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Careful which model of OCZ Octane you pick up
Subject: Storage | December 6, 2011 - 02:47 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: Octane, ssd, sata 6Gps, ocz, Octane 512GB, Indilinx Everest
If you are looking at OCZ SSDs and are considering the Octane line, please bear in mind that the S2 model which is selling for less than the non-S2 model is a SATA 3Gbp/s drive not a new 6Gb/s capable drive. The testing done at The Tech Report was on the 6Gbp/s model and they compared this Indilinx Everest powered SSD against a variety of competing SSDs. The drive comes with a 3 year warranty and comes in 128GB, 256GB, the 512GB model The Tech Report reviewed as well as a 1TB model which will cost a pretty penny. If you do choose a smaller drive, remember that the reduced channel count will make the drive perform more slowly than the larger models.
"OCZ bought SSD controller maker Indilinx earlier this year, and the first product of that acquisition is now out. Join us for a look at the Octane SSD and its new Everest controller."
Here are some more Storage reviews from around the web:
- OCZ RevoDrive 3 X2 240 GB Review @ OCC
- Patriot Pyro SE 120GB @ Tweaktown
- Intel SSD 520 Series 'Sandforce Driven' SSD Close To Release @ The SSD Review
- Crucial m4 256GB SATA 6Gbit/s SSD Review @ Techgage
- OCZ RevoDrive 3 PCI-Express SSD Review @ OCIA
- Kingston HyperX 240GB Solid State Drive Review @ ThinkComputers
- Samsung 830 Series 512GB SSD @ kitguru
- NVELO Dataplex SSD Cache Tested With 7 mSATA SSDS @ The SSD Review
- Seagate 750GB Momentus XT Solid State Hybrid Drive Review @ PCSTATS
- Seagate Momentus XT 750GB Gen 2 (ST750LX003) @ Bjorn3D
- Silverstone Treasure TS04 2.5" USB 3.0 Drive @ circuitREMIX
- SilverStone Raven RVS02 External USB 3.0 HDD / SSD Enclosure Review @ Legit Reviews
- Synology DiskStation DS212j and DS212+ @ Legion Hardware
- QNAP TS-419P II NAS Network Storage Server @ Benchmark Reviews
- Synology DiskStation DS212j NAS Server Review @ Real World Labs
- Increase RAID Rebuild / rsync Performance for QNAP NAS @ Computing on Demand
- IOCELL NetDISK 351UNE Network Storage Device @ Benchmark Reviews
- Silicon Power Diamond D05 750GB USB 3.0 @ techPowerUp
Third time is the charm? Seagate releases the third generation of their hybrid drive
Subject: Storage | November 29, 2011 - 06:19 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: hybrid, momentus XT, hdd, ssd, Seagate, sata 6Gbs
Over the past few years Seagate has been trying to perfect a way to get the best of both storage worlds by combining an SSD as a semi-permanent cache for a large platter based hard drive. The new Seagate Momentus XT is the third generation of this series, a 750GB HDD with a 8GB SLC SSD available to cache frequently used files and are calling it FAST (Flash-Assisted Storage Technology). Legit Reviews investigated their performance claims, after repeatedly using the drive to fill the cache as this drive will perform exactly like the platter based drive it is until that cache has moved frequently accessed or slow to load files into the flash memory. It did seem to reduce boot times and program loading to almost SSD levels, though it does not effect infrequently used programs. It was significantly less expensive than an SSD so if you tend to do similar tasks on your PC every day and need the large storage space this drive might just be for you.
"Overall, we'd certainly recommend the Momentus XT and frankly wouldn't go back to a plain old hard drive unless we were forced to. The expediency of boot and application load times are something that, once you get used to it, you can't seem to live without. Keep in mind that it may take two or three times for the Adaptive Memory Technology to decide that it should be cached and speed things up. On the down side, every operation is not SSD fast, especially if you're performing it for the first time..."
