Patriot Memory showed off its fastest gaming PC storage solutions at the 2023 International CES. The star attraction is an unnamed prototype M.2 PCIe Gen 5 NVMe SSD which features active cooling. This is actually the second Gen 5 SSD we've come across today that has active cooling, signaling that future NVMe SSDs are about to get hot. The ES drive comes in capacities ranging between 1 TB to 4 TB, features a PCI-Express 5.0 x4 interface with NVMe 2.0 protocol, an unknown controller+flash combination, and claimed performance of up to 12 GB/s sequential reads, with up to 10 GB/s sequential writes.

Among the other internal drives shown are the Viper P450, a Gen 4 NVMe drive offering sequential speeds of up to 7 GB/s and up to 6 GB/s writes; and capacities ranging between 512 Gb to 2 TB; a more cost-effective VPR450 drive based on a DRAMless Phison Gen 4 controller offering up to 6 GB/s reads and up to 5 GB/s writes. The Viper VXD is an external SSD enclosure meant for M.2-2280 PCIe SSDs. It offers a USB-C connection, which connects to a Realtek RTL9210B chip that converts a 10 Gbps USB 3.2 Gen 2 uplink to a PCI-Express 3.0 x4 downlink, offering sequential transfer rates of up to 1 GB/s.

InWin has today announced its new Chopin MAX Mini-ITX PC chassis, which offers greater component compatibility and more cooling potential to provide users more powerful small form factor setups than ever in a beautifully designed brushed aluminium enclosure that sits proudly on any desk or furnishing.

Now with 25 percent more heatsink clearance (up to 54 mm), the Chopin MAX supports both AMD and Intel stock CPU coolers on their latest respective platforms. The newly redesigned perforated mesh panel increases the ventilation surface area to enhance the speed of heat dissipation. An included 200 W, 80 PLUS Gold PSU provides excellent power efficiency and minimal noise. The front panel I/O now features a USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 Type-C port capable of 20 Gbps performance, which is four times faster than standard USB 3.0. Despite its smaller size, the Chopin MAX supports two 2.5-inch SSDs situated on a user-friendly installation plate. There's also direct accessibility to the rear of the motherboard tray where some Mini-ITX board designs offer an additional M.2 SSD port.

Seagate Technology Holdings plc, a world leader in mass-data storage infrastructure solutions, today announced its next-generation Exos X systems, the advanced storage arrays powered by Seagate's sixth generation controller architecture. The new Exos X systems feature up to twice the performance of the previous generation and enhanced enterprise-class durability. To help protect the stored data, Exos X systems incorporate ADAPT (Advanced Distributed Autonomic Protection Technology) erasure coding solution with Seagate's innovative self-healing storage technology ADR (Autonomous Drive Regeneration).

The Exos X series is a family of petabyte-scale, rack-mounted block storage enclosures that aggregate and virtualize dozens to hundreds of hard drives and SSDs for maximum data resiliency, availability and performance. Exos X systems are ideal as highly available enterprise storage infrastructure for conventional enterprise data centers as well as private clouds.

The Mac Studio is an incredibly compact desktop for its capability, and Sonnet figures a bunch of these can be mounted into rackmount chassis in a production studio. It rolled out a couple of products that can help you do just that. The RackMac Studio is a 3U enclosure that lets you secure up to two Mac Studio units in a rack, and cleanly wire them out, while providing access to their two front type-C ports and card slot. The xMac Studio series does the same, except with room for one Mac Studio unit, with the rest doubling up as a feature-packed storage and connectivity enclosure, taking advantage of the Thunderbolt 4 interface.

The xMac Studio Echo I takes in one Mac Studio unit, and uses its remaining space to provide a PCI-Express x16 riser, with room for a full-length graphics card that's ventilated. The xMac Studio Echo III is similar, but with three PCIe slots—one x16 and two x8, with the expansion slot area being ventilated. The xMac Studio Echo Zero (no module) comes with empty space that you can configure to your needs with custom hardware. Available from October 23, the RackMac Studio is priced at $450. The xMac Studio Echo III is slated for September 25, priced at $1,650, while its sibling, the Echo I, will go for $1,250. The bare Echo (no module), will be up for $550.

Server manufacturer Inventec unveils Mategress, the highest density storage JBOD with 42 SATA drives in a 2U enclosure to meet industry needs while improving efficiency with reduced costs. As demands for storage skyrockets, data centers are facing space and performance concerns in delivering higher quality of service and reliability. Mategress addresses both these issues with its unique high density in a small frame, dramatically reducing the cost for storage centers.

