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G-Technology kicks out USB 3.0 G-Drives for Macs, keeps your Retina MacBook Pro well-fed
If you've just picked up a MacBook Pro with Retina display or a 2012-era MacBook Air, you may be jonesing for a matching external hard drive to take advantage of that much-awaited USB 3.0 support. G-Technology has you covered -- and how. Updated versions of the laptop-oriented G-Drive Mini, Mobile and Slim (you're looking at the Mobile up top) all roll in the higher peak speeds and progressively trade raw speed as well as 1TB capacities for sleekness, while the twin-drive, 1.5TB G-RAID Mini will tax that 5Gbps bandwidth without becoming too ungainly. Not taking your external storage on the road? The single-disk G-Drive now climbs to 4TB in addition to jumping on the USB 3.0 bandwagon, and the dual-drive G-RAID will serve up as much as 8TB at the newly brisk speeds. All but the G-Drive Slim support FireWire to ease those jitters over transitioning from old to new, although they won't all arrive at the same time. Most of the G-Drive and G-RAID gear will be showing up in August at prices between $110 and $810, but the two Mini-labelled drives could be a bit late to the party with a less defined summer target. You can get the full scoop after the break.
G-Technology G-Drive mobile: Rugged, pocket-sized, and fast
The march of technology amazes me. Yeah, I'm an old guy, but it still surprises me when I realize that the amount of storage that used to fill a data center can now fit in my pocket. G-Technology's G-Drive mobile (made by Hitachi, US$199.99 MSRP for 1 TB) is the perfect example of mass storage in a small, silent box. Read on for a review of this mobile companion and a chance to win one! Design There's not much too say in terms of the design of the G-Drive mobile -- it's a slim metallic box 5 inches long, a little over 3 inches wide, and about 3/4 of an inch high. There's no power port; the G-Drive is bus-powered by either FireWire (400/800) or USB 2.0. The device comes with cables for each connection. A single white LED on the front of the drive indicates when it is powered up and in use. On the inside, there's a 5400 RPM 1 TB drive with an 8 MB cache. For speed, I'd much rather see a 7200 RPM drive, but that would most likely drive up both the cost and power requirements of the drive. However, as you'll see with the benchmarks, this is still a pretty fast drive despite the slower rotation speed of the disk. The G-Drive mobile also comes in 500 MB ($149.99 MSRP) and 750 MB ($159.99) versions, although I'm at a loss why someone wouldn't want to double their capacity for just fifty bucks more. I found the drive to run a bit hot -- I had placed my iPhone on top of the drive at one point, and when I answered a call I wondered why the phone was so hot... As with other drives of this ilk, the G-Drive mobile is almost completely silent. Benchmarks TUAW uses a standard industry benchmark to compare the I/O capabilities of disks and arrays. The benchmark uses the AJA System Test, which simulates reading and writing video. The specific test I used was the Disk Read/Write test, also known as the DiskWhackTest, set at a video frame size of 720 x 486 8-bit and a file size of 128 MB. The drive read speeds were surprisingly fast in our benchmarks, matching almost every FireWire drive that we've tested (only one is shown below for space considerations). When it came to USB 2.0 read speeds, the G-Drive mobile was slightly faster than the competition across the board. Write speeds were slower for the G-Drive when connected via FireWire 800, while almost identical to other drives with a USB 2.0 connection. Conclusion and Giveaway If you're the owner of a MacBook Pro and have an available FireWire 800 port, or have a FireWire-equipped desktop Mac you'd like to back up while keeping a lot of available desk space, then the G-Drive mobile will fill your requirements. Those who only have USB 2.0 ports on their Macs should spend their money on less expensive USB-only drives that offer read/write speeds in the same range as the G-Drive mobile. Thanks to G-Technology and TUAW, you now have a chance to win one of these sweet little drives. Just fill out the entry form below (only one entry per person, please) and we'll pick a random winner next week. Here are the rules for the giveaway: Open to legal US residents of the 50 United States, the District of Columbia and Canada (excluding Quebec) who are 18 and older. To enter, fill out the form below completely and click or tap the Submit button. The entry must be made before May 20, 2012 11:59PM Eastern Daylight Time. You may enter only once. One winner will be selected and will receive a G-Technology G-Drive mobile valued at $199.99. Click Here for complete Official Rules. Loading...
Hitachi unveils two new HDDs for G-Technology drives, gives Mac users new external storage options
Hitachi just released a couple of PC-centric storage solutions a few weeks ago, and now G-Technology, the company's Mac-centric brand, is getting new HDDs destined for its external dives. First up is the Travelstar 5K1000, a 2.5-inch, 5,400rpm hard drive with 6Gb/s SATA interface with up to 1TB of capacity. It's available in the G-DRIVE mobile, which offers connectivity via USB 2.0 and FireWire 800 for between $150 and $200, depending upon size. Next is the 3.5-inch 4TB Deskstar 7K4000, a 7,200rpm HDD found in the company's G-DRIVE and G-RAID offerings. It offers 3Gb/s eSATA, Firewire 800, and USB 2.0 connections, and will set you back $900 for a dual HDD 8TB G-RAID drive, or between $200 and $450 for the single disk G-DRIVE option when they start shipping in Q1 of this year.
Hitachi introduces several new Mac hard drives
Just ahead of the first days of CES 2012, Hitachi has introduced a line of new hard drive solutions for the Mac. The drives range in capacity from 750 GB up to a whopping 8 TB, and cover the gamut from internal drives to desktop and mobile solutions. The internal drives that Hitachi is bringing to the table include the 2.5-inch 5,400 rpm 1 TB Travelstar 5K1000 and 3.5-inch, 7,200 rpm 4 TB Deskstar 7K4000. Both of these drives have full support for the 6 Gbps SATA 3 standard. The mobile drives are bus-powered, with the G-Drive mobile using a FireWire connection and coming with 1 TB of storage. The G-Drive mobile USB uses the USB port, and comes in both 750 GB (US$150) and 1 TB capacities. On the desktop front, Hitachi has announced the G-RAID which uses the Deskstar 7K4000 drive described earlier. The G-RAID comes in an 8 TB capacity (4 TB RAID 1) for $900. The G-Drive comes in four different capacities from 1 TB to 4 TB, with prices ranging from $200 to $450. The G-RAID and G-Drive come with FireWire, eSATA and USB 2.0 connectivity. Noticeably missing, however, is any mention of Thunderbolt connectivity.
