Type-C
At CES 2019, Western Digital demonstrated a number of direct-attached flash solutions. Out of all the showcased items with imminent retail availability, one deserves separate mention. Under the SanDisk brand, Western Digital is introducing an higher-performance follow-up to the the SanDisk Extreme Portable SSD (a portable USB DAS that has impressed us with its performance and thermal characteristics). The new product carries the PRO branding and will be available in retail in Spring 2019. Almost all high-end flash-based bus-powered storage devices now use a Thunderbolt 3 Type-C interface with a PCIe 3.0 x4 NVMe SSD behind the Alpine Ridge controller. Some vendors have made an attempt to bring economical alternatives in this market segment by using a PCIe 3.0 x2 NVMe SSD (reference design from...
MyDigitalSSD M2X M.2 NVMe SSD Enclosure Review - A PCIe to USB Storage Bridge
Storage bridges come in many varieties within the internal and external market segments. USB has become the de-facto standard when it comes to external mass-market storage enclosures. But while...
32 by Ganesh T S on 10/31/2018MyDigitalSSD Introduces M2X USB Enclosure For M.2 NVMe SSDs
MyDigitalSSD is now shipping one of the first USB enclosures for M.2 NVMe SSDs. The new M2X enclosure is based on the JMicron JMS583 USB 3.1 Gen 2 to...
15 by Billy Tallis on 9/18/2018New $196 AOC Portable Type-C Monitor: 15.6-inch 1080p IPS, 1.71lbs
AOC has added another portable monitor to its lineup, this time powered by a USB Type-C connection. The 15.6-inch I1601FWUX has a Full-HD (1920x1080) resolution and is designed for...
10 by Joe Shields on 5/16/2018HighPoint RocketStor RS6114V 4-Bay USB-C RAID Enclosure Review
Storage enclosures come in many varieties to target different market segments. They usually have one or more downstream SATA ports, with USB being a popular interface in the low-end...
9 by Ganesh T S on 10/19/2017Samsung Portable SSD T5 Review: 64-Layer V-NAND Debuts in Retail
Samsung has been an active participant in the high-performance external SSD market with their Portable SSD series. The T1 was introduced in early 2015, while the T3 came out...
37 by Ganesh T S on 8/15/2017USB 3.2 Update to Bring 20 Gbps Bandwidth: USB 3.1 Type-C Cables Compulsory
The USB 3.0 Promoters Group announced an update to the existing USB 3.1 standard in order to double the maximum possible bandwidth from 10 Gbps to 20 Gbps. This...
31 by Ganesh T S on 7/26/2017TerraMaster D2-310 Storage Enclosure (2x 2.5"/3.5" SATA to USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type C) Mini-Review
Storage bridges come in many varieties within the internal and external market segments. On the external side, they usually have one or more downstream SATA ports. The most popular...
34 by Ganesh T S on 7/5/2017CRU ToughTech Duo C Storage Enclosure (2x 2.5" to USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-C) Review
Storage bridges come in many varieties within the internal and external market segments. On the external side, they usually have one or more downstream SATA ports. The most popular...
25 by Ganesh T S on 11/18/2016Satechi and StarTech USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-C HDD/SSD Enclosures Review
Storage bridges come in many varieties within the internal and external market segments. On the external side, they usually have one or more downstream SATA ports. The most popular...
33 by Ganesh T S on 9/26/2016Netac Z5 USB 3.1 Gen 2 Portable SSD Review
The last few years have seen rapid advancements in flash technology including planar 1x nm NAND, TLC, and 3D V-NAND. External high-speed interfaces such as USB 3.x have also...
22 by Ganesh T S on 8/9/2016Seagate Innov8 8TB Bus-Powered External Hard Drive Review
Bus-powered storage devices have traditionally been limited by USB 2.0's power delivery specifications. The low power limit meant that only 2.5" drives (typically with a spindle speed of 5400 RPM...
41 by Ganesh T S on 5/19/2016SanDisk Extreme 900 USB 3.1 Gen 2 Portable SSD Review
SanDisk launched the Extreme 900 SSD at Computex 2015. The claim to fame was the availability of almost 2TB of flash in a bus-powered enclosure with a USB 3.1...
31 by Ganesh T S on 4/11/2016LaCie Porsche Design Mobile Type-C External HDD Capsule Review
Seagate launched a host of direct-attached storage products under the LaCie brand name at CES earlier this year. Though the LaCie Chrome USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-C external SSD...
12 by Ganesh T S on 3/31/2016Apple Offering Replacement USB Type-C Cables For 2015 MacBook Owners
After last month’s “duckhead” power adapter recall, Apple has started another charger-related replacement program. Beginning today, Apple will be replacing early runs of their USB Type-C charging cable for...
12 by Ryan Smith on 2/12/2016ASUS Booth Tour at CES 2016: 10G Switches, External GPU Dock, USB-C Monitor and more
When ASUS emailed a couple of weeks before CES announcing that they had cancelled their press event for the show, we had a few question marks. Previous shows involve...
50 by Ian Cutress on 1/19/2016G-Technology Demonstrates G-SPEED Shuttle XL Thunderbolt 2 DAS at CES
As part of every CES trip, I make it a point to visit G-Technology and see what they are introducing into the DAS (direct attached storage) market. This year...
5 by Ganesh T S on 1/17/2016Seagate Updates DAS Portfolio at CES 2016
Seagate has announced four new DAS (direct attached storage) products at CES 2016. Three of them target the premium / luxury market under the LaCie brand name. Seagate Backup Plus...
12 by Ganesh T S on 1/5/2016EVGA X99 Micro2 Motherboard Launched with USB 3.1 Type-C on mATX
We’ve covered a number of X99 motherboards since the launch of Haswell-E, as well as how USB 3.1 is entering the market through the ASMedia ASM1142 controller or with...
9 by Ian Cutress on 7/31/2015ADATA Displays XPG SX930 SSD, Two New TLC SSDs, Several PCIe Drives & USB Type-C Products
After a long week of meetings and over a day worth of traveling, I'm finally back from Taipei. Given our hectic schedule (it was just me and Ian at...
7 by Kristian Vättö on 6/8/2015