Vertical Docking Stations for SATA Hard Drives

Sharkoon Vertical Docking Single/Duo USB3.0: lockable, external docking stations for one or two 3.5″ SATA Hard Drives | MSRP starting at 34.90 euros

Sharkoon presents two external hard drive docking stations for the USB3.0 interface, in which unobstructed SATA hard drives can be quickly and without effort connected to a computer or notebook. The two Sharkoon Vertical Docking USB3.0 stations, with a choice of either one or two fast-swap bays for SATA hard drives in 3.5 inch format, are equipped internally with a SATA II interface and externally with a USB3.0 SuperSpeed interface.

The disks are easily inserted upright lengthwise into the hard drive bay. A lockable front flap secures the drives against unwanted access while a rear fan helps prevent unwanted heat. The Sharkoon Vertical Docking Single USB3.0 Station with its hard drive bay and 40 mm fan measures 212 x 44 x 129 mm (L x W x H) and weighs 650 g. The Sharkoon Vertical Docking Duo USB3.0 Station with its two individually lockable hard drive bays and 50 mm fan measures 222 x 83 x 134 mm (L x W x H) and weighs 860 g.

The matte black, rounded plastic case features an on/off switch, red and blue illuminating LEDs indicating power and data access, and supports the operating systems Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7 (32 bit and 64 bit). Enclosed with both models are a power supply, a USB3.0 cable, two keys and a brief manual.

End customers will find the Sharkoon Vertical Docking Stationen available in authorized retailers.

Price:

Sharkoon Vertical Docking Single USB3.0 MSRP 34.90 euros

Sharkoon Vertical Docking Duo USB3.0 MSRP 59.90 euros

Taipei, Taiwan – October 2, 2012 –SP/Silicon Power, the world’s leading provider of memory storage solutions announced today a newest addition of its Diamond series portable hard drive, the Diamond D03. The all new Diamond D03 is ultra lightweight and features super speed USB 3.0 transfer mode in an attractive slender and urban fashion design.

Following the modern and sophistication design of the Diamond series, the new D03 expresses urban fashion with geometric design and is lined with an urban checkered pattern. The Diamond D03 is covered in a solid aluminum metal structure providing better durability and heat dissipation than the standard plastic case. The surface is specially treated to resist scratches and fingerprint marks to reduce the occurrence of dents and other damages from daily usage. Weighing only 147g, D03 is 30% lighter than the standard hard drive and its slender and sleek design makes it your ideal personal digital storage device.

In terms of performance, the Diamond D03 is equipped with the high-speed USB 3.0 connection interface. With transfer rate reaching up to 5Gb/s, the D03 can transfer a 25GB blu-ray DVD in merely 70 seconds. The D03 features built-in LED status indicator allowing users to instantly identify power supply and activity status and is equipped with a hibernation mode for power saving.

The Diamond D03 is available in 500GB, 750GB and 1TB and is backed by a three year warranty. For more information, please visit the SP/Silicon Power website: www.silicon-power.com

Product Features

- SuperSpeed USB 3.0 compliant and backwards compatible with USB 2.0

- High transferring rate up to 5Gb/sec

- Solid aluminum metal structure and scratch resistant surface

- Power saving sleep mode

- LED indicates power on and data transfer activity

- New version of SP Widget free download software, providing 7 major back-up and security functions (256-bit AES file & folder encryption)

Product Specification

- Dimensions：75.5 x 117.55 x 14 mm

- Weight：147g

- Standard Compliance：USB 3.0 / 2.0

- Data Transfer Rates：Max. 5 Gb/s (USB 3.0 Mode)

Max. 480 Mb/s (USB 2.0 Mode)

- Power Supply：DC 5V (Power supplied through USB)

- Operating Temperature：5℃~ 55℃

- Storage Temperature：-40℃~ 70℃

- Supported Operating Systems：Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP, Windows 2000, Linux 2.6.31 or later, MacOS 10.5 or later (only USB 2.0 currently supported)

- Color：Black

- Three-year warranty

WD® Creates World’s Thinnest 2.5-inch Hybrid Hard Drive

New 5 mm Standard Slashes Storage Footprint by Almost 50% Compared to Traditional 2.5-inch Hard Drives

IRVINE, Calif. – Sept. 10, 2012 – WD®, a subsidiary of Western Digital Corp. (NASDAQ: WDC) today announced it is sampling a 5mm-thin hard disk drive featuring hybrid technology. WD has developed hard drives slim enough for integration into today’s thinnest notebook PCs, which provide high-capacity storage and robustness while featuring instant-on and application performance similar to today’s client solid state drives (SSDs). The new technologies will be showcased during WD’s Investor Day, Sept. 13, 2012.

