Plextor, a leading developer of high-performance digital storage equipment, announces the release of the 100K Xtreme firmware update for its multi-award winning M5 Pro SSD. This update transforms the current M5 Pro into the M5 Pro Xtreme - the first truly professional SSD capable of delivering random-read speeds up to 100,000 IOPS along with improved maximum random-write speeds of 88,000 IOPS, a 470 MB/S sequential write speed, and an impressive 540 MB/S sequential read.

The Plextor M5 Pro has already been a success across the globe not only generating significant sales, but picking up large numbers of awards in reviews and the top position in group tests. Engineered to use the latest Marvell 88SS9187 controller and Toshiba's new 19 nm Toggle NAND, Plextor expects further success with the drive's Plextor M5 Pro Xtreme version.

QNAP Systems, Inc. today announced new Turbo NAS V3.8 firmware; which incorporates sought-after improvements to Turbo NAS multimedia applications and new business features. New features of Turbo NAS V3.8 firmware include support for Windows 8, improvements in Turbo NAS multimedia capabilities, the addition of Surveillance Station Pro, and proxy client for flexible yet secure Internet access in business environments. Firmware V3.8 supports the newest Microsoft Windows 8 operating system, allowing Windows 8 users to enjoy their Turbo NAS experiences which are optimized for Windows 8.

"QNAP is pleased to announce compatibility of our award-winning Turbo NAS lineup with the global launch of Windows 8," said Jason Hsu, product manager of QNAP. "Our customers will be delighted to know that their Turbo NAS experience has been optimized for Windows 8."

SanDisk rolled out a firmware update for its Extreme Series high-performance client SSD. The new R211 firmware corrects outstanding bugs related to TRIM and garbage collection, speeds up drive initialization time at boot, and other minor errors. To begin with, the new firmware improves TRIM delay (delay between the SSD receiving TRIM command, and finding a convenient time to "take out the trash"), as a result TRIM and its related garbage disposal performance is greatly increased. The firmware also improves error handling and power management. Next, the new firmware reduces boot-time normalization of SMART attributes, reducing POST initialization time of the drives. Lastly, a minor bug related to temperature-reading is fixed. The update is recommended for users facing issues with SanDisk's fastest client SSDs. The firmware can be updated using SanDisk SSD Toolkit, its latest version is linked below.DOWNLOAD: SanDisk SSD Toolkit 1.0.0.1

Nearly two months after releasing Firmware Update 1.4RC for its Vertex 4 series solid state drives (SSDs), OCZ released yet another firmware update, which pushes sequential speeds further up. The new firmware update version 1.5 beta increases maximum read speed on the 128 GB, 256 GB, and 512 GB variants of Vertex 4 to 560 MB/s (up from 550 MB/s), while maximum write speeds are increased by 6.5% on average. The 256 GB variant sees the highest write performance increase, by around 10%. The update can be applied using OCZ Toolbox.

Building on the success of the industry leading Bullet Proof line of mSATA SSDs, we at MyDigitalSSD are proud to announce two highly anticipated SATA III (6G) mSATA drives that reach up to 256GB capacity at a price that's right for any budget.

Like their predecessors, Bullet Proof 3 SSDs offer the performance and reliability you've come to expect from MyDigitalSSD while boasting improved Read/Write speeds of over 500/300MB/sec with Random 4K speeds of over 20/40MB/sec. Featuring Asynchronous NAND Flash and the new Phison S8 Controller, BP3 drives are the perfect upgrade solution for anyone looking for the best price to performance ratio on the market. For those who like to push their devices to the max, MyDigitalSSD will be releasing an IOPS minded Firmware in mid to late July.

OCZ Technology Group, Inc., a leading provider of high-performance solid-state drives (SSDs) for computing devices and systems, today introduced release candidate firmware v1.4RC, which dramatically improves the performance of its Vertex 4 SATA 3.0 Series SSDs. Most notably, v1.4RC nearly doubles sequential write performance for lower capacity models, significantly boosts sequential read performance at low queue depths, and improves general performance under real-world workloads comprising mixed reads and writes.

Despite already achieving breakthrough levels of performance with its flagship Vertex 4, OCZ has taken aggressive strides to further distance itself from the competition and to maintain its undisputed leadership in SSD technology. Compared to Vertex 4's original firmware version v1.3, v1.4RC more than doubles sequential write performance of the 128 GB model and boosts the 256 GB model from 380 MB/s to 465 MB/s. These dramatic gains were achieved through proprietary algorithms which orchestrate the sequence of physical NAND programming operations to ensure that each NAND device is optimally utilized at all times. For the mainstream user, entry-level capacities of Vertex 4 can now achieve nearly the same sequential write performance as the industry-leading 512GB model at a mere fraction of the cost.