The Inventec Mategress storage server is a standard 2U high rack mount system, supporting 42 3.5" hot-swappable Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (SATA) drives with easy serviceability. It offers a higher maximum storage capacity than other similar products with full redundancy and flexible input/output (I/O) expansibility or expandability.

Iceotope, the global leader in Precision Immersion Cooling, has announced that its chassis-level cooling system is being demonstrated in the Intel Booth at HPE Discover 2022, the prestigious "Edge-to-cloud Conference". Ku:l Data Center is the product of a close collaboration between Iceotope, Intel and HPE and promises a faster path to net zero operations by reducing edge and data center energy use by nearly a third. Once the sole preserve of arcane, high performance computing applications, liquid cooling is increasingly seen as essential technology for reliable and efficient operations of any IT load in any location. There is a pressing concern about sustainability impacts as distributed edge computing environments proliferate to meet the demand for data processing nearer the point of use, as well as growing facility power and cooling consumption driven by AI augmentation and hotter chips.

Working together with Intel and HPE, Iceotope benchmarked the power consumption of a sample IT installation being cooled respectively using air and precision immersion liquid cooling. The results show a substantial advantage in favour of liquid cooling, reducing overall power use across IT and cooling infrastructure.

Sabrent announces DS-UCTB 10-Bay 3.5" SATA Hard Drive Tray-Less Docking Station (USB 3.2 Type-C And Type-A) (DS-UCTB). This Sabrent SATA Hard Drive Tray-Less Docking Station enables you to access 3.5" hard drives, without the frustration of assembling enclosures. By inserting a 3.5" SATA hard drive directly into this docking station, you can quickly access drive contents and transfer files. Transfer data quickly and easily through USB 3.2 at speeds up to 10 Gbps.

TechPowerUp and ORICO brought our readers from across the globe, a unique chance to win an ORICO TB3-S2 NVMe SSD Docking Station; and an ORICO PSSD 1 TB biometric-encrypted portable SSD. The TB3-S2 is a 9-in-1 connectivity expander that takes advantage of Thunderbolt 3 to put out a plethora of USB, wired LAN, memory card, connectivity, while also serving as a handy dual M.2 NVMe enclosure. The PSSD is a rugged portable SSD for road-warriors, with a fingerprint reader, and an in-built drive encryption mechanism. The results are in! Without further ado, the winners:

• "vzangel" from Mexico (Twitch and Twitter handle), wins an ORICO TB3-S2 9-in-1 docking station
• "simiaelevatum" from the United States (Twitch handle), wins an ORICO PSSD 1 TB portable SSD

A huge congratulations to you two! ORICO and TechPowerUp will return with more such interesting giveaways.

Raijintek, a Taiwanese maker of computer cases, coolers, and power supplies, added another entry to its family of small form-factor issues. Today, the company presents the OPHION ELITE, which is a Mini-ITX enclosure designed to fit a wide selection of hardware. It enables users to store compelling hardware with adequate cooling and have peace of mind usage. OPHION ELITE supports Mini-ITX motherboards, a maximum of 7 fans, including two 120/140 fans on the side (240 mm radiator), one 120 fan at the bottom (preinstalled), two 120/140 fans at the front, one 120/140 fan at the rear, and one 80 fan on the top. It boasts full-size VGA cards (320 mm/3 slots), compatibility, and regular ATX / EPS PSUs support. There is room for three 3.5-inch HDD drives or five 2.5-inch HDD/SSD drives. For more information, check out the company website.Here is the product video showcased on the Raijintek YouTube channel.

STEIGER DYNAMICS just released the third iteration of its critically acclaimed LEET HTPC case. Except for a few subtle but elegant changes in design, LEET III Chassis shares the same one-piece, hand-brushed, full-aluminium shell that made its predecessors so iconic. Accompanied by the 7" front LED display that features our own LEET Monitor app, and full open-loop liquid cooling support, LEET III Chassis redefines the term "Luxury Living Room PC enclosure".

LEET III Chassis is available in the colors Space Black and Royale Silver. Measuring 17.1 in x 8.7 in x 15.4 in (43.5 cm x 22.1 cm x 39 cm (WxHxD), 37.4 L volume), the 3rd iteration of the LEET Chassis boasts an optimized interior layout for improved airflow and increased GPU waterblock compatibility up to GeForce RTX 3090 Founders Edition and EVGA FTW3 cards. The 240 mm side air intake/exhaust has been redesigned with a minimum resistance mesh, increasing airflow and cooling efficiency. With the capability to handle the latest NVIDIA 30-series graphics cards, as well as the latest Intel 12th Gen and AMD Ryzen 5000-series CPUs, the LEET III Chassis has more flexibility, quality, and potential than ever before.

