With the trend in terminal products toward mobility, the built-in storage devices have turned to compact design in specification and size, and stronger durability are required for the products. Aiming at industrial computers driven by the trend, Apacer launches two ultra slim SSDs: JEDEC MO-297-compliant SFD 18S6 and MO-300-compliant mSATA A1.

The small size equipped with SATA 3.0 high-speed transmission interface, along with the products' features of low power consumption, durability and high performance, will become the necessary storage solution for the rise of the new mobility devices. It can be specially applied to medical tablet PCs, bedside healthcare, mobile on-board unit and data communication system devices.

ECS announced the A55F2P-M2, an entry-level socket FM2+ motherboard, that's ready for AMD's A-Series "Kaveri" APUs, and backwards-compatible with "Richland" and "Trinity" APUs. The narrow micro-ATX motherboard draws power from a combination of 24-pin ATX and 4-pin CPU power connectors, and uses a 3+2 phase VRM to condition it for the APU. The socket is wired to two DDR3 DIMM slots, supporting up to 32 GB of dual-channel DDR3 memory, a PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slot, and a PCI-Express 2.0 x1 slot. A legacy PCI slot makes for the rest of the expansion area. Storage connectivity includes four SATA 3 Gb/s ports. Display outputs include DVI and D-Sub. Two USB 3.0 ports, 6-channel HD audio, gigabit Ethernet, and PS/2 connectors make for the rest of the connectivity. Expect this board to go around the $50 mark.

Plextor, leading developer and manufacturer of high-performance digital media and storage equipment, will reveal its new M6 Solid State Drive Solution at the upcoming 2014 edition of CeBIT in Hannover, Germany. The M6 multi-form factor lineup features Plextor's next-generation and new 2.5" M6S, the new M6M mSATA SSD and the new ultra-fast M6e M.2 PCIe SSD.

Building up to the official introduction of the highly anticipated M6 series Plextor will be continuously demonstrating the full lineup from March 10 - 14 in its showcases in the Business Center (Hall 15, Stand A18, Room 18) and at Planet Reseller (Hall 15, Stand D21, Number 66).

Tray-less designs have always been a trade-off between convenience and security, but that's not the case for TurboSwap MB171SP-B. The ICYDOCK TurboSwap MB171SP-B keeps all the benefits of the tray-less design with superior build quality, improved cooling efficiency and its unique shock absorbing design for maximum stability. It fits any standard 5.25" bay and is built rugged with all metal design to take a beating. This lockable mobile rack is designed for rugged applications such as medical & military systems, industrial PCs and servers. It includes features such as drive power button, ultra-slim 80mm cooling fan, fan speed control and optional screw holes for an add-on 120mm cooling fan which can be great for gamers and power users seeking a hot-swap bay built in to their system with SATA III support.

There are many benefits to having a tray-less design; it allows you to quickly swap the drives without the fuss of rewiring or installing trays onto your drives. Reliability and stability of tray-less mechanisms are always a concern as it's necessary to add moving parts. The TurboSwap MB171SP-B takes this into consideration and allows you to hot-swap drives within seconds, while maintaining outstanding drive stability and overall reliability. The Ultra-Flex shock absorbing kit provides excellent drive support whether it's a half-height drive or a full size drive; it stabilizes the drive and absorbs vibrations. For increased reliability, we've simplified and reengineered the ejection mechanism with all metal arms to create a strong product that's built to last. Setup is incredibly simple: just insert this unit into a single 5.25" bay, secure the unit in with screws, plug a 15pin power cable + 7 pin SATA cable, and you're good to go.

Toshiba Corporation today announced the launch of the "HG6 series" of client SSDs integrating NAND chips fabricated with 19 nm second-generation process technology. Shipping will start from March.

The new HG6 series SSDs are Toshiba's first to use NAND chips fabricated with 19 nm second-generation process technology. Versions will be available in capacities from 60 GB to 512 GB, in 2.5-type, thin space-saving mSATA and M.2 (single- and double-sided) form factors, to meet various requirements.

