The StorageReview.com review database offers in-depth analysis and comparison of the latest storage products. The latest HDD reviews (hard disk drive), SSD reviews (solid state drive), external storage reviews and related accessories are listed below.
April 9th, 2013 by Josh Shaman
Micron M500 Enterprise SSD Review
The Micron M500 is part of the new SSD family created by Micron and Crucial geared toward personal storage applications with the Micron M500 slotted as an enterprise-class SSD that ranges in capacities up to a robust 960GB, uses 20nm MLC NAND, a Marvell controller, interfaces over SATA 6Gb/s, and features a slim 7mm drive height. The Micron-branded M500 is also targeted at Cloud and Web 2.0 segment. As we mention in our review of the near-identical consumer-oriented Crucial M500, the Micron brand is established and is known for its long-term reliability and its compatibility. Adding to that is the robust capacity and value offered by Micron. On that note, while Crucial's M500 offers top capacity in the consumer-market, there are existing enterprise SSDs that meet and exceed 1TB. Yet, what Micron brings to the table is affordability. While other drives might range up to $4,000, the Micron M500 960GB comes in low at less than a quarter of the price.
April 9th, 2013 by Josh Shaman
Crucial M500 SSD Review
The Crucial M500 (and the OEM-tailored Micron M500) are a new mainstream SSD family that offers a SATA 6Gb/s interface, Marvell controller, 7mm drive height and Micron's latest 20nm MLC NAND. Along with the top-level hardware components, the Crucial M500 comes with Micron's firmware which is made in-house. The M500 builds on a longstanding heritage of reliability and compatibility - Micron's calling cards with both their consumer and enterprise SSDs. What makes the M500 family unique though isn't blazing burst speeds; this time the story is more about price and capacity. The M500 is the first mainstream SSD that offers a drive at the near terabyte capacity, 960GB. The suggested MSRP is under $600 as well, which while still expensive, presents the market with the first viable opportunity from a trusted brand to go SSD-only. What's more, this is all within a 7mm drive body, which makes the M500 a solid fit for just about any client computing platform.
April 7th, 2013 by Kevin OBrien
Aberdeen AberNAS N31L Review
The Aberdeen AberNAS N31L is among Aberdeen's ultra-dense NAS storage arrays that are all designed to offer maximum capacity levels at more affordable prices than the upper echelon providers. The AberNAS is packed with features including capacity for up to 64TB of storage via 16 3.5" bays. The 3U form factor NAS also features Intel Xeon E5 family processors, up to 512MB RAM, and exceptional connectivity via 10GBe LAN and six standard PCI Express 3.0 slots. The Aberdeen N31L also features LSI SAS 6G RAID and extra compatibility via full support for Aberdeen's SAS 6G 4U/45Bay and 3U/28Bay JBOD for users that need to expand their array's capacity.
April 4th, 2013 by Josh Shaman
HP StoreEver LTO-6 Ultrium 6250 Review (EH970A)
HP's LTO-6 Ultrium 6250, the sixth and latest iteration in the Ultrium tape drive series, is designed for server customers using DAS environments who require superior data transfer rates and long-term cost efficiency over other forms of storage. The Ultrium 6250 hosts a major update over previous generation models with its 6GB/s SAS interface that connects directly to SAS-based-servers. Additionally, the Ultrium 6250 has backwards-compatability, writing to and reading fifth generation tapes and reading fourth generation tapes. The latest sixth generation tapes now have an expanded capacity that ranges up to 6.25TB of uncompressed data. With a ratio of 2.5:1, that still provides users with 2.5TB of compressed data, which is 1TB more than LTO-5 offered.
April 1st, 2013 by Doug Crowthers
Tripp Lite SmartRack SRCOOL12K Review
As we've continued to expand our Enterprise Testing Lab, we've needed to look for ways to improve our cooling within the lab environment without the large expense of external cooling units. The team over at Tripp Lite offered us an easy all-in-one solution with its SMARTRACK Series SRCOOL12K, Self-Contained Portable Air Conditioning Unit. The SRCOOL12K is available in 120V (SRCOOL12K) or 230V (SRXCOOL12K) models. The unit offers 12,000 BTU of cooling power that provides adequate cooling for a 500 square foot room. That makes the SRCOOL12K well-suited for our Enterprise Testing Lab's footprint.
