Last week, Synology released a free software update for all x07, and x06 series storage systems; users can enable SSH service on their products by applying SSH update to the system software.

The SSH function unleashes the raw power of Linux while the customers can still enjoy the rich, matured, and user-friendly functions built into Synology Products. "Accompanying with rsync functions, IT Professionals now can integrate Synology products into their backup plan," said Edward Lin, Synology's Marketing Director. "We have added to the SynologyWiki several detailed rsync backup How-To Guides. Users can follow the instructions to backup Synology Servers to another rsync server and vice-versa. The rsync server can be either a Linux or Windows platform, running the rsync service, such as DeltaCopy for Windows. Furthermore, IT professionals can now develop their own scripts files to run their own batched backup jobs with full flexibility and security."

"Instead of spending thousands of dollars on an expensive PC server and backup software to backup their servers locally or remotely, IT professionals can now achieve the same goal using inexpensive Synology products with only a fraction of the cost," said Lin.

To make backup tasks easy for SOHO or small business owners, Synology has already provided an easy-to-use remote backup for users who wish to use the Web Management Application to backup their Synology servers to another Synology server or another rsync server. With this, smaller organizations can also enjoy enterprise-class remote backup.

Synology offers a wide range of products, ranging from the single-bay model (DiskStation DS107 Series), to the dual-bay models (DiskStation 207 Series, with RAID1), to the quad-bay models (CubeStation CS407 and Rackmount RackStation RS407 with RAID5). This eclectic collection of Synology products offers many options for creating a backup solution for offices small and large or for data centers.

In addition to the SSH and rsync update, Synology products will be NFS-ready. Following the instructions in the SynologyWiki, power users will be able to enable the NFS Service and manage their Synology product in a method they are more familiar with.

Users can acquire the free software update from the Synology download site: http://www.synology.com/enu/support/download.php 

Rsync How-to's can be found in:http://www.synology.com/wiki/index.php/Index

On November 1st, Sony will release the BWU200S burner which should, not only burn Blu-ray and DVD discs, but play movies. Problems associated with this feature are supposed not to appear due to incompatibilities with HDCP (as it happened with the BWU100A). But, according to Sony, their previous model also played movies and those who had problems just lacked the appropiate hardware (graphics card).

It's burning capabilities, those that should be attracting buyers, are doubled when it comes to writing Blu-ray discs. It can complete a 50 GB disc in 45 minutes at a speed of 4X BD-R (half the time the previous model needed).

It will come with SATA connectivity, a 5,25" format and it will include both PowerDVD and CyberLink BD Solution; at $899, it should.

Link: apc mag.

"TOKYO, Oct. 15, 2007 – Hitachi, Ltd. (NYSE: HIT / TSE: 6501) and Hitachi Global Storage Technologies (Hitachi GST) announced today they have developed the world’s smallest read-head technology for hard disk drives, which is expected to quadruple current storage capacity limits to four terabytes (TB) on a desktop hard drive and one TB on a notebook hard drive"

This new "current perpendicular-to-the-plane giant magnetoresistive" (CPP-GMR) technology wants to replace existing head technology, called TMR (tunnel-magnetoresistive), between 2009 and 2011. Products shipping in 2009 will have recording heads with 50nm track widths and will reach 30nm track widths in 2011 (current ones have track widths of 70nm). Their researchers have already reduced existing recording heads to less than a half.

CPP-GMR will allow recording densities between 500 gigabits and one terabit per square inch. Compared to the 200 gigabits we see today, that's more than quadrupling density.

Link: Hitachi.

Verbatim, the most prominent name in the storage media market, will launch here, next month, what they did in Japan in August (at the time of the Hitachi BD-compatible camcorder release).

It will be available as both recordable and rewritable Mini Blu-ray media (BD-R/BD-RE) with a storage capacity of 7.5 GB, which equals to approximately one hour of video when high definition (1920×1080) is used, and two hours at 1440×1080.

This Mini BD will deliver the same high read/write performance than the standard (12 cm) discs, and using advanced technologies (like the hard coat protective layer) developed by Mitsubishi Kagaku Media, will also reach the same longevity against deterioration in picture and sound quality. That's a promise they aim to keep no matter how much recording and playback you perform.

Verbatim’s new Mini BD will be produced at MKM’s optical disc manufacturing facility in Mizushima, Japan.

Link: it-review.

How about a Hard Drive with a capacity of 640 Gb that never gets below 800 megabytes per second? Impossible? Fusion io makes it happen with it's new ioDrive, and they aim to get it to the $30 per gigabyte mark.

