CDRLabs kicks off the New Year with a review of Samsung's 950 PRO SSD. First unveiled at the 2015 Samsung SSD Global Summit in Seoul, the 950 PRO is the first consumer-ready Non-Volatile Memory Express (NVMe) M.2 form factor SSD with V-NAND technology. This cutting-edge drive is powered by Samsung's own 3-core UBX controller and is equipped with up to 512GB of their 32-layer MLC V-NAND flash. Also, thanks to its PCIe Gen 3 four-lane interface, the 950 PRO is capable of delivering up to 2,500 MB/s sequential read and 1,500 MB/s sequential write speeds.

OWC, a leading zero emissions Mac and PC technology company, announced today an all-new 480GB capacity of the Envoy Pro mini, the stylish, aluminum, pocket-sized thumb drive with the amazing capability of a full-sized desktop-class SSD. The new model effectively doubles the previous maximum available capacity of 240GB.

Winner of the 2015 Storage Visions Visionary Product Award and 2015 Best in Biz Award, the OWC Envoy Pro mini achieves incredible speeds up to 427MB/s, offering true desktop-class SSD performance in the footprint of a thumb drive. The Envoy Pro mini features a USB 3.0 / USB 3.1 Gen 1 interface, and is an indispensable workhorse that brings professional performance, high-capacity storage to life on the move.

Synology Inc. today launched the DiskStation DS416j, a budget-friendly 4-bay network attached storage (NAS) server designed for home and personal use to manage data and enjoy multimedia. The new NAS is ideal for viewing and streaming content on TVs, computer monitors, projectors, tablets, cell phone screens, and more.

"People are amassing photos, videos, and digital files faster than ever before, which means we need secure storage to centralize everything in one place, and a convenient way to access and share them," said Jason Fan, product manager at Synology Inc. "The 4-bay DS416j comes with rich applications and large storage capacity, letting users enjoy cloud synchronization and multimedia streaming at a competitive price."

Patriot, a leading manufacturer of flash storage solutions, computer memory, SSDs, mobile accessories and gaming peripherals, today announced the release of their latest additions to company’s steadily growing line of consumer flash drives, the Viper and Mega USB.

Viper USB
The Viper USB joins the rapidly expanding lines of Patriot’s tried-and-true brands of computer memory and now gaming peripherals. With USB 3.1 Gen 1 connectivity and backwards compatibility with USB 2.0, the Viper USB will be available in three capacities of 64GB, 128GB and 256GB to fit the needs of every gamer. Whether you are a casual or professional gamer, the large amount of storage space makes it possible to load the latest games and play anywhere.

OWC, a leading zero emissions Mac and PC technology company, today announced the addition of a 1.0TB model to the Mercury Extreme Pro 6G SSD lineup, with immediate availability. The 1.0TB drive is now the highest capacity model in the Mercury Extreme Pro lineup, which also includes 120GB, 240GB, and 480GB options. Built to meet the needs of professional audio, video, and photography users, the Mercury Extreme Pro provides the critical performance that professionals and power users require for today's demanding applications, especially when working with incompressible data.

Blackmagic Certified Designed for speed, durability, and reliability, all Mercury Extreme Pro 6G models are also fully certified by Blackmagic Design, one of the world's leading innovators of creative video capture and post production editing products, powering direct capture and creativity in the field. Where every frame matters, the Mercury Extreme Pro 6G SSD provides reliable, flawless capture performance that every videographer depends on.

"With capacities now up to 1.0TB, the Mercury Extreme Pro SSD lineup continues to provide all the incredible performance content creation professionals need, with a higher capacity option than ever before, resulting in enhanced and more efficient workflows," said Larry O'Connor, Founder and CEO, OWC. "The certification by Blackmagic for the new 1.0TB Mercury Extreme Pro SSD reaffirms our commitment to serving the needs of video professionals with reliable, high-performance storage solutions."

OWC, a leading zero emissions Mac and PC technology company, announced today the immediate availability of the OWC 4.0TB Aura SSD Upgrade for the 2013-current Apple Mac Pro. The Aura SSD for Mac Pro is the first internal SSD upgrade for the 2013-current Mac Pro and debuted at CES 2015 offering up to 2.0TB of capacity. The all-new 4.0TB model shipping just in time for CES 2016 doubles the capacity available offering up to 16x the capacity of the standard factory drive and 4X the capacity of the maximum factory SSD/flash option.

The 4.0TB OWC Aura SSD for 2013-current Mac Pro (black cylinder models) includes the award-winning OWC Envoy Pro SSD enclosure, making it easy to repurpose the original factory-installed Mac Pro SSD as an elegant aluminum-body external drive for incredible portable performance. OWC also provides free how-to installation videos and a special tool needed for straightforward end user/do-it-yourself installation.

Today, LaCie, the premium brand from Seagate Technology plc unveiled the LaCie Chromé desktop storage. Complete with forward-thinking USB 3.1 Gen 2 technology, USB-C connectivity and SSDs, it is the fastest USB storage solution on the market. Housed in a visionary aluminum enclosure by Neil Poulton, this innovative drive blends leading technology with design to create a product that shines from the inside out.

USB 3.1 GEN 2 SPEEDS
To maximize the USB 3.1 Gen 2 10 Gb/s potential, the LaCie Chromé features a pair of 500 GB M.2 SATA SSDs in RAID 0. Working together, these components deliver speeds of up to 940 MB/s to handle serious, bandwidth-intensive applications. This performance lets users ingest two hours of 4K GoPro® footage in a little over one minute, makes architectural and 3D modeling tasks smoother and faster, and enables the editing of hi-res video without first needing to convert footage to a lower resolution.

NEW USB-C CONNECTOR
The new USB-C connector also makes the drive incredibly easy to connect to a computer. Both ends are exactly the same and have no up/down or left/right orientation, so there is no wrong way to connect the USB-C cable. Plus, it is compatible with standard USB 3.0 (Type-A) ports thanks to the included adapter cable.