Upgrade Notebook HDD or SSD Easier with SATA Wire

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There are a number of hard drive and SSD upgrade kits floating around for notebooks and netbooks. The catch is that many users simply don’t have the understanding needed to transfer all of their files over to the new drive. Apricorn has a new upgrade kit to make the transfer easier called the SATA Wire.

The SATA Wire sells for $19.99 and is a cable that plugs into your SATA SSD or HDD on one end and then plugs into the USB port of your notebook on the other to transfer data. The upgrade kit also includes cloning software that makes it easy to move all your data over. Read more

Posted on Thu, 19 Nov 2009 05:45:26 CST | by Shane McGlaun

NitroAV Fusion PCIe/eSATA Host Adapter Available

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NitroAV has unveiled a new combination PCI Express x4 slot host adapter that works with Mac, Windows, and Linux computers. The card adds FireWire 800 and 3Gbps eSATA ports to a computer. The adapter is described as a professional grade eSATA.1394b card that will work with just about any connected device.

The card uses native PCIe chips from silicon image and Texas instruments. The card has two FireWire 800 ports externally and a single internal FireWire 800 port. The device also has two external eSATA ports and has an optional power connecter that can offer power over FireWire 800. Read more

Posted on Tue, 10 Nov 2009 07:00:00 CST | by Shane McGlaun

Seagate Barracuda XT 2TB SATA 6 Gbit/s Hard Drive Performance Review

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Tweaktown published this review of the Seagate Barracuda XT 2TB SATA 6 Gbit/s Hard Drive.
Quote from the review: "Third generation Serial ATA technology is finally here. Today we are going to take a look at the new Seagate Barracuda XT, the first SATA 6 Gb/s hard drive to hit the TweakTown Test Lab. Read more

Posted on Thu, 29 Oct 2009 19:00:00 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

Seagate Barracuda XT 2TB SATA III HDD With 6Gb/s Unveiled

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Seagate announced that it is first to ship a SATA III desktop hard-drive with the Seagate Barracuda XT 2TB SATA III HDD (ST32000641AS).
The Seagate Barracuda XT is a 7200RPM HDD featuring 2TB of storage capacity and the new blazing fast Serial ATA (SATA) 6Gb/second interface. Of course to leverage the new speeds you need a new motherboard with a SATA III interface like the recently announced Asus P7P55D Premium. Read more

Posted on Mon, 21 Sep 2009 13:05:29 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

Addonics Announces Five Port Hardware SATA multiplier

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Addonics has announced a new hardware port multiplier that comes in two styles. Both styles of the device allow users to connect up to five SATA drives to any single SATA port. The device is ideal for users who want to run multiple hard drives or start a RAID volume with redundancy.

The port multiplier can connect to five SATA optical drives as well for copying data at the same time. The device is available in a system version that has all the hardware on a card that slips into an expansion port. Read more

Posted on Tue, 15 Sep 2009 10:00:00 CDT | by Shane McGlaun

New ASUS P7P55D Premium Core i7 and Core i5 Motherboard with 6Gbps SATA

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Today ASUS launched the ASUS P7P55D Series motherboards.
Featuring the Intel P55 Express chipset, the P7P55D Series supports the latest LGA 1156 socket for Intel Core i7 and Core i5 CPU.

The Asus P7P55 Series includes the latest Hybrid Technology—Hybrid Processor, Hybrid Phase, and Hybrid OS—to give you intelligent performance enhancement, active cooling, and rapid online access. Read more

Posted on Tue, 8 Sep 2009 06:22:00 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

Addonics Unveils External Blu-ray Drive with eSATA

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Addonics has announced a couple new external optical drives that are perfect for the netbook user who lacks DVD or Blu-ray. The drives include the Pocket Blu-ray/DVDRW and a similar DVD only optical drive. The big feature for these tow products is that they are the first to offer eSATA and USB interfaces.

When used with USB interface the drives need now external power adapter. The Blu-ray version will play Blu-ray movies and can burn DVD and CD media. Compatibility is with Windows, Mac, and Linux OS'. Read more

Posted on Thu, 27 Aug 2009 14:00:00 CDT | by Shane McGlaun

Samsung Develops SSD with SATA Mini-card Design

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Samsung has announced that it has developed a new SSD for netbooks that uses a mini-card SATA design. The design allows the SSD to be used as a mini storage drive and to go into computers with the capability of a second drive to boost performance.

