ICY News: The Best SSDs and the Best Hard Drives For Your Money: August 2014 - Hardware Revolution

Another article for you to consider if you are still debating on which SSDs you should purchase. Check out this article for more information!

This article is in three parts:

1. The Best Solid State Drives (SSDs) For Your Money.
2. The Best Hard Disk Drives (HDDs) For Your Money.
3. RAID 0,1,5 and 10: A quick and easy summary.

- See more at: http://www.hardware-revolution.com/best-ssd-best-hard-drive-august-2014/#sthash.MpPsBLcy.dpuf

ICY News: The Best SSDs - The Wirecutters

Still looking for SSDs to upgrade your current system, you should check out this article for recommendations. 

"If I bought a solid-state drive (SSD) today, I'd get the 512GB Crucial MX100 for about $220. It's not the fastest SSD you can get, but it's close. More importantly, it has the best combination of price, performance, and capacity. Additionally, Crucial makes its own NAND flash memory and its SSDs have a history of reliability. It's about $30 cheaper than the 500GB Samsung 840 EVO and has the best price per gigabyte of all those we looked at, so it's the best choice for most people who are upgrading a laptop or desktop today....Read more: The Wirecutter: The Best SSDs

EZ-Dock MB981U3-1S review - posted by thinkcomputers.org

Icy Dock MB981U3-1S Hard Drive Dock Review

There always comes a time where a hard drive dock comes in handy. It could be you are building a new system and need to transfer files, want to share files with a friend, or you can even use a hard drive dock for an external hard drive setup. Hard drive docks are extremely convenient and today we are taking a look at the MB981U3-1S from Icy Dock. This USB 3.0 hard drive dock supports 2.5-inch and 3.5-inch SATA hard drives and has USB 3.0 Boost UASP support. Let’s take a look.........Read More EZ-Dock MB981U3-1S Series: http://www.icydock.com/goods.php?id=168

ICY News: Seagate ships first 8TB HDD

Seagate has announced that it is confident it will be successful in bringing its promised 8TB mechanical hard drives to market, claiming to have received 'very positive' feedback from customers receiving pre-production prototypes. 

Seagate outlined its plans for large-capacity spinning-rust hard drives back in May this year. At the time, the company promised that it would follow its 6TB enterprise-grade products with 8TB and 10TB models before the end of the financial year....Read more: Bit-tech: Seagate ships first 8TB hard drives

ICY News: HGST launches the world's largest 10K RPM HDD, a 2.5-inch 1.8TB drive

HGST launches its new Ultrastar C10K1800 drive, a 2.5-inch 1.8TB 10K RPM drive, the world's largest and highest performing 10K RPM HDD (NASDAQ:WDC) HGST has just unveiled its latest Ultrastar C10K1800, something the company is pegging as the world's highest capacity, highest performing 10K RPM HDD. The new drive is a 2.5-inch 1.8TB drive, that cranks along at 10,000 RPM. The drive uses HGST's media cache architecture, which uses a portion of the platter as drive cache. This allows a massive 2.5X increase in random write performance, and a 23% improvement in sequential performance over previous generations of 2.5-inch 10K RPM HDDs. According to the company, this new Ultrastar C10K1800 is also more power efficient, with up to a 7% improvement in active and idle power savings. HGST's new Ultrastar C10K1800 ships with the fast 12Gbps SAS interface, but even with 10K RPM under its belt, it won't make great use of that like an SSD or four will. It has a maximum sustained transfer rate of 247MB/sec on its 12Gbps bus. Read original post at: http://www.tweaktown.com/news/38973/hgst-launches-the-world-s-largest-10k-rpm-hdd-a-2-5-inch-1-8tb-drive/index.html

Introducing the ICY DOCK Black Vortex MB074SP-1B 3.5” SATA HDD 4 in 3 Hot-Swap Module Cooler Cage