“Mobile devices are becoming smaller, thinner, lighter and more responsive,” said Matt Rutledge, vice president of client storage solutions at WD. “Working with our technology partners, WD has developed new 5 mm hard drives that enable high capacity storage along with excellent performance and superior economics to allow our customers to expand their thin offerings.”

With device volumetric efficiency a key concern for system makers, WD began shipping 7 mm height hard drives for thin-profile notebooks earlier this year (historically, standard notebook hard drives have been 9.5 mm). WD 5 mm hybrid hard drives will enable the market’s thinnest computers to offer 500 GB of capacity, utilizing almost 50% less volume compared to current 9.5 mm hard drives and at one tenth the cost of similar capacity SSDs.

“Acer is partnering with WD to bring advanced notebook performance and capacity in the smallest form factor,” said David Lee, associate vice president of Mobile Computing Product business unit at Acer. “It’s a part of our ongoing commitment to present leading technology that ultimately improves the total user experience of our customers.”

“We are seeing a shift in the computing world to more powerful mobile computing solutions,” said SY Shain, senior vice president of ASUS’ notebook business unit. “With this in mind, ASUS and WD are collaborating to create slimmer and more mobile notebook solutions — without sacrificing capacity or performance — to deliver smaller form-factor to consumers.”

Hybrid Technology and Client Tiered Storage
WD’s innovative hybrid technology pairs MLC NAND flash storage for fast SSD-like data throughput and instant-on responsiveness with magnetic disks for efficient, high-capacity storage. Similar to the practice of multi-million dollar enterprise systems, WD’s hybrid technology utilizes the concept of tiered storage. Data accessed most frequently (often referred to as ‘hot’ data) is managed using speedy NAND flash to ensure fast response times, while data accessed less often (‘cold’ data) resides on the robust magnetic disks. The tiered design of hybrid hard drives, compared to current dual-drive solutions, also provides a redundancy benefit for users. The magnetic disk backs up all files residing in the NAND, protecting the user from inevitable NAND wear and preserving it for the more hot data handling. WD’s hybrid technology works in conjunction with the PC operating system to deliver higher performance than current hybrid offerings while minimizing NAND wear to allow the use of less expensive MLC NAND.

Hybrid hard drives combine NAND flash and magnetic disks, simplifying storage-element integration for OEM customers and providing a host of end user benefits: superior performance, responsiveness, lower power consumption, greater operating shock tolerance, and data protection. And unlike dual-drive designs, WD’s hybrid technology provides single-unit design homogeneity that OEM system manufacturers have long sought from the storage industry.

 SK Hynix SSD 128/256GB

Accessories

ATTO Disk Benchmark

HDtune Benchmark on RAID 0

Specification
Model : SH910 2.5inch SSD
SATA 6.0Gbps
Storage: 128/256GB
ONFI synchronous NAND Flash memory using 20nm
LAMD LM87800 SATA 6G SSD controller

Random Performance 4KB:
Read speeds of 510MB/s [55k IOPS ]
Witing: 470MB/s [85k IOPS]
Power Consumption
Active : 0.82W
Idle : 0.26W

- AES-128 Encryption
- Native Command Queuing
- S.M.A.R.T. Command
- Superior Wear Leveling
- Power Failure Protection
- TRIM command
- Intelligent Read Disturb Mgmt

3 Years Limited Warranty

128Gb SSD Price: $165 [U.P: $189]
256Gb SSD Price: $295 [U.P: $359]

WD®INTRODUCES ITS FASTEST MY BOOK® EXTERNAL HDD SYSTEM EVER

My Book VelociRaptor™ Duo CombinesExtreme Speed of Two 1 TB 10,000 RPM Hard Drives with Revolutionary Thunderbolt™Technology

SINGAPORE – Sep. 4, 2012 – WD®, a subsidiary of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC), and a world leader in external storage andconnectedhome solutions, is combining two high-speedtechnologies to produce one of the fastest and most robust dual-storage systemsever offered. Supported by the Mac OS Xoperating system, the new MyBook® VelociRaptor™ Duo dual-drivestorage system becomes the ultimate storage drive for performance hungry Mac computerusers and creative professionals.