The Storage Products Business Unit of Toshiba America Electronic Components, Inc., a committed technology leader, announces the next generation of high-capacity 3.5-inch form factor enterprise hard disk drive (HDD) - the MG04 series. Engineered for midline and nearline business critical workloads, the MG04 series is the industry's first enterprise capacity category models supporting industry standard 4K Advanced Format sector technologies as well as persistent write cache technology, which improves both performance and reliability. The series is engineered for the high-capacity demands of mid-tier servers and cloud application workloads and for capacity-optimized data center storage systems that benefit from high capacity per spindle.

With a 6 Gb/s interface model, the SAS MG04SCA and SATA MG04ACA series are available in the industry standard 3.5-inch form factor and are available in capacities of up to 5 TB. Spinning at 7,200 rotations per minute (RPM), the MG04 series delivers high application performance, while the high capacity per spindle saves rack space and reduces the footprint and operational burden of business critical servers and storage systems. The series also provides, as an option, persistent write cache technologies that help protect against data-loss in the event of sudden power loss, while also helping to improve performance and data reliability. Models supporting sanitize instant erase (SIE) option are available.

The FLEX-FIT Trio MB343SP is a very unique 3.5" to 5.25" front bay adapter. At first glance is of what looks like a simple 3.5" to 5.25 device bay adapter, but there is more than meets the eye. We've created a device that utilizes a single 5.25" bay and converts it into 2 x 2.5" HDD/SSD slots and a 3.5" device or hard drive bay designed for tool-less drive installation. The FLEX-FIT Trio MB343SP pushes the envelope with its unique features and brilliant engineering. As a result, you get a beautifully crafted adapter that is sturdy, flexible and multifunctional.

One of the most unique features of the FLEX-FIT Trio MB343SP is the FLEX-FIT system, which provides users a higher level of flexibility for a 5.25" adapter that only an Icy Dock product can deliver. The FLEX-FIT Trio can store a 3.5" device or hard drive and an additional 2 x 2.5" HDD/SSD, IDE or SATA hard drives from 7mm - 9.5mm height. It's both space efficient and cost effective since you won't be required to buy multiple brackets.

HighPoint Technologies, a pioneering force in the storage industry for the past 18 years, is launching a series of innovative Linux Driver package for its popular 6Gb/s SATA and AS value RAID HBA Series. For well over a decade, HighPoint has actively supported Linux distributions, continuously seeking to develop new and better solutions for Linux-based storage applications. We have long understood how the complications associated with Software RAID controllers while performing kernel upgrades have pushed customers towards high-price Hardware RAID controllers.

We are proud to introduce our innovative Auto-Compiling driver packages for 6Gb/s SATA and SAS RAID HBA's. Seamless integration and simplified kernel upgrade procedures are now no longer exclusive to high-cost Hardware RAID solutions. Customers will never again have to trade ease of integration for cost-effective RAID storage. HighPoint's Auto-Compiling Linux driver packages are available for Enterprise Linux distributions, and are designed to streamline installation and upgrade procedures; delivering an experience on par with pre-compiled, or embedded device drivers.

Plextor, a leading developer and manufacturer of high-performance digital media and storage equipment, today announced its M6 series lineup of solid-state drive solutions. The multi-form factor lineup features Plextor's next-generation 2.5" M6S and M6M mSATA SSDs, along with the introduction of two PCIe drives - the ultra-fast M6e M.2 PCI express and New HHHL PCIe card.

"We are excited to announce the new M6 series, Plextor's new generation of consumer solid-state storage products. With the addition of the M6e M.2 PCIe and SATA drives to the M6 family, Plextor now offers one of the broadest and highest-performing portfolios in the consumer space," said Darlo Perez, Director of Plextor Americas. "Plextor's latest lineup highlights our commitment to providing top-shelf quality and performance in the solid-state drive market."Images courtesy of Legit Reviews

Keeping itself busy until the Toshiba deal is finalized, OCZ Technology has actually unveiled a new product at CES 2014, the Vertex 460 solid state drive. This updated storage solution comes in a 2.5-inch form factor and features a SATA 6.0 Gbps interface, a Barefoot 3 M10 controller, and Toshiba-made 19 nm MLC NAND Flash memory chips.