Here are some more Storage reviews from around the web:
- Seagate's Momentus XT 750GB hybrid hard drive @ The Tech Report
- Seagate Momentus XT ST750LX003 Hybrid 750GB Review @ OCC
- Seagate Momentus XT 750GB Hybrid Hard Drive Review @ Hardware Canucks
- Seagate Momentus XT Solid State Hybrid @ Benchmark Reviews
- Seagate Momentus 7200.5 750GB Hard Drive Review @ Legit Reviews
- Western Digital Scorpio Blue 1TB 5400RPM @ Tweaktown
- QNAP TS-879U-RP High Performance SMB NAS @ CoD
- Thecus N8900 8-Bay Rackmount NAS @ Tweaktown
- Synology DiskStation DS712+ NAS Review @ TechwareLabs
- QNAP TurboNAS TS-219P II NAS Server Review @ Real World Labs
- Corsair Performance Pro 256GB SSD Review @ HardwareHeaven
- OCZ Vertex 3 Max IOPS 120GB Review @ HCW
- Silicon Power Diamon D05 USB 3.0 External Drive @ Bjorn3D
- Patriot Pyro SE 6Gbps 240GB SSD Review @ The SSD Review
- Kingston HyperX 3.0 128GB 8-Channel USB Flash Drive Review @ Real World Labs
OCZ Technology Launches Talos 2 Enterprise SAS 6G Solid State Drive
Subject: Storage | November 29, 2011 - 11:52 AM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: ocz, talos 2, enterprise, ssd, sata 6Gbs
SAN JOSE, CA – November 29, 2011 - OCZ Technology Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:OCZ), a leading provider of high-performance solid-state drives (SSDs) for computing devices and systems, announces the Talos 2 Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) SSD Series, the follow-up to the high performance, high capacity Talos Series previously available only in a 3.5 inch form factor.
With capacities up to 1TB now available in a compact 2.5-inch form factor, Talos 2 offers increased I/O performance and scalability in enterprise storage environments. Talos 2 leverages OCZ Virtualized Controller Architecture 2.0 technology which implements an intelligent complex command queuing structure with unique queue balancing algorithms to provide exceptional performance. Talos 2 SSDs deliver superior random transactional performance at up to 70,000 4K IOPS and features improved mixed workload (75% read; 25% write) performance with up to 42,000 8K IOPS.
You can bet these SSDs will not be the least expensive per gigabyte on the market
Unlike many SAS SSDs, the Talos Series is dual-ported to offer superior data integrity and increased performance, along with delivering a robust enterprise feature-set including DataWrite Assurance Protection in case of sudden power loss. Talos 2 also includes the option to enable T10-DIF (Data Integrity Field), allowing for the insertion of 8 bytes of additional data during transfers to ensure complete data integrity.
"The Talos 2 SAS solid state drives expand on the original series by offering enterprise customers superior performance, reliability, and density all in a compact footprint," said Ryan Petersen, CEO of OCZ technology Group. "The Talos 2 enterprise SSDs are optimized for the most demanding storage systems and provide clients with an easy to deploy solution that vastly improves application performance over traditional SAS based HDDs."
To address the complete spectrum of applications, Talos 2 SSDs are available in 100GB to 1TB capacities, in MLC, eMLC, and SLC NAND configurations. OCZ is now sampling Talos 2 to strategic customers and the drives will be made available to SMB and enterprise clients through OCZ's global business-to-business channel.
OCZ's new Indilinx powered Octane SSD
Subject: Storage | November 24, 2011 - 05:57 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: ssd, sata 6Gbs, sata, ocz, Octane, Indilinx, everest
OCZ's new Octane SATA 3 SSDs will be available in sizes up to 1TB, though you can expect to pay a pretty penny for it; not that a 1TB HDD is inexpensive right now. It uses a pair of new Indilinx controllers and sports 512MB of SYNC DDR3 SDRAM to help those controllers work to peak effectiveness. It uses OCZ's proprietary NDurance technology to add to the longevity of the drive, a topic near and dear to the SSD enthusiasts heart even if we have yet to see significant failure rates; though certainly the decrease in performance early SSDs showed is both a concern and very much real. SSD Review had no qualms handing it a Top Value award at the end of their review.
You can also catch Al's review of this same drive at the top of our page.
