: Fast for Macs, Slower for PCs

Range — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 14:00:22 +0000

While I agree that 4 terabytes of storage might seem like a lot to some users, it isn’t for others (me included). I’ve been delaying dealing with my hard drive capacity problems for about a year and a half and it’s gotten to the point where I’ll need a RAID array to serve my needs. Thankfully, Hitachi has just announced some new 4TB drives that will be released soon.

The 4TB hard drives will be part of Hitachi’s G-RAID and G-DRIVE lineup of external drives. Their perforated, all-aluminum cases look pretty nice. Matching the look of the Mac Pro tower, these drives are clearly targeted at Apple users. All models will come with Thunderbolt support, while PC users will have to be content with eSATA and USB 2.0 (sorry, no USB 3.0).

The drives will start shipping in October. Other hard drive makers will certainly release their own 4TB drives in the near future as well.

Collector Concept Turns Unused MicroSD into USB Flash Drive Like Teeny Tiny RAID

Range — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 12:54:33 +0000

This concept design isn’t that far off. Almost everyone has some spare memory cards that need to be used in some form or fashion. There’s not much you can do with one once you get a newer, bigger one, so this concept that collects these microSD cards and turns the combined storage into a larger USB flash drive makes a lot of sense.

If made, Fang-Chun Tsai’s Collector USB Flash Drive would allow you to dynamically chang ethe storage of a USB flash drive, adding to the base storage. For example, if the base USB flash drive has 32 GB, and each of the microSD cards is 16 GB, then you could be looking at a combined storage capacity of 80 GB.

Needless to say if Thanko hasn’t made this yet, they should!

[via Yanko Design]

PopDrive Mirrored Hard Drive Makes Backing Up Files Worry-Free

Chris B. — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 14:46:40 +0000

Ever had a hard drive crash? Such events can be disastrous, to say the least. Years of pictures, videos, music, and documents can all disappear in a flash. And unless you have some sort of backup in place, there is absolutely no way to get it all back. Scary, right?

So how does one back up their precious data? There are many ways, but I think this PopDrive might be one of my favorites. This device holds a pair of laptop hard drives that are mirrored, which means that they both contain the exact same data. If something happens to one of the drives, you can simply replace it, and all of your information will still be intact.

There are ways to setup such a backup solution on your computer, or even on a small file server. However, for those that aren’t so tech-savvy, this might be the perfect simple solution. No word yet on pricing, but we should find out later in the week, during CES.

[via ChipChick]

Lacie 5big Network Drive Looks Like Hal 9000′S Brother

Technabob — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 11:00:37 +0000

Designer Neil Poulton got the inspiration for the domed glowing light on the outside of his latest hard drive design from the red light on the face of HAL 9000, the infamous computer from 2001: A Space Odyssey.

The new LaCie 5big Network storage array is designed for small and medium workgroups looking for a ton of storage at a reasonable price. Heck, I bet it has WAY more memory than HAL 9000 had. The 5big sports five hot-swappable Serial ATA drive bays which can accomodate as much as 7.5 terabytes of disk.

The drives can be configured in a number of array modes, including RAID 5, RAID 5+Spare, RAID 6, RAID 10 and RAID 0. The 5big can be attached to your network via a zippy Gigabit Ethernet port, and additional external drives can be connected via USB 2.0 or SATA ports.

The array also offers built-in Active Directory support, so you can easily add it as a Windows file server for your office. And if you’re not a Windows fan It’ll work with Mac and Linux systems too.

The 5big comes in three sizes: 2.5TB ($899), 5.0TB ($1399), and 7.5TB ($1899), and can be found over on the LaCie website.

Build an Ssd Raid Array Using Compact Flash Memory Cards

Technabob — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 02:57:21 +0000

Got a couple of spare Compact Flash memory cards lying around? Why not turn them into a high-speed, redundant drive array? With this new drive module, you can create your own solid-stated RAID array in seconds.

Simply plug in up to three Compact Flash cards, and this nifty device will set up a RAID array between them, which you can connect to your computer’s high-speed SATA port. With three cards in place, you’ll have a fully-redundant RAID 5 array. But if you’re just looking for raw speed and don’t care too much about the risk of data loss, you can just run a smoking-fast RAID 0 configuration with as few as two drives. As the system will only run at the speed of the slowest installed memory card, I’d recommend that you use the same type of card for all slots.

With more acronyms in its name than should be allowed in a single product, the DIY SSD SATA array is available from GeekStuff4U for about $190 USD.