ASUSTOR Inc. today is thrilled to announce the launch of two enthusiast grade NAS devices, the two bay Nimbustor 2 and the four bay Nimbustor 4. The New Nimbustor series are also known by their original model numbers. The Nimbustor 2 is also known as the AS5202T, while the Nimbustor 4 is known as the AS5304T. The Nimbustor line represents a departure from generic model numbers to more accurately describe ASUSTOR’s products that store data in a personal cloud device.

The Nimbustor 2 uses Intel’s Gemini Lake dual core Celeron processor clocked at 2.0GHz while the Nimbustor 4 uses a quad-core processor clocked at 1.5GHz. The Nimbustor 2 and 4 come with 2GB and 4GB of DDR4 RAM respectively. Intel’s Gemini Lake family improves performance by 30% while also lowering power consumption by 40%. Both types of CPU boost to 2.7GHz and 2.5GHz respectively, allowing even better performance in various tasks. The Nimbustor series come equipped with two 2.5-Gigabit Ethernet ports, making the Nimbustor our fastest Intel-based NAS to date. When equipped with SSDs, the Nimbustor, combined with the two 2.5-Gigabit Ethernet ports brings faster performance than ever before.

Transcend Information Inc., a leading manufacturer of storage and multimedia products, is pleased to announce the release of its new Portable SSD, the ESD350C. Featuring a USB Type-C port and supporting the USB 3.1 Gen 2 interface, the drive delivers unrivaled performance and can be used with devices equipped with USB Type-C or USB Type-A ports. The ESD350C comes in large capacities for effortless storage expansion and is compact, portable, and shock-resistant.

Surprising transfers speeds

The ESD350C is equipped with the USB 3.1 Gen 2 interface with the support of UASP (USB Attached SCSI Protocol), delivering blazing-fast transfer speeds of up to 1,050MB/s, meaning that even 4K resolution videos transfer instantly. The ESD350C is compatible with desktops, laptops, on-the-go (OTG) mobile devices, as well as gaming consoles, providing the perfect expansion with its large capacity and speedy file-transfer capabilities.

Pioneer Japan recently announced its latest 16x Blu-ray Disc writer, the BDR-212JBK. This new drive offers support for M-DISC media and is capable of 16x BD-R, 14x BD-R DL, 8x BD-R LTH, 2x BD-RE and 2x BD-RE DL writing speeds and a maximum BD-ROM read speed of 12x. The BDR-212JBK also writes to triple-layer (100GB) BD-R media at 8x, quad-layer (128GB) BD-R media at 6x and triple-layer (100GB) BD-RE media at 2x.

What makes the BDR-212JBK truly special is its ability to play back Ultra HD Blu-ray content. When installed in a Windows 10 PC with the included PowerDVD software and an i7 or i5 Kaby Lake processor, users can watch movies at 4K resolutions. The drive also ships with authoring software from CyberLink and is equipped with Pioneer's PureRead 3+ technology, which greatly improves the reading performance of scratched and dirty discs. The BDR-212JBK is expected to hit stores in mid May for about 16,000 Yen ($143US).

Micron Technology, Inc., today unveiled its new series of flagship solid-state drives (SSDs) featuring the NVM Express (NVMe) protocol, bringing industry-leading storage performance at higher capacities to cloud and enterprise computing markets. The Micron 9300 series of NVMe SSDs enables companies with data-intensive applications to access and process data faster, helping reduce response time.

“The introduction of our third generation of NVMe SSDs endorses our tradition of continued innovation for cloud and enterprise markets,” said Derek Dicker, corporate vice president and general manager for Micron’s Storage Business Unit. “The Micron 9300 is our flagship series of NVMe SSDs, which feature industry-leading sequential write performance and latency, increased capacities, and delivery of a 28% reduction in power over the previous generation.”

QNAP Systems, Inc. today launched the next-gen TDS-16489U R2 NAS that features dual Intel Xeon E5-2600 v4 processors, and a dual OS system for businesses to flexibly deploy an operating system that fits their needs and goals. Users can take advantage of the ZFS-based QES for enterprise-level, efficient and reliable storage for mission-critical tasks, or to install QTS for virtual machine applications, diverse applications, and auto-tiered storage.

“With QTS and QES, QNAP have developed two operating systems that provide users with exceptional functionality based on their needs. By supporting both systems, users have greater flexibility on how to use their TDS-16489U R2,” said David Tsao, Product Manager of QNAP, adding “Whether for a file server, virtualization server, VDI, medium-scale data center, video streaming, surveillance storage, or efficient file backup/recovery, the cost-efficient TDS-16489U R2 with dual processors and dual OS options demonstrates an ideal storage solution.”

ADATA Technology a leading manufacturer of high-performance DRAM modules, NAND Flash products, and mobile accessories today announces the launch of its industrial-grade ADATA IUDD362 microSD cards that features high-quality SLC NAND Flash for enhanced durability and a prolonged lifespan, ideal for automated systems.

Wide Operating Temperature Range and Excellent Durability
The ADATA IUDD362 microSD card is ideally suited for industrial systems that are in continuous operation. Equipped with SLC NAND Flash, the IUDD362 offer improved stability, durability, and performance over its counterparts that utilize MLC or TLC NAND Flash. What’s more, the IUDD362 is designed to operate in a wide range of temperatures, from -40°C to 85°C, ensuring optimal performance, even in harsh conditions. Also, the IUDD362 is rated at 3 million MTBF (Mean Time Between Failures) for added trustworthiness.

Stability, Reliability, Peace of Mind
The IUDD362 comes in capacities of 1GB, 2GB, 4GB, and 8GB, sports read/write speeds of up to 30/25/MB per second, and can operate on just 0.6W or power. These characteristics make it ideal for industrial automation (e.g., PLC), transportation systems (e.g., in-vehicle data loggers) and other applications that support microSD cards. In order to ensure the stability required by industrial applications, the IUDD362 supports a number of technologies. These include Error Correcting Code (ECC) technology, which can detect and fix errors to ensure data integrity, Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology (S.M.A.R.T.), which can indicate imminent drive failures, and Wear-Leveling, which is a technique that enables the use of each block of NAND Flash installed in memory from being damaged prematurely, thus prolonging its service life.

CDRLabs has put together a brief review of iStorage's diskAshur PRO2 USB 3.1 portable hard drive. Designed to be the ultimate secure data storage device, the diskAshur PRO2 offers real-time military grade AES-XTS 256-bit full disk hardware encryption as well as a dedicated on-board Common Criteria EAL4+ ready secure microprocessor to protect itself from any external tampering, bypass laser attacks and fault injections. Despite its many layers of security, the diskAshur PRO2 is very easy to use. Simply connect the integrated cable to any device with a USB port, enter your PIN on the keypad and you have access to your data.