Other World Computing (OWC), a leading zero emissions Mac, and PC technology company, announced today that its OWC Mercury Elite Pro Qx2 Hardware RAID data storage/backup solution supports USB 3.0 'SuperSpeed' performance when paired with the Newer Technology eSATA to USB 3.0 Adapter. The adapter, which utilizes an available eSATA drive port, offers a Plug and Play connection to USB 3.0-equipped Macs or PCs for real-world sustained data transfer rates of more than 200MB/s from the Qx2 to meet the needs of demanding performance-intensive professional applications such as Audio/Video editing, HD-video, digital photography, professional music, graphics, redundant backup, and any use requiring data storage performance and reliability.

Newer Technology, Inc. (NewerTech), developer of PC, Macintosh, iPod, iPhone, and iPad performance upgrades and accessories, today announced the miniStack MAX, is now available in DVD/CD only read/write optical drive models for those computer users that don't require the Blu-ray functionality other miniStack MAX models provide. As the only four-in-one external drive, optical drive, SD card reader and USB powered hub solution on the market, the miniStack MAX supports multiple interfaces for Plug and Play storage of entire music, photo and video libraries, as well as burning backups via the internal optical drive, with new and legacy Macs or PCs.

Orico unveiled the new 9648RUSI3 drive enclosure that can either be used as a 1U rack-mounted device, or on a desk, with its feet attached. The enclosure, which comes in graphite black, and silvery aluminum, packs four 3.5-inch caddies with SATA 6 Gb/s interface, supporting drives as big as 3 TB. It features RAID 0, 1, 0+1, JBOD modes, and a total volume size of 12 TB is supported. While it's not quite a NAS due to the lack of a network interface, it features two high bandwidth interfaces: eSATA 6 Gb/s, and USB 3.0, in addition to FireWire 800. It is priced at the equivalent of $480.Source: Expreview

ROCSTOR, a leading provider of fast, high-capacity data storage and encryption solutions, announces the launch of Amphibious X5. The Amphibious X5 is a secure, ruggedized portable hard drive with real time hardware encryption and offers advanced single-factor authentication, USB and FireWire 800. In addition, the crypto module is FIPS 140-2 certified.

The Amphibious is considered as one of the most secure and user-friendly devices in the world for size, strength of encryption, and method of authentication. It offers users the option of using the device in a cross platform and Operating System independent fashion, and no GUI or software installations required. The Amphibious is the result of a year of intensive R & D effort and collaboration. For the user it offers the value of data security by using an original concept of single-factor authentication, real time hardware encryption, and futuristic design sense. The Amphibious X5 is appropriate for consumers, SOHO's, enterprises, institutions, military and government applications who want to store data in a secure manner.

G-Technology, a leading developer of innovative storage solutions engineered specifically to meet the needs of the content creation and Apple Mac communities, today announced that it is now shipping its popular G-Technology G-DRIVE mini and G-RAID mini external storage solutions with new high-quality, 1 TB, 2.5-inch 7,200 RPM hard disk drives from HGST.

"Today, new kinds of devices and media formats require considerably more interface bandwidth, capacity and higher transfer rates to move, store and edit data quickly. The new Travelstar drive is the first and only 7,200 RPM, 1 TB, 9.5 mm 2.5-inch drive, and delivers the highest 7,200 RPM performance in PCMark Vantage testing," said Mike Williams , vice president and general manager, G-Technology/HGST Branded Business. "Now incorporated into our well-known G-RAID mini and G-DRIVE mini solutions, consumers and content creators can continue to receive unmatched performance, style and reliability in their G-Technology storage solutions."

Other World Computing (OWC) www.macsales.com, a leading zero emissions Mac and PC technology company, announced today its award-winning OWC Mercury On-The-Go Pro bus-powered portable storage solution has expanded its storage and back up capacity by 50% to a massive 1.5 TB. That's enough space to hold up to 1.5 million JPEG photos, 750 DVD movies, 115 hours of digital video, or 526,000 MP3 songs in your back pocket.

The new Mercury On-The-Go Pro 1.5 TB model is available in two interface configurations:
- USB 3.0 and FireWire 800/400 $199.99
- USB 3.0/2.0 only $179.99

Apple today unveiled a completely new iMac with a stunning design, brilliant display with reduced reflection, and faster processors.* With third generation Intel quad-core processors, powerful NVIDIA graphics and an innovative new storage option called Fusion Drive, the new iMac is the most advanced desktop Apple has ever made.

"With a stunning design, brilliant display and faster performance, we've made the world's leading all-in-one desktop computer better in every way," said Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. "The all-new iMac is unbelievably thin, yet packs an incredible amount of performance and technology into our most innovative desktop."