The Vertex 460 is capable of transfer speeds of up to 550 MB/s and is set to ship later this month in 120 GB, 240 GB and 480 GB capacities.

Addonics Technologies today announced two new members of its Port Multiplier family, both designed to support SATA 3.0 6 Gbps and greatly enhance the storage capabilities for a wide range of computer systems.

The new products are the Internal 5-port 6G Port Multiplier, which is an excellent solution for adding more drives to a computer that has limited SATA ports, and the 5-Port 6G Rack Mount Port Multiplier, which has more flexibility for large volume storage needs. As many as five hard drives, SSD or optical drives can be connected to these PMs. The hard drives or SSD drives appear as five individual drives when connecting to a Port Multiplier compatible controller. The drives can also be set up as a RAID group using the RAID software of the OS or the host controller.

Here's the first picture of Intel's next-generation Core i7 HEDT (high-end desktop) processor, codenamed "Haswell-E." Based on Intel's latest "Haswell" micro-architecture, the chip will be Intel's first HEDT processor to ship with eight cores, and the first client CPU to ship with next-generation DDR4 memory interface. In addition to IPC improvements over "Ivy Bridge" that come with "Haswell," the chip integrates a quad-channel DDR4 integrated memory controller, with native memory speeds of DDR4-2133 MHz; a PCI-Express gen 3.0 root complex with a total of 40 PCI-Express lanes, and yet the same DMI 2.0 (4 GB/s) chipset bus.

Built into the LGA2011-3 socket, "Haswell-E" will be incompatible with current LGA2011 motherboards, as the notches of the package will vary from LGA2011 "Ivy Bridge-E." Intel will introduce the new X99 Express chipset, featuring all 6 Gb/s SATA ports, integrated USB 3.0 controllers, and a PCI-Express gen 2.0 root complex for third-party onboard controllers. Interestingly, there's no mention of SATA-Express, which Intel's next-generation 9-series chipset for Core "Broadwell" platforms reportedly ships with; and X99 isn't looking too different from today's Z87 chipset. With engineering samples already out, it wouldn't surprise us if Intel launches "Haswell-E" along the sidelines of any of next year's big-three trade-shows (CES, CeBIT, and Computex).

Plextor, a leading developer and manufacturer of high-performance digital media and storage devices, will introduce its new portfolio of consumer, enterprise and industrial storage solutions at a press conference in Las Vegas during the International Consumer Electronics Show.

Plextor will formally unveil its sixth generation M6 series consumer solid-state drive lineup. The new M6 series features next-generation firmware with 2.5-inch and mSATA solutions, as well as the addition of an ultra-fast M.2 PCI express SSD. Plextor will also introduce its new portfolio of enterprise storage products. Designed specifically for the cloud-computing environment, Plextor will present storage solutions for both read-intensive and mixed-usage server application that focus on reduced total cost of ownership and enhanced user experience.

The S20 Slider 2, the ideal mobile work station and leisure companion, just hit the market. Its elegant streamlined exterior, all-in-one design, Intel's 4th generation Haswell Core i5 processor, and all-weather, long-life battery meet are designed to meet your work and leisure needs and make the S20 Slider 2 stand out from the crowd of other ultrabooks.

Another MSI ingenious design, the S20 Slider 2 not only offers all the audio, visual, multimedia, reading, and gaming enjoyment of a tablet, it also sports a keyboard, USB, and HDMI capabilities of a mobile office notebook. This chicly mobile machine satisfies the needs of both on-the-go business people and students and the extended battery power ensures that you have plenty of time to do what you're doing. Ideal for Internet browsing, social networking, and word processing, the S20 Slider 2 is the perfect choice for anybody on the go. The S20's design with keyboard and sliding cover eliminates the limitations most people feel when they use tablets. MSI's innovative, user-friendly design have you the user in mind.

Toshiba Corporation today announced that it will expand its family of enterprise SSD with new models designed to support read intensive applications with SATA interface. The new "HK3R series" will start shipping from the end of this month.

"HK3R series" SSD have a 2.5-inch form factor, implement a 6 Gb/s SATA interface, and will be available in capacities up to 480 GB. The drives support one full DWPD and are suited for server and storage systems for online transactions, cloud computing, online gaming and big data analytics, especially where customers are looking for a balance between cost, endurance and performance.

