Western Digital VelociRaptor 1TB and Western Digital Black 4TB Hard Disk Review
poor poor 16 Dec 2012
The traditional hard disk isn’t obsolete. If you thought it would be, it is still around and has served users beyond the expected life span. In fact, my first SSD was dead within a year but my desktop HDD from Western Digital is stil running right now.
Western Digital has 4 series of desktop/workstation hard drives. They are the Blue series WD Blue which offers solid performance an d realiability for everyday computing. It ranges from 80GB to 1TB. The other series which is environmental friendly is the Cool and Quiet WD Green. It has storage capacities of 500GB to 3 TB.
The WD Black series has the highest capacity range from 500GB to 4TB and offers maximum performance for power computing. It has a 32MB – 64MB cache and 5 years warranty.
The WD VelociRaptor, the highest end is more suitable for workstation. It comes in the capacity of 250GB to 1TB and in form factor of 2.5 and 3.5inches. It has a 64MB cache and runs at a high speed of 10,000 RPM.
Both WD Black and WD VelociRaptor has 5 years warranty.
Today, we will take a look at two products from Western Digital, the high speed Western Digital 1TB VelociRaptor & the WD Black 4TB 3.5inch.
Both hard disks are high performance drives, one with speed while the other with high capacity.
Kingston Helps Drive Big Data and Virtualization Initiatives with New SSDNow E100 Enterprise SSD
• New Enterprise-Class SSD Drives Offer 10X Gains in Endurance and Reliability;
• Expansion of Industry Leading SSD Family From Client Through Enterprise
• Helps Organizations Maximize Database Performance, Safeguard Data and Save on Power Costs
Hsinchu, Taiwan – August 28, 2012 — Kingston, the independent world leader in memory products, today announced the SSDNow E100 SSD, the company’s new enterprise-class solid state drive (SSD). The new drive enables enterprises to accommodate the performance demands required in support of big data and virtualization initiatives. The new Kingston E100 SSD achieves up to 10X improvements in endurance and reliability over client SSDs on existing hardware, while drastically reducing the physical footprint as significantly fewer SSDs are needed to handle the tasks of many traditional hard-disk drives (HDD).
The performance and processing requirements required in the rapid analysis of massive data sets and large collections of virtual systems have pushed many servers far beyond their breaking point. The next generation E100 SSD provides vastly higher IOPS compared to HDDs, dramatically reducing processing bottlenecks, computer latency and physical system limitations.
In a recent virtualized database performance test that compared Kingston’s Enterprise SSD with traditional HDDs, the review “found that replacing a solution consisting of a server with an external chassis containing 24 HDDs with only six internal SSDs increased total database performance by up to 91.8 percent.” The amount of power consumed “while idle and while running database workloads for both revealed that Kingston’s SSDs used up to 51.0 percent less power than the HDDs, and increased performance per watt by a staggering 184.2 percent.”
“Companies worldwide have come to depend on Kingston server memory for reliability and performance,” said Nathan Su, Flash Memory Sales Director, APAC Region, Kingston. “We are proud to introduce the SSDNow E100 enterprise-class SSD to help organizations handle such initiatives as big data and virtualized environments. The drive’s higher endurance and reliability, along with higher IOPS make it an integral part of a datacenter where uninterrupted 24/7 operation is mission critical.”
The new enterprise-class SSDNow E100 SSD is shipping immediately and is available in 100GB, 200GB and 400GB capacities. It is backed by a three-year warranty and free technical support.
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.
It has been reported that a few brands of SSDs doesn’t seem to work very well with Intel Z77 boards. According to reports online, OCZ SSDs seems to be affected. In some instances, it cannot be recognised in the BIOS or it could only be recognised at the first instance and disappear on reboot.
In our case, we experienced weird installation issues on our Kingston SSDNow V series on an ASRock Z77 board. The Windows 7 USB stick is able to install on two HDDs with an older BIOS but fails with the latest. As for the SSD, it sometimes can be detected and sometimes disappear on reboot.
So is this an isolated case ? Will a BIOS fix solve the problem?
