CDRLabs kicks off the week with a review of Plextor's new S2C solid state drive. Targeted towards first time upgraders and do-it-yourselfers, this successor to the M7V is powered by SMI's SM2258 controller and is available with up to 512GB of SK Hynix's 16nm TLC NAND flash. To compensate for the slow write speeds typically associated with TLC NAND, the S2C is equipped with Plextor's PlexNitro cache acceleration technology, which optimizes performance without taking up any space on the drive. The S2C also has many of the same features found on Plextor's higher end SSDs. In addition to the company's PlexTurbo intelligent RAM caching solution, the drive offers support for its PlexCompressor and PlexVault technologies.

QNAP Systems, Inc. today announced the release of the TS-531X - a powerful 5-bay business NAS that features two integrated 10GbE SFP+ ports, providing a cost-effective NAS solution with 10GbE connectivity. The TS-531X features Container Station, allowing users to rapidly develop and deploy IoT (Internet of Things) applications and supports VJBOD (Virtual JBOD) as an economical method for expanding the capacity of other QNAP NAS using unused storage space. The TS-531X is a versatile NAS that satisfies small/medium businesses' demands for 10GbE connectivity, container virtualization, and storage expansion.

The TS-531X comes with an Annapurna Labs Alpine AL-341 quad-core 1.4 GHz processor by Amazon® and uses 2GB/8GB DDR3 RAM (upgradable to 16GB). Offering two 1GbE ports, two built-in 10GbE SFP+ ports and SATA 6Gb/s ports for HDDs and SSD, the TS-531X can reach up to 1723MB/s throughput speeds. The model also features a hardware-accelerated encryption engine and SSD cache support, ensuring security without compromising performance.

Plextor, the world's leading brand in high-performance digital storage devices, is announcing the S1 series; its last model in the MLC SSD product line. SSD nowadays is shifting from MLC to TLC flash memory; Plextor is no exception will fully adopt TLC lately. However there are some users who still prefer MLC SSDs, fortunately, Plextor now provide with the last chance to buy MLC SSDs - the S1 series.

Plextor’s S1 series will be sold only in Southeast Asia because of the limited quantities, and is designed with the best price-performance ratio in mind to meet the need of Southeast Asian Market. Sorry to other regions of the world, anyone who wants to get the MLC SSDs last-buy chance has to come to Southeast Asia.

If you're like me, you've probably been waiting in anticipation for the release of Samsung's new 960 PRO SSD. While we haven't gotten our hands on this V-NAND based, M.2 form factor SSD (yet), a number of other websites posted reviews of the 2TB version this morning. The price is quite high ($1300!!) as you can imagine, but with sequential read/write speeds of up to 3,500 MB/s and 2,100 MB/s, the 960 PRO looks like it will be the drive of choice for those requiring the best performance possible.

In the world of gaming, time is literally a matter of win or loss. In less than a second, a game’s performance is determined. Boost your PC with Apacer’s AS682 ARMOR+ solid state drive and get ahead of your opponent in every move! Equipped with SATA III interface, AS682 ARMOR+ operates read/write speed at 540/475MB per second with 95,000 IOPs. Available in 250GB and 500GB, this SSD is advantaged in many ways, including high performance, low power consumption, high durability, excellent value for money, and multiprocessing architecture.

Effectively Boost Your Gaming Skill with Apacer AS682 ARMOR+ SSD
The first generation of ARMOR was born out of Apacer’s dedication in perfecting SSD for better gaming experience. The latest release, AS682 ARMOR+ is even more advanced in processing speeds, with 540MB/s (read) and 475MB/s (write). The 95,000 IOPS makes one thing clear: from scene changes, battles, to fast moves, the smooth fluidity is unparalleled even with most complicated in-game actions. Compatible with most of the PCs and motherboards, the SATA III interface delivers a blazing fast performance, making it an ideal must for enhancement.

Gear-like Emblem : a Symbol of Victory
The design on the shell of AS682 ARMOR+ is inspired by the iron core often seen on comic book superheroes. The noticeable gear-like emblem is symbolic of its ceaseless read/write capability and superb speed. The metal shell is textured to present an extremely fine touch, simulating the advanced equipment worn by a hero on a mission. What’s more, the metal has effective heat reduction capability. Whether you are utility-driven or aesthetic-oriented, AS682 ARMOR+ is here to complement both your PC and your win.

QNAP Systems, Inc. today released the powerful enterprise-class TES-x85U NAS series, including the 18-bay TES-1885U and the 30-bay TES-3085U. Both models are powered by a high-performance yet energy-saving Intel® Xeon® D processor, and provides the choice of dual OS inside a single rackmount NAS. Users can choose to install the business storage QES operating system or the app-centric QTS operating system based on their needs. The TES-x85U series with QES is the perfect backup storage for the dual-controller Enterprise ZFS NAS (ES1640dc).

The 12Gb/s SAS-enabled TES-1885U and TES-3085U adopt an advanced 14nm Intel® Xeon® D 64-bit SoC processor with an integrated PCH (6-core and 8-core respectively). Both models have two built-in 10GbE SFP+ ports to natively support 10GbE network environments, and can further boost system performance with PCIe Gen.3 expansion for additional 10GbE/40GbE adapters and PCIe NVMe SSD. The high-density TES-3085U is especially useful for providing an ultra-fast all-flash storage solution that offers up to 24 drive bays and 6 dedicated SDDs bays for caching.

Western Digital Corporation (“Western Digital”) today announced WD Blue and WD Green solid state drives (SSDs), the first WD-branded SATA client SSDs. The new SSDs complement the company’s industry leading family of hard drives for PCs and workstations, providing a full portfolio of WD storage devices for virtually any application.

The ultimate solution for building DIY PCs, extending the life of current PCs or upgrading existing storage, the WD Blue and WD Green SSDs boast near-maximum speed of SATA drives, best-in-class endurance and MTTF and WD Functional Integrity Testing (F.I.T.) Lab certification, resulting in quick boot times and increased program responsiveness. Consumers benefit from the combination of reliable storage with an industry-leading 1.75M hours MTTF, coupled with reduced power and less heat when compared to HDDs. Both include free, downloadable, WD SSD Dashboard software, which allows continuous performance and capacity monitoring. For consumers who are looking for instant-on responsiveness, durability, low power consumption, and ultra-thin, ultramobile form factors, the WD Blue and WD Green SSDs are the perfect options.