Today, CDRLabs brings you a review of Plextor's new 256GB M5M Series mSATA SSD, the PX-256M5M. Designed for ultrabooks, tablets and other portable devices with limited space, the M5M provides high-performance and reliability in a space one-eighth the size of a standard 2.5 inch drive. This pint-sized SSD combines Marvell's 88SS9187 "Monet" controller with Toshiba's 19nm Toggle Mode MLC NAND to deliver up to 540MB/s read and 430MB/s write transfer rates. The M5M also supports Plextor's True Speed and True Protect technologies as well as the SATA Device Sleep (DEVSLP) standard which extends the battery life of a device by reducing the drive's power consumption when its not in use.

Intel Corporation today announced the Intel Solid-State Drive DC S3500 Series, its latest solid-state drive (SSD) for data centers and cloud computing. Designed for read-intensive applications such as Web hosting, cloud computing and data center virtualization, the Intel DC S3500 Series is an ideal replacement for traditional hard disk drives (HDD), allowing data centers to save significant costs by moving toward an all-SSD storage model.

Intel SSDs, including the Intel SSD DC S3500 Series, enable transformational improvements in cloud infrastructure, fostering new and enriching Web experiences. End customers experience quicker Web page loads and improved response times as a result of dramatically improved data access times and reduced latency. IT managers and cloud developers are rewarded with improved total cost of ownership as a result of reduced power consumption, more consistent performance and smaller space requirements. More than half of U.S. businesses now employ cloud computing applications, and IDC predicts that worldwide spending on cloud services will reach $44.2 billion this year1. Data centers powering these cloud applications need to quickly, efficiently and reliably scale to handle the tremendous growth of connected users and data traffic.

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Seagate Technology today took the wraps off its new Seagate NAS HDD— a cutting-edge drive custom-built for always-on, one- to five-bay network attached storage (NAS) systems. Engineered with performance and reliability in mind, the new drives are available in multiple capacity points including a 4TB option— the industry’s highest capacity NAS hard disk drive (HDD) solution available— and strong industry support from nine NAS system partners.

“Today about 50 percent of NAS arrays are sold diskless meaning that customers are challenged with identifying and installing the right storage for their system. By developing a drive like NAS HDD, we’ve taken the guesswork out of it and made it easy for customers to identify the right drive for their system,” said Scott Horn, Seagate vice president of marketing. “By collaborating closely with a variety of partners who specialize in NAS systems, we’re making what was a confusing effort into a plug-and-play one.”

Featuring up to 4TB of storage the drive now enables NAS systems, such as those utilized in homes and small to midsize businesses (SMB), to provide up to 20TB of data in a five-bay NAS array. And with over 30 percent capacity improvement over competitive offerings, the NAS HDD 4TB drive delivers the highest capacity available on the market.

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QNAP, Inc. today announced the app-centric QTS 4.0 Turbo NAS system is available for the existing Turbo NAS series, including TS-x69, x19 and x12 series. Users of the applicable Turbo NAS models can download and update to the latest QTS 4.0 system to enjoy the entire new NAS management experience and the abundance of home entertainment applications.

“The launch of QTS 4.0 alongside the Turbo NAS TS-x20 and x21 series was a tremendous success, and we have received many positive responses from our users,” said Meiji Chang, general manager of QNAP. “Now more users can experience the easy-to-operate yet feature-rich QTS 4.0 that makes storing and managing home digital data easier, and enjoy the stored multimedia contents with more fun.”

The app-centric QTS 4.0 integrates multi-window operations into the web-based user interface, adds the Qsync utility for file synchronizing across different devices and file sharing across groups and communities, supports several smart mobile apps, and more. The abundant multimedia applications the QTS 4.0 offers a greatly enhanced entertainment experience in the modern connected home.

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Mushkin, Inc., an industry‐leading designer and manufacturer of high‐performance and mission‐critical computer products, announced today the launch of their new Scorpion Deluxe PCIe SSD alongside Mushkin's "Pacific Rim Sweepstakes" which will run from June 5, 2013 until August 17, 2013. Prizes offered include a home theater system valued at $3,500 and a brand new Razer Blade Pro Gaming Laptop valued at $2,299, in addition to a limited edition Mushkin themed PC and Mushkin/Pacific Rim prize packs.

"Mushkin's Pacific Rim sweepstakes definitely appeals to our audience on a variety of levels and provides our consumers with the chance to win some amazing prizes," said Nicolas Villalobos, Director of Global Marketing at Mushkin, Inc. "Alongside this campaign we are excited to launch our latest Scorpion Deluxe line of SSDs. Our customers can now manage data faster, safer and more efficiently. Whether for digital content creation, virtualization, database acceleration, motion picture visual effects or your own application, the Mushkin Scorpion Deluxe PCIe SSD is always ready."

The Mushkin Scorpion PCI Express SSD was conceived to offer multimedia designers maximum performance and a scalable 4-way format. With up to 21000MB/s throughput and 100,000 4K random write IOPS, the Scorpion PCI Express is a natural for the digital effects arena. Available worldwide starting mid-June, Scorpion Deluxe PCIe SSDs will come in 240GB, 480GB, 960GB and 1920GB capacities.

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Transcend Information, Inc. (Transcend), a leading manufacturer of industrial-grade products, today announced the addition of the SSD740 2.5” SATA III 6Gb/s solid state drive (SSD) to its industrial SSD product line. Combining cutting-edge SATA III technology with a number of performance and reliability features, the SSD740 is the ultimate SSD upgrade solution – especially for devices equipped with modern processors running more advanced operating systems, such as Ultrabooks, Industrial PCs and notebooks, gaming systems, and handheld appliances.

Outstanding Performance and Durability
Transcend's SSD740 SSD takes advantage of the next-generation SATA III 6Gb/s interface, DDR3 DRAM cache, and an advanced JMicron JMF667H controller to achieve extremely fast transfer speeds of up to 530MB/s read and 470MB/s write. Essential for handling incompressible data, such as videos, music, and images, the SSD740 also delivers impressive 4k random read/write speeds of up to 283/267MB per second. Full support of the TRIM command, which automatically removes deleted data permanently, and Native Command Queuing (NCQ), which optimizes the order in which received read and write commands are executed, allow the SSD740 to sustain an incredibly high level of performance while enhancing SSD durability and efficiency.

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SanDisk Corporation, a global leader in flash memory storage solutions, today announced that it has further expanded its trusted and broad solid state drive (SSD) portfolio with the addition of three new models – the high-performance SanDisk Extreme II SSD for technology enthusiasts and gamers, as well as two new OEM SSDs designed to enable cutting-edge notebooks and tablets.

All of the new SSDs introduced by SanDisk today are built with the company’s advanced 19 nanometer (nm) manufacturing process technology and rely on SanDisk’s intelligent flash memory architecture. This combination enables SanDisk to create SSDs that are exceptionally responsive, reliable and energy-efficient. SanDisk will be showcasing its full SSD line-up at the company’s booth at COMPUTEX TAIPEI on June 4-8, 2013 (booth number N0804).

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