For those who thought with the Indilinx buyout and release of Everest and Kilimanjaro series NAND flash controllers, OCZ is on course of becoming a largely self-sufficient SSD industry player, here's a revelation. Its new Everest series silicon, used in recently-launched SSD families (such as Octane and Vertex 4), is essentially a re-badged Marvell controller (found on SSDs such as Crucial M4, Intel SSD 510), with custom firmware developed by OCZ. This discovery by Anandtech was confirmed by OCZ (Indilinx).

The Indilinx Everest (Octane and Petrol series) and Everest 2 (Vertex 4 series), are both re-badged Marvell chips with Indilinx firmware. Although it doesn't change anything, it perfectly explains how OCZ could come up with two "new" SSD controllers (Everest and Everest 2) almost instantly, after the Indilix acquisition. Everest 1 is essentially a higher-clocked Marvell 88SS9174, while Everest 2 could very well be a re-badged Marvell 88SS9187, according to the source.

Crucial is known for issuing firmware updates for its M4 series SSDs that bring significant improvements, be it the 0009 update that introduced performance improvements by as much as 20%, or the 0309 update that fixed a lot of BSOD instability issues. Introduced on Wednesday, the newest firmware update, "000F", introduces the following changes:

• Improved compatibility with certain SAS expanders and peripheral RAID cards.
• Improved throughput stability under extremely heavy workloads.
• Improved data protection in the event of unexpected, asynchronous power loss.

With higher performance, improved OS-level stability, and now with higher throughput stability and improved data protection in the event of power loss, Crucial M4 is closer to being the perfect consumer SSD.

DOWNLOAD: Crucial M4 000F Firmware Update Windows 7 Updater Utility, Manual Boot File, Instructions

OCZ released the Arowana Flash Translation Layer (FTL) firmware update for SSDs running Indilinx Barefoot controllers, and 34 nm NAND flash. The update was announced in May, 2011, and released for the OCZ Vertex Plus family, but it's only now that users of the original Barefoot-controlled drives get a firmware to update their drives with. The new 3.55 firmware significantly improves sequential and random-seek performance. The screenshots below (in order) are of a Barefoot-driven OCZ Vertex drive with the old firmware (IDE), new firmware (IDE), and new fimware (AHCI). To learn more about the update, and how to go about do it to your drive, visit this page. Like most other SSD firmware updates, the process erases everything on your drive, so be sure to make a backup.

Eurocom has unleashed the beast, the Panther 4.0 is here! The most powerful mobile computer ever conceived. It is powered by the Intel X79 Sandy Bridge-E Core Logic and Core i7 3960X Processor Extreme; RAID 0/1/5/10, with NVIDIA GeForce SLI and AMD Radeon CrossFireX support. The Eurocom production team has recently finished the EUROCOM Panther 4.0 teaser video, with information about the specs, innovations and technologies, along with a look inside the beast.

Over last weekend, Crucial released a new firmware update for its M4 series SSDs, which aims to fix several blue screen of death (BSOD) issues that users are facing. Crucial's investigation into the BSOD complaints revealed that a bug in the older firmware caused the drives to become unstable after 5,184 hours of operation. After that, every hour the previously-rock-stable drives cause BSODs. The firmware update only applies to drives connected to SATA hosts, and not SAS expanders. Crucial is still working on a firmware update for drives connected via SAS expanders.DOWNLOAD: 0309 Firmware Update for Crucial M4

HighPoint Technologies, Inc., an industry leading HBA and storage solutions manufacturer, has announced a new milestone in 6Gb/s SSD storage performance. Recent driver and firmware updates for the best-selling RocketRAID 2700 series of 6Gb/s SAS HBA's dramatically improve the performance of RAID and non-RAID SSD configurations.

As the cost-per-gigabyte ratio of Nand Flash Chips continues to improve, SSD's have become the storage device of choice for many PC enthusiasts, gamers and media professionals. Multi-SSD configurations, once regulated to ultra-high-end workstations and enterprise servers, are now realistic propositions for the high-performance personal computing market. HighPoint SAS 6Gb/s HBA's are the ideal storage companion for such configurations. The RocketRAID 2700 series has been performance tuned to support today's fastest 6Gb/s SSD's, boosting transfer rates by as much as 50%.