Seagate Technology plc. today introduced SuperSpeed USB 3.0 to the award-winning Backup Plus storage for Mac. Currently available through Amazon.com and from Apple Stores in November, both Backup Plus Portable for Mac and Backup Plus Desktop for Mac drives will feature the new USB 3.0 interface, which is also compatible with earlier USB 2.0 ports. This new interface means faster transfer of data, so you can backup more quickly, up to 10x that of USB 2.0, via TimeMachine or simply transferring a file from a computer to external storage.

Selected as the Editor's Choice portable external drive by PC Magazine, Seagate Backup Plus hard drives were first introduced in June of this year. Designed to work interchangeably with both Windows and Apple computers, these new drives deliver features to protect, share and save nearly every aspect of one's digital life. Seagate Backup Plus products include a software feature that makes them the world's first external hard drives to provide a way to backup content from social networks, such as Facebook and Flickr. The Seagate Dashboard software included on Backup Plus for Mac drives delivers a quick and easy path to Save and Share personal photos and videos on Facebook and Flickr.

Sharkoon is expanding their range of "QuickPort" docking stations: The Sharkoon SATA QuickPort U3 FireWire is a true all-round talent in terms of fast data transfer and connectivity diversity. The hard drive adapter not only supports the eponymous FireWire standard, but with USB3.0 and eSATA also two other external interface standards. With the additional FireWire port Sharkoon now especially appeals to the Mac community, since their Apple devices primarily use a FireWire interface.

The new QuickPort model also provides three IEEE-1394 ports: one for the older 1394a standard (FireWire 400) and two for the faster 1394b standard (FireWire 800). The appropriate connection cables for all available ports are enclosed. The internal SATA interface supports the SATA standards 1.5 Gb/s to 6 Gb/s.

External enclosures are a great way to have high capacity data storage on the go. Data can also be a critical factor for media, backup, or music professionals. Some of the top tier hard drive companies have made their own all in one enclosure with hard drive included. However, one of the known major causes of hard drive failure is due to excessive heat buildup caused by a lack of a proper cooling system. Also, a majority of hard drive manufactures only allow a 1 year warranty on their all in one external hard drives.

This can be fatal for someone who has just lost their data and has to spend a significant amount of money in order to recover their data. There are other external enclosures in the market that provide a cooling system to help prevent this, but the physical placement of the cooling system does not always allow for the optimal airflow to cool the hard drive. Going above and beyond, the MB080USEB-1SB Blizzard is the next generation of external enclosures dedicated for maximum performance in cooling.

Akitio, a leading manufacturer of storage solutions, announced today the release of the Neutrino U3+ laptop hard drive enclosure to the company’s ever-expanding product line. With the news of Apple’s integration of USB 3.0 to the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro, the Neutrino U3+ is ideal for Mac users, as well as audio and video professionals, looking for a portable, speedy storage solution.

Akitio’s Neutrino U3+ is encased in a portable aluminum enclosure and was created for ease of use and the latest 2.5” SATA hard drives. By combining USB 3.0 SuperSpeed technology with FireWire 800, Neutrino U3+ provides two of the fastest transfer speed combinations available.

G-Technology today announced a new line of portable and desktop USB 3.0 storage solutions for a broad range of users from consumers to audio/video professionals. Given the brand’s strength in the content creation and Apple Mac community, G-Technology is well positioned to move the Mac industry forward in leveraging high-capacity, high-performance USB 3.0 drives across a variety of customer segments, all while delivering one of the industry’s most respected external storage platforms with proven quality, reliability and performance.

Today, new kinds of devices and media formats require considerably more interface bandwidth and higher transfer rates to move, store and edit data quickly. Backward compatible with USB 2.0, G-Technology’s USB 3.0 drives deliver speeds 10 times faster than USB 2.0 and six times faster than FireWire 800. This means that users can now transfer two full-length movies from a G-Technology USB 3.0 drive to a computer in minutes.

Belkin today announced new upgrades to its upcoming Thunderbolt Express Dock, as well as a new Thunderbolt cable for both Mac and PC users. Belkin’s new Thunderbolt offerings will be on display at the Intel Exhibition Showcase, Booth M410, at Computex, June 5–9, 2012.

The Thunderbolt Express Dock is a first-of-its-kind docking solution for both PC and Mac users that enables instant access to up to nine desktop peripherals with one cable, and provides an easy transition from a desktop workstation to a mobile device. Upgrades to the latest version of the dock include the addition of three USB 3.0 ports, instead of USB 2.0 ports, as well as an eSATA port.

Seeing as how some of the newest socket LGA1155 processors, such as the Core i7-3770K, competes with Sandy Bridge-E HEDT platform, and how today's GPUs are beginning to benefit from PCI-Express 3.0 in x8 and x4 configurations, ASRock decided to go beyond its Z77 Fatal1ty Professional, and launched a new Extreme series model, with a focus on features and connectivity. The Z77 Extreme9 from ASRock crams has every square inch of its standard ATX size PCB with features.