Post your comments below or in the forum at http://forums.ocworkbench.com
Kingston Digital Transforms iPad, iPhone and iPod touch Storage Capabilities
New Wi-Drive Stylishly Delivers Wireless, Portable and Shareable Storage
COMPUTEX Taipei and Fountain Valley, CA — (June 1, 2011) — Kingston Digital, Inc., the Flash memory affiliate of Kingston Technology Company, Inc., the independent world leader in memory products, today announced the sleek and functional Wi-DriveTM, built to address the ever-increasing storage needs of Apple iPad®, iPhone® and iPod touch® users (www.kingston.com/flash/wi_drive.asp). Wi-Drive, a wireless, portable storage solution, allows users to expand the number of documents, images, music and video files they can access from Apple devices. The combination of this storage expansion, file sharing and a rugged portable form factor makes it a perfect companion device.
Wi-Drive, along with its app from the App Store SM, allows users to stream videos, access music or share files with other Apple device owners. The distinctively designed, pocket-sized Wi-Drive utilizes Flash-based technology to store data from USB-compatible PCs. These files are then easily retrieved via Wi-Drive’s built-in wireless signal without requiring cables or an Internet connection. Three users can work simultaneously with different file types from a single Wi-Drive without any performance disruption.
“Wi-Drive is an ideal solution for iPad, iPhone and iPod touch users who feel confined by their current storage capacity,” said Andrew Ewing, Flash memory business manager, Kingston. “Wi-Drive allows Apple device owners to wirelessly manage document and media files, and choose to share them with others, while on the go for work or pleasure. This unique functionality, combined with the durability of a Flash-based device, will satisfy both casual users and the most discerning technophiles.”
To begin using Wi-Drive with any of the compatible Apple products, users simply drag and drop files from their PC to Wi-Drive via USB cable, similar to a typical USB Flash drive data transfer. Users then download the Wi-Drive application from the App Store before connecting the Wi-Drive to their device. A video with a demonstration of the solution is also available here: www.kingston.com/flash/wi_drive.asp
Kingston offers Wi-Drive in both 16GB and 32GB sizes and the product will be available for purchase in late June 2011.
Kingston Wi-Drive Features and Specifications:
Capacities*: 16GB, 32GB
Dimensions: 121.5mm x 61.8mm x 9.8mm
Operating Temperature: 32°F to 122°F (0°C to 50°C)
Storage Temperature: 14°F to 185°F (-10°C to 70°C)
Wireless Network Interface: Wi-Fi 802.11g/n with wireless security (WPA/WEP)
Rechargeable Battery: up to four hours of continuous use
Cable: Mini-USB to USB cable included. User can upload files and content from their PC/Mac to the Wi-Drive using the USB cable
Portable: Uses Flash-based technology for durability and reliability
Convenient: pocket-sized for easy transportability
Simple: just plug into a USB port
Guaranteed: one-year warranty
App: downloadable at Apple’s App Store
Compatible with: iPad, iPhone 3G/3GS/4, iPod touch (3G is limited to iOS 4.2.1+)
Configurable APN (access point name) and Key functions to connect to Wireless Access Point
(Internet Connection)
Supported File Formats:
• Audio: AAC, MP3, WAV
• Video: m4v, mp4, mov, Motion JPEG (M-JPEG), AVI
• Image: jpg, bmp, tiff
• Document: pdf, doc, docx, ppt, pptx, txt, rtf, xls
* 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.
ASRock X58 Extreme6 Mainboard Review
Bluetooth 17 Oct 2010
Looking for the most affordable featured pack board. This board is no ordinary X58 chipset mainboard. This board is the first board based on Intel X58 chipset and it support up to 6 USB 3.0 ports on board. ASRock uses 3 NEC USB 3.0 chipsets to control the 4 rear 2 front USB 3.0 portsTo make it Not only that, it also has 6 SATA6Gbps ports on board. That makes it support up to 12 SATA ports (6 SATAII and 6 SATA III – 6Gbps). . In order to supply ample bandwidth, ASRock uses the PLX chip on board.