QNAP Systems, Inc. today announced new V3.6 beta NAS management software for its Turbo NAS series, providing highly anticipated features such as VPN Server, LDAP Server, and Proxy Server, cloud music and photo sharing with a web browser, enhanced backup features, and more. Firmware V3.6 beta also includes new version of MyCloudNAS 1.2, QPKG center and more compatible IP camera.

Firmware V3.6 beta provides several new business-class features. The VPN Server offers the businesses with a cost-saving way to create a secure and private network. The LDAP Server simplifies mass account management and saves business' IT hardware expenditure. The Proxy Server provided with the "Squid" QPKG provides the IT administrator a great solution to manage network loading yet maintain network security. "Firmware V3.6 beta proves the Turbo NAS firmware is business-ready," commented Jason Hsu, product manager of QNAP. Bandwidth control for Real Time Remote Replication (RTRR) and rsync backup is also included in firmware V3.6 beta.

Three weeks ago, we brought you news that researchers had apparently found serious vulnerabilities in the firmware of HP printers that can allow hackers to cause the fuser to overheat and almost make the paper inside catch fire. HP dismissed these claims as exaggerated, but said that they would look into it. Three days later, we reported that some enterprising New Yorker called David Goldblatt sued HP, alleging that he would not have bought their printers had he known about this problem beforehand, which seems a bit unlikely when you consider that HP is the number one printer brand by a mile. Now HP have released patches for these vulnerabilities and issued the following press release:

Windows 8 implements a radical new user interface called Metro for desktop PC's, which has so far received a mixed reception. However, there's many other changes under the hood and one of those is how password security is handled, which we look at here. It's a fact of life, that in today's modern world, we have to remember a plethora of passwords and PIN's, which can be daunting. This leads to security issues as users end up writing down passwords and/or create very insecure ones which can be easily guessed. Windows 8 aims to uphold strong password security, while at the same time, easing the burden on the user. Also, passwords can be obtained in various ways by miscreants, such as phishing, keylogging, guessing, and cracking. Windows addresses each of these problems in three main ways:

Three days ago, we brought you news of how researchers have made proof-of-concept attacks on HP printers by reprogramming their firmware. Among other things, these attacks could deliberately cause the fuser in a printer to overheat and singe the paper, until shut down by a built-in unoverridable thermal switch, preventing a fire. Now, in light of this, a lawsuit has been filed by David Goldblatt of New York, seeking damages for fraudulent and deceptive business practices and is looking for class action status: "As a result of HP's failure to require the use of digital signatures to authenticate software upgrades, hackers are able to reprogram the HP Printers' software with malicious software without detection," the suit says. "Once the HP printers' software is maliciously reprogrammed, the HP printers can be remotely controlled by computer hackers over the Internet, who can then steal personal information, attack otherwise secure networks, and even cause physical damage to the HP printers, themselves." Note that HP has used digital signatures since 2009 to authenticate the firmware updates, helping to mitigate this potential problem in recent models.

Despite this though, HP still intends to patch the firmware to eliminate threats from this hack, which exploits bugs in the firmware. As these attacks have only actually been demonstrated in the lab and no actual losses have been incurred by Goldblatt, it makes one wonder if he is just using the prevailing American "victim culture" to try and make a quick buck off HP. HP are the top printer brand, mainly because their products are excellent, performing well and lasting a long time, plus other companies' printers and embedded devices have the same problems, so it seems unlikely that he would really not have bought HP printers.

Finally a fix for the BSOD/disconnect bug that has been plaguing users for months is available for SF-2200 based SSDs. OCZ uses these, has been testing this new firmware for several weeks and now believes that it's fit for release. The new firmware is at version 2.15 for OCZ drives and 3.3.2 for drives that SandForce's standard numbering system. As with any firmware update, it should be used cautiously, all data backed up and perhaps used on a non-mission critical Windows install for a while, for confidence. Note that there may be more unresolved issues and new ones introduced.

Proposed changes to the Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) firmware specifications would mean PCs would only boot from a digitally signed image derived from a keychain rooted in keys built into the PC. Microsoft is pushing hard to make this mandatory, so that users cannot override it. This feature would have the handy benefit of excluding alternative operating systems such as Linux and FreeBSD. This is according to Professor Ross Anderson of Cambridge University and other industry insiders. Also, it's not at all clear that it actually secures against viruses and other malware and appears to be solely designed to appease corporate self interests for unbreakable Digital Restrictions Management (DRM).

UEFI supercedes the 30 year old veteran BIOS found in most PCs today, which is very inefficient and slow for modern PCs, carrying a lot of old, legacy compatibility baggage that's just not needed in today's PC. UEFI, a key component of Windows 8, is designed to work on several CPU architectures, such as ARM and is streamlined and efficient. It also includes a much improved graphical interface that replaces the keyboard-driven menu system of the BIOS.