"Our review today will be a long awaited look at the OCZ Octane 6Gbps 512GB SSD. Eight months ago, OCZ bought Indilinx with full intention of spreading their wings in the development of their own proprietary controller based on the Indlinx Everest design. OCZ has spoken of higher incompressible data performance, quicker disk access as well as better sustained write performance in a consumer driven SSD that will be immediately available in capacities up to 1TB."
Here are some more Storage reviews from around the web:
- OCZ Octane 512GB SATA III SSD Launch Review @ HardwareHeaven
- OCZ Technology Octane 512GB @ Tweaktown
- Patriot Pyro SE 120GB Solid State Drive Review @ eTeknix
- OCZ Synapse Cache SSD 64GB Review @ Real World Labs
- Samsung 470 Series 256 GB SSD @ Kitguru
- Corsair Performance pro SATA 3 256GB SSD Review @ The SSD Review
- ADATA S511 240GB @ Legion Hardware
- Patriot Pyro SE 240GB & Wildfire 240GB @ kitguru
- ADATA 16GB S102 USB 3.0 @ Funkykit
- Kingston DataTraveler HyperX 3.0 64 GB @ Kitguru
- LaCie 5Big Network 2 Professional 5-bay RAID Server @ TechwareLabs
- QNAP TS-219 PII @ Bjorn3D
- Samsung MB-MS8GA 8GB microSDHC Card Review @ Tech-Reviews
- Understanding Wireless Storage: Kingston Wi-Drive and Seagate GoFlex Satellite @ AnandTech
OCZ Octane 512GB SSD Sneak Peek - Indilinx Has Returned
Subject: Storage | November 22, 2011 - 01:00 PM | Allyn Malventano
Tagged: ssd, ocz, Octane
A few months back, OCZ acquired Indilinx. Ever since, we've been wondering if the next generation Indilinx offering could stand up to the competition, who has made leaps and bounds since the first generation SSD controllers were released.
It appears that wait is over, well mostly at least. While OCZ's new Octane series does not officially launch until tomorrow, we've been authorized to give our readers a sneak peek:
From our peek inside we were able to derive that OCZ is using IMFT Synchronous flash memory - the same present in OCZ's Vertex line. There's also a lot of it - our sample is the first 512GB 2.5" SSD being tested in our labs.
...and for those curious on performance, I've also been allowed to sneak a bench out to you. If you're only able to speak about an SSD with a single benchmark, ATTO is probably the way to go:
Pushing 350 MB/sec writes and 540 MB/sec reads, with very good IOPS performance at 4K (roughly 45k write IOPS).
This new offering from Indilinx/OCZ is looking very good so far. More to follow once the OCZ Octane officially launches tomorrow!
Note: It appears OCZ's Octane product page is live. Hit the link below to check it out.
Silicon Power hits the SSD market
Subject: Storage | November 21, 2011 - 01:03 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: silicon power, Velox Series V30, ssd, Sandforce SF2281, sata 6Gps
Silicon Power have extended their lineup in a logical manner, with their familiarity with flash based storage it makes sense for them to move into SSDs. They've chosen proven parts, the SandForce SF2281 is a familiar SATA 6Gb/s controller as are the Intel branded flash chips that make up the 60GB of storage. As you would expect, similar components produce similar results, but since each manufacturer introduces some differences as do the parts inside the benchmarks for each SSD are slightly different but price remains the factor which most heavily impacts choice. If you are shopping for an SSD you should check Think Computers review of a drive from a brand you may not have previously considered.
"Silicon Power is not a name you really think about when you think about solid state drives. If you did not know Silicon Power was founded in 2003 and they mainly specialize in memory products. Today we are going to take a look at one of their first SATA 6GB/s drives the Velox Series V30. This drive is powered by the SandForce SF-2281 controller and boast speeds of 550MB/s read and 500MB/s write. Let's check it out!"
