ADATA Technology, a leading manufacturer of high performance DRAM modules, NAND Flash products, and mobile accessories, today launched the XPG SX950U 2.5" SATA 6 Gb/s Gaming SSD which utilizes the latest 3D NAND Flash memory and is driven by a high-speed SMI controller to reach large capacities of up to 960 GB with significantly higher read/write speeds up to 560/520 MB/s.

Furthermore, the SX950U is equipped with Intelligent SLC Caching and a DRAM Cache Buffer to provide an optimized and consistent performance. To ensure data integrity and the safety of data transmission, the SX950U features LDPC ECC and RAID Engine technologies, enhancing the stability of the system and extending the SSD's lifespan. For PC enthusiasts and gamers in pursuit of the optimal gaming experience, the SX950U is the ideal choice for improving system performance at an affordable price.

It is safe to say having larger and faster data storage such as a 4 TB SATA SSD or even better, streamline 32 Gb/s NVMe SSD is an improvement over optical media in term of speed, size and popularity. However, to certain users, optical media's advantages of long shelf life and resistance to alteration on data are the key requirements to their mission critical applications.

Because of these demands, ICY DOCK came up with solutions for those who seek to replace existing slim optical drives with a faster drive system, along with those who still see utility in using optical media or have to deal with large amounts of optical media. ICY DOCK ODD/FDD solutions can help accommodate various builds ranging from a personal workstation to a large data center.

QNAP Systems, Inc. today launched the new REXP-1610U-RP and REXP-1210U-RP expansion enclosures that support 6 Gbps SATA hard drives and SSDs. Designed for expanding the storage space of a QNAP NAS, the new expansion enclosures provide a flexible and budget-friendly solution for organizations to tackle applications with intense data growth (such as archiving, high-resolution media storage, and video surveillance) without needing a large up-front investment.

"The rampant growth of data makes a flexible storage expansion solution a priority for organizations," said David Tsao, Product Manager of QNAP, adding "QNAP provides a wide range of expansion enclosures with various transmission interfaces and price points, fulfilling the need for higher capacity and lower costs to resolve the needs of data storage and backup."

Micron has announced that they will be introducing QLC (Quad Level Cell) NAND-based, own brand drives for the server environment this year. The new QLC drives are expected to boost maximum storage density (and price per GB) closer to that of mechanical HDDs, which is why Micron is positioning drives based on this memory technology as data center-class SSDs for the nearline storage market. The company is positioning these drives as replacement options for 7,200 RPM HDDs for workloads that require heavy reads of stored information - thus offsetting QLC NAND's lower endurance when it comes to available maximum writes on the drives' cells.

It's a known trade-off when it comes to the NAND world: higher amounts of bits per cell to represent information means that there must be much increased accuracy when it comes to reading a given cell's voltage state. While SLC NAND only tracks two voltage states, MLC (2-bits per cell) tracks four voltage states, TLC doubles that to eight voltage states, and QLC doubles the ante again for a maximum 16 voltage states, where each voltage state represents data on the cell. Of course, with repeat writes and voltage changes, accuracy and capacity for the cell to maintain its given voltage tend to drop, which leads to incorrect information and thus corrupted data or those cells to be rendered inoperative. This is one of the reasons for manufacturers to include overprovisioning in their NAND-based solutions.

ADATA Technology, a leading manufacturer of high-performance DRAM modules and NAND Flash application products, today launches the ISMS331, an industrial SATA 7-pin Disk-On-Module (DOM), which is suitable for desktops, compact computers, industrial computers and embedded applications by providing various specifications and wide temperature support. It also features several key technologies, including self-diagnostics, life time monitoring and ECC (Error Correcting Code) for product longevity and high reliability.

Various Upgrade Configurations for More Possibilities
The ADATA ISMS331 SATA 7-pin DOM utilizes high-quality SLC and MLC NAND flash and comes with a variety of capacities from 4GB to 32GB (SLC models) and 8GB to 128GB (MLC models). It is available in both horizontal and vertical pin orientations to accommodate a wide variety of system form factors. In addition, it provides excellent performance and reliability with sequential read/write speeds of up to 260MB/s for SLC models and 300/180MB/s for MLC models. Thanks to the industrial grade operable temperature range of -40°C to +90°C, the ISMS331 can operate in harsh environments for long periods of time.

