Friday, September 30, 2011

Icy news: OCZ: Synapse SSDs for High-Performance Caching

2.5-inch, 6Gb SATA, 64GB and 128GB, 80,000 IO/s, Dataplex software


OCZ Technology Group, Inc. launched its Synapse Cache Series 2.5" SSDs.

The new Synapse SSDs are optimized for caching applications and leverages Dataplex cache software to dynamically manage the Synapse SSD in conjunction with standard HDDs, to provide users with SSD-level performance across the entire capacity of the HDD.


"The industry has shown that it craves the performance advantages that SSDs provide, however, many users still value the high capacities associated with HDDs," said Tobias Brinkmann, Director of Product Management, OCZ Technology Group. "We see the Synapse Cache SSDs integrated with Dataplex software as a big win for a large number of customers who value SSD performance but still require HDD capacity. We are proud to be the first to offer this no-compromise approach to enabling high-performance and high-capacity storage for virtually any PC platform."

This caching solution prioritizes the most frequently/recently used 'hot' data on the Synapse Cache SSD, while 'cold,' less frequently used data is stored on the larger capacity HDD. The OCZ Synapse series features the hardware and software technology to deliver storage performance without sacrificing HDD capacity.  
Source from Storage Newsletter.com

ICY news: Sony PlayStation 4 Features, Design, Games & Release Date

Sony is certainly in competition with Microsoft to bring up its next generation gaming console to the market. When the PlayStation 3 was released five years ago, it was sold out in almost every store, and as of June 31, 2011 there were more than 51 million units sold.


The competition gets tougher and intense in the video game market, and Sony is preparing itself for the release of PlayStation 4. In fact, while the PlayStation 4 is currently getting its treatment, PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 6 are in the early stages of planning and conceptualization at Sony’s R&D labs... read more at  TechLabs.com

ICY comment: As we know before Sony are going to release PS4, now the design and features releases now, I believe Sony fans can't wait to buy it! After PS4 news released, how about Microsoft and Nintendo?
Will they follow it up to announce the new consoles? Let us expect it!

Thursday, September 29, 2011

ICY Games: Dead Space 3 set on icy planet - rumour

While unannounced, it's safe to assume EA is working on a third episode in its successful horror series, and first details have hit the rumour mill today.

According to Siliconera, citing an anonymous source, the game will ditch its typical space ship setting in favour of an icy planet called Tau Volantis.


Isaac will apparently find himself trudging through blizzard conditions after crash-landing on the planet. First tasked with making his way to an abandoned waystation for shelter, Isaac encounters a near-dead survivor who tells him of other survivors who fled to another facility.

According to the report, which gets its info from the same source that accurately leaked details of EA's Syndicate, Isaac gets reacquainted with Ellie of Dead Space 1 fame before encountering a new enemy known as "The Hive Mind".

Siliconera gets more specific, but being conscious of spoilers we'll let you hit the source link for more.

This comes shortly after Dead Space 3 artwork was seemingly leaked into the public domain via a news program in Israel. Asked for comment on the video, an EA spokesman said: "We don't have any news about the Dead Space franchise at this time." 

Source: computerandvideogames.com

Icy comment: Oh my god is that true? Dead space games are so "charming" for these who love FPS game with bloody elements and excellent story, although I am not going through at Dead space 1...It makes me a lot pressure when play game!...-_-" 'coz the strange and dark space environment, you have no idea where the monsters come from! Nice game, hope one day I can get it through!

ICY news: Amazon Kindle Fire: A $199 Kindle Tablet

Kindle Fire


Earlier reports of the device now known as the Kindle Fire have varied wildly and with speculation rampant about what Amazon might announce the finished product appears to fall nicely in between the greatest device ever and a serious disappointment. We'll begin with pricing. Jeff Bezos, Amazon CEO, repeated one line more than any other during the event today, "premium products at non-premium prices." By pegging the Fire at $199 he certainly is following through on the latter claim. This undercuts even the Barnes and Noble Nook Color, while providing specifications that match devices more than twice it's price. So, bargain? You bet. ...read more at Anand Tech

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

ICY Choice: a docking station goes with your computer!

Good day everybody, this time ICY DOCK shows you to compare other brand product with ICY DOCK-MB981U3-1SA and MB881U3-1SA in the below photos. Are you confused there is no usage of IDE HDD if you "fortunately" have it since long long time ago? you won't collect them in your attic and covered it by dust,  MB881/981 helps the IDE HDD to be useful again!

