ioSafe Rugged Portable hard drive wrapped in Full Metal Jacket, probably tougher than you

With a name like ioSafe, you know it’s hardcore. The company has made a name for itself by concocting products that can outlast minor disasters, and per usual, it’s using CES as a springboard for something else that you probably can’t destroy. This year, the Rugged Portable is on display, arriving in a pair of enclosure options and offering a bundled data recovery service to boot. The unit is quite literally wrapped in metal — the aluminum option can withstand up to 2,500 pounds of force, while the titanium shell doubles that up and shrugs its shoulders at up to 5,000 pounds. It’s also immune to submersion — your data remains safe in up to ten feet of salt water for as long as 72 hours, and it’ll still come out unscathed when dipped in oil and other toxins.

Naturally, the HDD or SSD within (your call there) is covered by suspension springs, and the USB 3.0 interface ensures that you won’t be waiting around in the jungle for things to transfer. Those who snap one up will get one year of data recovery service included, a one-year ‘No Hassle’ warranty and up to $5000 for “third party forensic recovery services” if needed. Time Machine owners will be happy to know that this drive is fully compatible with the service, and you’ll be able to select HDDs from 250GB to 1TB or SSDs from 256GB to 512GB. As for prices? $149.99 for the stock 250GB HDD aluminum version, $3,899.99 for the 512GB SSD titanium build with an extended warranty, and everywhere in between. It’s up for pre-order today and should ship later this month in the US, with global availability details to follow in due time.

Continue reading ioSafe Rugged Portable hard drive wrapped in Full Metal Jacket, probably tougher than you

ioSafe Rugged Portable hard drive wrapped in Full Metal Jacket, probably tougher than you originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 04 Jan 2011 19:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Intel 310 mSATA SSD knows that size matters, fits 80GB into less space than a credit card

Watch out, Toshiba, your tiny SSD modules aren’t the only game in town for ludicrously small flash storage anymore. Intel’s just announced a new SSD 310 line that offers spectacularly minimal 51mm by 30mm by 5mm dimensions, while retaining X25-class performance (up to 200MBps read and 80MBps write speeds). To give you an idea of what those measurements mean, the industry-standard 2.5-inch form factor, an already diminutive footprint, is eight times larger than these newfangled storage chips. 40GB and 80GB variants of the SSD 310 are shipping out to OEMs already and Lenovo has confirmed it plans to roll these into its next refresh of the venerable ThinkPad laptop line. Prices are set at $99 and $179 (depending on size) when bought in batches of 1,000, though direct sales to end users are predictably off the table for now. Better start saving up for that next ultrathin laptop if you want one.

Continue reading Intel 310 mSATA SSD knows that size matters, fits 80GB into less space than a credit card

Intel 310 mSATA SSD knows that size matters, fits 80GB into less space than a credit card originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 29 Dec 2010 15:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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RunCore’s 1TB SATA III SSD is 3.5-inches and 1TB big, 500MB/s fast

RunCore's 1TB SATA III SSD is 3.5-inches big, 500MB/s fast

Your average SSD fits in a laptop friendly 2.5-inch slot and does so meekly, not calling too much attention to itself. RunCore‘s next SSD powerhouse, however, is a little more bodacious. It takes up a desktop standard 3.5-inch slot and is said to rely on “substantial” sized PCBs on both sides of its cool, cerulean silicon. It’s an SATA III drive offering a similarly substantial 1TB of storage, even fronting dual SandForce SF-1222 controllers for integrated RAID 0 performance. The result? 500MB/s speed, meaning this hippo does that tutu right. No pricing has been announced yet, but expect an appropriately large MSRP when it is fully announced at CeBIT in March.

RunCore’s 1TB SATA III SSD is 3.5-inches and 1TB big, 500MB/s fast originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 10 Dec 2010 12:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Micron embeds error correction in flash memory chips, calls it ClearNAND

Solid state storage is fantastic stuff, durable and lightning-quick, but it’s got its fair share of quirks — bits fail, pages fill up, and cells deteriorate over time. Typically, the onus is on a beefy controller to take care of your drive and make sure it lasts a good long while (which is why brand names like SandForce can make or break an SSD) but it looks like Micron is planning to usurp some of that responsibility with its new ClearNAND chips. Simply put, each ClearNAND memory module has a built-in 24-bit error correction engine, so your drive’s host controller doesn’t have to shoulder that load, and can focus on the good stuff — like getting your data delivered at speeds that would obliterate traditional hard drives. Micron says the new chips are available right now in 25nm sizes. Want a more technical rundown? Hit up our more coverage link to hear what this might mean for the error-prone future of the medium. PR after the break.

Continue reading Micron embeds error correction in flash memory chips, calls it ClearNAND

Micron embeds error correction in flash memory chips, calls it ClearNAND originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 05 Dec 2010 18:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Corsair Force series gets 90GB and 180GB brothers, middle child syndrome inevitable

Corsair has added new 90GB and 180GB sizes to its blazin’ fast Force Series of SSDs, growing the happy family which already included 60, 120, and 240GB versions in addition to the original 100GB and 200GB options released back in the spring. Unlike its previous siblings, both the F90 and F180 are also available immediately from Corsair dealers for suggested MSRPs of $255 and $430, respectively. Built around the lauded SandForce SF-1200 controller and capable of beastly 285MB/sec read speeds and 275MB/sec write rates, these latest releases are not too small and not too big, making them the perfect Goldie Locks drives of the SSD world. To hear the news straight from Corsair’s mouth, check out the press release after the break.