Known for enabling new levels of enterprise total cost of ownership (TCO) with HelioSeal helium hard drive technology and industry leading capacity drives, Western Digital Corporation is expanding its portfolio for enterprise customers with a new, mid-range series of 4 terabyte (TB), 6TB and 8TB air-based hard drives. The new products enable corporate data centers having data set sizes smaller than found in hyperscale environments to harness the power of data across a broad spectrum of Big Data applications such as analytics and distributed file systems.

Western Digital leads the high-capacity enterprise hard drive market for hyperscale and cloud environments with its 10TB, 12TB and 14TB drives, where the company's HelioSeal helium-sealing technology is required for the highest capacities and densities to deliver the lowest (or best) TCO. However, many applications have small data sets or benefit from optimal performance from implementation of a cluster of lower capacity, air-based hard drives. Many traditional data center systems still rely on moderate capacity points for RAID-based block-and-file systems.

Samsung has unwittingly released some specs and product images of the as of yet unannounced SSD product. The 860 Pro SSD carries the model number MZ-76P4T0E, and has a pretty impressive 4 TB capacity that's sure to deliver the highest performance possible on the SATA III interface. The stated performance levels stand at 560 MB/s read speeds, and 530 MB/s write, which should be more than enough for most usage tasks. Pricing is also more than enough, and then some; Samsung is quoting a $1,899 pricing for this particular drive.

QNAP Systems, Inc. today launched the all-new TS-x28A series NAS for entry-level home users, including the TS-128A and TS-228A models. The TS-x28A series provides complete multimedia storage, sharing and streaming functions, and complete file and data protection capabilities (including snapshots) to meet increasing data protection needs for home users. The launch of the TS-x28A series also marks the milestone of all QNAP NAS on the market being able to benefit from snapshot protection. Users can now enjoy more features, stronger protection, and more cost-effective NAS.

The TS-x28A series features a Realtek RTD1295 quad-core 1.40 GHz processor with 1 GB RAM, providing abundant performance for home multimedia/data storage needs. The TS-x28A series also comes with QTS 4.3.4, the latest version of QNAP's award-winning operating system. QTS 4.3.4 introduces enhanced snapshot features with lowered hardware resource requirements, allowing NAS with 1 GB RAM to benefit from snapshot protection. Users of the TS-x28A series will enjoy these advanced data protection capabilities alongside other amazing applications for multimedia, sharing, backup and data storage at an attractive price point.

EDGE Memory, a leading U.S.-based supplier of memory and storage upgrades, is announcing their CLX600 line of SSDs with M.2 2280, MO-300/mSATA, and 1.8" SATA 6Gb/s models.

Featuring a combination of performance, reliability, and low power consumption, CLX600 SSDs are the ideal choice for system integrators. The M.2 and mSATA models provide impressive throughput, with up to 500MB/s transfer rate and transactional performance that reaches up to 59,000 IOPS. The CLX600 1.8" SSD can achieve transfer speeds of up to 560MB/s and up to 76,000 IOPS. CLX600 SSDs provide ultra-efficient block management to protect data and enhance endurance. These drives deliver leading edge performance and reliability for the most demanding power users, while low power modes extend battery life for road warriors.

Toshiba Electronic Devices & Storage Corporation today announced the launch of the MG07ACA Series, the world's first enterprise 14TB Conventional Magnetic Recording (CMR) HDD. Using a 9-disk, helium-sealed design, the new MG07ACA Series provides the power-efficient capacity and storage density needed by cloud-scale and enterprise storage solution providers to achieve their TCO objectives.

"We have raised the bar with the new MG07ACA Series 9-disk helium-sealed design," said Akitoshi Iwata, Vice President of Storage Products Division, Toshiba Electronic Devices and Storage Corporation. "By utilizing an innovative design, we continue to improve the benefits that high-capacity disk storage can deliver to our broad global customer base."

Toshiba Electronic Devices & Storage Corporation today announced the addition of "MN06ACA10T," a 10-terabyte (TB) hard disk drive (HDD) in a 3.5-inch form factor with a SATA interface. The new drive is designed for home NAS and small office/home office (SOHO) NAS applications. Sample shipments start today.

"MN06ACA10T" air-based HDD delivers 10 TB capacity by deploying an improved magnetic recording head and disk magnetic layer. The 10 TB capacity is 25% higher than that of the previous model in the series, the 8 TB MN05ACA800, and buffer size is doubled to 256 MiB.