MyBook VelociRaptor Duo provides ultimate speed and performance with two 1 TB10,000 RPM WD VelociRaptor drives along with two Thunderbolt™ ports. The 2 TB dual-drivestorage system is ideal for editing high resolution video, 3D rendering,graphic design, and other demanding digital media applications. This boost inperformance delivers solid state drive (SSD) -like data transfer rates of up to400 MB/s for greater work-flow productivity. The dual-drive storage systemoffers RAID 0 for performance or RAID 1 for protection; and the twinThunderbolt ports offer daisy-chaining multiple My Book VelociRaptor Duo drivesand other high performance peripherals without impacting data transfer speedsor performance. The My Book VelociRaptor Duo also comes complete with aThunderbolt cable in the box and is user-serviceable.

Photographers, graphic designers andpost-production professionals can conduct several high intensity tasks such asvideo editing and 3D rendering, while completing other graphics-intensiveprojects. My Book VelociRaptor Duo customerswill now have the ability to transfer 22 GB full-length HD movies in less than65 seconds, 2000 5 MB pictures in less than 33 seconds and over 500 5 MB songsin less than 8 seconds.

“The My Book VelociRaptor Duo is the fastest and most reliable highperformance consumer storage device on the market today,” explains Craig Davis,Director, Sales & Marketing, Branded Product Group, Western Digital AsiaPacific Region. “Creative professionalsnow have access to a super-charged storage drive that will keep pace with eventhe most demanding projects. Daisy-chaining multiple My Book VelociRaptor Duodevices together offers even greater speed, more capacity and flexibility.”

WhileRAID 0 maximizes the drive’s speed and capacity, RAID 1 support allows users tocreate a second copy of their digital content on the drive for added protection,security and peace of mind. The drive also provides a JBOD (just a bunch ofdisks) option for users running a Windows®operating system on a Mac.

Additionalfeatures found on the My Book VelociRaptor Duo dual-drive storage system includeout-of-the-box compatibility with Apple Time Machine and HFS + Journaled forMac computers; capability for multi-stream workflows; and a 3-year limitedwarranty.

Price and Availability

The My Book VelociRaptor Duo dual-drivestorage system is distributed by Eternal Asia (S) Pte Ltd and SiS TechnologyPte Ltd in Singapore and will be available at select retailers. Manufacturer’ssuggested retail price is $1,299 SGD.

ASUS P8Z77-V PRO Thunderbolt Thunderbolt speed test benchmark

We have received the ASUS P8Z77-V Pro Thunderbolt motherboard and did a quick test on it’s thunderbolt speed.

Using the Seagate Thunderbolt Adapter with Kingston HyperX 3K 120GB with Apple Thunderbolt cable. The device is connected to the single port on the ASUS motherboard.

From ATTO Disk Benchmark, the performance is similar to what we did for Gigabyte thunderbolt board Z77X-UP5TH. The performance is better than USB 3.0 but slower than SATA 6Gbps (if drive is connected using a USB docking station / direct connection to SATA port). Below are the results.

Review of Kingston HyperX 3K 120G SSD model SH103S3/120G
bluetooth 3 Aug 2012

Kingston, a renown brand in the industry is always giving the best to it’s customers. Although they might not be the first to market SSDs featuring the SandForce controller, it’s entry has definitely brought down the price of SSD to mainstream users.

Featuring the 2nd generation SandForce SF-2281 controller, the high-speed SATA Rev. 3.0 (6Gb/s) performance and blazing fast random and sequential read/write speeds. SandForce DuraClass™ technology provides the latest data integrity protection for ultimate endurance over the entire life of the drive.

If you are wondering why Kingston choose a model name 3K, the reason is because it is rated at 3 thousand  program/erase cycle. Effectively that would give it a 8.2 yrs life span. The standard HyperX drive ships with 5K 25nm Intel MLC NAND, while the HyperX 3K ships with 3K 25nm Intel MLC NAND.