Continue reading Corsair Force series gets 90GB and 180GB brothers, middle child syndrome inevitable

Corsair Force series gets 90GB and 180GB brothers, middle child syndrome inevitable originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 04 Dec 2010 01:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple forces PhotoFast to abandon 256GB upgrade kit for MacBook Airs

Remember that peppy aftermarket 256GB SSD upgrade from PhotoFast that easily smoked (on paper anyway) the SSD found in Apple’s latest MacBook Air? It’s been halted upon Apple’s request before it ever went on sale, similarly to those HyperMac batteries before it. 9to5Mac first reported the news based on a source close to the company and we just confirmed it directly with the PhotoFast GM2_SFV1_Air product manager. The risk of losing access to Apple’s product licensing program was just too grave a threat to ignore. So, enjoy your 160MBps max SSD transfer rate and 128GB top-end capacity MBA 11 owners, you’ll get your storage and 250MBps sequential read/write speed bumps only when Apple’s good and ready to provide it themselves — possibly sooner, we’re told, if PhotoFast is given the green light to start sales after Toshiba’s SSD modules (Apple’s MBA partner) are available for purchase.

Apple forces PhotoFast to abandon 256GB upgrade kit for MacBook Airs originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 30 Nov 2010 04:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Zalman’s SandForce-based N Series SSD drive gets reviewed, patted on the back

Zalman’s making an SSD? You betcha, and it’s embedding a SandForce SF-1222 controller in its N Series line. That controller has proven to be the go-to one for loads of solid state drives, but Zalman’s joining the party a touch late. Unfortunately for it, the MSRPs affixed to the 64GB ($169) and 128GB ($289) versions aren’t exactly class-leading, but the benchmarking gurus over at Legit Reviews took it upon themselves to test a 128GB model anyway. After running the gauntlet, the conclusions drawn were fairly predictable: scores were right in line with every other SandForce drive they had tested in recent months, with words like “speedy, resilient, and reliable” detailing the drive. Reviewers did point out that the pricing situation would likely hinder adoption rates, and it’s still unclear if a company more closely associated with cooling accessories and cases can stake a claim in the storage realm. Hit the source link for the full skinny if you’re edging closer to pulling the trigger.

Zalman’s SandForce-based N Series SSD drive gets reviewed, patted on the back originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 29 Nov 2010 18:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mouse Computer’s Lm-mini30X nettop gets D525 processor and SSD, costs a lot of cheese

Mouse Computer's Lm-mini30X nettop gets D525 processor, SSD, costs a lot of cheese

What would you pay for a netbook without a screen? How about one that’s rocking a dual-core, 1.8GHz Intel Atom D525 processor, NVIDIA ION graphics, and an 80GB SSD? Mouse Computer is hoping your answer is somewhere around $600, because that’s roughly what its new, 49,980 yen Lm-mini30X will cost along with 4GB of RAM, 802.11b/g/n WiFi, HDMI output, and a 64-bit copy of Windows 7 Home Premium. If that’s a bit too rich for you, there’s the slightly lower-spec Lm-mini30S, which drops you to 2GB of RAM, 320GB on platters, and lowly 32-bit Windows. That’ll set you back 37,800 yen, or about $450 — still a good amount for a little PC, but given neither are likely to see a release on these shores there’s no point in getting too worked up about it.

Mouse Computer’s Lm-mini30X nettop gets D525 processor and SSD, costs a lot of cheese originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 29 Nov 2010 10:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Kingston HyperX Max 3.0 USB 3.0 SSD reviewed, hits ludicrous speeds

Kingston HyperX Max 3.0 USB 3.0 HDD reviewed, hits ludicrous speeds

We’ve all seen the scene in some movie or another: secret agent infiltrates the enemy stronghold, sneaks into the server room, then fights off bad guy after bad guy while an agonizingly slow progress bar ticks across the screen, super-secret egg salad recipe files taking ages to copy. If only they had a Kingston HyperX Max USB 3.0 external drive they could have escaped without needing that big final fight scene. The drive was recently tested by PC Perspective and found to feature solid construction and performance, offering the highest sequential write speeds the site had ever seen thanks to a Toshiba HG2 controller coupled with 128GB of Toshiba flash and 128MB of DDR cache memory. And, at $280 for a 128GB model, it’s even somewhat reasonably priced — well, for an external USB 3.0 SSD, anyway.

Kingston HyperX Max 3.0 USB 3.0 SSD reviewed, hits ludicrous speeds originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 29 Nov 2010 02:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Kingston unveils HyperX Max 3.0, a SuperSpeed SSD for your pocket, we tear it down (video)

USB 3.0 and SSDs, they were just made for each other, don’t you think? Kingston certainly seems to agree, as it’s now rolled out its first SuperSpeed portable solid state drive, giving it the catchy title of HyperX Max 3.0. It fits within the dimensions of a conventional 2.5-inch hard drive, but differs in being able to pump 195MB of data per second when reading or 160MBps when writing. Although pricing and availability details aren’t yet available, we can expect 64GB, 128GB and 256GB varieties to crop up some time soonish. Until then, can we interest you in some unboxing and teardown action, courtesy of our brethren over at Engadget Spanish? You’ll find it on video just past the break.

Continue reading Kingston unveils HyperX Max 3.0, a SuperSpeed SSD for your pocket, we tear it down (video)

Kingston unveils HyperX Max 3.0, a SuperSpeed SSD for your pocket, we tear it down (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 22 Nov 2010 08:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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