SCSI
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ASUS loads P8Z77V with USB-attached SCSI, beats Windows 8 to the punch
There's no doubt about it, USB 3.0 is wicked fast when pitted against its predecessors -- but the ancient bulk-only transport protocol it uses is showing its age. Some newer external drives hope sidestep the old protocol by supporting a new one: UASP, or, USB-attached SCSI. As its name implies, the modern protocol leverages the SCSI command set to reduce latency, enable queue functions and improve performance for compatible drives. Windows 8 will ship with UASP drivers baked in, but the protocol is already available in the form of third-party controllers and drivers. Speaking of which, Hot Hardware found the functionality on ASUS' P8Z77V motherboard, and gave it a rundown. The conclusion? "Turbo and UASP modes will never hurt performance, and you've got early access to a capability that's already been wrapped into future versions of Windows. That's a win, all the way around." We're hard pressed to disagree. Check out the outfit's tests in full at the source link below.
Toshiba's new 2.5-inch AL13SE hard drives: up to 900GB of 10,500RPM storage
A 2.5-inch drive spinning at speeds up to 10,000RPM? Sure, we've seen it before, but only with enough room for 600GB worth of data. Toshiba, however, has trumped its forebears by upping the capacity to 900GB with its new 2.5-inch HDD, dubbed the AL13SE. 300GB, 450GB and 600GB flavors are offered as well, and all of them spin at up to 10,500RPM and promise a 32% increase in sustained transfer rates over previous-gen drives. Additionally, the AL13SE sends and receives data via a 6Gbps SAS 2.0 connection to make life easier on IT guys than those SATA drives most of us use. Unfortunately, Tosh isn't telling how much the new drives will cost, nor when they'll be available for purchase, but you can dig into all the drive details you can handle in the PR after the break and at the source link below.
Data Robotics launches Drobo for Business line, new 12-bay SAN option
Data Robotics has certainly flexed its biz muscle before, but this is nothing short of a full-out assault on the boardroom. Or at least the boardroom's IT closet. The outfit's new Drobo for Business line is being revealed today, with three pieces of hardware making up the initial line. The new trio is primarily aimed at small businesses, but even average consumers in need of some serious at-home storage may find something worth investigating. Though the system designs are obviously built for use in rack-mount arrangements, you'll still find the same BeyondRAID setup that existing Drobo users have grown familiar with. At least initially, the company will be offering an 8-bay file sharing Drobo with remote backup, an 8-bay SAN (iSCSI-attached) Drobo and a 12-bay SAN (also iSCSI-attached) with expanded redundancy features, support for thin provisioning and deprovisioning and new data-aware tiering technology. Those who buy in will also be treated to a bolstered level of DroboCare business support, a refreshed management interface tailor to the needs of SMB, new functionality / redundancy and boosted performance from top to bottom. The former two are available now -- with pricing to start at just north of $2,000 ($8,500 on the 12-bay) -- while the latter can be reserved as we speak for a Q2 delivery. %Gallery-115761%
Xmas tree made entirely of SCSI drives, offers lower CPU load than IDE alternatives
Ever found yourself with 70 decommissioned SCSI hard drives and an awful, awful lot of free time on your hands? If so, and you're bursting with holiday spirit, perhaps you'll choose to do the same as an apparent sys admin who goes by the name of Trigger. He took those drives from RAID arrays destined for the scrap heap and, rather than perform the DoD wipe that would have otherwise been required, chose to build this lovely -- if somewhat askew (see below) -- "tree" from the bevy of mirrored platters within. In fact the geeky holiday decor was made entirely from the bits and pieces within the drives, the lone exception being a nut purchased for $.39, making it a far more affordable project than yesterday's OLED tree. It's impressive to behold, but given the amount of personal data within, we think it's probably more likely to spread lawsuits than cheer this season.
BiTMICRO keeps it real, unveils 1.6TB Ultra320 SCSI SSD
One would think that after pushing out an 832GB SSD at CES, the mad scientists at BiTMICRO could afford some time off. Nevertheless, those same gurus have apparently been burning that midnight oil and today are announcing the world's first Ultra320 SCSI SSD to break the terabyte barrier. The E-Disk Altima E3S320 solid state flash disk arrives in a 3.5-inch form factor and houses some 1.6TB of storage space. Additionally, it promises sustained data transfer rates of up to 230MB/sec, and just in case the aforementioned model is just too capacious for you, the outfit will be shipping versions as small as 16GB in Q3 of this year. No word on how many houses you'll need to liquidate in order to take one home, however.
Addonics unveils the Diamond internal / external hard drive enclosure
While flash drives and pocket hard drives are all well and good, sometimes you just gotta move all the data on that 1TB monster to another machine and go -- and Addonics has got you data-intensive road warriors covered with their new Diamond line of SATA / eSATA hard drive enclosures and cradles. Mounting a drive in the enclosure gives you what appears to be a regular, if somewhat slim, eSATA drive, but the entire unit can then be slid into one of the Diamond cradles mounted in a 5.25-inch bay, giving you a host of internal connection options, from plain ol' USB 2.0 to direct SATA to SCSI. Depending on how you configure your setup, prices range all over the place, but a standard SATA / eSATA rig should only set you back about $50, according to Addonics. Not bad, not bad at all.
