Imagine that all of your irreplaceable photos, home movies, address books, music collections and documents suddenly disappeared. Maybe it was a spilled drink, a theft or a natural disaster, but whatever the cause, the digital content stored on your local computer is gone forever. Unfortunately, accidents like this happen. According to a recent poll sponsored by Hitachi Global Storage Technologies (Hitachi GST) and conducted online by Harris Interactive, almost half of U.S adults who have digital data (45%) have lost photos, music, videos or documents, stored on a laptop or computer due to a virus, hardware or software malfunction or for another reason.

To create awareness and offer new ways to protect your content, Hitachi GST today announced HitachiBackup.com, a simple and easy-to-use cloud storage service providing anywhere, anytime access to your digital content. And, best of all, the first 3 gigabytes (3GB) of online storage are free.

When using Hitachi’s cloud storage service, your most important or cherished content is stored on secure online servers for accessing and sharing files from any web browser, tablet or smartphone – even from an Apple® iPhone® and iPad® app. All content is stored in its natural format (no proprietary formatting), so files are easy to view, download and share from any web browser, anywhere. You can even share your online content with others by sending a web link. Backups can be performed continuously or as scheduled at a specific time in the day that’s convenient for you.

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In its 25th anniversary year, Antec, Inc., the global leader in high-performance computer components and accessories for the gaming, PC upgrade and Do-It-Yourself markets, today announced it will showcase two new Sonata IV and DF-35 models at Computex 2011, exclusively built to accommodate Seagate’s new GoFlex ultra-portable external hard drive technology.

As a key partner in Seagate’s Certified GoFlex Storage System ecosystem, Antec has incorporated a hot-swap drive bay using the new USM™ (Universal Storage Module) in two of its popular mid-tower enclosure models (Sonata IV and DF-35), helping to make Seagate’s ultra-portable 2.5-inch external hard drive technology accessible to the gaming, business and enthusiast audience.

The GoFlex module is built into the chassis, but will also be available as a standalone retail kit. The pre-installed adapter plate fits within one external 5.25-inch drive bay and accepts Seagate’s new 2.5-inch ultra-portable, multi-platform external hard drive. The module also features a tool-less internal mount for users to install a second 2.5-inch Solid State Drive. With this integrated support, users can now take advantage of the removable GoFlex external hard drives’ flexibility and high-performance capabilities, as well as maintaining compatibility with bare 2.5-inch hard drives and SSDs.

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Renesas Electronics, a premier provider of advanced semiconductor solutions, today announced that the cumulative total shipment of the company's SuperSpeed Universal Serial Bus (USB 3.0) host controllers has reached 30 million units worldwide as of May 19, 2011. This achievement comes only a year and a half after starting mass production of the world's first USB host controller (µPD720200) in September 2009, and is the landmark that establishes Renesas as the clear number one manufacturer of USB 3.0 host controllers. The company also announced that to further address increasing orders from customers, it plans to double production of USB 3.0 host controllers to a monthly production of six million units starting this June.

As a member of the USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF) since 1996, Renesas Electronics (formerly NEC Electronics) has played a leading role both in defining USB standards and in developing USB technology. In April 2000, the company (then NEC Electronics) launched the µPD720100 device, the world's first USB 2.0-compliant host controller chip and an extensive lineup of other USB devices, and has earned a reputation for delivering dedicated customer service and high quality.

In May 2009, Renesas Electronics (then NEC Electronics) introduced the industry's first USB 3.0 xHCI host controller and, only after four months of its release, the company became the world's first to earn the "Certified SuperSpeed USB (USB 3.0)" certification from the USB-IF, and also started mass production of the µPD720200 host controller. In the following year, the company released its second USB 3.0 xHCI host controller (µPD720200A) and passed the compliance and certification testing in only two months. These host controllers have become the de facto USB 3.0 host controller standard realizing the best interoperability between PCs and PC peripherals that support USB 3.0.

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AMD FirePro V5900 Graphics Card @ Phoronix
AMD FirePro V7900 Graphics Card @ Phoronix
AMD FirePro V7900 and V5900 Professional Graphics Cards @ HotHardware.com
Asus ENGTX460 GTX 460 Voltage Tweak Graphics Card @ Tweaknews
Cooler Master Elite 371 Midtower Case @ OCIA.net
GIGABYTE Z68X-UD7-B3 (Intel Z68) Motherboard @ TweakTown
MSI R6950 Twin Frozr III Power Edition OC @ Benchmark Reviews
OCZ Technology Vertex 3 240GB Retail Solid State Drive @ TweakTown
Patriot G Series AMD Black Edition DDR3-1333 4GB Dual Channel Memory Kit @ ThinkComputers.org
SilverStone Raven SST-RV03B-W EATX Tower Chassis @ TweakTown
Thermaltake Armor A30 mATX Case @ BCCHardware

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Newer Technology, Inc. (NewerTech), a leading developer of Macintosh, PC, iPod, iPhone, and iPad performance upgrades and accessories, announced today the NewerTech AdaptaDrive converter bracket for installing any capacity size 2.5" SATA hard drive or Solid State Drive in a 3.5" SATA drive bay equipped desktop Mac, PC or external enclosure.

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The AdaptaDrive supports 1.5Gb/s and 3.0Gb/s drives, so existing notebook hard drives can be utilized for extra storage; or a high performance 3G SSD such as the Mercury Extreme Pro can be added for an incredible system speed boost. Power users and gamers seeking maximum drive speed can now easily add the latest high performance '6G' SSDs, like the Mercury Extreme Pro 6G, and experience data transfer rates over 500MB/s from their SATA Revision 3.0 (6Gb/s) compatible home/office computer or external drive.