Transferring via USB3.0 superspeed up to 5Gb/s, any file can be transferred to another device in a short time! (of course it also depends on the speed of HDD)

Just provide you the brief introduction as above, we believe you will be clear via reading the comparison in photos. More information please go to ICY DOCK now~enjoy it please ^^


MB881U3-1SA link: http://www.cremax.com.tw/eng/goods.php?id=94
MB981U3-1SA link: http://www.cremax.com.tw/eng/goods.php?id=95

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

ICY Choice: How to choose a suitable 2.5" HDD converter for your computer?

2.5" to 3.5" converter series are ICY DOCK popular products in the markets, from the first converter device, MB882SP-1S-1SB, MB882SP-1S-2B to now MB982 series.
Somebody may be confused why so many similar products released? Is the function the same, isn't it? Don't worry, ICY DOCK shows you how to choose a suitable one for your computer. Simple photos with word description let you understand our products! You can go to http://www.cremax.com.tw/eng/index.php right now for more information~!

MB882 series products link
MB982 series products link

Monday, September 26, 2011

ICY choice: How to compare ICY DOCK product MB973SP-B with others!!

So many multi-bay module products in market, to choose a suitable one may confuse you!

For users' consideration, we choose several products in the market to comapare with ICY DOCK multi-bay module MB973SP-B, you will be clear after checking it!! More information please go to ICY DOCK official website or our cooperated partners in the world!!


MB974SP-B review - posted by storagereview.com

The Icy Dock 4-in-3 backplane gives users easy access to four hard drives in the space occupied by three 5.25" drive bays in a typical PC case. The unit is highlighted by tool-less/tray-less hard drive slots and dedicated SATA connections making it an ideal RAID backplane. Icy Dock has also thrown in a bunch of extras like......read the full review

Icy News:Diablo III Delayed Until 'Early 2012'

Holding true to their design ethos of Ship It When It’s Ready, Blizzard just changed the launch window for Diablo III from the end of 2011 to early 2012.
“While this news might not be a complete surprise, I know that many of you were hopeful that Diablo III would ship this year,” stated Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaine. “We were too. However, this week we pulled together people from all of the teams involved with the game to decide whether we felt it would be ready before the end of December, and we grudgingly came to the conclusion that it would not.”
The delay’s silver lining is the extension of Diablo III’s beta period. Blizzard began sending out invites to the closed beta earlier this week, and this could give them time to add even more players. You can still opt-in to the beta over at Battle.net.

Blizzard’s 2012 calendar is now looking packed with Diablo III, the next chapter in Starcraft II, and another World of Warcraft expansion all tentatively scheduled for release. A busy year for a company that only ships when ready.  via Anand Tech

Icy news: Sony Speeds Up 64GB SxS PRO Memory Card

R/W at 1.2Gb/s through ExpressCard slot, without adapter


Sony Corporation has expanded its SxS PRO memory card range with a new generation which offers twice as fast writing speed than previous models.


The new SxS PRO 64GB, SBP-64 model, can read and write data at up to 1.2Gbps through an ExpressCard slot, without the need for an adapter.
With this evolution of increased writing speed, professional users will be able to capture video of higher bit-rate. They will also be able to capture 120 minutes of recording in HD 422 50Mbps MXF mode, which is widely used in the broadcast area, and transfer content directly to a laptop in 8 minutes, which will improve the global workflow.
In addition to its data transfer speed the SBP-64A also features durability, reliability and useful functions with XDCAM/XDCAM EX, included in the full SxS memory card range, which is achieved through 'Intelligent Technology by SxS'.
'Intelligent Technology by SxS' has been developed to reach data reliability and durability and to be compatible with Sony XDCAM/XDCAM EX equipment.
Data reliability is achieved through the 'Power failure management' function which enables the card to read the data again by re-creating data management table in the event of sudden loss of power supply or if the card is accidentally picked out, as well as through the data-error correction or the data-defects minimizing function. Also, like its SxS predecessors, SBP-64A offers salvage function and slow-motion recording function as a result of being co-engineered with XDCAM/XDCAM EX.
The new SxS PRO 64GB will be available in October 2011.  via-StorageNewsletter.com

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Icy News: Blizzard’s Diablo 3 experiments: “Oh, this feels even better with direct control”

Everyone knows what classic Diablo plays like, but Blizzard has never been afraid to experiment. Part of that process for Diablo 3 involved looking at different control systems – up to and including seeing how the action would work with an Xbox 360 controller, or how its demon-slaying might play on consoles.


Yes. Diablo 3. On an Xbox controller. Read on to find out how Diablo 3′s game director feels about that.

