miniG External Drives Designed to Complement Power Mac G5

Trans International Inc. on Thursday introduced miniG, a new line of external FireWire and SATA hard drives made of perforated aircraft aluminum and designed to complement the look of the Power Mac G5. The company offers three FireWire products -- a single-drive FireWire 400 model and two- or four-drive FireWire 400/800 enclosures -- and a pair of SATA-compatible setups: a two-drive model and a four-drive version.

The multiple drive systems can be used in JBOD (Just a Bunch of Disks) mode or as RAID setups. The single-drive FireWire 400 drive is available in 300GB to 500GB capacities, with pricing between US$299 and $599. The two-drive FireWire 400/800 model can hold 600GB, 800GB or 1TB of data, with prices ranging between $699 and $1,099, while the four-drive solution is available in 1.2TB, 1.6TB and 2TB capacities, with prices starting at $1,099 and topping out at $2,299.

The SATA drives start at $699 for the two-drive miniG, which is available in 600GB, 800GB and 1TB versions, with the 1TB model selling for $1,099. The four-drive miniG can hold 1.2TB, 1.6TB or 2TB of data, with prices starting at $1,199 and topping out at $2,399.

Trans International also sells the enclosures themselves for users who want to supply their own drives. Prices start at $129 and end at $499.