Akasa, just released a new aluminium enclosure for M.2 drives. This iteration of Akasa's M.2 range of enclosures is packed full of the latest features such as USB 3.2 Generation 2x2 connectivity, UASP support and a brand-new tool-free design, and is built for the ultra-fast data transfer speeds of up to a massive 20 Gb/s. The enclosure is machined out of high quality aluminium, functioning as a heatsink to draw away excess heat from the drive. A thermal pad is included with the package to allow the best possible heat dissipation.

Also included in the box is a high-quality, braided, USB-C to USB-C cable, which is durable enough to withstand the constant daily use this enclosure is designed for. The tool-free design includes two high-quality metal thumb screws, strong enough to effortlessly hold your M.2 drive, and provide a sleek appearance to the enclosure. A simple yet effective rubber tab holds the drive down, whilst the updated design means the aluminium heatsink can fully contact the thermal pad and work efficiently.

SilverStone today introduced the Raven RVS03, a unique M.2 SSD enclosure that supports both NVMe and SATA drives. Typically M.2 enclosures only support either of the two. The drive is based on the Realtek RTL9210B-CG controller that takes advantage of 10 Gbps USB 3.2 Gen 2 and UASP protocols, and offers sequential transfer rates of up to 1000 MB/s. The Raven's body is made entirely of aluminium, with a high-conductivity thermal pad being included, letting you transfer heat from the drive inside to the enclosure body. The enclosure uses a single USB 3.2 cable for both power and host connectivity. Cables are included for both type-A and type-C. It measures 105.7 mm x 35 mm x 13.5 mm (LxHxW), dry-weighing 52.2 g. The company didn't reveal pricing.

The ToughArmor MB924IP-B supports 24 x 2.5" SAS/SATA SSD/HDD up to 7 mm in height and only uses 3x 5.25" device bays. It has 6x MiniSAS HD (SFF-8643) connectors in the rear to support 24 x drives with up to 12 Gbps transfer speed per drive, significantly reducing the cable clutter to improve system airflow and offer easy cable management. The large 80 mm fan with 3-Mode fan speed control working along with intelligently placed ventilation holes keeps your drives in optimal temperature. To further improve reliability and security, the housing and trays are made with ruggedized full metal construction to ensure long-lasting durability. Moreover, with the removable EZ-Slide Nano trays, you can interchange drives within seconds without open the PC case.

MB924IP-B connects 24 x 2.5" SAS/SATA SSD/HDD with only 6x MiniSAS HD (SFF-8643) & 6x SATA 15 pin power connector for easy cable management and better system airflow. These are essential for high-performance PC builds. The MB924IP-B supports data transfer speed up to 12 Gbps per SAS drive and 6 Gbps per SATA drive.

Sabrent on Monday launched a massive 16 TB variant of its XTRM-Q external SSD that debuted last year in capacities of up to 8 TB. The 16 TB XTRM-Q encloses two 8 TB SSD subunits. Out of the box, these are striped to create the 16 TB volume, but you can re-configure these to run in RAID 1, for data redundancy, or even JBOD/sequential.

What makes the Sabrent XTRM-Q stand out is its Thunderbolt 3 + USB 3.2 dual-mode operation. Unlike the single-drive based XTRM-Q 8 TB, the 16 TB version features a larger body, and requires external power through an included power brick, in addition to the Thunderbolt/USB connection. In striped mode, the driver offers sequential transfer rates of up to 2500 MB/s in Thunderbolt mode. The enclosure is made of aluminium, and doubles up as a heatspreader for the drives underneath. The enclosure is covered by a removable silicone outer sheath. Without this, the drive measures 114.3 mm x 65 mm x 17.2 mm (LxWxH). Available now, it is priced at USD $2,899.

Sonnet Technologies today announced the DuoModo line of professional, modular Thunderbolt expansion systems for the desktop and for rack installation, the latest entries in its award-winning lineup of Thunderbolt products. The DuoModo line is comprised of three interchangeable expansion modules—a three-slot PCIe card system, an eGPU card system, and a Mac mini mounting system with integrated 40 Gbps Thunderbolt storage dock—and three enclosures consisting of two dual-module housings (one desktop and one rackmount) and a single-module desktop housing. Sonnet will also offer four preconfigured systems to simplify the order process for the most popular combinations of modules and enclosures. All modules are Thunderbolt 3 and Thunderbolt 4 compatible.