Here are some more Storage reviews from around the web:
- Intel 320 Series 300 GB SSD @ kitguru
- Revisiting the Legend: OCZ Vertex LE 240GB Solid State Drive @ Tweaktown
- Kingston HyperX 240 GB SSD Review @ Hardware Secrets
- OCZ Synapse 60 GB Caching SSD @ techPowerUp
- FreeBSD 9.0 On Intel Sandy Bridge @ Phoronix
- 1 TB Hard Disk Drives Roundup @ X-bit Labs
- Seagate Barracuda XT 3TB (ST3000DM001) @ Bjorn3D
- G-Technology G-DRIVE Mini 750GB HDD Review @ Legit Reviews
- RaidSonic Icy Box IB-RD3219STu3 USB 3.0 RAID Enclosure Review @ Real World Labs
- OCZ Synapse Cache @ Guru3D
- RAIDAGE GAGE104U40SL-SAUF @ Computing on Demand
- Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex Ultra-portable 750GB Hard Drive Review @ circuitREMIX
- Mushkin Ventura Pro 32 GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive Review @ OCC
- ADATA Superior SH14 500 GB USB 3.0 @ techPowerUp
- Roundup: USB 3.0 External Drives with 750 GB Storage Capacity @ X-bit Labs
- 1 TB Hard Disk Drives Roundup @ X-bit Labs
- Adata 32Gb N005 Pro Flash Drive @ Funky Kit
Seagate says hard drive industry will take a year to recover
Subject: Storage | November 19, 2011 - 04:25 PM | Ryan Shrout
Tagged: thailand, Seagate, Hard Drive, flooding
Last month we noticed that hard drive prices were spiking very high and we took a quick look at exactly why this was: most notably, the devastating flooding in Thailand. While at one point you could buy 2TB hard drives for under the $100 mark when on special, those days seem long gone. Our original story quoted the CEO of Western Digital as saying it could take "multiple quarters" for recovery to occur.
Pricing graph from Pricegrabber.com for Western Digital Caviar Black 2TB
According to this quote seen on Bloomberg, Seagate's CEO, Stephen Luczo, says it might be much worse:
The projections by some Wall Street analysts that production will be back to pre-flood levels by summer are nonsense, Luczo says.
"This is going to take a lot longer than people are assuming, until the end of 2012 at least," he says. "And by then, demand will have gone up."
Well....crap. Users looking to build new systems or even buy them from third parties will likely see increases in costs because of this. And while not every need can really be addressed by SSDs (I type while looking for room on a system using one to install Skyrim...), the hard drive price increases could drive quicker adoption of solid state media in the near term.
In the interim, if you happen to find a good deal on spindle based hard drives, you might want to gobble them up! Newegg has 2TB hard drives starting at $199 while Amazon has some starting at $174.
Podcast #179 - Sandy Bridge-E Review, X79 Motherboards, a new NAS device from Western Digital, Aquarium PCs and more!
Subject: Editorial | November 17, 2011 - 04:17 PM | Ken Addison
Tagged: x79, western digital, storage, sandy bridge-e, podcast, nvidia, NAS, Intel, amd
PC Perspective Podcast #179 - 11/17/2011
Join us this week as we talk about our Sandy Bridge-E Review, X79 Motherboards, a new NAS device from Western Digital, Aquarium PCs and more!
You can subscribe to us through iTunes and you can still
The URL for the podcast is: http://pcper.com/podcast - Share with your friends!
- iTunes - Subscribe to the podcast directly through the iTunes Store
- RSS - Subscribe through your regular
- MP3 - Direct download link to the MP3 file
Hosts: Ryan Shrout, Josh Walrath, Jeremy Hellstrom, and Allyn Malvantano
Program Schedule:
- 0:00:24 Introduction
- 1-888-38-PCPER or email@example.com
- http://pcper.com/podcast
- http://twitter.com/ryanshrout and http://twitter.com/pcper
- 0:02:00 Intel Sandy Bridge-E Review - Core i7-3960X and X79 Chipset Tested
- 0:27:45 X79 Motherboard Roundup Video Preview
- 0:28:53 Alienware M17x (R3) Gaming Notebook Review: It Glows!
- 0:30:25 Thermaltake Toughpower Grand 1200W Power Supply Review
- 0:31:20 NVIDIA Reports Q3 2012 Results
- 0:39:15 Western Digital launches Sentinel Series of NAS devices, bringing enterprise features to the small business.
