G-Technology external SSDs

G-Technology on Monday announced the upcoming release of a range of external drives housing the first 2.5-inch solid state drive. The company's G-DRIVE mini SSD is available in 120GB and 250GB capacities, while the RAID 0/1 G-RAID mini SSD can be had in 250GB and 500GB versions. G-Technology is marketing the drives to users who need to transfer large amount of data in the field, such as professional photographers, based on SSD's inherent resistance to shock and temperature extremes compared to traditional hard disk drives.

The G-DRIVE mini SSDs have a triple interface composed of FireWire 800, FireWire 400 and USB 2.0 for transfer rates as fast as 60MBps write and 75MBps read speeds when using FireWire 800. The G-RAID mini SSDs add one more interface to the equation with an eSATA connection that is good for transfer speeds as fast as 195MBps. These drives are set up in a RAID 0 arrangement and are capable of playing back five ProRes 422 HQ video streams from Final Cut Studio simultaneously. A simple user interface is included that allows them to be switched over to a RAID 1 configuration. All four are powered by a USB or FireWire connection.

For home-based high-speed data transfers and processing, G-Technology has the Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) connected G-SPEED eS Pro NAS drive that can be set up in RAID 0, 1, 3, 5 or 6 thanks to its eight-lane PCIe RAID controller and a browser-based user interface. The G-SPEED eS Pro can hold four drives and transfer data at up to 440MBps or read it at 330MBps in a RAID 0 setup. When connected in a RAID 5 configuration, users can see read speeds as fast as 675MBps and 450MBps write speeds. Total capacity is fixed at 6TB, but can be scaled to 12TB.

Pricing for the SSD-based external desks is set at $599 for the 120GB G-DRIVE mini SSD and $1,299 for the 250GB version. The 250GB G-RAID mini SSD costs $999, with the 500GB version priced at $2,199. The G-SPEED eS Pro will launch in March, with prices starting at $2,399 for a 3TB unit that includes an eight-lane PCIe RAID controller card. All come pre-formatted for out-of-the-box use with Macs.

G-Technology G-DRIVE

G-Technology G-SPEED eS Pro

By Electronista Staff