DuoModo Echo III Module: This module (the same one used in Sonnet's Echo III Desktop and Echo III Rackmount systems announced at the end of 2020) features one x16 and two x8 PCIe 3.0 slots; accommodates full-height, full-length (up to 12.28 inches long) PCIe cards; and connects them to a computer's Thunderbolt port via the included 0.7-meter Thunderbolt 3 (40 Gbps) cable. The module integrates a universal 400 W power supply and includes a 75 W auxiliary power connector for non-GPU cards that require extra power. The module includes a mode switch that enables the use of three Avid Pro Tools|HDX PCIe cards, and features Noctua cooling fans for ultra-quiet operation.

The ToughArmor MB872MP-B supports 12x M.2 SATA SSDs from 30 mm to 110 mm (2230 / 2242 / 2260 / 2280 / 22110) in just a single 5.25" optical drive bay. It uses 3x high-speed OCuLink (SFF-8612) connectors in the rear to support twelve M.2 SATA SSD with 6 Gb/s transfer speed per drive while reducing the amount of cable clutter for optimal system airflow and easy cable management. The removable drive tray design with an innovative adjustable M.2 locker allows you to interchange M.2 drives without using tools or screws.

The 40 mm fan with 3-Mode fan speed control working along with intelligently placed ventilation holes keeps your drives in optimal temperatures. The device and trays are made out of heavy-duty metal to ensure long-lasting durability. The ToughArmor MB872MP-B's high storage density design makes it suitable for high-performance systems with limited storage space, such as high-performance PCs, home servers, workstation PCs, and data centers. It's designed for systems that require high IOPS, high capacity, and low latency storage access.

Akasa has added two new aluminium enclosures for M.2 drives to the current range of products. These are compatible with both SATA and NVMe drives and features USB 3.1 Generation 2 connectivity and UASP support, meaning you'll be making the most out of the super-fast data transfer speeds from your M.2 drive of up to 10 Gb/s.

The body on both enclosures are machined out of high-quality aluminium, ensuring a tight, safe fit for the closing mechanism. A tool-free design allows the installation of an M.2 SSD to be quick and easy, whilst also functioning as a heatsink to draw away excess heat from the drive. The sleek and simple Akasa logo finishes off the design perfectly, making the enclosure stand out from the crowd.

TerraMaster, a professional brand that specializes in providing innovative storage products for home, businesses and enterprises, introduces the D5-300 5-bay RAID storage designed for professionals working in small office/home office (SOHO) setups. The D5-300 can support up to 90 TB of storage capacity. It comes equipped with USB 3.1 Gen1 Type-C capable of reaching speeds of up to 220 MB/s.

The TerraMaster D5-300 supports a wide selection of RAID modes to cater to the unique and different needs of various professionals. The RAID storage uses an aluminium-alloy chassis with two smart fans that deliver efficient cooling with low noise, keeping HDDs/SSDs cool at all times. The TerraMaster D5-300 is competitively priced at US $269.99 to be accessible to small businesses looking for high-speed, high-capacity RAID storage, perfect for creative professionals like video editors and photographers.

OWC, the premier zero-emissions Mac and PC technology company, and a respected provider of Memory, External Drives, SSDs, Mac & PC docking solutions, and performance upgrade kits announces the OWC U2 Shuttle as the world's first U.2 carrier shuttle for 3.5" drive bays that combines four NVMe M.2 SSDs. It offers video editors, audio producers, photographers, and graphic designers everything they've always wanted in a multiple blade SSD: blistering speed, massive capacity, RAID-ready flexibility, and swappable convenience. The OWC U2 Shuttle can be used with U.2 port-equipped PCs and servers, as well as OWC storage and PCIe expansion solutions.

With four NVMe SSDs the OWC U2 Shuttle gives you more RAID options than a dual drive enclosure or adapter card. Now you can harness the power of RAID 0, 1, 4, 5, or 10 via your choice of hardware cards or RAID utilities including SoftRAID, the easiest to use, most fully featured software RAID package available. This powerful and intuitive software RAID utility offers maximum volume capacity, optimum drive performance, data protection, or a combination of attributes.

SilverStone today introduced the MS12, an external SSD enclosure designed for M.2-2280 SSDs with PCIe/NVMe interface. The enclosure features a PCI-Express 3.0 x4 interface, which it converts to USB 3.2x2 (20 Gbps), put out from a USB-C connector, with a single handling both power and host-connectivity. The enclosure features an aluminium body which doubles up as a heatsink for the enclosed SSD. An ASMedia ASM23364 bridge chip is in-charge of things under the hood, and is capable of transfer speeds of up to 2,000 MB/s. The enclosure measures 106.5 mm x 33.3 mm x 15.3 mm (WxDxH), weighing about 53 g. A 30 cm USB-C cable, and thermal pad comes included. The company didn't mention pricing.