- 0:46:20 The mineral oil in this Aquarium will be hard on the fish but not your components
- 0:53:45 Antec Announces P280 Enclosure
- 0:54:50 Win a Free Copy of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim from PC Perspective
- You missed it, but Jared H. didn't!
- 0:56:15 Bulldozers at Knights Corner; duelling server chips
- 0:59:45 More Free Stuff Friday: XFX Radeon HD 6870 and Deus Ex: Human Revolution
- 1:00:12 The Intel 32 in 32 Challenge on Facebook
- 1:01:22 Free Stuff Wednesday: Gigabyte G1 Assassin X58 Motherboard Giveaway!!
- 1:02:15 Hardware / Software Pick of the Week
- Ryan: Random.org - finally get an answer to "where should we eat tonight?"
- Jeremy: Buckets are teh win but to be more useful Disconnect for Chrome is a nice choice
- Josh: Fast 120GB SSD for $140
- Allyn: Ironkey - now available in MLC
- 1-888-38-PCPER or firstname.lastname@example.com
- http://pcper.com/podcast
- http://twitter.com/ryanshrout and http://twitter.com/pcper
- Closing
Kingston Digital Launches its Fastest USB Flash Drive
Subject: Storage | November 17, 2011 - 12:40 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: usb 2.0, usb 3.0, kingston, hyperx, flash
Fountain Valley, CA -- November 17, 2011 -- Kingston Digital, Inc., the Flash memory affiliate of Kingston Technology Company, Inc., the independent world leader in memory products, today announced the Kingston DataTraveler HyperX 3.0. The DataTraveler HyperX 3.0 is designed for enthusiasts and gamers, and features the fastest speeds and largest capacities that Kingston has to offer in a USB Flash drive.
Its high-speed eight-channel architecture provides USB 3.0 data transfer rates of up to 225MB/s read and 135MB/s write. Users can save time associated with opening, editing and copying large files and applications between devices. The fast write speeds also allow users to work on large files or applications directly from the USB 3.0 drive without performance lag.
"Enthusiasts have long known HyperX as the memory of choice for overclockers and power users who need the most performance from system memory," said Andrew Ewing, Flash memory business manager, Kingston. "The new DataTraveler HyperX 3.0 USB Flash drive continues this tradition. With the fastest speeds and largest capacity, this storage device is the perfect solution for users who require high performance and carry a lot of data."
The DataTraveler HyperX 3.0 is available in 64GB, 128GB and 256GB capacities. The 256GB capacity can store approximately 10 Blu-ray Discs (25GB each), 54 DVDs (4.7GB each), 48,640 MP3s (4MB each) or 13,473,684 Microsoft Word files pages with various formatting and basic graphics.
With a durable and sleek design, the Kingston DataTraveler HyperX 3.0 is a terrific portable storage solution for gamers, enthusiasts, early adopters and high-end consumers who require the best performance and highest capacities to carry their digital library. Faster speeds and higher capacities enable users to quickly store their digital files and keep it with them at all times, in HyperX style.
DataTraveler HyperX 3.0 features a metal and rubberized casing with a reinforced key ring hole for daily use. It allows users to keep it with them at all times, as it can be easily attached to a key ring or lanyard.
A video of the device can be found here.
DataTraveler HyperX 3.0 is backed by a five-year warranty, 24/7 tech support and legendary Kingston reliability. For more information visit www.kingston.com.
Kingston DataTraveler HyperX 3.0 Features and Specifications:
- Capacities: 64GB, 128GB, 256GB
- Speed:
- USB 3.0: up to 225MB/s read and 135MB/s write
- USB 2.0: up to 30 MB/s read/write
- 8-Channel Architecture Backwards Compatible: with USB 2.0 and USB 1.1 ports
- Solid/rugged design: durable metal and rubberized casing provides increased protection
- ReadyBoost Support
- Dimensions: 2.952" x 0.916" x 0.626" (74.99mm x 23.29mm x 15.9mm)
- Operating Temperature: 32°F to 140°F (0°C to 60°C)
- Storage Temperature: -4°F to 185°F (-20°C to 85°C)
- Simple: just plug into any USB port
- Practical: durable casing with a solid lanyard loop
- Warranty: 5 Years
Western Digital launches Sentinel Series of NAS devices, bringing enterprise features to the small business.