Every PC builder wants to customize their system to be aesthetically pleasing, and they want components that are elegant yet unique --but looks can only get you so far. There’s a demand for unique looking parts that can also deliver performance and we have just the thing! We’re proud to introduce the Black Vortex MB074SP-1B. The Black Vortex MB074SP-1B is a hot-swappable 4 bay 3.5” SATA HDD cooler cage built robust from durable metal. It has many configurable options such as fan speed control, fan LED brightness control and power button for each of the drive bay. The hot swap function and EZ-Grip handles give you the ability to swap drives without breaking a sweat. The quiet 120mm cool blue LED fan combined with all metal ventilated design keep your drives cool, lowering your overall system temperature and thus increasing your hard drives’ life span. The removable dust cover prevents dirt and dust from entering the case. The Black Vortex MB074SP-1B is a must-have HDD cooler cage for any PC builder seeking quality components with a ton of features and rugged good looks. Low Profile Accessibility with Energy Efficiency The core of the Black Vortex’s design is to include all conceivable hard drive cage functions and have them easily accessible from the front panel for an effortless configuration. The cooling fan, fan speed control, fan LED brightness control, drive power button, dust filter and hard drives can all be accessed from the front so you can easily configure the HDD cooler cage without opening up the case. The space saving design converts 3 x 5.25” front bays into 4 x 3.5” hot-swap HDD bays. It also uses only two 15 pin SATA power connectors to power up all 4 drives, reducing power and power connector usage. Individual drive power buttons allows you to power down the drives you don't need to effectively extend your drives' life span and to prevent data vulnerability from unknown viruses such as Cryptolocker. Efficient Cooling The Black Vortex MB074SP-1B gets its name from the whopping 120mm fan integrated in the unit, which allows it to efficiently cool the drives and improve the air flow of your entire system. The included 120mm fan effectively pulls cool air from outside the system resulting in a lower overall temperature which prevents performance decrease from overheating drives. We’ve included an adjustable 3 settings fan switch (high, low, and off) to allow you more control over your system performance and noise levels. The Black Vortex features an adjustable built-in LED lit fan that brilliantly Illuminates your case and provides an ambient blue color. It’s a surefire way to grab the attention of everyone in the room whether you’re at a LAN party or just inviting guests over. The 3 different brightness settings (high, low, and off) allows you to dim and brighten the LED fan with a simple touch. The 120mm cooling fan can be easily replaced to an aftermarket 120mm fan with 3 pin connector. Finally, the included removable dust filter can easily be removed and cleaned within a matter of seconds. EZ-Grip Handles Drive installation has never been easier with the EZ-Grip handles. Installing EZ-Grip to your hard drive only requires two screws. Easily slide your drive into the Cage and lock the switch, once they’re locked in place, they’re not going anywhere. The EZ-Grip handles are compatible with our lineup of portable docks such as the MB881 and MB981 HDD docking stations. You can quickly remove your drive from the Black Vortex, and insert them into our docking stations without removing the EZ-Grip handles. This is extremely useful when transferring data in between systems. The EZ-Grip handles are also compatible with our 2.5” to 3.5’ HDD/SSD converters: EZConvert MB382, MB882 & MB982 series, allowing you use your 2.5” HDD/SSD with the Black Vortex hassle-free. The Finer Details It’s just not an ICYDOCK product unless it’s been fine tuned to incorporate all of our customers’ needs. You’ve voiced your concerns, and we’ve added features based on your requests. We’ve made the protruding handles removable so it will be compatible with computer cases that have front doors. For system builders that are concerned about loose power connections to the unit, we’ve also added our customized locking latch that will firmly clasp onto any 15 pin SATA power connector with the locking mechanism. Once connected, it’ll stay secure until you decide to remove it. The Black Vortex is made by full metal frame that complements any computer chassis. Crafted to be ruggedly stylish and extremely robust, the Black Vortex is meant to endure the harshest conditions. Your drives are guaranteed to be protected when they’re enclosed in a full metal surrounding. The symmetrical web-like pattern adds a dash of flair so you can be confident that your system will turn heads. Key Features * Fits 4 x 3.5” HDD into 3 x 5.25” hot swappable Device Bays * Fits 3.5” SATA I/II/III HDD, up to 6TB * LED brightness control and Fan speed control * Hard drive activity light for each individual bay * Individual shrouded drive power buttons * Removable handles for computer cases with doors * Custom locking latch for 15 pin SATA power * Front access with hot-swap design to easily install/remove drives * EZ-Grip handles allow easy installation and compatible with HDD docking stations * Compatible with ICY DOCK 2.5” to 3.5” HDD/SSD EZConvert converters * Huge 120mm cooling fan effectively keep the drives cool and decrease overall system temperature * Fan is replaceable with aftermarket fans * Ventilated architecture allows maximum airflow * Easy to clean dust filters prevent dust from entering your system * Built with a robust full metal frame that’s made to last * Beautiful ambient blue LED fan glow illuminates your chassis Quick links: MB074SP-1B Product Page MB074SP-1B Product images MB074SP-1B Datasheet ICY DOCK Tel: 626.956.8800 Fax: 626.956.8811 11740 Clark St. Arcadia, California 91006 Sales e-mail: sales01@cremax.com Support e-mail: tech@icydock.com