So how does ASRock achieve that? Basically, we went a bit further to study the block diagram and discovered that ASRock has made one of the better designs. In earlier designs from other manufacturers, the graphics PCIe lanes are hard wired or run at a lower speed. In ASRock’s design, the 3 graphics port lanes are configured as 16x + 8x + 8x. The remaining 4x is split into 2x + 2x, one for the Marvell SATA6Gbps and the other 2 lanes is connected to the PLX PEX8608 chip. The PLX PEX8606 transforms the PCIe x2 to support 3 NEC USB 3.0 (for 6 USB 3.0 ports), 2 Marvell SATA6Gbps chips (for 4 ports of SATA 6Gbps) and 2 PCIe x1 lanes.
Other than this implementation to support the fastest peripherals, ASRock X58 Extreme6 comes with ASRock DuraCap (2.5 x longer life time), 100% Japan-made high-quality Conductive Polymer Capacitors. It supports the 6 core processor and supports Triple Channel DDR3 2000(OC). With 3 full length PCIe slots it supports supports ATI™ Quad CrossFireX™,3-Way CrossFireX™ and CrossFireX™, NVIDIA® Quad SLI™,3-Way SLI™ and SLI™. 7.1 CH HD Audio with Content Protection (Realtek ALC892 Audio Codec), THX TruStudio Pro™ and Premium Blu-ray audio support
Other features include 2 x Front USB 3.0 ports, 4 x Rear USB 3.0 ports, 6 x SATA3 6.0 Gb/s connectors, 2 x IEEE 1394ports, Dr. Debug, Smart Switch Design: Power/Reset/Clear CMOS Switch with LED
Supports ASRock Instant Boot, Instant Flash, OC Tuner, IES, OC DNA, Good Night LED, Multi-Speed Fan Control, AIWI, APP Charger.
Free Software : CyberLink DVD Suite – OEM and Trial
Free Bundle: 1 x Front USB 3.0 Panel, 1 x ASRock SLI_Bridge_2S Card, 1 x ASRock 3-Way SLI-2S2S Bridge Card
Seagate and Samsung, the two major makers of hard drives and system memory, announced Thursday that they have entered into a joint development and licensing agreement.
Under this agreement, the two companies will develop and cross-license related controller technologies for solid state drives.
This is interesting; Samsung has released many consumer-grade SSDs, whereas Seagate has recently taken the route of hybrid drive with the release of the Seagate Momentus XT (500GB). The company’s first attempt into the SSD market with the Pulsar drive didn’t make much of a splash.
According to Seagate, however, the two companies aim to develop new SSDs for the enterprise storage market, of which Seagate has been a strong player with traditional platter-based hard drives.
Steve Luczo, Seagate’s chairman, president, and CEO said, “Today’s agreement with Samsung will help us bring a compelling set of SSD innovations to the enterprise storage market, with benefits that range from enhanced performance, endurance, and reliability to cost and capacity improvements.”
Seagate says that the joint development will build on the existing SSD capabilities of each company while combining Seagate’s enterprise storage technology with Samsung’s 30 nanometer-class MLC NAND flash memory technology. Seagate will then use the jointly developed controller for its enterprise-class SSDs.
The first SSDs based on this joint development is expected to be available by the middle of 2012.
OCZ Vertex 2 E 60GB OCZSSD2-2VTXE60G Review
bluetooth 15 Aug 2010
HDD used to be the bottleneck for performance. This has been partially solved with higher SATA interface speed. As HDD goes speedier, it is still unable to saturate the interface. SSD came and slowly take over as the preferred choice as storage media as it is speedy and could take advantage of the higher speed SATA II interface. As not all SSD are made equal, some SSD gives amazing read speeds but bad write speeds. OCZ Vertex II 60GB, the extended version inherits the original version with a bigger capacity and push the limits in both sequential and random read/write. As spec, it is able to do a max read and write up to 285MB/s and 275MB/s respectively. 4K random write (aligned) should be able to attain 50,000 IOPS. by virtue of the SandForce controller.
Built with SATA 3Gb/s, the Vertex 2 Series easily integrates into today’s mobile and desktop platforms and features TRIM support to optimize performance over the drive’s lifespan as the ultimate Windows 7 notebook or desktop upgrade.
The OCZ Vertex II 60GB comes with a metal bracketl 2.5” to 3.5” adapter so you can stick the SSD into a standard hard drive bay. Below is a video showing the package and the SSD.