The SSD uses the SATA 3.0GB/s interface and is about 80% smaller than a conventional 2.5-inch SSD. Samsung says that it is working to standardize the new form factor and its pin layout. The SSD will be offered in 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB densities. Read more

Posted on Tue, 23 Jun 2009 07:00:00 CDT | by Shane McGlaun

New MacBook Pro Firmware fixes SATA Speed

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There has been a lot of buzz around the issue that the new 13 and 15 inch MacBook Pro notebooks are not supporting SATA 3Gbps drives as the former MacBook Pros. According to Apple the issue has only been reported by a small number of customers.
In any case Apple answered to the problem with a new EFI firmware update for the MacBook Pro that fixes the issue.
Apple added this disclaimer: "While this update allows drives to use transfer rates greater than 1.5Gbps, Apple has not qualified or offered these drives for Mac notebooks and their use is unsupported."
Read more

Posted on Tue, 23 Jun 2009 04:00:00 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

Pretec Ships Cobra eSATA/USB SSD

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Pretec has announced a new eSATA/USB SSD that it says is the first in the world to implement Power over eSATA allowing power to the device without any additional power connections. The Cobra looks very much like the OCZ Throttle eSATA/USB flash drive I reviewed recently.

In fact, the device sounds very much like the Throttle with an eSATA port on one side and a USB on the other. The read/write speed of the drive is 90MB/sec and 60 MB/sec respectively. Pretec also claims that the drive uses a special firmware that makes its USB connectivity one of the fastest in the world Read more

Posted on Tue, 31 Mar 2009 07:00:00 CDT | by Shane McGlaun

SanDisk pSSD SATA SSDs unveiled at CES 2009

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SanDisk today unveiled its next-generation of flash memory-based solid-state drives (SSD) dubbed SanDisk pSSD. The new SanDisk pSSD-P2 and SanDisk pSSD-S2 SSDs have capacity and performance for more full-featured netbooks which require a robust operating system.

Designed as drop-in replacements for hard-disk drives (HDDs), SanDisk's new second generation module has a SATA interface to meet new netbook design requirements. The SATA interface offers a significant boost in performance rendering these SSDs faster than HDDs in critical aspects. Booting and launching applications take just half the time of an HDD. Read more

Posted on Tue, 6 Jan 2009 07:32:46 CST | by Luigi Lugmayr

OCZ introduces Flash Drive with eSATA Interface

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Earlier this month OCZ introduced a new flash drive that uses the eSATA interface rather than USB like virtually all flash drives on the market. The use of the eSATA interface means considerably higher performance than a USB flash drive can deliver.

OCZ claims that the Throttle can write at up to 30MB/sec and read at up to 90MB/sec. Storage capacities available include 8GB, 16GB, and 32GB. For times when the computer available lacks an eSATA port the drive also features a mini USB port. Read more

Posted on Mon, 15 Dec 2008 16:00:00 CST | by Shane McGlaun

Kanguru e-Flash Flash Drive offers both eSATA and USB

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Kanguru Solutions announces the release of the Kanguru e-Flash flash drive with both eSATA and USB connectivity.
Utilizing eSATA (External Serial ATA) technology allows the Kanguru e-Flash to achieve performance speeds (3Gb/s connectivity, 5 times faster than a standard USB 2.0 drive) never before obtainable with standard USB Flash Drives.
The Kanguru e-Flash has a powered eSATA connection so it doesn’t require any additional power source. It also comes packaged with an eSATA + Power bracket and an eSATA + Power cable for easy hookup to the computer you use it on most. Capacities are available in 16GB or 32GB with 64GB planned for January 2009. Read more

Posted on Wed, 19 Nov 2008 08:42:39 CST | by Luigi Lugmayr

StarTech InfoSafe 3.5-inch USB SATA Enclosure Launches

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StarTech announced the launch of its new InfoSafe 3.5-inch USB 2.0 SATA Aluminum Hard Drive Enclosure. The enclosure takes a normal 3.5-inch SATA drive and makes it connectable via USB as an external storage solution.