A new firmware update by Crucial for its M4 series SATA 6 Gb/s SSDs was released last weekend, marked 0009. The new firmware, applicable to Crucial M4 SSD models CT064M4SSD2 (64 GB), CT0128M4SSD2 (128 GB), CT0256M4SSD2 (256 GB), and CT0512M4SSD2 (512 GB), packs a large number of changes. To begin with, the update is said to increase sequential read speeds by 20%. Tests run by SSD Review verify this. PCMark Vantage Disk performance is also increased.

The new firmware also works to increase throughput performance, lower write latency, wider compatibility with latest chipsets (AHCI modes), and fixes various kinds of cold-boot failures. The firmware lowers SATA speed negotiation time with host controllers, resulting in faster boot. Depending on the model, the 0009 firmware update for Crucial M4 series SSDs can be downloaded from here.

Last week, Intel released a firmware update (0362) for its SSD 320 Series products that it claimed would address the "8 MB bug", which results in a data loss with the drive not being able to see more than 8 MB of the installed NAND flash memory. After application of the firmware update, some reported back to Intel Support Community claiming that the new firmware did not effectively address the 8 MB bug, and has in some cases, made the drives even more unreliable. The users note that a SSD self-test cycle by the drive is causing Windows to crash with a bluescreen (BSOD). Intel has not responded to these posts.

SanDisk Corporation, a global leader in flash memory storage solutions, today expanded its Lightning(R) Enterprise Flash Drive (EFD) family with six new 2.5-inch 6Gb SAS (6 gigabits per second Serial Attached SCSI) models. The Lightning products are part of the new Enterprise Storage Solutions (ESS) division that SanDisk created following its recent acquisition of Pliant Technology.

The new drives include three SLC (single-level cell) flash drives with capacities of 100 gigabytes (GB), 200GB and 400GB; and three MLC (multi-level cell) flash drives with capacities of 200GB, 400GB and 800GB. The new drives extend SanDisk's position as the industry leader in EFD performance, performance predictability and reliability. SanDisk also confirmed today that HP has qualified and integrated the new Lightning 6Gb SAS drives into its HP Qualified storage drive offerings.

Kingston Technology released an important firmware update for SSDNow V100 series solid-state drives. The update fixes an issue where the SSD becomes unresponsive during power on self-test (POST) or during booting. The issue also causes the SSD to render the machine unresponsive for a few minutes randomly. Kingston strongly recommends you to apply this update, even if you haven't come across this issue. Affected models include 64 GB SV100S2/64GZ, SV100S2D/64GZ, and SV100S2N/64GZ; 128 GB SV100S2/128GZ, SV100S2D/128GZ, and SV100S2N/128GZ; and 256 GB SV100S2/256GZ, SV100S2N/256GZ, and SV100S2N/256GZ. Details on the update can be found here.

When it first came out, Sony's PlayStation 3 game console was the easiest way to have a Blu-ray disc (BD) player, because the console uses BD as its primary media. With a new firmware update from Sony, users can add Blu-ray 3D support. It is especially interesting because not every older standalone Blu-ray player supports the latest 3D format. Firmware update 3.50 applies to all versions of the PlayStation 3 (that's Slim and the original design). The move to let the PS3 have Blu-ray 3D support was backed by an announcement that upcoming game titles on the PS3, such as Gran Turismo 5 and Killzone 3 will come in stereoscopic 3D.

A-DATA Technology Co., Ltd., the worldwide leading manufacturer in high-performance DRAM modules and flash application products, today announced that it has commenced volume shipments of its XPG SX95 and S592 2.5" SATA II SSD, preconfigured with latest firmware for optimize with Windows 7 TRIM. Moreover, the latest firmware updates are also available for free download for current XPG SX95 and S592 2.5" SATA II SSD users. The XPG SX95 and S592 SATA II 2.5" SSD features new architecture and controller design, with onboard DRAM cache buffer to perform killer speed and stability for notebooks and desktops.

A little over a month after retracting its second faulty firmware for its otherwise breakthrough 34 nm X25-M G2 solid state drives (SSD), Intel released the 2CV102HD firmware update, this one hopefully being free of any critical bugs. The firmware update works for both the X25-M and X18-M SSDs. The firmware adds TRIM capability to the SSDs, which works to minimize data fragmentation at the hardware-level on systems with Windows 7. The 2CV102HD firmware update can be found here.