Specifications
Max Read: up to 285MB/s
Max Write: up to 275MB/s
Sustained Write: up to 250MB/s
4k Random Write (Aligned): 50,000 IOPS
Seek Time: 0.1 MS
Power Consumption: Idle: 0.5Watts Active: 2Watt
Performance Optimization: TRIM (requires OS support)
Kingston SSDNOW V Series 64GB Notebook Upgrade Kit SNV425-S2BN/64GB Review bluetooth 29 Jun 2010
For notebooks, SSDNow drives are a perfect replacement for hard drives resulting in faster, more reliable performance. Making this change will improve a notebook’s efficiency in a wide range of tasks, from booting up to running the most demanding operating systems and applications.
SSDNow uses a standard SATA interface but, unlike a regular HDD, SSD is very rugged and built with no moving parts, making it ideal for users who push the limits of their notebooks. Other benefits include reduced power usage, less noise and less heat generation.
Comes with an USB enclosure, you can simply plug it in, clone your existing < 64GB partition using the Acronis Disk image software provided. Once that is done, you are able to boot up from the SSD as your primary OS drive. Alternatively, you can hook it using USB as an external drive.
On the next page, we take a look at the packaging followed by benchmark tests.
Features
Performance — enhances productivity; makes users more efficient
Innovative — 2.5″ form factor; uses NAND flash memory components
Silent — Runs silent and cool with no moving mechanical parts
Reliable — less likely to fail than a standard hard drive
Shock Resistant — No moving mechanical parts so the SSD handles rougher conditions
Supports TRIM — ensures maximum performance on compatible Operating Systems 2
Supports S.M.A.R.T. — Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology
Guaranteed — 3 year legendary Kingston warranty, 24/7 tech support
OCZ Technology Announces Vertex 2 and Agility 2 Solid State Drives
Company Unveils Cutting-Edge 2.5-Inch Solid State Drives for the Consumer Market
SAN JOSE, CA—April 8, 2010—OCZ Technology Group, Inc. (OTCBB: OCZT), a worldwide leader in innovative, ultra-high performance and high reliability memory and flash-based storage as an alternative to hard disk drives (HDDs), today unveiled the Vertex 2 and Agility 2 SATA II 2.5″ Solid State Drive (SSD) Series. These are new enthusiast-class SSDs designed for consumers who are seeking unprecedented speed and reliability with the goal of enhancing both their daily computing experience and long-term productivity.
“OCZ’s original Vertex Series of solid state drives have become a top seller due to the product’s exceptional performance and reliability,” said Ryan Petersen, CEO of OCZ Technology Group. “The new Vertex 2 and Agility 2 SSD lines continue that tradition by incorporating the latest controller and firmware technology. They are an excellent solution for customers who are looking for improved transfer rates and best-in-class input/output per second (IOPS) for a wide range of uses, ranging from entertainment to workstation and tier 2 storage applications. Additionally, this new product line highlights our continuing determination to be the market leader in the high reliability memory and flash-based storage market.”
Building on the features that distinguished their highly acclaimed predecessors, the Vertex 2 and Agility 2 incorporate a cutting-edge new controller design that delivers superior performance across the board. As the higher-end option, the Vertex 2 excels in 4KB random writes up to 50,000 IOPS and features transfer rates up to 285MB/s read and 275MB/s write. For the value-conscious enthusiast, Agility 2 provides similar performance at a lower price point and delivers identical read/write rates and 4KB random writes up to 10,000 IOPS.
OCZ Vertex 2 and Agility 2 SSDs not only provide a faster, more responsive PC experience, but also promote cooler, quieter and more energy-efficient conditions compared to traditional mechanical hard drives. Built with SATA 3Gb/s, the drives easily integrate into today’s mobile and desktop platforms and feature TRIM support for Windows 7 systems. Available in 50GB, 100GB, 200GB, and 400GB capacities*, Vertex 2 and Agility 2 will begin shipping in the next few weeks through OCZ’s extensive global channel. Both series come backed by a three-year warranty and OCZ’s dedicated technical support for ultimate peace of mind.