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PROMISE Technology Inc., a leading supplier of versatile RAID storage solutions catering to customers from enterprise to consumer, will exhibit in Computex Taipei 2011, May 31 to June 4, booth J218. PROMISE will present its total RAID storage solutions at the show, including their innovative solutions for Cloud Storage, Enterprise Data Centers and Rich-media. Also being showcased is the market’s first hardware RAID storages solution, Pegasus, featuring Thunderbolt Technology. Other dynamic demonstrations will highlight PROMISE storage solutions for Surveillance, Virtualization and SMB NAS Backup.

Computex Taipei is the second largest ICT show in the world, next to CeBIT in Germany. Over 1800 exhibitors will present in Computex 2011, attracting over 36,000 visitors, observers, analysts, and journalists of computer and information industries from all over the world to discover and report the latest technologies, developments, and trends.

“PROMISE has attended Computex for more than 15 years; we are witnessing Computex to become the second largest ICT show in the world. This year, we are having the largest booth among all storage vendors to demonstrate PROMISE’s newest products, also the RAID storage technologies we jointly develop with our technology partners,” says James Lee, CEO and President of PROMISE Technology. “PROMISE would like to invite our channel partners and OEM customers, as well as PROMISE’s technology partners to visit our booth and know what PROMISE total RAID storage solution can offer in different industries and vertical markets.”

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PLX Technology today announced a pair of direct attached storage (DAS) SuperSpeed USB (USB 3.0)-to-SATA controllers — devices that are essential elements of wired external consumer storage drives. Optimized for bus-powered applications, the new PLX OXU3110 and OXU3111 (with encryption) DAS controllers are ideal for OEM storage designers seeking product differentiation matched with superior performance, a tiny footprint, and very low power. The devices are fully compliant with the USB-IF SuperSpeed specification and published on the forum’s exclusive integrators list.

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“PLX predicts that USB 3.0 will account for more than 60 percent of total USB hard drives in 2011, then growing to more than 80 percent in 2012,” said David Raun, PLX vice president of marketing and business development. “This rapid growth can be attributed to USB 3.0 drives delivering up to 140 megabytes per second performance, compared to roughly 30 megabytes a second from USB 2.0 drives, meaning a one-terabyte drive swiftly being copied in one-quarter the time. With continually growing libraries of large data files such as video, digital photos, and music, consumers will find this newfound performance very appealing.”

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gigabyte z68 msata ssd.jpgGIGABYTE INC., a leading manufacturer of motherboards and graphics cards, today launched their highly anticipated Z68 series motherboards, based on the Intel Z68 Express Chipset and supporting the new 2nd generation Intel Core processors. Delivering the very best that Intel 6 series chipsets have to offer, including a significant performance boost with Intel Smart Response Technology, the first ever mSATA drive connectors on a standard desktop PC motherboard,and GIGABYTE's proprietary Touch BIOS technology, GIGABYTE Z68 series motherboards put users in the driver seat, allowing them to take total control over how their system operates and performs to best match their individual computing needs. 11 models are available now, with more than 9 additional models, including at least 4 mSATA versions, to be introduced in June, 2011.

"GIGABYTE is excited to introduce a complete range of Z68 Express Chipset enabled motherboards that deliver exceptional performance and a multitude of unique features like Touch BIOS and onboard mSATA that help them stand out from the crowd," commented Richard Chen, VP of Worldwide Sales and Marketing at GIGABYTE. " Intel has really raised the bar with the performance potential and rich feature set of the Z68 chipset, and as such, we fully expect the Z68 chipset to be the number one choice for users wanting to build their next Intel 6 series-based system."

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VIA Labs, Inc., a leading supplier of USB 3.0 integrated chip controllers, announced the certification of its VL701 Low-Power USB 3.0 to SATA Bridge Controller by the USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF) while adhering to strict power-consumption criteria for bus-powered devices. The comprehensive suite of tests conducted as part of the USB-IF Compliance and Certification Program ensures that certified products are interoperable with existing USB devices while also offering all the speed and power enhancements of the USB 3.0 specification. VIA Labs is currently the first and only company to achieve USB-IF Bus-Powered certification using a traditional hard disk drive, which draws more power than flash-based devices.

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Featuring an industry-first fully-integrated 5V switching regulator, the VIA Labs VL701 Low-Power USB 3.0 to SATA Bridge is a single-chip solution that achieves the highest power efficiency while offering users transfer rates up to 10 times that of USB 2.0.

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highpoint rockethybrid card.jpgSSD Caching has become the “Hot” Storage topic of the PC industry. In the near future, motherboards based on the Intel SandyBridge (Z68) will bring SSD Caching to the desktop PC. SSD Caching boots system performance by using high-speed solid state disks to offset slower, but high-capacity hard disk drives. Once limited to enterprise server applications, SSD Caching is now within the reach of PC users. The mainstream consumer market has embraced SSD’s sub $100 models are now commonplace; ideal for caching applications.

Recently, HighPoint Technologies has launched a pair of 6Gb/s PCI-Express 2.0 HBA’s that deliver SSD Caching solutions to any PCI-Express Platform, sharing the high-performance benefits of this technology with PC users worldwide. HighPoint SSD Caching HBA’s combine any SSD and HDD of any capacity into a single storage drive. SSD Caching Drives can be used to boot the system, host applications or simply serve as libraries for file storage and Home Media Networks. HighPoint SSD Caching HBA’s provide two distinct modes of operation: Safe-Mode stores all permanent data safely on the HDD for security, while Capacity Mode uses the space provided by each device to optimize storage and performance.

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