G-Tech's ultra-high capacity external storage

G-Technology has announced a pair of external storage enclosures with extremely high capacities. Peak storage belongs to the G-Speed eS, which supports up to 4TB using 7200rpm SATA II drives, and has a 3Gbps interface. A four-lane PCIe adapter is included. Reflecting the target audience of media producers, the enclosure is capable of multistream 1080/60i workflows, including 10-bit, 1080i protected-mode playback using two units and a RAID 5 configuration. It is both Mac OS X and Windows XP compatible, and should ship in June for prices starting at $999.

An alternative is the G-Raid2 2000, which is limited to 2TB, but has FireWire 400/800 and USB 2.0 interfaces, and can be equipped with Hitachi's 1TB Deskstar drives. The 2000 is also aimed at more conventional video editing workflows, being designed for SD, DV, HDV, DVCPRO HD and Apple ProRes 422. The enclosure will be available in May at an unspecified price.