Toshiba America Electronic Components, Inc., a committed technology leader, announces the MD06ACA-V, the latest addition to its SV Series line-up of 3.5-inch hard drives for surveillance applications. The new models are available in capacities up to 10 TB with a higher transfer rate compared to previous MD04ABA-V models, helping to enable support for up to 64 camera streams. Higher capacity and transfer rates enable support for higher resolution camera streams to meet changing compliance mandates for surveillance data.

The MD06ACA-V Series is designed for 24/7 streaming operation scenarios, and is typically used for surveillance digital video recorders (SDVR), surveillance network video recorders (SNVR) and Hybrid SDVR. The MD06ACA-V Series features 7,200 rpm access performance, and the new 10 TB model delivers a 58 percent increase in maximum sustained transfer rate when compared to Toshiba's prior MD04ABA-V series, pushing it to 237 MiB/s. Available in 6 TB, 8 TB and 10 TB capacities, the new models provide a SATA 6 Gbit/s interface, with a 256 MiB dynamic buffer. Additionally, the MD06ACA-V models support Advanced Format (512e) technology for compatibility with legacy applications and operating environments.

Following up on its CA3 NVMe SSD series launch from earlier this month, LiteOn introduced the new CV6 line of value SSDs featuring the SATA 6 Gbps interface. The drives come in 7 mm-thick 2.5-inch, and M.2-2280 form-factors (M-key), taking advantage of SATA 6 Gbps interface. The drives combine a Marvell 88SS1074 controller with Toshiba-made 3D TLC NAND flash memory. The controller features LDPC gen 3 error correction, and SLC caching, a feature with which it treats a small portion of the TLC NAND flash as SLC, juggling hot data in and out of it for more performance.

The 2.5-inch CV6 series is available in 128 GB, 256 GB, and 512 GB capacities, while the M.2 variant comes in 128 GB and 256 GB. All variants offer sequential transfer rates of up to 520 MB/s reads, with up to 450 MB/s writes. The 256 GB and 512 GB variants offer 4K random read performance of up to 85,000 IOPS, while the 128 GB variant offers 58,000 IOPS. 4K random write performance is rated at 28,000 IOPS for the 2.5-inch 128 GB variant, 30,000 IOPS for the M.2 128 GB variant; and up to 45,000 IOPS for both the 256 GB and 512 GB variants. The company didn't reveal pricing.

The Samsung 850 EVO SSD has been in the market for almost three years now. In what seems to be an eternity in tech years the 850 EVO SSD, sporting the 3D NAND flash memory, has held its own in the consumer space. Back when it was released, the 850 EVO SSD heralded a new generation of price and performance combination that established it in the high end enthusiast market. With sequential read speeds of up to 550 MB/s and sequential write speeds of up to 520 MB/s, 4 KB Random Read of up to 100,000 IOPS and 4KB Random Write of up to 90,000 IOPS, the 850 EVO solidified and marked a new era of SSD computing.

But now it looks like the 860 EVO will take over where the 850 EVO left off. The 860 EVO SSD has been spotted in the database of the Serial ATA International Organization (SATA-IO) in the integrators listing as having passed interoperability. The 860 comes in variants of 250 GB, 500 GB, 1 TB, 2 TB and 4 TB SATA III in a 2.5-inch 7 mm form factor with support for Native Command Queuing (NCQ), ASR, SSP, IPMh, 3 Gb/s and 6 Gb/s transfer speeds. The 250GB drive is labeled under MZ7LH250**** with the following, 500****, 1T0****, 2T0**** marked respectively. No announcement has been made by Samsung.

QNAP Systems, Inc. (QNAP) recently revealed and promoted the use of global SSD cache acceleration for both basic and enterprise users. Compared with similar products on the market, QNAP's global SSD cache acceleration technology can share a single SSD volume/RAID with all volumes/iSCSI LUNs for a read-only or read-write cache. When configuring relevant settings there are no service interruptions and users can flexibly balance efficiency and capacity needs. With these industry-leading advanced design and technologies, QNAP is an ideal choice for obtaining greater benefits with a lower TCO (total cost of ownership).

QNAP's global SSD cache acceleration technology lets users accelerate all of the volumes/LUNs on a NAS with a minimal number of SSDs. This cost-saving technology allows users to choose an efficient combination of high-capacity HDDs and high-speed SSDs for a personalized solution. Furthermore, configuring settings for the QNAP global SSD cache will not interrupt NAS services, thus a 24/7 uninterrupted environment is ensured.

