Today, CDRLabs takes a look at StarTech's new PCIe SATA III RAID controller cards. Based on Marvell's 88SE9230, the PEXSAT34RH and PEXSAT34SFF are fully compliant with the SATA 3.0 specifications and support hardware RAID 0, 1, and 1+0 modes. Port Multiplier FIS-based and Command-based switching is also supported on all ports, enabling multiple SATA drives to be connected using a single cable, for a total of 7 drives. The cards also feature support for Marvell's HyperDuo SSD auto-tiering technology, which balances the performance advantages of SSD storage with the cost-effectiveness and large capacity of standard hard drives. The technology uses intelligent algorithms to automatically migrate hot data to SSDs, while enabling all data to be safely stored on larger capacity hard drives. 

Mach Xtreme Technology Inc., a worldwide leader in top performance, high reliability and user-friendly designed PC components, today launched LX Series USB 3.0 flash drives. The MX-LX is based on a native USB 3.0 controller chip and implementing advanced dual-channel technology. It is an economical USB 3.0 peripheral for those who demand leading-edge technology without paying more. 

There is a wide range of high-end USB 3.0 flash drives available on the market. These pendrives typically carry a relatively high price tag compared to traditional USB 2.0 flash drives. MX-LX series utilizes the latest USB 3.0 specification and delivers blazing fast performance at an extremely competitive and affordable price. MX-LX USB 3.0 flash drive is fully backward compatible with USB 2.0 ports, at USB 2.0 speeds. Its dual-chip design and compact size makes it easy to carry virtually anywhere. The aluminum housing is also extremely durable, making it an ideal upgrade flash drive for users with busy and active lifestyles.

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Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., the world leader in advanced memory technology, today announced that it has begun mass producing the industry’s first three-dimensional (3D) Vertical NAND (V-NAND) flash memory, which breaks through the current scaling limit for existing NAND flash technology. Achieving gains in performance and area ratio, the new 3D V-NAND will be used for a wide range of consumer electronics and enterprise applications, including embedded NAND storage and solid state drives (SSDs).

Samsung’s new V-NAND offers a 128 gigabit (Gb) density in a single chip, utilizing the company’s proprietary vertical cell structure based on 3D Charge Trap Flash (CTF) technology and vertical interconnect process technology to link the 3D cell array. By applying both of these technologies, Samsung’s 3D V-NAND is able to provide over twice the scaling of 20nm-class* planar NAND flash.

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Sony Corporation (‘Sony’) and Panasonic Corporation (‘Panasonic’) today announced that they have signed a basic agreement with the objective of jointly developing a next-generation standard for professional-use optical discs, with the objective of expanding their archive business for long-term digital data storage. Both companies aim to improve their development efficiency based on the technologies held by each respective company, and will target the development of an optical disc with recording capacity of at least 300GB by the end of 2015. Going forward, Sony and Panasonic will continue to hold discussions regarding the specifications and other items relating to the development of this new standard.

Optical discs have excellent properties to protect them against the environment, such as dust-resistance and water-resistance, and can also withstand changes in temperature and humidity when stored. They also allow inter-generational compatibility between different formats, ensuring that data can continue to be read even as formats evolve. This makes them a robust medium for long-term storage of content. Both companies have previously developed products based on the Blu-ray™ format, leveraging the strengths of optical discs. However, both Sony and Panasonic recognized that optical discs will need to accommodate much larger volumes of storage in years to come given the expected future growth in the archive market, and responded by formulating this agreement.

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