Power Quotient International Co., Ltd. (PQI) is proud as one of the first few manufacturers to officially announce USB 3.0 portable storage devices. As a continuation and evolution of the existing USB 2.0, USB 3.0 strives for backward compatibility with USB 2.0, stability, speed and universality. USB has had a long history with modern day personal computers and few will doubt its stability as it has proved itself worthy in the past decade. Its universality is unrivaled and can be found on all consumer motherboards, PDAs, cameras, camcorders, etc. The biggest improvement of USB 3.0 is that it dramatically boosted its maximum bandwidth to 5Gbps/sec (625MB/sec) which is perfect for modern day HD multimedia files that can reach 20~30GB capacities in a single file.
PQI USB 3.0 products to first hit the shelves are portable hard disk drive H566 and Solid State Disk S533. The H566 will have a USB 3.0 ready connection and houses an 8MB cache 5400rpm 2.5 inch hard disk drive with capacities in 320 / 500 / 640GB. It has a read speed of 105MB/sec and a 99.9MB write speed which translate into quadruple the performance of its USB 2.0 predecessors. PQI also announces a USB 3.0 Express Card embedded with two USB 3.0 ports. It can be used with the USB 3.0 devices.
The S533 also features a USB 3.0 ready connection but houses a 2.5 inch Intel SSD with capacities in 80 / 160GB. Creating a new performance portable device segment, utilizing PQI’s Turbo Boost software, S533 can reach a maximum read speed of 274MB/sec and 198MB/sec write speed. It is at least 6 times what USB 2.0 devices are capable of and these figures are unheard of in the realm of portable storage devices!
For existing motherboards that do not feature USB 3.0 connections, need not worry! Simply install a USB 3.0 PCIe add-on card and you’re ready to go with ultra fast external portable storage!
H566 specification
Interface：USB 3.0 (backwards compatible with USB 2.0)
Transfer rate：Read 105MB/sec
Write 99.9MB/sec
Capacity：320GB / 500GB / 640GB
Software：Turbo Boost
S533 specification
Interface：USB 3.0 (backwards compatible with USB 2.0)
Transfer rate：Read 274MB/sec
Write 198MB/sec
Capacity：80GB / 160GB
Software：Turbo Boost
