We’re home from the 2012 International Consumer Electronics Show and while some might be a little worse for wear, it was a great show. Join us as we discuss what we introduced, what we saw, and what we think this year in electronics is going to bring.
OWC Radio is a monthly, forum-based podcast focused on the events and happenings in the Mac community. This week’s hosts are: OWC Grant, OWC Chris S., and OWC Mike H.
While we are not in the habit of announcing products before they’re ready to launch, we decided to let the lid off of this one a little early, as it is quite exciting. We’d like to introduce you to our new PCIe-based SSD.
This card has a “stackable” design, allowing you configure the drive in sizes between 60GB and 2.oTB. This is done using individual miniPCIe daughter cards that attach to the main card. There’s no requirement for all the daughter card slots to be filled at once, which means you can easily expand capacity over time as you need it.
The main card is based around the Marvell 88SE9445 SATA RAID Controller and the individual daughter cards will feature a SandForce 2200 Series controller. It’s compatible with both Mac and PC, and as such, will be the first Mac supported PCIe SSD solution of its kind.
We’ve got more details and performance numbers in the works; stay tuned to the OWC Blog for more information on pricing, performance, and a projected release date in the very near future.
Other World Computing announced today its new OWC Jupiter mini-SAS scalable storage solution for small businesses and enterprises utilizing mission critical and creative applications. Built upon the proven mini-SAS interface for speeds up to 24Gb/s using just a single cable connection, the Jupiter family of racks, towers, and hubs combine the highest levels of data sharing performance with the simplicity of direct attached storage (DAS) at up to 5x lower cost of fibre channel infrastructures. The OWC Jupiter mini-SAS will be available by the end of March in a variety of configurations with 8TB Enterprise solution pricing starting at $3,995.00. During the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), which begins tomorrow in Las Vegas, Nevada, OWC will demonstrate the high performance of the Jupiter mini-SAS in its booth #5231 in the LVCC North Hall.
Centralized Storage = Higher Productivity
Jupiter mini-SAS is a centralized storage solution, which means data is stored in a single location and can be accessed by multiple workstations simultaneously. Sharing content streamlines workflows, eliminates bottlenecks, and the need to duplicate files. By eliminating the need to copy data to multiple users on DAS solutions or searching for files in multiple locations, Jupiter mini-SAS can dramatically increase productivity. Additionally, Jupiter mini-SAS can be configured to provide zoned/allocated drive access privileges so specific workstations and/or servers have exclusive access to specific drives or sets of drives. Article Continues…
Most of the time, your average Mac has a longer useful life than its PC counterpart. Unfortunately, the fast evolution of technology means that, after a while, that older Mac may seem a little slow and may not be able to take full advantage of current tech.
Such is the case for earlier Mac Pros. As they currently sit, they only move data at SATA 2.0 speeds, roughly three gigabits per second. If you wish to put the drives in to a RAID array, you are limited to either a mirrored RAID 1, losing half your capacity, or a RAID 0, which is faster, but increases the risk of data loss. On top of that, those RAID levels are all software-based, which can reduce overall performance.
Fortunately, if you happen to have a 2006-2008 Mac Pro, you can improve the performance in those bays, with only one small thing to lookout for. Article Continues…
Newer Technology, Inc announced today its MAXPower RAID mini-SAS controller card line. Available in a choice of two external ports or one internal/one external port configurations, the MAXPower RAID mini-SAS cards provide full data transfer of four drives through a single cable connection for up to twice the data transfer speed offered by the SATA 2.0 (3Gb/s) data bus. Both versions of the MAXPower RAID mini-SAS controller card are available now form Other World Computing.
mini-SAS: More Lanes = Faster Speed
Just like a four-lane highway offers the fastest vehicle traffic flow, mini-SAS offers more “lanes” for data to travel at higher speeds. This interface offers the convenience of a one-cable connection but provides four separate channels so each drive can deliver Article Continues…
Newer Technology, Inc. announced today the NewerTech MAXPower eSATA 6G PCIe 2.0 RAID Controller Card, a high performance mass storage solution for adding two SATA 6Gb/s ports – the fastest performance data transfer interface standard – along with port multiplier support for adding up to 20TB of desktop storage with RAID 0, 1, 5, 10 support to Mac Pros and PCs with an open PCIe slot.
In addition to supporting any standard single or dual eSATA interface equipped storage solution, the NewerTech MAXPower eSATA 6G PCIe 2.0 RAID Controller Card also supports port multiplier enclosures. Now Mac Pro or PC users with machines offering an open PCIe slot can connect up to 10 drives (up to 5 per eSATA channel via industry standard Port Multiplier Enclosure solution) for a total of up to 20TB of desktop storage in a RAID 0 array for maximum capacity and speed or in a redundant RAID array such as RAID 1, 5, and 10 for the highest levels of data protection. Article Continues…
Many OWC and Newer Technology storage solutions can be hooked up via eSATA. For those of you who don’t know what eSATA is, it is a fast device connection currently capable of data transfer speeds up to 3.0Gbps. This results in data transfer rates from your external drives that are comparable to those connected internally. As great as having that kind of speed on a portable drive is, there are two caveats to using eSATA.
The first thing to look out for is that, unlike FireWire or USB, eSATA is unpowered. This means you will need an external power source in order to run a portable drive. This is easily achieved via either a power adapter or—in some instances—hooking up a USB or FireWire cable for power.
The other issue with using eSATA is that no Macs currently ship with eSATA built in; you will need to add a controller card. This, too, is quite simple to do as long as you have either a tower Mac or a Mac notebook with an expansion slot.
The benefit of eSATA is high performance data transfer typically 2-3 times faster than FireWire 800 for connecting external devices. A drawback has been the need to install and maintain drivers for modern eSATA controller cards… Until now.
The NewerTech MAXPower eSATA 6G PCIe 2.0 Controller Card is among the very first in eSATA Controller cards for the Mac Pro and PCs that is fully Plug and Play. No drivers required for Apple OS 10.5 and later (also Plug and Play driverless with Windows Vista and later), this ACHI compliant PCI Express card is as easy as it gets for adding external SATA device support. Just “install it and forget it” by plugging it into an available PCIe slot and you can then enjoy the performance offered via the eSATA port standard on many OWC, NewerTech, and other third party single drive and hardware RAID solutions. This card isn’t for multi-drive Port Multiplier enclosures/solutions that require software or special RAID controller to enable RAID operation – but it’s an excellent choice for those solutions like the NewerTech GMAX, OWC Elite-AL Pro RAID, and OWC Qx2 solutions that provide a hardware controlled RAID solution and support higher data throughput via standard eSATA ports.
And for all you speed freaks out there, we’ve created the ultimate performance bundle. And we’ll have some benchmarks up soon showing just how fast you can go!
But I digress…back to this awesome card…it offers exceptional ease of use without the worry of a driver that may not work with a future OS release – it’s also an exceptional bargain priced at just $59.99. Because it doesn’t have those pesky drivers to maintain and possibly cause incompatibility down the road, one of its greatest benefits – that Plug and Play ease – also allows it to be exceptionally affordable too.
Bottom line…if you’ve ever wanted to enjoy the higher level of performance available from eSATA – but with the Plug and Play operation that you’ve grown accustomed to with FireWire – the NewerTech MaxPower eSATA 6G PCIe 2.0 Controller Card is your ticket to the fast lane.