“We don’t see ourselves as a PC developer – we see ourselves as a game developer. It’s just that the games that we wanted to make suit the PC platform,” game director Jay Wilson told us. “We don’t believe you can make a Starcraft style RTS and make it Blizzard great on a console. We do believe you could make an RTS that would be on a console, but we would have (to have) that idea, and that spark and that passion to make it.

“One of the reasons why we’re exploring the idea of a console version of Diablo 3 because we feel that the controls and the style of the game lend itself to a console. With some of our early experiments in putting a direct control scheme into the game via a 360-like analogue controller, I’ve been ‘Oh this feels even better, with direct control…’”

Don’t panic though. This doesn’t mean Diablo 3 itself is giving up its classic mouse controls, a la Dungeon Siege 3. It does speak to the chance of other versions further down the road though, which could even benefit the PC. “I can pretty much guarantee that if we decide to do a console version that we will look to support a pad on the PC,” says Wilson. “But initially with release I don’t think we’ll be ready.” via PC GAMER

Icy News: Half of IT Decision Makers Favor SSD Technology

"IBM survey conducted by Zogby International


IBM Corp. released the findings of a customer survey that demonstrates pent-up demand for SSD technology as a successor to flash and hard-disk drives.

Customers are embracing high-performance SSDs to support growing data storage demands driven by cloud computing and analytics technologies.

More than half of the customers surveyed (57 percent) responded that their organization needs to develop a new storage approach to manage future growth. The survey of 250 U.S. IT professionals in decision-making positions was conducted by Zogby International in August 2011 on behalf of IBM.

The survey demonstrates a need for a new class of storage that can expand the market for SSDs by combining their ability to speed the delivery of data with lower costs and other benefits. Nearly half (43 percent) of IT decision makers say they have plans to use SSD technology in the future or are already using it. Speeding delivery of data was the motivation behind 75 percent of respondents who plan to use or already use SSD technology. Those survey respondents who are not currently using SSD said cost was the reason (71 percent).

Anticipating these challenges years ago, IBM Research has been exploring storage-class memory, a new category of data storage and memory devices that can access data significantly faster than hard disk drives-at the same low cost.

Racetrack memory, a solid-state technology, is a potential replacement for hard drives and successor to flash in handheld devices. A storage device with no moving parts, it uses the spin of electrons to access and move data to atomically precise locations on nanowires 1,000 times finer than a human hair. This technique combines the performance and reliability of flash with the low cost and high capacity of the hard disk drive. It could allow electronic manufacturers to develop devices that store much more information - as much as a factor of 100 times greater - while using much less energy than today's designs. Racetrack memory is featured as one of IBM's top 100 achievements as the company celebrates its Centennial this year.

These new storage technologies could also alleviate critical budget, power and space limitations facing IT administrators. Today, an average, transaction-driven datacenter uses approximately 1,250 racks of storage, taking up 13,996 square feet and 16,343 kilowatts (kw) of power. By 2020, storage-class memory could enable the same amount of data to fit in one rack that takes up 11 square feet and 5.8 kws of power.

"Technology shifts and market forces are fundamentally changing the composition and design of storage systems," said Bruce Hillsberg, director of storage systems, IBM Research, Almaden. "Evolving current storage technologies alone would not answer customers' diverse and rising data storage demands. We're constantly researching new materials and processes to extend existing storage technologies and get ahead of the performance and capacity requirements of future systems."

In the last year, IBM Research recorded a number of storage breakthroughs including a 29-gigabit per-square-inch tape demonstration; a world record of scanning 10 billion files on a single system in 43 minutes; and the creation of a 120-petabyte data system that is roughly 10 times larger than the biggest single data repository on record.

IBM storage products also include more than five significant storage innovations invented by IBM Research. One example, IBM Easy Tier, automatically moves the most active data (such as credit card transactions) to faster SSDs to prioritize and provide quick access to data for emerging workloads like analytics. The system moves secondary data (less urgent data to be saved, for example, for regulatory requirements) to more cost-effective storage technologies. This is an important technology in preventing what IBM characterizes as 'SSD sprawl' or the overuse of the technology, helping clients use SSDs appropriately to maximize data access while keeping costs in check.

The survey also found that:

Nearly half (43 percent) say they are concerned about managing Big Data.

About a third of all respondents (32 percent) say they either plan to switch to more cloud storage in the future or currently use cloud storage

Nearly half (48 percent) say they plan on increasing storage investments in the area of virtualization, cloud (26 percent) and flash memory/solid state (24 percent) and analytics (22 percent).