To begin with, the Z77 Extreme9 uses a fairly strong 8+4 phase VRM, which is similar to that of the Z77 Extreme6. The CPU VRM MOSFETs are cooled by a fairly big heatsink, which shares its head with a neighbouring heatsink, which cools a PLX PEX8747 PCI-Express 3.0 bridge chip, which takes in the lone PCI-Express 3.0 x16 link from the processor, and drives four of the board's six PCI-Express 3.0 x16 long slots, enabling 3-way and 4-way SLI/CrossFireX capability. The other slots are electrical PCI-Express 2.0, and wired to the Z77 PCH.

ASUS is working on an AMD-powered notebook under the K53TK line. The K53TK-SX0A8 from ASUS is a 15.6-inch notebook that incorporates AMD A8-3520M "Llano", which is a quad-core APU clocked at 1.60 GHz, with Radeon HD 6620G graphics. The APU's integrated graphics works in tandem with a discrete Radeon HD 7670M GPU, that has 2 GB of dedicated memory. Other vital components include 8 GB of dual-channel DDR3-1333 MHz memory, and AMD A70M FCH chipset.

The 15.6-inch display packs 1366x768 pixels resolution. Display outputs include D-sub and HDMI. Storage is care of a 750 GB HDD and DVD SuperMulti drive. Connectivity includes 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 3.0, gigabit Ethernet, SD/SDHC/MMC card reader, two USB 3.0 ports, two USB 2.0 ports, 1.3 MP webcam, and FireWire. The battery powering the beast can run it for 4 hours before needing a recharge. Measuring 391 x 266 x 30.5 ~ 40.5 mm (WxDxH), the notebook weighs 2.7 kg. Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit operating system comes pre-loaded. It will be priced around 79,800 JPY (US $970).Source: PCWatch

ASRock is readying its second Fatal1ty-branded socket LGA2011 motherboard, the X79 Fatal1ty Champion. The company's first LGA2011 Fatal1ty motherboard is the X79 Fatal1ty Professional, which was launched in February. The new X79 Fatal1ty Champion will be launched on April 27. Those familiar with Creative Sound Blaster Fatal1ty line of sound cards will note Fatal1ty Champion as being a more feature-rich version of Fatal1ty Professional. In this case, the X79 Fatal1ty Champion is based on a completely new PCB, with the design idea of more expansion, and the latest Creative Sound Core3D audio solution.

The X79 Fatal1ty Champion features eight DDR3 DIMM slots (X79 Fatal1ty Professional has four), and a PCIe-only expansion slot layout. The LGA2011 socket is powered by a 12-phase DigiPower VRM, similar to the one on the Professional. The VRM heatsink is assisted by two other secondary heatsinks, to which heat is conveyed by a heat-pipe. One of these is connected to the PCH heatsink. Power is drawn by 24-pin ATX, 8-pin EPS, and one 4-pin Molex (angled, optional). The board features consolidated voltage measurement points, which are socketed to hold your multimeter's leads in place. The board will be augmented by a feature-rich UEFI BIOS setup program, and ASRock-exclusive features such as XFastLAN, XFastUSB, and XFastRAM will be included.

Western Digital today introduced the first 2 TB capacity portable drive dedicated for Mac customers, My Passport Studio. This new standard in high storage capacity, along with Apple Time Machine compatibility for quick and easy automatic backup of Mac hard drives, allows Mac users to use one drive for the protection and transport of virtually all their digital content, everywhere they go.

The new My Passport Studio portable drive maintains its elegant and protective all-metal casing to complement the MacBook Pro or MacBook Air, providing the beautiful aesthetic that Mac users expect while increasing storage capacity to 2 TB, enough space for approximately 400,000 photos, 240 hours of video or 500,000 songs.

Here are the Z77X-UD5H and Z77X-UD3H pictured up-close. The two form Gigabyte's upper-mid range and mid range offerings based on the Intel Z77 chipset, supporting socket LGA1155 "Ivy Bridge" and "Sandy Bridge" Core processors. The Z77X-UD5H is an extremely feature-rich offering, in some aspects a more complete package than even the G1.Sniper 3. It provides a 15-phase CPU and 2-phase memory VRM. Expansion slots on this board include two PCI-Express 3.0 x16 (x16/NC or x8/x8), one PCI-Express 2.0 x16 (electrical x4), three PCIe 2.0 x1, and one legacy PCI.

Other World Computing (OWC), a leading zero emissions Mac and PC technology company, announced today it has expanded the storage capacity of its high-performance OWC Mercury Elite Pro single bay and dual bay desktop storage solution line to 8.0 TB.

