CDRLabs has taken an in depth look at Sony's new portable 6x Blu-ray Disc writer, the BDX-S600U. This sleek and lightweight drive is capable of 6x BD-R, 6x BD-R DL and 2x BD-RE writing speeds and a maximum BD-ROM read speed of 6x. On top of that, it offers support for 3 and 4-layer BDXL media, which can hold up to 128GB of data on a single disc. The BDX-S600U is also designed to be powered completely off a computer's USB bus and includes features like a 6MB buffer, Power-Burn buffer underrun protection and CyberLink's Media Suite 8.

OCZ Technology Group, Inc., a leading provider of high-performance solid-state drives (SSDs) for computing devices and systems, today announced the release of new enhanced IOPS firmware (v1.13) for the Octane SATA 3.0 Series SSDs. The random write performance has been significantly improved, in some capacities over double that of the previous specifications, for users looking to push their SSD performance to new heights.

For all Octane SATA 6Gb/s models, the improved IOPS made possible by this new firmware allow for greater transactional performance, especially during small file and random access speeds in everyday computing applications. When compared to the previous revision, random write IOPS performance doubles across nearly all capacities when tested in Iometer 2008:

OCZ strives to offer the fastest, highest performing solutions on the market and continues to support customers by offering firmware innovations to their storage investments. The new enhanced IOPS firmware will begin shipping in the next batch of drives to resellers, and the upgrade file will be made available to existing customers via the company's website.

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Pioneer Japan sent out a press release this morning, announcing its new professional-grade Blu-ray Disc writer, the BDR-PR1. Designed for businesses, libraries and museums looking to archive important data to Blu-ray Disc, the BDR-PR1 features like a SATA 3 Gb/s interface and is capable of 6x BD-R, 6x BD-R DL, 6x BD-R LTH, 2x BD-RE and 2x BD-RE DL writing speeds. The drive also comes with software which can be used to check the recording quality by measuring the RSER (Random Symbol Error Rate) and the number of Burst Errors. The  BDR-PR1 is scheduled to ship at the end of January and, while a price has not been announced, its expected to cost about three times as much as a consumer grade Blu-ray writer ($300-$400).

In support of Pioneer's new Blu-ray Disc writer, Mitsubishi Chemical (MKM) has released its new professional, archival-grade 50GB BD-R DL media. Designed to work with the BDR-PR1, these new discs have a lifetime of more than 50 years when stored at room temperture (25° C) and 80% relative humidity. Contrary to earlier reports, Mitsubishi's archival-grade BD-R DL media has been developed in-house and will continue to be manufactured in the company's own factory.

Kingston Digital, Inc., the Flash memory affiliate of Kingston Technology Company Inc., the independent world leader in memory products, today announced the latest addition to its SSDNow family, the SSDNow V+200. The new Kingston® SSDNow V+200 solid-state drives are the ideal high-performance upgrade solution for the performance minded yet cost-conscious business or home user.

The SSDNow V+200 features the second-generation high-speed SATA 3.0 (6Gb/s) SandForce® SF-2281 Processor and outstanding sequential read and write speeds of up to 535MB/s and 480MB/s. The SSDNow V+200 enables fast system start-up, rapid data access and speedy copying of large files such as videos, presentations and graphics illustrations.

“Kingston constantly strives to offer the perfect upgrade solution to cover each market segment. The SSDNow V+200 drive has been specifically designed to meet the needs of both business and home users looking for an inexpensive yet powerful upgrade,” said Ariel Perez, SSD business manager, Kingston. “The SSDNow V+200 is equipped with all essential tools needed to extend the lifecycle and boost a system’s performance to the maximum. The balance between performance and price makes this SSD deliver the best ROI as an upgrade for a fleet of corporate notebooks or desktops or the home PC.”

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