A-DATA launches XPG Dual SSD RAID enclosure

So yeah, the easy part about getting the SSD RAID setup of your not-so-lofty dreams is the acquisition of A-DATA's newest XPG Dual SSD RAID enclosure. The tough part is smuggling enough cash in through untraceable means to procure a few 256GB SSDs. For those who don't mind living dangerously, the aforesaid chassis is compatible with twin 2.5-inch SATA SSDs and / or HDDs mounted on a standard 3.5-inch form factor drive cage. Users can connect it to a PC via SATA or USB once those drives have been acquired and installed, but you'll have to wait until the end of this quarter to see it ship.

[Via Slashgear]

[Temmy @ Jan 2nd 2009 4:49AM]

That is just a box of hurt.
Hurt to the wallet, that is.

[tom @ Jan 2nd 2009 9:24AM]

I don't mind getting one, if they price the enclosure accordingly. That being said, somewhere between $10-20 is a fair price.

[raidman @ Jan 2nd 2009 10:24AM]

Yea - well i still like this one better for $99

http://www.addonics.com/products/enclosures/AE25RDESU.asp

[Knee to the Groin @ Jan 2nd 2009 8:43PM]

http://cgi.ebay.com/Intel-X25-M-2x80gb-SSD-RAID-Apple-Mac-Pro-Drive_W0QQitemZ190268381152QQcmdZViewItemQQptZApple_Drives_and_Media?hash=item190268381152&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=66%3A2%7C65%3A13%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318

[eggothewaffle @ Jan 2nd 2009 4:52AM]

2 drives in one 3.5" drive bay? That is so hot.

[Erb @ Jan 2nd 2009 5:13AM]

2 drives one bay

Next Viral Video?

[eggothewaffle @ Jan 2nd 2009 5:17AM]

Hah!

2d1b

I'd watch it.

[Dillon @ Jan 2nd 2009 4:57AM]

...why not just buy a cheap and much more capacious mechanical drive for a fraction of the cost?

[robbie @ Jan 2nd 2009 5:04AM]

I completely agree, the same with hooker's why shell out for a women when you can have to she males for a fraction of the cost?

[robbie @ Jan 2nd 2009 5:07AM]

*two

[BobTurbo @ Jan 2nd 2009 6:01AM]

Why buy a hard drive when you can go for a ride on an elephant?

[Mike @ Jan 2nd 2009 8:28AM]

Why buy an OLED tv when you can get a larger LCD for a fraction of the cost?

New tech is generally much more expensive. Remember how much LCD monitors used to be? How about DVD players? You can get a DVD player for $20 now. A more recent example would be blu-ray players. They can be had for $200 now, but they were more like $600 what a year ago? People still bought them a year ago just like people will buy these expensive SSDs now. When mass production and improved manufacturing scales the price down then everyone else will have them.

Just because it's expensive now doesn't make it worthless.

[parki @ Jan 2nd 2009 10:32AM]

I think Dillon makes a valid point in that the benefits of SSD's (low power, no moving parts, silent) don't make as big of an impact on a desktop as a laptop. Yes, Ferrari's are pretty damn cool, but if all you're doing is commuting to work in stop and go traffic, just get a Civic (or Lexus) and save yourself some cash.

[Dillon @ Jan 2nd 2009 4:19PM]

I don't understand why you all low ranked me. Why would you buy this rather than waiting for actual 3.5 inch SSDs? This isn't even new technology really, definitely not like Blue Ray in comparison to DVD. Couldn't you just as easily stick mechanical 2.5 inch hard drives in there instead? SSDs definitely aren't at the point where they are a better choice than a normal mechanical hard drive for a desktop yet.

[aYe aye @ Jan 3rd 2009 12:11AM]

Do you have any idea the speed this would give you? there already are 3.5" ssd drives, that's not the point. The point is a 3.5" ssd drive, in a raid configuration giving amazing performance. it's just like asking why not get a $100 1TB drive instead of paying $100,000 for 3 300gig Fusion IODrives. Someone going for this wants performance, not size nor value...