ICY Tip: Optimize Storage Space and Access Speeds with 2.5" and 3.5" HDD/SSD Combinations using the MB561U3S-4S with New EZ-Tray System

How to protect your data by preventing Cryptolocker, Cryptodefense, and other ransomware attacks with offline backups   Cryptolocker is a ransomware Trojan that may come in the form of an email attachment which anyone can accidently open. CryptoLocker encrypts most documents that it has access to, even if those files are not directly on your computer but instead on your network. It may take several hours (depending on how much data you have) to fully encrypt all the documents it has access to, and the virus stays quiet and stealthy until it’s fully completed. Once completed, it notifies the user with a popup window and a timer. This Trojan is becoming more and more common and sophisticated to the point where it can render your Windows System Restore useless, so you can’t restore your system to a previous point in time. Many people claim that they’ve been infected with CryptoLocker and opted to pay the ransom where they ultimately discovered they’ve been duped and don’t end up with the key –all their precious files are as good as gone. Unfortunately this isn’t the only Trojan of its kind –there are many viruses that perform similar functions as CryptoLocker.   CryptoLocker utilizes RSA 2048-bit to encrypt your data making it near impossible to crack. To protect your critical data, we recommend that you:   1. Do not open email attachments unless you know it’s from a trustworthy source 2. Make sure you have a good anti-virus software on your system 3. Keep a local offline backup, keep a cloud backup, or do both for even more protection   You may be able to protect yourself from threats such as viruses, but that won’t always be the case since oftentimes we share computers. Unless you’re always there to supervise other users, you won’t have full control of your system so the best way to protect your data is to make a backup onto another drive or in the cloud. For small files, we recommend you upload them to the cloud via Dropbox, Microsoft OneDrive, Google Drive, or Apple’s iCloud but if you want to protect your photos, videos or other larger files, your best bet is to make a backup locally on a separate drive and disconnect/turn off the drive when not in use, so ransomware won’t be able to access your backup even when your computer has been infected, and you can always restore your important files when necessary.   Most people (maybe even you) don’t backup their data thinking that it’s a hassle or that it’s pointless, but it can save them a significant amount of time in the event where malware, hardware failure, cyber crimes, or natural disaster wipes their data. A disaster recovery plan to protect data is crucial and we strongly recommend anyone to backup their data and set the backup offline, before it’s too late.   How to make an offline backup?   It’s easy to make a backup. You’ll first need to find a drive with a large enough capacity to carry the data that you’re trying to backup. You can opt to install your drives internally or externally with an enclosure but no matter you which you decide, we recommend you to get enclosure with a “hot-swap” design that allows you to remove the drive from it or turn off its power, in order to make your backup offline. See below for how to setup an offline backup.   System Requirement Internal Method (HDD Rack or Cage) External Method Empty SATA port from motherboard USB 3.0/USB 2.0/eSATA port from system Empty 5.25” device bay from case ICY DOCK external HDD enclosure SATA / 4 pin power connector from PSU SATA Hard drive or SSD SATA cable Backup software (optional) ICY DOCK mobile rack or cage   SATA Hard drive or SSD   Backup software (optional)     Setup an external hard drive with ICY DOCK external HDD enclosures or HDD dockings:   Recently, Seagate and Western Digital have both announced the release of their line of surveillance HDD which they have specifically engineered for surveillance and video analytics applications. Seagate offers their ST1000VX000, ST2000VX000, ST3000VX000, and ST4000VX000 models while Western Digital offers their WD10PURX, WD20PURX, WD30PURX, WD40PURX models. Both the Seagate Surveillance HDD and Western Digital Purple HDD are optimized to withstand the rigors of 24x7 multiple video streaming by offering greater storage capacity, reduced power consumption, and increased reliability. Reduced wattage (shown in table below) directly translates to decreased temperatures which lead to increased drive reliability as heat is a leading culprit for system failure. And a 3TB surveillance drive can store a massive amount of data. (roughly 42 days of high-quality video streaming @ 1290x1024 resolution, 30fps)   Setup a HDD mobile rack or cage with ICY DOCK mobile racks/cages that include power button:   If the system space is not the concern, installing a HDD to the mobile rack or HDD cage gives you many benefits. It saves you desk space, reduces cable clutter, and provides direct SATA speed from the system. All ICY DOCK HDD mobile racks and cages support SATA hot-swap feature allowing you to quickly remove the drives from your system without any disassembling required. Simply remove the drive from the system after backup process and store the drive in a safe place for offline backups. You can also create multiple backup drives within a single enclosure. Some of our mobile racks and cages have individual drive power buttons which lets you shut off the drive to prevent virus attacks and help in saving energy. Make sure your motherboard supports SATA hot-swap function (which most motherboards do), and check to see that you’ve enabled AHCI mode for the hot-swap function. Making offline backups allows you to take a quick proactive approach and to prevent data loss if you should ever download a virus. Ideally you would want to run a virus scan on the data you want to backup, turn on the storage device (or insert the drive) to perform the backup, and then remove the drive from the system or shut down the drive to make it offline so virus such as CryptoLocker can’t access your drive since its offline and no longer readable by your system. You can routinely run a virus scan, turn on your storage device and back up your data on a daily/weekly basis to ensure backups are up to date and virus free.   Popular backup software:   AOMEI Backupper, EaseUS Todo Backup Free, Cobian Backup, Macrium Reflect Free, FBackup and Backup Maker.   Popular anti-virus software:   Malwarebytes Anti-Malware, AVG AntiVirus Free, Ad-Aware Free Antivirus+, Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition and AVAST! AntiVirus. Note: All software mentioned in this article are recommended based on thorough research but have not been tested by ICYDOCK USA   ICY DOCK External HDD Enclosures Click HERE to view external HDD enclosure page   ICY DOCK HDD docks Click HERE to view HDD dock page   ICY DOCK HDD Mobile Racks Click HERE to view HDD mobile rack page   ICY DOCK HDD Cages Click HERE to view HDD cage page