March 30th, 2013 by Josh Shaman
Imation RDX Media Secure USB 3.0 Review (RDX-USB3)
The Imation RDX Media Secure Docking Station and its paired RDX cartridges featuring Media Secure Client software provide users with an alternative to tape storage solutions and standard external hard drives used for backup purposes. The RDX Docking Station furnishes users with the speed of USB 3.0 connectivity and the long-term scalability tapes have historically provided. The cartridges have wide-ranging capacity offerings and beyond that, they come in both standard and encrypted models allowing users to choose the features that they need to meet budget or compliance restraints. That said, the Imation RDX Media Secure is positioned for the SMB market and this particular iteration can meet the backup needs of either a workstation or a small server group.
March 29th, 2013 by Kevin OBrien
Samsung SM843 Enterprise SSD Review
The Samsung SM843 takes over from the PM830 as the entry and mainstream enterprise-class SSD designed for use in situations that tend to be read-intensive like compute server boot drives, higher-end client workstation needs, and certain embedded applications. The drive utilizes a SATA interface, offers a slim 7mm drive height, and leverages an in-house Samsung 20nm MLC NAND as well as a Samsung controller and firmware stack. To allay concerns, the SM843 offers write endurance of 1PB (1000TB). Design-wise, the SM843 looks much like its client-focused cousin, the 840 Pro, however the core differences are added over-provisioning in the SM843 to show higher endurance and a firmware that's tuned for workloads that are more read-heavy.
March 28th, 2013 by Josh Shaman
Tripp Lite SmartOnline UPS Review (SU3000RTXL2U)
Tripp Lite's SU3000RTXL2U is an online UPS system (uninterruptable power supply) that provides 3000VA/2500 watts of reliable battery backup for up to seven outlets. The unit sustains regulated voltage, frequency, and a pure sine wave to confine itself from power brownouts and failures. Tripp Lite specifically designed this model to protect medical equipment, wiring closets, switches, storage devices, routers, and servers from power issues that can cause critical systems to go offline. The Tripp Lite SmartOnline instantly kicks into action by continuously routing power through a double-conversion circuit, giving it a 0ms transfer time. Battery life itself is projected at 6 minutes for a full load at 2500 watts and 15 minutes for a half load at 1250 watts without additional battery packs connected.
March 28th, 2013 by Doug Crowthers
Intel SSD 525 mSATA Review
Intel's SSD 525 mSATA drives are the latest iteration in the line and utilize 25nm MLC NAND memory with LSI SandForce SF-2281 controllers. According to Intel, SSD 525 drives can reach up to 50,000 IOPS random read and 80,000 IOPS random write, while sequential read performance runs up to 550 MB/s with sequential writes of 520 MB/s. The SSD 525 series measures 50.8mm x 29.85mm x 3.7mm, weighs 10 grams, and includes a PCIe mini-connector intended to support applications from netbooks, thin-and-light systems, mini and sub-notebooks, all-in-one computers, and embedded platforms. The SSD 525 Series offers additional key features such as: Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) 128-bit Encryption, End-to-End Data Protection, and Data Compression.
Read moreMarch 25th, 2013 by Kevin OBrien
LSI Nytro WarpDrive BLP4-400 Application Accelerator Review
The LSI Nytro WarpDrive BLP4-400 is a half-height half-length PCIe application accelerator that offers 400GB of eMLC NAND. Like the WLP4-200 200GB SLC model we have reviewed previously, the BLP4-400 combines four NAND pools leveraging SandForce controllers into a single storage volume. The drive is designed to be easy to deploy; the universal form factor slots easily into most servers, and thanks to LSI's background in HBAs and RAID cards, the WarpDrive usually doesn't require additional software or drivers to be installed. The WarpDrive family is as close as it gets to plug and play in an enterprise flash storage environment.