Before we go into benchmarks, let’s take a look at the package :

The package consists of the manual, the SSD, a mounting bracket with screws.

Features
SandForce controller technology
High-speed SATA Rev 3.0 (6Gb/s) transfer speeds
Advanced Wear-Leveling Technology
User-Configurable Over Provisioning4
Performance — incredible speeds for enhanced productivity
Reliable — much less likely to fail than a standard hard drive
Shock-Proof — dropping your notebook no longer means losing your data
Cool & Quiet — runs silent and with no moving mechanical parts to generate heat
Innovative — uses NAND Flash memory components
Supports TRIM — enhances device wear leveling by eliminating merge operation for all deleted data blocks
Supports S.M.A.R.T. (Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology)
Guaranteed — three-year warranty, free technical support and legendary Kingston reliability.

Two days ago, we posted a story about the performance of Thunderbolt vs USB 3 on the Gigabyte Z77X-UP5 TH motherboard. The results are shown here. Today, we retested it using a Kingston HyperX 3K 120GB SSD. Below are the results :

It is able to achieve a sequential read and write of 355.7MB/s and 173.3MB/s respectively. As we can see, the Kingston HyperX 3K SSD based on the SandForce controller is one of the better choices for SSD.

From the results, we can see that the performance is still a 150MB/s slower than using the drive on a SATA 6Gbps SATA port. Nevertheless, the performance is quite impressive considering that the test platform’s BIOS are still at it’s early stages.

If the drive is plugged direct to the SATA 6Gbps port, the drive is able to achieve sequential read of 454 MB/s and write at 173 MB/s.

Discuss

Pricing of Kingston HyperX 3K SSD from $99

In our review of the ASRock Fatal1ty Z77 Professional-M, we discovered something odd with the USB 3.0 performance. In our tests, we have used the latest BIOS and Intel USB 3.0 and ASmedia USB 3.0 driver on the same board to test it’s performance. In the results below, we also tested the same SSD, a Kingston SNB 425 Vseries SSD using the external Sunbeamtech USB 3.0 docking station.

Here are our results with the docking station attached to the ports. We first tested it using SiSoft Sandra 2012 Physical disk test.

Using the ASmedia USB 3.0 support ports

We get a read performance of 202.15MB/s. This is consistent with our tests of the SSD on the docking station months ago on the older platforms using ASmedia or Etrontech controllers.

Using the on board Intel Z77 supported USB 3.0 ports

To ensure everything is working correctly, we checked the device manager and also ensure that the latest driver (available from the ASRock support website) is installed.

We were astonished that the USB 3.0 performance read tests give us only 41MB/s. That is way below the normal performance of a USB 3.0.

On page 2, we used CrystalDiskMark to verify our results :

OCZ Vertex 4 series, the fastest SSD available on the market, just became even faster with the latest 1.5 firmware release. The higher capacity drives have a significant increase on sequential writes which now reaches up to 510MB/s.

Physical
Usable Capacities (IDEMA)	64GB, 128GB, 256GB, 512GB
NAND Components	2Xnm Synchronous Multi-Level Cell (MLC)
Interface	SATA III / 6Gbps (backwards compatible with SATA II / 3Gbps)
Form Factor	2.5 Inch
NAND Controller	Indilinx Everest 2
DRAM Cache	Up to 1GB
Dimensions (L x W x H)	99.8 x 69.63 x 9.3 mm

The smallest SSD on earth.rSSD series mini SATA DOM SSD, Mini Dom, is the first single-chip DOM product in the world. Based on the advantage of the solution, we can provide the most compact design , the minimum component and the
highest reliability product in the DOM product field .

In Addition , for some special application of the customer , RunCore can provide the technical support for the
customer design-in requirement ,which can make your whole system be more compact and run more stably .

Kingston Statement on SF-2000-based Encrypted SSDs

Hsinchu, Taiwan – June 13, 2012 – Kingston, the independent world leader in memory products, along with LSI, its SSD processor partner, have recently been in discussions related to the encryption capabilities of the SF-2000 platform. It was discovered that the ’self encrypting’ feature that Kingston markets on both the SSDNow V+200 and KC100 lines runs in 128-bit AES encryption mode, not the originally stated 256-bit mode. Both AES modes encrypt and secure the data on the SSD from unauthorized access ― just to different encryption standards.