Samsung Electronics today unveiled a new, compact storage solution, the 840 EVO mSATA solid state drive. Pictured below, this SSD makes use of 128 gigabit (Gb) 1x-nm NAND flash memory, it has a Samsung controller with TurboWrite technology, and is capable of 98,000 random read and 90,000 random write IOPS, as well as sequential read/write speeds of up to 540/520 MB/s.

The 840 EVO mSATA will be available this month globally in 120 GB, 250 GB, 500 GB and 1 TB capacities.

Icy Dock is proud to announce its latest creation: The Black Vortex MB074SP-B. Created to exceed the highest level of expectations, the Black Vortex certainly doesn't disappoint. It includes an impressive array of features and functionality such as 4-in-3 storage bay -meaning you can fit 4 x 3.5" drives in 3 x 5.25" slots. The Black Vortex has front access and EZ-Grip handles to give you the ability to swap drives without breaking a sweat. The quiet 120mm fan combined with all metal ventilated design keeps both your drives and system cool. The Black Vortex is a must-have for any system build.

The Black Vortex MB074SP-B has space saving features that converts 3 x 5.25" slots into 4 x 3.5" bays allowing greater storage density by utilizing unused space. This can be imperative for power users that demand ample storage capacity in their systems. Each bay allows for any type of 3.5" drive whether it's SATA, SAS, or IDE interface. The Black Vortex is also compatible with our 2.5" to 3.5" SSD / HDD converter - the EZConvert series, so you can mount a 2.5" drive as well, or if you would like to mount two 2.5" drives in a single bay, you can utilize our EZ-Fit series SSD / HDD bracket to incorporate more storage density.

Next month I-O Data is set to introduce its very own SSHD (solid state hybrid drive), a 2.5-inch storage solution that features 1 TB worth of platter storage and 8 GB of NAND Flash memory that can store frequently-used files for much quicker access.

Named HDN-H1.0, the upcoming drive has a SATA 6.0 Gbps interface, it spins at 5,400 RPM, and is bundled with a SATA to USB 3.0 cable that allows for easier data migration. I-O Data's 1 TB SSHD will be released around mid-December and will cost 21,000 yen (~ 207 USD).

HighPoint Technologies, a pioneering force in the storage industry for the past 18 years, launches a groundbreaking new breed of storage controller designed for high-speed applications: the RocketRAID 2720C2 6Gb/s SAS/SATA Cross-Sync RAID Solution.

HighPoint's 6Gb/s Cross-Sync RAID Solution aims to revolutionize DAS applications. Cross-Sync synchronizes up to two RocketRAID 2720C2 controller cards to work as a single RAID storage unit. The Cross-Sync RAID Solution provides 16 SAS/SATA6Gb/s Ports over a Dual PCIe x8 Host Interface, and is capable of delivering up to 4 GB/s of transfer performance!

LSI Corporation today unveiled the third generation of its market-leading SandForce flash controller line, the industry's most widely deployed flash management technology for driving PCIe and SATA solid state drive (SSD) and flash card solutions. Designed to support power-sensitive client computing applications as well as I/O-intensive enterprise and hyperscale environments, the new LSI SandForce SF3700 flash controller family provides the increased levels of flash performance, reliability and endurance needed to meet the exacting needs of SSD manufacturers.

The SF3700 family is the industry's first flash controller that provides the flexibility to support both native PCIe Gen2 x4 and SATA 6 Gb/s host interfaces in a single ASIC design. This unique capability greatly simplifies SSD designs and helps to significantly reduce development and manufacturing costs for SSD makers.

Amid the heaps of Z87 chipset motherboards which have already been around for a while, there can only be one that rises from the top with its delicacy and perfection. The long wait has ended, here comes the king of all Intel 8 Series motherboards. All hail ASRock Z87 Extreme11/ac, the most high end Z87 motherboard on the face of earth!