More than a third (38 percent) said their organization's storage needs are growing primarily to drive business value from data. Adhering to government compliance and regulations that require organizations to store more data for longer - sometimes up to a decade - was also a leading factor (29 percent)."

- via storagenewsletter.com

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Icy News: Windows 8 Developer Preview: Come and get it

Those of you interested in taking the current flavor of Windows 8 for a spin can now download and install the Developer Preview edition.
Being demoed at Microsoft's Build conference this week, the Developer Preview is a prebeta version showing off the operating system at its current stage. Though technically designed for developers, no registration is required, so anyone can download and install it.

The Windows 8 Preview is being offered in three different packages--a 64-bit version with various developer tools, a 64-bit version of just the operating system, and a 32-bit version of the OS.

All three come as ISO files--image files of the contents of a CD or DVD. Since each of the packages is several gigabytes in size, you'll need a DVD if you want to burn the files to a disc.

In Windows 7, you can burn the ISO file to a DVD by double-clicking it to open the Windows Disc Image Burner. For older operating systems, you can use a tool such as ISO Recorder to burn the file. Alternatively, you can use such utilities as Virtual CloneDrive or Daemon Tools to "mount" the ISO file as a drive, eliminating the need to burn it onto a disc.

Since this is a prebeta version, you'll want to install the OS on a spare PC or in a virtual environment so that it doesn't interfere with your production or work machine.

Those of you who want to know what you're getting into before you attempt to install the Developer Preview can check out a hands-on early look at Windows 8 from CNET's Seth Rosenblatt.

What's next after the Developer Preview?

Speaking at the Build conference yesterday, Steven Sinofsky, senior vice president of Microsoft's Windows division, confirmed earlier reports that Windows 8 will next segue into one beta version, followed by one Release Candidate. Assuming all goes well, we can then expect the final RTM (release to manufacturing) edition sometime after that.

Sinofsky didn't reveal a specific timeframe for the beta or Release Candidate. However, the company has been expected to launch the beta at the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show in January, according to WinRumors." -via news.cnet.com

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Icy Dock Hard Drive Docking Station Review (MB981U3-1SA)



Icy Dock released a new hard drive docking station this summer that offers great flexibility; the MB981U3-1SA has a long list of supported drive types including 2.5" and 3.5" SATA drives, but if that's not good enough for you, they also include legacy IDE support. The dock connects to a computer via USB 3.0 interface, which can power the unit when used with 2.5" drives.......read the full review

Icy News: OCZ RevoDrive Hybrid 1TB Released

"At Computex in July, OCZ announced the RevoDrive Hybrid PCI Express storage solution, along with their updated family of RevoDrive 3 SSDs. The RevoDrive Hybrid is now shipping, and offers a unique combination of 1TB 2.5" hard drive coupled with a 100GB OCZ SSD on a PCIe card. The drives combined with caching software can deliver 1TB of storage at 120,000 IOPS and read speeds up to 910 MB/s and writes of 810 MB/s.


OCZ is leveraging Dataplex caching software from NVELO on the RevoDrive Hybrid. Dataplex uses algorithms to determine which data is used more frequently, placing those files on the SSD to leverage the speed benefit, while lesser requested files remain on the hard drive. The caching is dynamic and adaptive based on specific user habits.

SSD caching solutions have been around for some time, as users struggle with the balance between SSD performance and hard drive capacity. The OCZ solution is unique in that it offers both the hard drive and SSD on a single PCIe card, taking up minimal space in a PC. On the hard drive side, OCZ is leveraging a 2.5" 5,400 RPM drive. The SSD contains 25nm MLC NAND and a pair of SandForce SF-2281 processors.

OCZ RevoDrive Hybrid Specs

Usable Capacities (IDEMA) - 100GB SSD+1TB HDD

25nm MLC NAND

PCI-Express Gen. 2 x4

PCIe FullHeight

SandForce 2281 x 2

Hard Drive Rotational Speed - 5,400 RPM

Dataplex Caching Software

167.64 x 98.42 x 22.15 mm (dimensions do not include bracket)

289g

Power Consumption - Idle: 8.1W Active: 10W

MTBF - 600,000 hours

Read unrecoverable bit error rate (UBER) 10e-16 (<1in 1016 bits read)

128-bit & 256-bit AES-compliant

3-Year Warranty

Pricing and Availability


The OCZ RevoDrive Hybrid 1TB comes with a three-year warranty and has an MSRP of $499.99." - via Storage Reivew