Kingston is working with LSI to correct this and to ensure that future production of the aforementioned drives delivers 256-bit AES encryption mode.

Feedback from Kingston’s customer base regarding the SSDNow V+200 and KC100 model SSDs does not indicate that the encryption feature is critical or widely used in most deployments. Kingston’s teams will work closely with customers who require 256-bit AES encryption to ensure that they are taken care of, and are able to swap out their current drives for ones with the correct encryption level when it becomes available. Kingston customers with further questions are encouraged to contact Kingston technical support for additional clarification.

Kingston will notate the 128-bit AES encryption mode going forward on all literature to avoid confusion until the issue is remedied. Please note that this issue affects all manufacturers of SSDs utilizing the SF-2000 family of products and is not a Kingston-centric issue. Kingston believes in the importance of a great customer experience and will continue to communicate openly with our valued customer base.

The MSI GT 70 gaming laptop is the high end notebook based on the running the ivy bridge processor. This new notebook features integrated USB 3.0 and comes with 2 SSD which is configured to run in a RAID 0 array.

The laptop running on Super Raid mSATA (64GBx02) achieves a high speed of 921.3MB/s read speed on average. Check out the screen shot below :
 

Kingston Releases HyperX 3K Solid-State Drive
• HyperX Performance at Lower Price
• Ideal for Budget-minded Enthusiasts, Gamers, Multitaskers
• HyperX Upgrade Kit for Easy Installation

Hsinchu, Taiwan – April 11, 2012 – Kingston, the independent world leader in memory products, today announced the HyperX 3K SSD, a high-performance, lower priced solid-state drive enabling users to experience ultra-responsive gaming, multitasking and multimedia computing power. Powered by the second-generation SandForce SF-2281 processor and based on SATA Rev. 3.0 (6Gb/s) interface, Kingston HyperX 3K SSD is the ideal high-performance upgrade solution for budget-minded gamers, enthusiasts, multitaskers, overclockers and system builders.

HyperX 3K SSD loads games and applications faster, increases frames-per-second for an improved gaming experience and allows for quick transfers and edits of large media files. It has incredible sequential read/write throughputs of 555/510MB/s and max random R/W IOPS of 85k/74k. HyperX 3K SSD features SandForce DuraClass technology to provide best in class endurance, and to maximize life span and durability under the most intensive environments.

“Kingston is devoted to offering the best upgrade solution for every market segment. The new Kingston HyperX 3K SSD is specifically designed to meet the needs of budget-minded gamers, PC enthusiasts and A/V professionals looking for powerful upgrades.” said Nathan Su, Flash Memory Sales Director, APAC Region, Kingston. “We are thrilled to offer an SSD that combines HyperX performance and Kingston quality at a lower price.”

Shipping in 90GB, 120GB, 240GB, and 480GB capacities, HyperX 3K SSD comes in a sleek black and aluminum case design, accentuating the look of any power user’s system. It is available as either a stand-alone drive or in an upgrade kit to make installation easy and quick. HyperX 3K SSD is backed by a three-year warranty and free technical support. For more information, please visit www.kingston.com/en/.

A video of the HyperX 3K SSD can be found here.

Kingston HyperX 3K SSD Features & Specifications:
• Form Factor: 2.5″
• Controller: SandForce SF-2281
• Components: MLC NAND (3k P/E Cycles)
• Interface: SATA Rev 3.0 (6Gb/s), SATA Rev 2.0 (3Gb/s)
• Capacities1: 90GB, 120GB, 240GB, 480GB
• Sequential Read/Write (SATA Rev. 3.0)2:
90GB – 555/510MB/s
120GB – 555/510MB/s
240GB – 555/510MB/s
480GB – 540/450MB/s
• Sustained 4KB Random Read/Write3:
90GB – 20,000/50,000 IOPS
120GB – 20,000/60,000 IOPS
240GB – 40,000/57,000 IOPS
480GB – 60,000/45,000 IOPS
• Max 4KB Random Read/Write3:
90GB – 85,000/74,000 IOPS
120GB – 85,000/73,000 IOPS
240GB – 86,000/60,000 IOPS
480GB – 75,000/48,000 IOPS
• Dimension: 69.85mm x 100mm x 9.5mm
• Supports S.M.A.R.T., TRIM and Garbage Collection
• Shock Resistance: 1500G
• Storage Temperatures: -40° C to 85° C
• Operating Temperatures: 0°C to 70°C
• Vibration Operating: 2.17G
• Vibration Non-operating: 20G
• MTBF: 1,000,000 Hrs
• PCMARK Vantage HDD Suite Score4:
90GB, 120GB, 240GB, 480GB: 60,000
• Power Consumption:
0.455 W (TYP) Idle / 1.58 W (TYP) Read / 2.11 W (TYP) Write
• Warranty/Support: Three-year warranty with free technical support