Insane Specs: 22 SATA3 (16 SAS-3 12 Gb/s) / 4-Way Multi-GPU / Thunderbolt 2
Using out of the world to describe ASRock's flagship motherboard Z87 Extreme11/ac is actually an understatement. This motherboard boasts a whopping 22 SATA3 ports, including 6 SATA3 ports by Intel Z87 chipset, and another 16 SAS-3 12.0 Gb/s ports from the added LSI SAS 3008 Controller plus 3X24R Expander, which can reach up to an unearthly 6.1 GB/s transfer speed!

Japanese company Green House has today announced multiple solid state drives based around controllers from Taiwan-based Phison Electronics. Among the models presented are the GH-SSD32B Series (2.5-inch form factor / SATA 6.0 Gbps interface), the GH-SSDP2A Series (2.5-inch / PATA) and GH-SSD21A Series (1.8-inch SATA 3.0 Gbps).

The GH-SSD32B line includes 60 GB, 120 GB, 240 GB and 480 GB units that utilize MLC NAND Flash memory and deliver speeds of up to 520/420 MB/s (reading/writing). The GH-SSDP2A SSDs reach 80/60 MB/s (reading/writing) and come in 16 GB, 32 GB, 64 GB, 128 GB and 256 GB flavors, while the GH-SSD21A family tops 200/120 MB/s (read/write) and goes from 32 GB to 128 GB. All these SSDs have a three-year warranty and are set to become available at the end of this month.

ADATA Technology has announced its presence at the 6th annual Accelerating Innovation Summit (AIS 2013) as a gold sponsor. Responding to the latest industry and market needs, ADATA will display two potent solid state drive (SSD) offerings: the SX1000L server SSD and the company's groundbreaking PCIe based SSD solution. These storage systems are designed for both server applications, and for system integrators to effectively manage the rising data challenges faced by today's organizations and systems planners.

The SX1000L server SSD is a 2.5" form factor SATA 6Gb/sec solution that is provided with customized over-provisioning and high data compression efficiency. With the majority of data in enterprise environments being compressible, the SX1000L provides sustained performance, as well as superior endurance and reliability. Sequential read speeds reach 550 MB/sec, and sequential write is as high as 500 MB/sec, with IOPS of 75K and 45K (Maximum 4K random read and write, respectively).

OCZ Technology Group, Inc., a leading provider of high-performance solid state drives (SSDs) for computing devices and systems, today announced its new Vector 150 SATA III SSD Series that utilizes the latest cutting-edge 19 nanometer (nm) NAND flash process geometry and an in-house controller design that shatters barriers by delivering OCZ's highest performing SATA III solid state drive series to date. At the forefront of Vector 150 innovation is OCZ's proprietary Barefoot 3 controller which was designed completely in-house by the Company's hardware and firmware teams to enable full design control over the product roadmap while delivering high performance flash-based storage, enhanced endurance, and a host of differentiated features for laptop, desktop and workstation applications.

Building off the success of the original Vector SSD Series, the Vector 150 SSD Series implements industry-leading performance by delivering consistent, sustained speeds over time regardless of whether the data is in compressed or uncompressed formats. It provides superior speeds across all capacities to dramatically accelerate gaming, content creation, and multimedia applications, supporting read bandwidth of up to 550 MB/s, write bandwidth of up to 530 MB/s, 4K random read speed of up to 100,000 input/output operations per second (IOPS), 4K random write speed up to 95,000 IOPS and sustained 4K random write performance of 26,000 IOPS.

TDK Corporation announced today the launch in November 2013 of the SHG4A series of half slim type solid state drive (SSD) modules for industrial applications. The new NAND flash memory modules support the serial ATA II standard and enable storage capacities of up to 128 GB also with SLC type NAND flash memory. Measuring only approx. 54 x 40 mm, the modules are about one half the size of a 1.8-inch hard disk drive (HDD).

The SHG4A series of half slim type industrial SSDs employs the standard SATA connector also used for 2.5 inch type SSDs, which eliminates the need for a special connector at the customer's host side. The GBDriver power interruption tolerance algorithm which has won high acclaim especially among industrial users, and an integrated power supply protection circuit are standard features, making this compact SATA flash drive resistant against power supply problems, a highly desirable characteristic for demanding industrial applications.