Subject: Storage | November 15, 2011 - 08:08 AM | Allyn Malventano
Tagged: western digital, wdc, WD, NAS, home, hdd
Today Western Digital launches their Sentinel line of NAS devices. These Intel Atom powered devices can store up to 12TB when equipped with 3TB drives. The OS of choice is Windows Storage Server 2008 R2 Essentials, which supports RAID levels 1 and 5, as well as built in backup routines and the ability to configure the devices dual Gigabit ports with Adaptive Fault Tolerance (redundancy).
Also available are some interesting yet agressive service options via Western Digital's Guardian Services, which include options for next-day warranty replacement of defective or failed parts, as well as the option to extend the warranty period from three to five years.
Pricing starts at $949.99 for 4TB (3 bay) and $1449.99 for 8TB (4 bay).
Following is the press release, and even more detail and pics should be available from WD themselves once their product link page goes live.
WD Sentinel™ DX4000 Small Office Storage Server Combines Centralized Storage, Backup-and-Restore Protection for 25 Network Devices and Allows SMBs to Connect, Protect, and Collaborate
IRVINE, Calif. – Nov. 15, 2011 – Western Digital® (NYSE: WDC), the world's leader in digital storage solutions, is introducing WD Sentinel™ DX4000 (photo), a complete network storage solution designed specifically to meet the demands of today's small-to-medium sized businesses (SMBs). WD Sentinel DX4000 includes the Windows® Storage Server 2008 R2 Essentials operating system software and the Intel® D525 Dual Core Atom CPU. The WD Sentinel DX4000 is centralized shared storage and automatic server-based backup and restore for up to 25 devices (PC and Mac®) in the network. It offers complete data protection with built-in hardware and software redundancy for all of the connected devices in the network. With capacities including 4 TB and 8 TB, WD Sentinel DX4000 lets small business owners expand small office server storage capacity as their business and storage demands grow. In addition, the WD Sentinel DX4000 small office storage server acts as the "on-premise cloud storage" for the SMB.
"The WD Sentinel small office storage server is the ideal storage, backup, and secure remote access solution for any SMB," said Thomas Gallivan, vice president of marketing for WD's SMB Solutions Group.
WD® Introduces New Line of Network Storage Servers for Small to Medium Businesses
"The ability to have centralized storage that is both on-premise and offers secure remote access provides a small business owner and employees the flexibility needed for today's mobile lifestyle. WD is providing small business owners with a hands-free solution that offers complete data protection and unparalleled peace-of-mind."
"The requirement for collaboration across multiple devices and locations necessitates the need for a centralized storage solution in today's SMB environment", said David Tuhy, General Manager, Intel Data Center and Connected Systems Group. "Intel is working closely with the industry and companies like Western Digital to provide the technology that is at the core of these storage solutions and provide SMBs a platform to manage, organize and secure their data to ensure business continuity."
"Built on Windows Storage Server, WD Sentinel gives small business customers the storage and file services capabilities of Windows Server, as well as a solution aimed specifically at the SMB segment," said Thomas Pfenning, general manager, Storage, at Microsoft. "We are pleased to see WD Sentinel serve our mutual customers."
Whether they're personal or professional, digital content and important files are invaluable and often irreplaceable if lost or compromised. WD Sentinel small office storage server provides several ways for businesses to protect their information without user intervention. WD Sentinel comes preconfigured with enterprise-class drives, RAID storage protection, built-in server based backup and recovery software, redundant networking ports and a redundant power option. In addition, WD Sentinel offers users the ability to connect to a "public cloud" storage provider, which offers small businesses an economical and integrated disaster recovery solution against earthquake, theft and fire or water damage.
Software included with WD Sentinel provides business owners and their employees the freedom and flexibility to remotely access files and share files with external employees, independent consultants and satellite offices anywhere in the world.
Five Levels of Data Protection
WD Sentinel DX4000 provides five levels of data protection for every device on the small office network and is supported by WD Guardian Services.
