VST Technologies has released software specially designed to optimize the performance of their FireWire line of hard disk drives. The new VST FireRAID software allows users to link together external VST hard drives into a RAID array, allowing faster storage and greater flexibility than previously known. According to VST:
Face it. We are generating more data than we know what to do with! Digital video enthusiasts and professionals are pushing the limits of fixed hard drives. More and more data storage is needed and that storage needs to be faster and faster. Since an hour of digital video uses up 13GB of hard drive space, digitally storing all of your footage for easy editing can eat up a hard drive pretty fast. If youire working on major production products, you need lots of storage and you need it fast. And you need secure and reliable data storage that won?t fail you when youire facing deadlines.
SmartDisk has a new tool allowing you to store and access vast amounts of data fast and securely. A tool to build a system of easy-to-use data storage as large as you need today, and one that can grow to meet tomorrowis needs.
We call it FireRAIDTM.
VSTis exclusive FireRAIDTM software configures multiple VST FireWire Hard Drives and VST USB/FireWire Hard Drives into fast and reliable RAID Arrays for Apple Macintosh computers.
Controlling two VST FireWire Hard Drives, FireRAID can increase Write speeds over 50%; with three drives, Write speeds double! Each additional drive added to the chain makes for an incrementally more powerful storage system.
FireRAID is like a traffic cop at a busy intersection, ensuring the efficient flow of data through multiple paths. By filling one driveis memory chip with data while another performs the relatively slow writing task, overall data transfer speed increases dramatically.
Itis powerful, yet easy to use. Simply install FireRAID and VST FormatTM (included) onto your Mac. Launch FireRAID and format your daisy-chained VST FireWire Hard Drives. Then configure the drives as a striped array for speed, or as a mirrored array for data integrity. How does RAID achieve such fast speeds? Every individual hard drive has a limited capability to read and write data. There is a cycle a drive goes through to perform its work. A drive receives data at high speeds and temporarily stores it in a memory chip built into the drive mechanism. As the drive copies this data from the chip onto the spinning disk platters, data transfer essentially stops until the data in the cache memory chip is iemptiedi and the chip is ready to receive new data. FireRAID software manages the flow of data to multiple drives by sending data to the drive ready to receive it, while allowing another drive the time to write to disk.
FireRAIDis mirroring feature, also known as RAID Level 1, creates a copy of your data on a separate volume. This feature insures data availability, even if a drive in an array fails. When a failed drive is replaced (and hot-swappable FireWire drives make this easy) FireRAID will rebuild the mirrored copy of your data in the background.
VST has also lowered prices across the board for their drives:
- 20GB Desktop Drive - $379.95
- 30GB Desktop Drive - $399.95
- 45GB Desktop Drive - $499.95
- 75GB Desktop Drive - $899.95
The VST FireRAID Software is available for US$24.95 when purchased with two drives, US$49.95 when purchased with a single drive, or US$99.95 without a drive purchase. You can find more information at the VST web site.