1 Some of the listed capacity is used for formatting and other functions and thus is not available for data storage. For more information, please consult Kingston’s Flash Memory Guide at Kingston.com/Flash_Memory_Guide.
2 Based on “out-of-box performance” with ATTO Disk Benchmark 2.41. Speed may vary due to host hardware, software, and usage.
3 Based on “out-of-box performance” with IOMeter 2008.
4 Test System: ASRock 67 Motherboard, Intel Core i7 2600k 3.4GHz CPU, 8GB System Memory, NVIDIA GTX 460 Video Card, SSD tested as secondary drive with results based on “out-of-box” performance.

Kingston HyperX 3K Solid-State Drives
Part Number Capacity and Features
SH103S3/90G 90GB Stand-alone SSD
SH103S3/120G 120GB Stand-alone SSD
SH103S3/240G 240GB Stand-alone SSD
SH103S3/480G 480GB Stand-alone SSD
SH103S3B/90G 90GB HyperX Upgrade Bundle Kit
SH103S3B/120G 120GB HyperX Upgrade Bundle Kit
SH103S3B/240G 240GB HyperX Upgrade Bundle Kit
SH103S3B/480G 480GB HyperX Upgrade Bundle Kit

SP/Silicon Power launches Extreme E25 Solid State Disk

Ready for participate the market by its complete product line

Taipei, Taiwan, February X, 2012 –Leading memory storage brand, SP/Silicon Power today announces to launch the newest SSD Extreme E25. It fits 2.5”SATA interface with excellent transmission rate of 278MB/s maximum reading speed. It supports TRIM Command allowing Windows 7 users to power on their computers within tens of seconds.

Aiming on the prosperous SSD market, SP/ Silicon Power will seize SSD market-share territory with its strong ambition. A concrete SSD products line, including the newest E25, E20 of the same series, and V30 matching the highest transmission standard SATAIII can satisfy all the requirements of consumers!

E25 has 3 major technologies to ensure it maintains the highest performance and excellent stability. With DDR2 DRAM Cache Memory built-in, even during continuous intensive write situations, computers shall lag no more. ECC error correcting code guarantees data liability. After 3 to 5 thousands read/write circulations, wear-Leveling technology extends at least 5 years lifecycles! More excellences as low power consumption, shock proof and noiseless are included.

Considering diverse requirements of consumers, SP/ Silicon Power all series of 2.5” SATA interface solid state disks are in standard size that are easily installed for your desktop, laptops, or other servers compatible for 2.5” hard disk. SP/ Silicon Power devotes in good product quality. All the SSD products adopt high-level controlling chip and flash memory. All the products are under strict testing before delivery to ensure their 100% efficiency guaranteed.

Features

- Excellent transmission performance and stability.

- Support TRIM Command, write-in function increased.

- Available capacities: 64GB/128GB/256GB

-Compatible SATA I and SATA II interfaces and conforms 2.5”SATA interface(SATA SSD)

- DDR2 DRAM Cache memory implementation to enhance E25’s reading performances and lifespan

- Built-in ECC error correcting code to guarantee data reliability. Super high speed transmission speed Wear-Leveling technology to extend its lifespan

- Compliant with European RoHS requirement, meeting the green environment trend

- Low power consumption and vibration proof
- Noiseless operation, no latency delay and no seek error

- 3-year Warranty

Specifications

- Dimension: 100×69.85×9.4mm

- Weight: 77 g

- Durability: 10,000 insertions

- Operating voltage: 5V +/- 5%

Vibration resistance test: 20G peak-to-peak max

- Shock resistance test: 1500G Max

- Transmission rate: Maximum read rate 278/MB/s (note 1)

*Note 1: Performances may vary due to platform differences