That's pretty expensive for a Hard Disk, but not so much as previous attempts, like Gigabyte's i-RAM disk, and free from the performance bottlenecks that plaged that product. This time, we aren't dealing with a SATA connected device, but one that enjoys the bandwith provided by a x4 PCIe slot. 800 MB/s read and 600 MB/s write is the minimum under a worst case scenario (small 4K blocks streamed as eight simultaneous 1 GB reads and writes), you can actually expect better everyday performance. You can also forget about batteries to keep the data from disappearing when you shut the computer down, because the ioDrive uses NAND flash chips.

They are targeting the server market for the moment, but such a novelty can't be kept out of the desktop for long. Maybe just the smaller models will be sold first, but given time all the lineup could find it's way to home PCs. We are talking about getting rid of the slowest part of our computers once and for all. Who wouldn't want a shot at it?

Link: TG Daily.

Terabyte disks are nothing new, but you seldom get them included in reviews. Storage Review put an end to that by inlcuding three out of the four models available (only the Samsung one remains unaccounted for).

If you don't want to read the whole thing, here are the main aspects summarized:

Small, elegant and fast. The new A-DATA PD17 2GB USB Flash Drive gets reviewed at Legit Reviews, where they test both it's performance and whether it will break if you insert it into the USB port with keys attached and everything.

It weights only 5 grams with the tiny dimensions of 36.5 x 24.5 x 5.5 mm. It currently goes for about $30, so there are cheaper offers. The tests reveal it isn't the fastest drive either, but you can at least choose among three colors.

"The other main feature of this drive is the sliding design of the USB contacts. You never have to worry about loosing that little pesky cap with this drive because there isn't one! When you are ready to use the drive, you just slide the contact points out of the cover."

Here's one thing I didn't see in any of the numerous reports about IDF that I've been reading on the web. Intel will have a SATA 3.0 Gbits/s hard disk ready next year and it will be a Solid State Drive.

"Intel promises not only a power consumption at least 4.5 times inferior to classic hard drives but doubled writing performance [...] it could arrive starting next year and certain details suggest it will be destined for servers." Given the current price on SSDs it's no wonder they don't target the desktop market just yet.

A ten to fifty times IOPS increase is also stated, something that will come in handy for a typical server scenario.

Link: BeHardware. 

In order to reduce concerns over moving IT data securely, Dorset, Bedfordshire, and Leicestershire Police Constabularies have taken positive steps to protect their IT data with the use of MicroRiver's new Biometric USB flash drive.

MicroRiverÙs USB drive, which is available in either 1GB, 2GB, 4GB, or 8GB configurations, has two levels of protection - a conventional password protection, and a fingerprint protection. The device stores up to 10 fingerprint impressions.

Typical applications for the smaller capacity models are to store MS Office data (e.g. Word, PowerPoint), whilst the larger capacity models have benefits of storing high resolution crime scene images, and videos captured with car number plate recognition systems.

Michael Knight, Information Security Officer at Dorset Police said, “We have been looking for this type of solution for a while. MicroRiver were even able to give us a bespoke version of the security software so it is tailored to our needs.”

Colin Lamont, Service Desk Mgr, Bedfordshire Police said, “In the past there has been a trade off between user functionality and security. Now we have been enabled to lock down the USB ports and still allowing approved data transfers.”

Tim Glover, ICT Mgr at Leicestershire Police added, “We like this device for it does not require admin rights to use, so it does not impact our technical support team rolling out these flash drives.”

“I am delighted that Dorset, Beds, & Leics Police Forces are using this device, giving us ten UK Police customers. In fact we have eleven more UK police forces evaluating the same product. This type of device is perfect for anyone moving or carries data which needs to be secure; hence you will never be concerned if it was lost or stolen”, commented Gerry Toms, Sales Director, MicroRiver.

Korean company, IOCELL announced the launch of its waterproof USB Flash Drive mDrive. We sure have heard about waterproof flash drives in the past, but what really sets this atop is its design. The mDrive is designed by Young-Se Kim of INNO Design.

The Taegeuk (the shapes that make the cricle on the South Korean flag) pattern in red on the black casing of the drive and an aluminum slider to protect the gold plated USB connector - all these make the mDrive the most lovable flash drive I've seen in recent times.

The slim mDrive measures 41.4 x 14.9 x 3.6 mm and weights just under 3 grams and is available in 1GB and 2GB configurations (though the official webpage claims a 4GB model is also available).

The mDrive supports USB 2.0 interface and enables high transfer speeds when storing data. The mDrive also supports ReadyBoost on Windows Vista. The mDrive is now available for purchase in Korea for US$42 and $62 for the 1GB and 2GB versions respectively.

Hit the read link for a few more pictures.