Sata Archive

  • Samsung Spinpoint MP4: A 2.5-inch 640GB 7200 RPM drive meant for us

    Samsung Spinpoint MP4: A 2.5-inch 640GB 7200 RPM drive meant for us

    Doesn't it seem like 2.5-inch hard drives have been stuck at 500GB for a while? Well, Samsung is the latest to announce its next-gen hard drive platform and while it doesn't have the same 750GB capacity as WD's latest 5400 RPM drive, we'll take the Sammy's 7200 RPM speed with a little less storage any day.

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  • Western Digital Velociraptor SATA 3.0 hard drives are the fastest money can buy

    Western Digital Velociraptor SATA 3.0 hard drives are the fastest money can buy

    It's like Christmas morning for PC enthusiasts today. Western Digital has released its SATA 3.0 (that's a maximum transfer rate of 6.0 Gb/s, which translates to 768 MB/s) Velociraptor hard drives. The Velociraptor name basically means "OMG FAST!" when it comes to hard drives. The thing is, unlike the last time Western Digital released Velociraptor hard drives, two years ago, solid state drives are on the market, and they're clearly faster than even the fastest traditional hard drive. Doesn't matter: if you're looking for absolute, top-of-the-line performance when it comes to traditional hard drives, it looks like these new Velociraptors are the way to go.

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  • Maingear stuffs an Intel Core i7 980X into the SHIFT and still calls it an everyday super computer

    Maingear stuffs an Intel Core i7 980X into the SHIFT and still calls it an everyday super computer

    The Maingear Shift line is designed for serious computing on a budget. You won't find silly automatic airvents or fancy-pants hard drive trays here. Nope, it's just a good, solid computer platform meant for those looking to have their own super computer. And that super computer goal is even more achievable now that the Intel Core i7 980X is one of the CPU options.

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  • SSD Roundup: the drive to succeed

    SSD Roundup: the drive to succeed

    I got up this morning and started thinking about the next thing I wanted to add to my PC. Like many of you, I'm into upgrading when I see fit to increase performance, and I think that putting Windows 7 on an SSD might be the way to go. So, like many of you, I decided to look at some of the most recent reviews and see what looked interesting from the price/performance standpoint.

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  • Review: Netgear Stora

    Review: Netgear Stora

    Short Version: Hard drives that claim to do it all are a dime-a-dozen. Finally, however, I’ve found one that delivers on those claims. Features: Mac/Windows/Linux compatability Built-in Windows Networking, UPnP features Web accessible sharing Two SATA/SATA II compatible slots USB 2.0 port supports USB HDD or printers Pros: Small size Expandable Seamless Windows Networking Cons: Front panel is flimsy Some web UI issues Obtrusive app loads at login Review: We’ve seen [...]

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  • The LaCie 2Big USB 3.0 RAID drive is stupid fast, coming soon

    The LaCie 2Big USB 3.0 RAID drive is stupid fast, coming soon

    If you have any doubt that USB 3.0 is a big step forward in data transfer, check out the new LaCie 2Big RAID drive. This puppy can see throughput speeds of 275 MB/s. Let me say it for you, daaaamn. Now all you need is a USB 3.0 motherboard or PCI-E card. Good thing both [...]

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  • DIY: CD-ROM for your Toyota Camry

    DIY: CD-ROM for your Toyota Camry

    One CD-ROM drive: $18.99 Some wire and electrical tape: $2.50 Installing a CD-ROM drive to use as a CD player in your car: priceless.

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  • Toshiba announces two new mini SSDs weighing just 9 grams

    Toshiba announces two new mini SSDs weighing just 9 grams

    Toshiba today announced it has developed mini SSDs (pictured on the right hand side) that are just a seventh of the size of existing 2.5-inch drives. The Toshiba drives will features a mini-SATA (aka mSATA) interface connector, as specified by the Serial ATA International Organization (SATA-IO) just yesterday. The new specification is designed for notebooks and similar portable devices.

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  • It shouldn’t be this difficult to upgrade a hard drive

    It shouldn’t be this difficult to upgrade a hard drive

    You know what's a little more difficult than I first imagined? Upgrading the hard drive in my late 2006 iMac. I had initially wanted to upgrade the hard drive so I could finally dual boot between Mac OS X and Windows 7, since the old drive, a 250GB model, was pretty much filled to capacity. (Trying to run Mac OS X with only ~5GB of free space isn't ideal.) And even though the iMac user manual clearly states that the only user-replacabable parts are the RAM, I figured, “Bah! I think I can handle a simple hard drive replacement.” I did, but not before wishing I had never so much had broken out a screwdriver.

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  • Kingston starts shipping SSDNow V+

    Kingston starts shipping SSDNow V+

    Boasting blistering read and write IOPS speeds, Kingston has just announced that the latest SSDNow drives, V+, are now shipping. Ranging from 64GB up to 256GB, the V+ drives have claimed read and writes speeds of 220MB/s and 180MB/s, respectively. The 2.5-inch drives are priced as follows for the 64GB, 128GB and 256GB models: $254, [...]

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  • CrunchDeals: 1.5TB desktop hard drive for $99

    CrunchDeals: 1.5TB desktop hard drive for $99

    DellDell has a nice deal going until this Wednesday -- a 1.5TB desktop hard drive for $99 after $40 instant savings. It's a SATA Seagate Barracuda with a 7200RPM spindle speed and 32MB of cache.

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