ICY DOCK USA 11740 Clark St. Arcadia, CA 91006 Tel: 626.956.8800 Fax: 626.956.8811

ICY News: SSD shadiness: Kingston and PNY caught bait-and-switching cheaper components after good reviews

Be careful when you are buying SSD!

"Over the past few months, we’ve seen a disturbing trend from first Kingston, and now PNY. Manufacturers are launching SSDs with one hardware specification, and then quietly changing the hardware configuration after reviews have gone out. The impacts have been somewhat different (more on that in a moment) but in both cases, unhappy customers are loudly complaining that they’ve been cheated, tricked into paying for a drive they otherwise wouldn’t have purchased......."

Read More:
http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/184253-ssd-shadiness-kingston-and-pny-caught-bait-and-switching-cheaper-components-after-good-reviews#disqus_thread

ICY News: How SSDs Work: Architecture, TLC vs. MLC NAND, & Endurance

"We covered SSD questions pertaining to varying voltage levels on evolving NAND types (SLC, MLC, TLC), cell decay when an SSD goes unused, P/E cycles and endurance, and "what's next" after TLC for Flash types......"

Very informative article with detailed videos explanation at: http://www.gamersnexus.nethttp//www.gamersnexus.net/guides/1497-ssd-architecture-1-what-is-tlc-nand-mlc-anatomy?showall=1#JVRCvjuxhdsQjvKS.99

Introducing the ICY DOCK ICYCube MB561U3S-4S 4 Bay USB 3.0 & eSATA(PM) Hot Swap 2.5"/3.5" SATA HDD/SSD External Enclosure - White

