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Blu-ray discs with 128GB capacity announced30 June 2010 15:24:42

Computer users with large numbers of files to back up will soon be able to make use of Blu-ray discs that are capable of storing 128GB.

The Blu-Ray Disc Association announced the new disc format, named BDXL, which is available as a quadruple-layer 128GB disc or the slightly more modest triple-layer 100GB.

According to the association, it is likely that the new discs will primarily be used for archiving data rather than movies, many of which still fail to fill up conventional Blu-ray discs.

Victor Matsuda, chair of the BDA's global promotions committee, said that the extension to the Blu-ray format would create "even more storage capacity".

"By using the existing Blu-ray technologies, we have created a long-term and stable solution for archiving large amounts of sensitive data, video and graphic images," he said.

"We expect further growth of the Blu-ray Disc market as the introduction of 100GB/128GB discs will expand the application of Blu-ray Disc technologies."

This week, it was announced that a special 25th anniversary edition of the Back to the Future trilogy would be coming to Blu-Ray. ADNFCR-2752-ID-458082493-ADNFCR

SSDs and HDDs can coexist, says Kingston30 June 2010 15:21:44

Solid state drives (SSDs) have fallen in price by enough to enter the mass market, but they should still be viewed in coexistence with traditional hard disk drives (HDDs) rather than as direct alternatives.

That is the view of Kingston Technology, one of the leading SSD and memory card manufacturers, which believes conventional spindle hard drives will remain dominant for some time to come, PCR reports.

Speaking to the PC and IT specialist, the company's European marketing manager Steve Hall said that the two technologies could and often should co-exist.

Although SSDs are capable of much faster data transfer rates, HDDs still offer superior capacities and much cheaper price points.

"Take a standard desktop for instance; it makes a lot of sense to store the OS and application executables on a super fast SSD, while everyday data files are stored on a traditional HDD," said Mr Hall.

"With this set up, users will see a significant speed increase for system start up, application responsiveness and stand-by recovery."

Kingston's M Series SSD Drives are available in capacities of 1GB up to 32GB, providing read and write speeds of 250MBps and 70MBps respectively. ADNFCR-2752-ID-458082491-ADNFCR

OCZ launches its fastest consumer SSD30 June 2010 15:18:16

OCZ has announced the launch of its fastest ever solid state drive (SSD), which uses a PCI Express (PCIe) interface to offer quicker read and write speeds than SATA II architecture allows.

The RevoDrive PCIe SSD aims to push the boundary of affordable hard disk technology and is capable of delivering speeds in excess of 500MBps, nearly twice the speed of some of its competitors.

It also features a proprietary RAID 0 design that allows for improved data access and even faster overall performance.

Initially, the SSD will be available in 120GB and 240GB capacities.

Ryan Petersen, chief executive of the OCZ Technology Group, said: "The RevoDrive is the first PCIe SSD that delivers both performance and affordability and radically alters the SSD landscape.

"Up to this point, PCIe SSDs have been reserved for enterprise applications and priced out of the range of many consumer; the bootable RevoDrive SSD changes the game."

As well as solid state disks, Canadian manufacturer OCZ also specialises in the production of high speed memory modules. ADNFCR-2752-ID-458082489-ADNFCR