Sonnet Technologies today announced the launch of the Echo III Desktop and Echo III Rackmount, the newest members of the company's award-winning family of Thunderbolt 3 to PCI Express (PCIe ) card expansion systems. The Echo III Desktop is a full-size desktop chassis that enables the use of up to three high-performance PCIe cards with computers equipped with Thunderbolt ports, while the Echo III Rackmount offers the same support and features in a rack-mountable 2U enclosure. Replacing the popular Echo Express III-D and III-R (including HDX Editions), the new Echo systems have been upgraded with the addition of a mode switch that enables the use of multiple Avid Pro Tools|HDX PCIe cards and new cooling fans for even quieter operation. Both of these units have been Avid-qualified.

Sabrent was first to market with their 8 TB M.2 NVMe SSD just last month, and now they have released the world's first 8 TB external PCIe SSD. The Rocket XTRM-Q 8 TB features the aforementioned Rocket Q 8 TB NVMe PCIe M.2 SSD housed inside a Thunderbolt 3/USB 3.2 enclosure, this allows the drive to reach read speeds of 2.7 GB/s via Thunderbolt 3 or 900 MB/s via USB. This makes it not only the largest external SSD but also one of the fastest currently on the market.

The SSD features a sleek modern design with an aluminium casing with anti-slip bottom pads for stability. The Sabrent Rocket XTRM-Q is available in capacities of 500 GB, 1 TB, 2 TB, 4 TB, and 8 TB. The drives are currently available for purchase via Amazon for $170, $220, $360, $830, and $1600 respectively.

QNAP Systems, Inc. today launched new SATA 6 Gb/s JBOD enclosure models: the 4/8/16-bay desktop models (TL-D400S, TL-D800S and TL-D1600S), the 4-bay rackmount model (TL-R400S) and the 12-bay rackmount model with redundant power (TL-R1200S-RP). These storage enclosures are compatible with NAS, PCs and servers, and can be directly attached using SFF-8088 cables if a QXP PCIe card is installed in the NAS/PC/server. The TL SATA JBOD supports multi-lane SATA 6 Gb/s transfer, and each SATA lane directly connects to a single SATA drive to help improve performance. With the 1-1 high-speed channel, the TL SATA JBOD delivers excellent transfer performance.

QNAP NAS users can use the TL SATA JBOD with their NAS, including setting RAID parameters and creating a storage pool using the Storage and Snapshots app. Alternatively, the TL SATA JBOD can be used as a NAS external storage device. Windows, Mac, and Ubuntu users can use the QNAP JBOD Manager desktop utility to quickly obtain and view information about the JBOD status, health, fan speed, and check for firmware updates. A TL SATA JBOD can expand the storage space of your QNAP NAS, Windows and Ubuntu computers for versatile usage.

QNAP Systems, Inc. today launched two USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C JBOD enclosure models, the 8-bay desktop model TL-D800C and the 12-bay rackmount with redundant power model - TL-R1200C-RP for NAS, PCs, and servers. The multipurpose TL USB JBOD can be used for expanding a QNAP NAS storage space and also serve as storage for PCs and NAS. The TL USB JBOD offers convenient cross-platform file sharing and high flexibility for users, acting as a high-efficiency and intuitive storage expansion option.

QNAP NAS users can use the TL-D800C and TL-R1200C-RP with their NAS, including setting RAID parameters and creating a storage pool using the Storage and Snapshots app in QTS. Alternatively, the TL-D800C and TL-R1200C-RP can be used as a NAS external storage device. Windows, Mac, and Ubuntu users can use QNAP JBOD Manager desktop utility to quickly obtain and view information about the JBOD status, health, fan rotation speed, and check for firmware version updates.

OWC a leading zero emissions Mac and PC technology company and one of the world's most respected providers of hard drives, SSDs, Mac & PC docking solutions and performance upgrade kits, today announced the latest edition of its legendary Mercury Elite Pro external storage system for Mac, PC, Linux machines, Smart TVs, and PS4 and Xbox consoles. The 3.5-inch USB 3.2 5 Gb/s hard drive system is a modern day workhorse, delivering real-world performance up to 283 MB/s and capacities up to 16 TB to keep pace with the demands of everything from video editing projects, critical business data, and irreplaceable personal content to expanding PS4/Xbox One game storage and enjoying music/video content via a Smart TV.

The Essential External Storage Solution for Everyone
The Mercury Elite Pro kicked off OWC's rich, storied history of storage solution innovations nearly 20 years ago, and it has successfully stood the test of time by continuing to offer an incomparable blend of performance, quality, and value in a single HDD storage solution.