Toshiba America Electronic Components, Inc. (TAEC), a committed technology leader, today announces its new MQ04 Series 1 TB HDD, which is compatible with notebook PCs, game systems, all-in-one slim-line desktop systems, set-top box appliances, and other applications requiring high capacity and durability storage.

The MQ04 Series single-disk model delivers 1 TB of data storage capacity in an ultra-compact 2.5-inch, 7mm height form factor. The drive's 6 Gbit/s SATA interface and 5,400 rotational speed combined with a large 128 MiB buffer and consistent seek performance, result in a 34 percent higher internal transfer rate performance when compared to the previous 1TB MQ01 Series models. The new model is also quieter and weighs less than prior generations.

Toshiba America Electronic Components, Inc. (TAEC), a committed technology leader, today announces the X300 3.5-inch internal hard drive in 8 TB capacity. Compared to the P300 series with capacities up to 3 TB, the X300 Series delivers extreme performance and robust capacity for creative and professional applications including graphic design, animation, photo and video editing, and PC gaming.

The new 8 TB model features Toshiba's cache technology, a self-contained cache algorithm with on-board buffer management, which optimizes cache allocation during read/write to provide high-level performance in real time. The X300 Series is offered in 4 TB, 5 TB, 6 TB and 8 TB capacities, all with a higher 128 MB cache than P300 series, ensuring fast data access. Available in a 3.5-inch form factor, the X300 performs at 7,200 RPM and a SATA connection up to 6 Gbit/s. Compatible with most major brands of Serial ATA enabled desktop computers, the Toshiba X300 high-precision head positioning supported by advanced format technology (physical 4 KB sector) and dual stage actuator technology delivers high storage density and capacity.

Today, Intel announces major data center storage advances, reiterating Intel's memory technology leadership. The new technologies advance data center storage and deliver innovative solutions to meet the challenges presented by the growing reliance on data. They include:

• "Ruler" form factor for Intel SSDs, an all-new solid state drive form factor enabling up to 1PB of storage in a 1U server rack in the future.
• The world's most advanced dual port portfolio: Intel Optane technology dual port SSDs and Intel 3D NAND dual port SSDs for mission-critical applications.
• An updated SATA family of SSDs for data center, targeted at HDD replacement.

"We are in the midst of an era of major data center transformation, driven by Intel. These new "ruler" form factor SSDs and dual port SSDs are the latest in a long line of innovations we've brought to market to make storing and accessing data easier and faster, while delivering more value to customers," said Bill Leszinske, Intel vice president, Non-Volatile Memory Solutions Group (NSG), and director, strategic planning, marketing and business development. "Data drives everything we do - from financial decisions to virtual reality gaming, and from autonomous driving to machine learning - and Intel storage innovations like these ensure incredibly quick, reliable access to that data."

Intel seems to be addressing key platform limitations with its 8th generation Core "Coffee Lake" mainstream desktop platform. The first Core i7 and Core i5 "Coffee Lake" processors will launch later this year, alongside motherboards based on the Intel Z370 Express chipset. Leaked company slides detailing this chipset make an interesting revelation, that the chipset itself puts out 24 PCI-Express gen 3.0 lanes, that's not counting the 16 lanes the processor puts out for up to two PEG (PCI-Express Graphics) slots.

The PCI-Express lane budget of "Coffee Lake" platform is a huge step-up from the 8-12 general purpose lanes put out by previous-generation Intel chipsets, and will enable motherboard designers to cram their products with multiple M.2 and U.2 storage options, besides bandwidth-heavy onboard devices such as additional USB 3.1 and Thunderbolt controllers. The chipset itself integrates a multitude of bandwidth-hungry connectivity options. It integrates a 10-port USB 3.1 controller, from which six ports run at 10 Gbps, and four at 5 Gbps.

There are two kinds of desktop CPU platforms. The mainstream tier runs from two cores up to eight, and it's great for gaming and general use. Its high-end sibling takes everything up a level with more cores, more memory channels, and more bandwidth for graphics and storage. A considerable upgrade in every regard, this high-end desktop platform appeals to power users, content creators, and prosumers who want to blur the line between desktop and workstation. AMD's Threadripper CPU is the latest addition to the desktop's heavyweight division, and it walks into the ring with an entourage of SocketTR4 motherboards in tow. This guide explains the ASUS and ROG family to help you pick the best X399 motherboard for your high-end desktop or gaming PC.