By utilizing the industry's only 3.5" 4.0 TB SATA 6 Gb/s hard drive, OWC's Mercury Elite Pro storage solutions deliver 33 percent more storage/back-up capacity per drive over current 3.0 TB hard drives With up to a "Quad Interface" of FireWire 800, FireWire 400, USB 2.0, and eSATA connections, the Mercury Elite Pro line offers Plug and Play data transfer speeds up to 300 MB/s with Mac and PC computers.

LaCie is excited to announce availability of the 2big Thunderbolt Series. With speeds up to 327MB/s, the Thunderbolt interface delivers speeds three times faster than FireWire 800. For data transfer gurus, that means 1TB of data – that's nearly 235,000 MP3's, 750 iTunes movies, or more than 450,000 photos* - can be transferred in less than an hour! Furthermore, you can daisy chain multiple 2big Thunderbolt devices to increase overall performance.

LaCie announced its latest peripherals featuring Thunderbolt technology today at the 2012 International CES. The new 2big Thunderbolt Series delivers speed, flexibility and capacity, while the eSATA Hub Thunderbolt Series allows users to connect external eSATA drives to their new Macs. This announcement follows the unprecedented success of LaCie's Little Big Disk Thunderbolt Series and further asserts the company's commitment to deliver high-quality products featuring Thunderbolt technology.

"LaCie is proud to offer the widest range of storage solutions featuring Thunderbolt technology," said Erwan Girard, Professional Business Unit Manager, LaCie. "These products are some of the fastest and most flexible storage solutions on the market. They will dramatically accelerate the workflow of even the most demanding digital users."

Iomega, an EMC company and a global leader in data protection, today announced the completion of its new Mac-oriented hard drive line with the launch of the new Iomega eGo Mac Edition Portable Hard Drive, an on-the-go stylish drive with plenty of storage that can withstand drops and still travel easily in a pocketbook or briefcase.

Combined with the recent launches of the Iomega Helium Portable Hard Drive and the Iomega Mac Companion Hard Drive, Iomega now has a complete new line of portable and desktop hard drives for Mac users. All three new drives are formatted HFS+ for compatibility with Mac computers right out of the box, making them perfect complements to today's Apple notebooks and desktops.

ASRock is readying is new, high-end socket LGA2011 motherboard targeting the upper-most tier of the PC enthusiast market, the X79 Extreme7. This board will be a part of the company's first wave of LGA2011 motherboards, which are slated for mid-November, 2011. Pictures scored by XFastest reveal the board to be filled to the brim with features. The CPU socket is powered by a 16-phase VRM making use of high-grade chokes, and server-grade poscap capacitors.

The socket is wired to six DDR3 DIMM slots arranged in sets of three on either sides of the socket, powered by a 4-phase VRM. Among channels A, B, C, and D; channels B and D have two DIMM slots wired, so if you have four DDR3 modules, you should populate slots 0, 2, 3, and 5; to take advantage of quad-channel DDR3 memory. There are heatsinks over the memory VRM areas, that are connected to the heatsink over the CPU VRM using heat pipes.

BIOSTAR Group, a world famous manufacturer of motherboards, graphics cards, industrial computing systems and computer peripherals, proudly announces the TA990FXE motherboard aimed at the most demanding overclockers and gamers.

The TA990FXE is made in the ATX form-factor on the flagship AMD 990FX chipset in combination with the most advanced SB950 Southbridge which guarantees the support of the latest technologies and ensures the unprecedented performance. The board supports all Socket AM3+ based Phenom II X6, Phenom II X4, Phenom II X3, Phenom II X2, Athlon II X4, Athlon II X3, Athlon II X2 and Sempron CPUs including top 6-core and 8-core AMD FX, AMD Phenom II and AMD Athlon II chips with the maximum thermal design up to 140W.

Sonnet Technologies, a leader in providing storage systems for professional users of Macintosh, Windows, and UNIX systems in the film, video, and broadcast industries, today announced the Fusion F2QR portable two-drive hardware RAID storage system. Mounted side by side in a tough aluminum enclosure about the size of two stacked CD cases, the diminutive system contains two, 2.5-inch, 1TB hard drives.

Based on the multiple-award-winning Fusion F2, a portable two-drive RAID SATA storage system recognized for its performance, reliability, whisper-quiet operation, and shock-resistant characteristics, this compact device adds a built-in hardware RAID controller for configuring the drives; a quad interface with eSATA, FireWire(R) 800, and USB 2.0 ports for flexible compatibility; and a greater storage capacity. The Fusion F2QR delivers great performance with up to 160 MB/sec read and 100 MB/sec write data transfer rates, and is bus-powered by a FireWire port on the computer regardless the interface used.