Synology Inc., a well-known Taiwanese manufacturer of high-end network solutions, announces the release of a two-disk NAS, entitled DiskStation DS214. The storage is targeting budget-oriented home and small business customers who long for high performance and stability of system operation. This NAS comes with two 3.5-inch drives, each featuring 4 TB capacity. Herein, the drives are mounted without any tools, by means of rubber shims only.



The DiskStation DS214 is differentiated by a quite low power consumption index. The storage consumes not more than 20W on full load conditions, with the minimal index of 3.65W in sleep mode. This NAS model is based on a two-core processor, running at 1.06 GHz. Its layout also embraces 512 MB of DDR3 memory, gigabit Ethernet port, and a twain of USB ports (3.0 version). Moreover, the case is equipped with a set of LEDs for drives, network, and NAS activity.


To proceed with the specifications, the new-comer boasts some 111 Mb/sec Read speed …

Spire has officially launched a new line of budgetary PC chassis, codenamed Spire Ridge. At the moment, there are only two models within the series – the Ridge 6601 and the Ridge 6602. Both are characterized by the support for ATX motherboards and have many other identical specifications: i.e. mid-tower form-factor, 192x415x418 mm dimensions. Still, there are some differentiations as well.



The first distinction between the two models lies in the frontal panel design. Therefore, Ridge 6601 features a laconic panel made of plastic without additional ventilation. In its turn, Ridge 6602 features a half-perforated metallic frontal panel that allows for a more intense cooling of internal components.


The couple boasts identical expansion facilities with two 5.25-inch buckets for optical drives, four 3.5-inch buckets for HDD/SSD, and seven expansion slots. Connectivity options are introduced by a set of frontal interfaces, including two audio slots, one USB 2.0, and one USB …

Kingston Digital, an established developer and supplier of highly efficient storage solutions, has officially introduced its new line of solid-state drives that entered SSDNow series. Entitled KC300, this line is targeted at a vast audience, starting from corporate clients and finishing with average customers. KC300 includes five models of 60 GB, 120 GB, 180 GB, 240 GB, and 480 GB capacities. According to Kingston, the new entries are supposed to substitute the two preceding SSD lines: Kingston KC100 and Kingston V+200.



SSDs KC300 are designed in 2.5-inch form-factor and feature SATA III 6 Gb/sec interface. LSI SandForce SF-2281 controller is the heart of each drive model. All items included in the series support DuraClass, DuraWrite, S.M.A.R.T. and RAISE technologies that substantially enhance their efficiency. The same way, all the drives are able to complete an automatic data encoding by means of two integrated encoding engines, which work with AES-128 and AES-256 algorithms. …