All of our X399 boards share core DNA that includes one-touch overclocking, refined cooling control, and improved RGB lighting. Yet they each have their own distinct flavor as well. The ROG Zenith Extreme brings Threadripper into the world of premium dream PCs with provisions for custom liquid cooling and 10G networking. With the Strix X399-E Gaming, hardcore gamers can build stylish rigs with power to spare for high-quality streaming. And then there's the Prime X399-A and its well-rounded foundation channeling the professional side of the platform's prodigious power. Which X399 motherboard should you buy for your build? Let's find out.

Toshiba's first retail SSDs to use the company's 64-layer BiCS3 3D NAND technology have been announced by Toshiba. The successors to the company's Trion 100 and Trion 150 SSDs still carry some vestiges of OCZ branding in the product logo and TR (short for Trion) moniker. This is Toshiba's first generation of mainstream, mass-market-suitable 3D NAND flash.

These drives make use of a DRAM-less controller design, and will be available in capacities ranging from 240 GB up to 960 GB. Toshiba advertises 550 MB/s read and 525 MB/s write speeds. 4K Random Read IOPS stand at 87K, while 4K Random Write IOPS go up to 87K. The endurance on the models will range from 60 to 240 TB according to capacity, and these carry the same three-year warranty as previous Trion SSDs. Pricing has not yet been announced, although the TR200 series will start shipping to retailers this fall.

ECS took to Computex to showcase seven different motherboards from both AMD and Intel. First up we have the Z270 Lightsaber, which is great at deflecting laser blaster shots. It's an LGA 1151 socket motherboard, features 8-channel audio courtesy of a Realtek ALC 1150 audio chip, a Killer E2500 Gigabit controller, 1x M.2 slot with support for SATA, NVMe, and Intel Optane. There are 3x PCIe x16 slots, which work at x8 x8 x4 when all slots are populated, as is usual with Z270 motherboards.

Amidst the cutting-edge innovations in NAS, networking, and IoT presented by QNAP Systems, Inc. at COMPUTEX 2017, the announcement of the world's first AMD Ryzen-based NAS took center stage and underlined QNAP's commitment to push the boundaries of NAS performance and functionality.

The new TS-x77 series leverages the incredible power of Ryzen, featuring processors with up to 8-cores/16-threads with Turbo Core up to 3.7 GHz to greatly boost virtualization performance. The TS-x77 is designed as a high-performance, highly-capable tiered storage geared for I/O intensive and virtualization applications, and also supports AMD Radeon and NVIDIA graphics cards to satisfy resource-demanding video editing and playback.

QNAP Systems, Inc. today released the TVS-1582TU - a pioneering 19-inch rack-mountable Thunderbolt 3 NAS that is suited for moving vehicles and outdoor media editing environments. The TVS-1582TU includes four Thunderbolt 3 ports, two 10GbE ports, and can utilize its Thunderbolt 3 ports to have USB-C 3.1 Gen2 (10 Gbps) connections for high-speed data transfer and backups. The collection of high-speed connections provides an ideal 4K solution for SNG/OB van live productions in the fast-paced media industries.

"TV and film production and outdoor broadcasting require on-location recording and editing, and need their videos to be backed up immediately to prevent file loss," said David Tsao, Product Manager of QNAP, adding "The TVS-1582TU is designed for this environment, and its 19-inch rack form factor makes it especially usable for SNG/OB van live media production that requires frequent relocation."

Western Digital Corp. today announced that it has begun shipping its fourth-generation helium-based hard drive with its 12TB HGST-branded Ultrastar He12 hard drive. The Ultrastar He12 12TB hard drive is the next generation of the company's award-winning high capacity enterprise-class drive with HelioSeal technology, providing customers with a data storage solution addressing the expansive information management needs and demanding performance requirements of today's enterprise, cloud and hyperscale workloads.

"We have again raised the bar in enterprise storage with the industry's most advanced and cost-effective highest capacity helium HDD storage solutions," said Mark Grace, senior vice president of devices at Western Digital. "The Ultrastar He12 hard drive advances Western Digital's portfolio leveraging the HelioSeal platform to deliver industry-leading high capacity HDD storage with exceptional power efficiency. Western Digital has shipped over 15M helium-based high capacity drives to date and continues to support our customers with outstanding reliability and Quality of Service (QoS). Our industry-leading data center portfolio enables customers across the spectrum to meet their evolving and dynamic data center demand."