[digitallysick @ Jan 2nd 2009 5:13AM]

Nicee i can't wait until its real cheap where we can all afford it

[Fernando G. @ Jan 2nd 2009 5:25AM]

i can't wait till it's cheap enough for me to afford it, you guys are on your own

[CrackedButter @ Jan 2nd 2009 5:54AM]

For the price it would have been nice to have a Firewire connection of some kind. Much better than USB imo.

[reader @ Jan 2nd 2009 6:03AM]

Although SSD prices have gone down significantly and the merits of using SSD is still debatable, I still wish that I could afford at least one of these for every computer I have. *sigh*

[Oli D @ Jan 2nd 2009 6:20AM]

The moment i saw the samsung 64Gb Brushed steel SSD, I didn't even care whether they out perform or not.

Some are only fast in FAT32 and regular speed in NFTS, which is ridiculous as you (I) would only use one of these for the OS!

[Oli D @ Jan 2nd 2009 6:18AM]

"Sandwiched"

[KilgoreTrout @ Jan 2nd 2009 7:24AM]

For us geeks that pic is hard core pornography.
But to know if I should start saving my pennies and modifying the structure of my mods I need some relevant informations.
In fact since (in my humble opinion) the prices of SSD make it silly to adopt the technology outside laptops and/or netbooks , one of the main factors in judging this kind of stuff is its size and weight.
So what I would like to know is : how big is this baby?
Could it be squeezed into my Vaio TT? and into my rebranded MSI wind?
Or at least : where could we stick it ?
( Wanna bet that I can predict the answers to that last question?)

[Oli D @ Jan 2nd 2009 11:19AM]

Whilst i mostly agree, having a little 16Gb MLC SSD with the OS and program files on it is a nice treat, makes for a quick boot and your not going to loose your OS anytime soon.

I will not bow down to the level of suggesting puns.

[wickedpheonix @ Jan 2nd 2009 9:07AM]

Damn that pic is so sexy and absolute HAWTNESS....

[krull @ Jan 2nd 2009 9:28AM]

not new. I got a few of these 3.5 enclosures from Raidsonic.de. They're produced by stardom. Check it out here:

http://www.raidsonic.de/en/pages/products/soho-raid.php?we_objectID=4916

[Randy @ Jan 2nd 2009 9:11PM]

Wow! I like those. Thanks for the Link.

[kevin @ Jan 2nd 2009 12:25PM]

isn't the biggest cause of hard disk failure due to the mechanical components of the drive?

i'm a little confused as to why you would need RAID on SSDs....

if the device works when you get it, it's not going to suddenly blow transistors and lose data. the number of read/write cycles is certainly an issue, but RAID isn't the solution to that.

[Harry Wagstaff @ Jan 2nd 2009 12:26PM]

Didn't RAID originally stand for Redundant Array of _Inexpensive_ Disks?

[Bizam! @ Jan 2nd 2009 3:57PM]

Yes..yes it did. Though that all went out the window with SCSI Disks, those weren't even close to inexpensive.

[Breex243 @ Jan 2nd 2009 2:34PM]

Thank you SSD industry. You've dropped in price enough that a 30GB drive in a 2.5in enclosure is dirt cheap, but you still have yet to jam some lower-density chips into a 3.5in form factor, allowing desktop users like me to get in on the SSD fun.
Now I'm going to have to shell out extra $$$ for an enclosure, AND pay the higher prices of a small form factor. You haven't fixed a single problem.
(To those of you who say I can get size adapters, my case uses tool-less drive rails that can only work with 3.5in drives; also I can't seem to find any reasonably priced bay mounts, in addition to still having to pay more for the higher storage density)

[Quizo69 @ Jan 3rd 2009 12:33PM]

Double sided sticky velcro? ;)

Fit your SSDs anywhere since there's no moving parts....