This article bundles several recent news items: Addonics has introduced its hardware-encrypted Cipher Raid towers; WD released its Photo Viewer app for Android; lastly, G-Technology by Hitachi has introduced its G-DRIVE slim external drive, which is the world’s thinnest.
Addonics Intros Cipher Raid Tower
Addonics Technologies has introduced a family of Cipher Raid Towers, a security solution designed to provide multiple levels of protection. It features full disk AES 256-bit hardware encryption using the FIPS certified crypto engine. Other than inserting the encryption keys during initial start-up, the Cipher RAID tower performs the same as other RAID systems.
The tower is designed for easy hard drive installation/removal. Models support two, four, five, or 15 drives and RAID 0, 10, or 5. The Cipher RAID tower is OS-independent and can be used with any computing platform.
Models support either Drive Level Encryption (DLE) or RAID Volume Encryption (RVE). DLE uses one crypto engine per drive and ensures maximum performance but at a higher cost; RVE uses one crypto engine for all drives at reduced performance but decreased cost.
A full features list is as follows:
- Secure data in RAID storage applications – external RAID storage, Video storage, Server storage
- Full disk hardware encryption using AES 256-bit key strength
- FIPS and NIST certified
- Complete turn key solution – just add your own choice of hard drives and configure the RAID setting
- Choice of models that support from 2 – 10 hard drives
- Choice of Drive Level Encryption or RAID Volume Encryption
- High performance – up to 200 MB/sec for 5 drives configured in RAID 5 using Drive Level Encryption
- No software to install
- No training required. Operation is totally transparent to the users
- OS independent
- Ball bearing high CFM low noise cooling fans
- LED indicators for each storage device, RAID status, host connection and power
The Addonics Cipher RAID Towers are available starting at $299 for a two-drive model.
Western Digital Intros Android Photo App
Western Digital has released its WD Photos photo viewer app for Android smartphones. The app allows users to view all the photos they have stored on the WD home network drive (My Book Live, My Book World Edition, WD ShareSpace models) anywhere they have Internet.
The WD Photos app has the following features:
- Photos are automatically resized for perfect viewing on Android devices, leaving originals on the network drives in full resolution;
- Smart filtering to find the photos you want — view photos by album, folder or all images and search by date, folder name or file name;
- Access previously viewed photos offline;
- Share photos via email, Facebook, Twitter, Picasa™ and other methods;
- Assign a photo to a contact;
- Add a photo to the gallery; and,
- View photos in a slideshow.
The WD Photos photo viewer app is compatible with Android 2.1 or later and is a free download from
Android Market
WD Photo App Page
Hitachi G-Technology Intros New USB Portable Hard Drives
G-Technology by Hitachi has introduced its G-DRIVE slim model for Apple MacBook/Pro/Air computers. It houses Hitachi’s new 7mm Travelstar Z5K320 drive, which allows the G-DRIVE slim to be the thinnest external hard drive in the world.
The 5 oz. G-DRIVE slim has 320GB of storage and measures just 128.6mm (L) x 82mm (W) x 9.9mm (H) in an aluminum enclosure. It has operating shock protection and quiet acoustics.
The G-DRIVE slim is backed by a three-year warrant and is available now at Apple stores for MSRP $99.99.