The enclosure works with Windows, Mac OS 9.0 and higher as well as Linux. Features of the enclosure include a built-in power switch, support for SATA II and SATA I drives and LED indicators to show when the drive is in use. Retail pricing for the enclosure is $44.99, but it is on sale right now for under $30. Read more

Posted on Wed, 12 Nov 2008 10:37:37 CST | by Shane McGlaun

Rosewill RX81-MP-SC-SLV SATA External HDD Enclosure Review

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Today we are looking at a very nice external HDD enclosure from Rosewill. The Rosewill enclosure has four connectivity options and offers very good performance.

The enclosure will support HDDs up to 1TB and is easy to install. The drive is compatible with Windows and Mac computers. The enclosure is made for aluminum for heat dissipation as well. Read more

Posted on Fri, 8 Aug 2008 14:55:55 CDT | by Shane McGlaun

VOX V1 500GB USB and eSATA External HDD Review

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Tweaktown published a review of the VOX V1 500GB USB and eSATA External HDD.

Quote from the review: "Aaah, storage. As far as I’m concerned, you can’t have enough of it. Be it in a server or on the go, you can’t really ever have too much hard drive space. Today we’re taking the time to have a look at a hard drive caddie from a company called VOX. Read more

Posted on Mon, 4 Aug 2008 21:00:00 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

Price-breaking OCZ Core Series SATA II 2.5 SSD announced

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OCZ unveiled today the OCZ Core Series SATA II 2.5" Solid State Drives (SSDs).

OCZ says that the new OCZ Core Series delivers the performance and reliability of the latest SSDs at a 50% lower price per gigabyte than other high speed offerings currently on the market. Read more

Posted on Tue, 1 Jul 2008 04:48:34 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

Toshiba unveils 160GB 1.8 inch SATA HDD

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Toshiba Corporation today announced a new line-up of 1.8" SATA hard disk drives including the industry's first drive of this type with a capacity of 160GB.

The new 160GB HDD, MK1617GSG, and the 80GB drive, MK8017GSG, will enter mass production in August.

Toshiba’s new 1.8-inch hard-drives boost interface speed to 1.5Gbps and offer a rotation speed of 5,400 rpm, faster than the current generation of Toshiba 1.8-inch HDD (MK1214GAH, parallel ATA, 120GB). Read more

Posted on Wed, 11 Jun 2008 00:21:40 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

Thermaltake BlacX SATA to USB HDD Dock Test

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Tweaktown published a Thermaltake BlacX SATA to USB HDD Dock review.

Quote from the review: "Thermaltake has just come up with the ultimate enthusiast accessory; at least that is what went through my head when I first saw the press release of the new BlacX and BlacX SE. As I read the release my mind started to drift away, thinking about the two foot tall stack of SATA drives sitting in my closet and how useful it would be to just grab a drive and start transferring data to it within seconds. Read more

Posted on Sat, 31 May 2008 15:00:00 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

CF Card RAID in the size of a 2.5-inch SATA HDD from Sans Digital

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Sans Digital introduces interesting Compact Flash (CF) enclosures.

The Sans Digital CompactSTOR CS1T and CompactRAID CR2T convert Compact Flash cards to a single 2.5" SATA hard drive storage device.
The CS1T houses one Compact Flash card, while the CR2T supports spanning and RAID 1 (mirroring) by housing up to two Compact Flash cards. The CR2T allows you to easily upgrade your laptop to RAID and flash storage. Read more

Posted on Sat, 24 May 2008 01:36:01 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

ASUS BC-1205PT SATA Blu-ray Disc Optical Drive Review

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Benchmark Reviews published a test report of the ASUS BC-1205PT SATA Blu-ray Disc Optical Drive.

Quote from the review: "The HD-DVD and Blu-ray Disc format war is finally over. Now that Toshiba and Mircosoft have both jumped ship on HD-DVD, for the first time in at least a dozen introduced media types Sony finally has its moment of glory with their Blu-ray Disc format. Read more

Posted on Wed, 21 May 2008 12:00:00 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr