wd_my_cloud.pngToday, CDRLabs brings you a review of WD's My Cloud personal cloud storage solution. Available in 2TB, 3TB and 4TB capacities, this easy to use, single bay NAS device is equipped with a dual-core ARM processor, 256MB of DDR3 RAM, a gigabit Ethernet port and a USB 3.0 expansion port. The My Cloud provides secure file sharing and flexible backup options for both Macs and PCs and can serve as a home's digital entertainment hub to stream audio and videos. Users can also access and upload files directly to the My Cloud using WD's desktop and mobile apps as well as the WDMyCloud.com web site.

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plextor_px-256m6m_ssd.pngCDRLabs finishes up the week with a review of Plextor's new 256GB M6M series SSD, the PX-256M6M. Designed for ultrabooks, tablets and other portable devices with limited space, the M6M provides high-performance and reliability in a space one-eighth the size of a standard 2.5-inch SSD. The drive combines Marvell's 88SS9188 "Monet Lite" controller with Toshiba's Advanced 19nm (A19) Toggle Mode MLC NAND to deliver up to 520MB/s read and 440MB/s write transfer rates. The M6M also supports Plextor's exclusive True Speed and True Protect technologies as well as the SATA Device Sleep (DEVSLP) standard which extends the battery life of a device by reducing the drive's power consumption when it is not in use.

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wd_ex2_nas.pngCDRLabs kicks off the week with a review of WD's new personal cloud solution, the My Cloud EX2. Designed for the home or small office, this high-performance, two-bay NAS is available as a diskless enclosure or a populated system that is ready to go out of the box. The EX2 is equipped with a 1.2 GHZ ARM processor, 512MB of DDR3 RAM, a gigabit Ethernet port and two USB 3.0 expansion ports. Like the My Cloud EX4, it provides integrated file, FTP and backup servers as well as multiple data protection options including RAID, USB, cloud and LAN/WAN backup. The EX2 also offers a full suite of advanced features to power your home or office and can be further customized using third party apps like Joomla, WordPress, IceCast and more.

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ocz_vector_150_ssd.pngToday, CDRLabs brings you a review of OCZ's Vector 150 solid state drive. Building off the success of the original Vector SSD Series, the Vector 150 is based on OCZ's Indilinx Barefoot 3 controller. Developed entirely in-house, this cutting-edge controller is powered by both an ARM Cortex processor and OCZ's own Aragon co-processor and features an advanced, multi-level ECC engine, efficient garbage collection and adaptive flash management algorithms. The Vector 150 also adds support for AES-256 encryption and is equipped with 19nm MLC NAND flash for even greater endurance and performance. Along with 50GB of host writes per day for five years, the drive is capable of 550MB/s read and 530MB/s write speeds and a maximum of 95,000 4KB random write IOPS.

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samsung_ssd_840_pro.pngCDRLabs has taken yet another look at Samsung's award winning 840 Pro Series SSD. This time around, we take a look at the 128GB version of the drive and see how it performs with Samsung's RAPID (Real-time Accelerated Processing of I/O Data) technology. When enabled, RAPID mode is able to analyze system traffic and, using spare system resources (DRAM and CPU), improve random write performance, access to frequently-used data and overall system responsiveness.

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wd_black2_dual_drive.pngCDRLabs has taken an in depth look at Western Digital's new dual drive, the Black². Taking the concept of pairing an SSD with a traditional hard drive to the next level, this innovative storage solution fuses the two into a single device. The SSD portion of the Black² is intended as a boot drive and provides 120GB of 20nm NAND flash for your operating system, games and applications. Larger, infrequently accessed files can then be migrated to the 1 TB hard drive to increase the overall endurance and mileage of the SSD. Best of all, the Black² connects through a single cable and fits into a conventional 9.5 mm slot, making it an ideal upgrade for notebooks and all-in-one PCs.

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ocz_vertex_450_ssd.pngCDRLabs has taken a long overdue look at OCZ's Vertex 450 solid state drive. Bridging the gap between high performance and mainstream solid-state storage, the ultra-slim Vertex 450 is based on OCZ's Indilinx Barefoot 3 M10 controller. Developed entirely in-house, this cutting-edge controller is powered by both an ARM Cortex processor and OCZ's own Aragon co-processor and features an advanced, multi-level ECC engine, low write amplification, efficient garbage collection, and adaptive NAND flash management. The Vertex 450 is also equipped with 20nm synchronous MLC NAND and an extra large DRAM cache to deliver up to 540MB/s read and 525MB/s write speeds along with a maximum of 90,000 4KB random write IOPS.

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silicon_power_diamond_d20.pngCDRLabs has put together a brief review of Silicon Power's new USB 3.0 portable hard drive, the Diamond D20. Available in 500GB and 1TB capacities,  this lightweight, ultra-slim drive features a solid aluminum metal structure with a unique carbon-like texture and scratch resistant surface. The Diamond D20 is also equipped with a built-in LED status indicator and a SuperSpeed USB 3.0 interface which allows transfer speeds up to 10x faster than USB 2.0. To top it all off, the Diamond D20 works with Silicon Power's SP Widget backup and security software and is covered by a 3-year warranty.

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silicon_power_s55_ssd.pngToday, CDRLabs brings you a review of Silicon Power's new Slim S55 SSD. Designed for the cost-conscious consumer looking to upgrade their system to a SSD, this 7mm thick S55 is powered by Phison's PS3108-S8 processor and features a SATA 6GB/s interface, TRIM support and garbage collection technology. The drive is also equipped with up to 480GB of MLC NAND flash and a 512MB cache to deliver up to 556 MB/s read and 500 MB/s write speeds and a maximum of 80,000 4KB random write IOPS.

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samsung_ssd_840_evo.pngCDRLabs kicks off the week with a review of Samsung's 750GB SSD 840 EVO Series solid state drive. The drive is powered by Samsung's new MEX controller and is available with up to 1TB of their second generation 3-bit/cell MLC NAND. To overcome the slow write speeds typically associated with this type of NAND, Samsung has increased the size the DRAM cache and implemented an innovative write acceleration algorithm called TurboWrite, which creates a high-performance write buffer in the SSD. The SSD 840 EVO is also the first drive to support Samsung's new RAPID technology. By using free PC memory as a cache, RAPID can push the performance of the SSD beyond the limits of the current SATA specification.

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