G-Technology announces new high-performance portable Mac drives
External storage for Macintosh-based content creators just got a bit bigger with the release of new 1- and 2-terabyte storage devices from G-Technology.
The company announced Monday at the Consumer Electronics Show its G-Drive mini and G-RAID mini storage devices, which are built around HGST's 2.5-inch, 1TB 7,200RPM hard disk drives. The G-Drive mini offers up to 136MB per second transfer speeds in an aluminum enclosure.
The device's 1TB drive is preformatted for Macintosh systems, has both USB 3.0 and FireWire 800 connections, and is Time Machine ready, the company said. It is shipping now for approximately $244.
The G-RAID mini is targeted at video editors, ships in a RAID 0 configuration, and supports compressed high definition video formats, including HDV, Panasonic's DVCPRO HD, Sony's XDCAM HD, and Apple's ProRes 422 HQ. It features a pair of 1TB 7,200 RPM hard drives and is powered by FireWire.
The G-RAID mini also features a thermo-regulated cooling fan to ensure the device is operating at optimal temperatures as well as an on/off switch. The G-RAID mini can also be configured in RAID 1 protected mode with the included software utility. It is expected to ship in Q1 2013 for approximately $552.
The company announced Monday at the Consumer Electronics Show its G-Drive mini and G-RAID mini storage devices, which are built around HGST's 2.5-inch, 1TB 7,200RPM hard disk drives. The G-Drive mini offers up to 136MB per second transfer speeds in an aluminum enclosure.
The device's 1TB drive is preformatted for Macintosh systems, has both USB 3.0 and FireWire 800 connections, and is Time Machine ready, the company said. It is shipping now for approximately $244.
The G-RAID mini is targeted at video editors, ships in a RAID 0 configuration, and supports compressed high definition video formats, including HDV, Panasonic's DVCPRO HD, Sony's XDCAM HD, and Apple's ProRes 422 HQ. It features a pair of 1TB 7,200 RPM hard drives and is powered by FireWire.
The G-RAID mini also features a thermo-regulated cooling fan to ensure the device is operating at optimal temperatures as well as an on/off switch. The G-RAID mini can also be configured in RAID 1 protected mode with the included software utility. It is expected to ship in Q1 2013 for approximately $552.
Comments
High-performance… no Thunderbolt.
We're holding things to that standard now, right?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tallest Skil
High-performance… no Thunderbolt.
We're holding things to that standard now, right?
High-performance doesn't necessarily mean speed. It could mean durability, or reliability... it's a pretty subjective phrase, really.
Didn't I hear somewhere that USB2.0 (which according to the picture is what this drive really has) is good enough for these drives, anyway? The bottle-neck in speed isn't the USB, it's the platter hard-drive itself.
TB is not as universal across Macs as the older interconnects are. Few iMacs have TB, and none of the Mac Pros.
Quote:
Originally Posted by LighteningKid
High-performance doesn't necessarily mean speed. It could mean durability, or reliability... it's a pretty subjective phrase, really.
Didn't I hear somewhere that USB2.0 (which according to the picture is what this drive really has) is good enough for these drives, anyway? The bottle-neck in speed isn't the USB, it's the platter hard-drive itself.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Suddenly Newton
TB is not as universal across Macs as the older interconnects are. Few iMacs have TB, and none of the Mac Pros.
The description above lists 2-1TB 7200rpm drives. Running striped, these drives can easily outpace USB2 and maybe FW800. USB3 should handle them fine but USB as an interface isn't always that great especially when daisy-chaining devices. TB would be the best, even thoughMac Pros don't have this interface. There are tons of MBPs running video and audio systems, this activity isn't just for Mac Pros.
Just noticed photo shows USB2 but article states USB3 so article needs a new photo.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tallest Skil
High-performance… no Thunderbolt.
We're holding things to that standard now, right?
If it were Thunderbolt, it would probably cost $2,500 instead of $250.
USB3 is fine.
Originally Posted by Durandal1707
If it were Thunderbolt, it would probably cost $2,500 instead of $250.
Not in the slightest, but whatever.
Now that Hitachi owns them I'm not so sure they are the same. And there are competitors these days like Avastor and Maxx digital.
O RLY?
Pictured item in this story, a G-Tech 1TB pocket drive for $250.
I present to you: 1TB Thunderbolt pocket drive for $225.
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Buffalo/HDPA1.0TU3/
For this, I would agree. Be that as it may, I'd take TB at the same price.
Thunderbolt generally seems to have a $100 premium over USB 3, not a 10x premium like your absurd comment suggests. I don't know of any $2500 Thunderbolt products, you can get a pretty nice four drive RAID for Thunderbolt for under $1000, and it would certainly benefit from Thunderbolt instead of USB 3.
These drives aren't necessarily portable, which is what this article is about, but discussing a non-Thunderbolt portable RAID is old news. These have been out for a long time.
Looks like Thunderbolt is going the way of FireWire, unfortunately. It is so much better than USB3, but Apple have put up even bigger barriers to Thunderbolt in licensing and exclusivity than they did with FireWire.
Let's just hope that those with 2011 Macs will get cheap adapters that can enable their Thunderbolt ports to be used with USB 3 peripherals.
Quote:
Originally Posted by photoeditor
Looks like Thunderbolt is going the way of FireWire, unfortunately. It is so much better than USB3, but Apple have put up even bigger barriers to Thunderbolt in licensing and exclusivity than they did with FireWire.
In what way? The last I recall, Apple still licenses the mini displayport connector directly, yet they don't charge royalties on it. Intel has specific requirements for certification. It has to be hot pluggable for one, and there are a few other things. The barriers I see are more like cost and the way it must be placed on the logic board. I don't think they're going after low cost markets or the people who believe they'll have 100Gb/s on their macbook air in a year or two as I'm doubtful they'll even have the PCI lanes available to provide that on notebooks in addition to other ports
A couple of months ago I bought a nearly identical drive enclosure on Amazon from a company called Oyen Digital for $69.95. Mine came with two FW800 ports, a USB 3.0 port, and a 5V external power supply rather than 12V as pictured above. Of course the power supply isn't needed with FW. Solidly built, all metal. Aluminum I think.
BTW regarding that TB drive at http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Buffalo/HDPA1.0TU3/, is looking kinda flaky.
Two reviews on OWC: one 5-star rating and recommended; one 3-star and not recommended. It's even cheaper on Amazon but of 59 reviews 13 (20%) are 1 & 2 stars.
http://www.lacie.com/us/products/product.htm?id=10600
http://www.lacie.com/us/products/product.htm?id=10549
Keep in mind the first one is a desktop drive vs. a mobile drive you're comparing it against. LBD is more comparable, it uses two 500GB laptop drives to make 1TB.
I would agree the value proposition with the G-Tech isn't clear, but I think you'll find members here relate stories about how LaCie drives aren't very reliable and they offer poor support.