Introducing the ICYCube MB561U3S-4S 4-Bay external 2.5” & 3.5” HDD enclosure with SuperSpeed USB 3.0 and eSATA interface. The MB561U3S-4S is designed for those in need of large data storage with a small footprint and supreme build quality. The USB 3.0 interface allows you to access up to four drives at up to 5Gbps and is backward compatible with USB 2.0. The eSATA interface delivers fast SATA III speed, supports eSATA port-multiplier function and is compatible with most of RAID controller card with eSATA port-multiplier interface. The 4 bay capacities give you enough room to optimize your data storage system with efficiency. The ICYCube MB561U3S-4S supports both 2.5” and 3.5” SATA SSD/HDD with our new EZ-Tray design, allowing you to mix your 2.5” and 3.5” HDD within a single enclosure to save desktop space, power consumption and cost. The detachable 80mm cooling fan provides excellent cooling to the drives, and the 3 speed fan switch gives you full control over noise and temperature. The built-in power supply removes any requirement for an overly large power brick which helps you save space. The ICYCube MB561U3S-4S is a quad bay USB 3.0 enclosure with fully loaded functions and eye-catching design. It is perfect for media professionals, and people who need a high quality HDD enclosure for their storage needs. Multiple Interfaces with Great Capacity Having multiple drives conveniently placed into a single enclosure can provide many benefits such as the ability to transfer files between drives, backing up all your precious files or storing/organizing large archives. More importantly, doing this saves you big bucks from buying additional enclosures, gives you more desktop space and saves energy. The ICYCube offers both USB 3.0 and eSATA interface. USB 3.0 interface allows you to access four drives with up to 5Gbps transfer speed, and is backward compatible with USB 2.0, the most common interface for many things, which makes ICYCube a perfect HDD enclosure for various applications such as: media archives, network attached storage, external server storage, IT data transfer tool and more. With USB 3.0 interface, you’ll have blazing fast transfer speeds for applications such as data backup from your system to your external enclosure which can save you time. The eSATA interface delivers fast SATA III speeds up to 6Gbps, and allows you to access four drives via a single eSATA connection (eSATA port multiplier required). It is compatible with most of RAID controller card that has eSATA port-multiplier interface, which gives you an option to setup a hardware RAID externally, perfect for system that has limited space. This tiny enclosure can take up to 24TB total capacity with largest capacity drives available on the market (6 TB), which is more than enough space for most of the applications. The New EZ-Tray Takes It All The new EZ-Trays provide the best compatibility for both 2.5” SATA HDD/SSD and 3.5” SATA HDD at all heights, ranging from lighting fast 2.5” SATA III SSD to 3.5” SATA 6TB HDD. The drive installation is simple: place the drive in the tray aligning the screws holes, screw in the provided screws, and you’re set! If you have more than four drives, additional trays can always be purchased. In addition to that, you can quickly swap out drive via hot swappable bays so you aren’t required to shut down your computer or the ICYCube, saving you valuable time. (Note: the USB host will refresh while swapping drive via USB. The remaining drive(s) will cycle during this process) Better Cooling for Better Performance Our ICYCube was designed from the ground up with intentions of fulfilling the demand of our customer base, so we packed it full of awesome features. It features an 80mm detachable fan for easy maintenance. Simply remove the fan unit, use a dust blower or a damp towel to wipe off the blades, and snap it back in; it can’t get any easier to clean. We’ve included a fan speed switch that allows you to select between a whisper-quiet low, a rapid cooling high, and an auto setting based on Smart Cooling Technology. The Smart Cooling Technology determines the temperature of your drives, and changes fan’s RPM accordingly to keep your drives nice and cool. The Classic Remains a Classic To define the ICYCube MB561U3-4S as “beautiful” would be an understatement. Crafted from Hi-Grade aluminum with two different available color schemes, the ICYCube sports a matte coat with a hint of glittery shine similar to that of Apple’s Macbook series. The front panel displays its fine glossy coat contrasting the outer housing in a unique blend. Our ICYDOCK logo is displayed on both sides so you can be assured that your product is an ICY DOCK –known for reliability and built tough. The low profile white LED indicator light indicates activity of each hard drive. This allows you to know which drives are currently being accessed or whether they’re sitting idly waiting for activity. We’ve used a moderately illuminating white LED for the indicator light so it shines just bright enough that you can be notified of activity, but not so bright where it’s distracting. Also the ICYCube MB561U3-4S uses a built in power supply to keep all major components within the unit so there’s no need for clunky power bricks to occupy any space on your desk, so you can keep your work space nice and neat. Lastly, ICY DOCK has a 3 year warranty which gives you the peace of mind to feel confident for years to come. Key Features * Plug and play installation, no drivers required * SuperSpeed USB 3.0 with up to 5Gbps transfer speed * Backward compatible with USB 2.0 interface * eSATA connection with up to 6Gbps transfer speed (port-multiplier required) * New EZ-Tray system supporting both 2.5” and 3.5” SATA HDD/SSD of all heights * Adjustable cooling fan with 3 speed settings (low, high, and auto) * Support largest capacity drives available on the market (6 TB) * Removable EZ-Tray design allows you to quickly swap out drives * Moderately illuminating white LED for power & drive activities * High grade aluminum alloy frame with detailed matte finish * Include 4x EZ-Trays which features shock absorbing technology to help protect your drives * Detachable 80mm ball bearing rear cooling fan provides easy maintenance * Integrated power supply, so big power bricks aren’t necessary * Rubber padded soles for enhanced stability Quick links: MB561U3S-4S Product Page MB561U3S-4S Product images MB561U3S-4S Datasheet ICY DOCK Tel: 626.956.8800 Fax: 626.956.8811 11740 Clark St. Arcadia, California 91006 Sales e-mail: sales01@cremax.com Support e-mail: tech@icydock.com