WD® Introduces New Line of Network Storage Servers for Small to Medium Businesses
1. The Drives Inside: Pre-configured with WD's award-winning enterprise-class drives for durability and reliability.
2. RAID: Featuring levels 1 and 5 for data protection and speed.
3. Daily Backup: Automatic backup and recovery software provides daily full system back ups for up to 25 devices on your network. Simply set it and forget it.
4. Redundant Network Connectivity: Dual Gigabit Ethernet configured in Adaptive Fault Tolerance (AFT) automatically switches to second network port in the event of a network failure.
5. Optional Disaster Recovery Protection: Connect to the small business cloud provided by optional disaster recovery software and store your data offsite for disaster recovery.
WD Sentinel is certified to be compatible with a variety of Operating Systems (OS) including Windows XP, Windows Vista®, and Windows 7. In addition, WD Sentinel is compatible with Mac OS X® Leopard® and Snow Leopard® for file sharing among Windows, Mac and Unix/Linux operating systems and allows businesses to share files with clients, consultants, and inter-office personnel regardless of the OS used.
WD Guardian™Services for Small Business
WD Sentinel DX4000 is backed by WD's world-class customer service and support. All WD Sentinel small business customers will receive free tech support for 30 days from the time of the first call. WD Sentinel customers may wish to upgrade their service plan to one of three options:
1. WD Guardian Express: Offers next-day parts replacement service including shipping and handling costs.
2. WD Guardian Pro: Offers a one year support agreement with WD service, express parts replacement and priority access to technical support.
3. Guardian Extended Care: Service that extends the product warranty from the standard three year warranty to five years.
The OCZ RevoDrive Hybrid, a PCIe SSD with a HDD piggybacking a ride
Subject: Storage | November 10, 2011 - 01:18 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: revodrive hybrid, PCIe SSD, ocz
If you have $500 and a free PCI-E x4 2.0 slot then OCZ has a rather unique product you could try out. This new RevoDrive Hybrid is a 100GB PCIe SSD card with a low power 2.5" Toshiba 1TB HDD spinning at 5400RPM. You could think of it as similar to an Agility 3 120GB, though in this case it is acting as a very large cache for a HDD using OCZ's proprietary Virtualized Controller Architecture 2.0. Performance-wise this odd looking beast surprised Hardware Canucks, beating the hybrid drive from Seagate as well as the Intel SRT that they tested against, but they caution prospective buyers about some sacrifices that had to be made by OCZ. These drives are not quite plug and play, they require software to be installed in order to function properly and it turns out that the software is quite CPU intensive. Read through the article and see if the sacrifices are worth the gains for your system.
"Searches for affordable high capacity SSDs usually come up blank so several manufacturers have begun releasing hybrid solutions which combine the performance of an SSD with the storage space of the hard drive. OCZ's RevoDrive Hybrid is the latest to take on this challenge by combining a 100GB SSD with a 2.5" 1TB HDD. This isn't exactly a match made in heaven but the benefits are tangible."
Here are some more Storage reviews from around the web:
- SanDisk Ultra 120GB SF-1200 @ Tweaktown
- Crucial RealSSD M4 128GB Solid State Drive Review @ eTeknix
- Crucial 256GB m4 2.5" SSD with Data Transfer Kit Review @ Madshrimps
- OWC Mercury Aura Pro Express 6G Review: A Fast MacBook Air SSD Upgrade @ AnandTech
- AData S510 SATA 3 120GB SSD Review @ The SSD Review
- Patriot Wildfire 120GB Solid State Drive Review @ eTeknix
- Silicon Power Velox V20 120GB SATA II SSD Review @ The SSD Review
- Super Talent Upstream PCIe 200GB SSD Exclusive First Look @ The SSD Review
- OCZ Synapse Cache 64GB SATA 3 SSD Review @ The SSD Review
- Areca ARC-1882x RAID Card Review: Lightning Strikes at 4.7GB/s @ SSD Review
- Seagate New Barracuda XT 3TB Review @ OCC
- LaCie Little Big Disk (240GB SSD) @ AnandTech
- Thermaltake BlacX Duet 5G USB 3.0 Docking Station Review @ Real World Labs
- QNAP TS-119P II and TS-219P II @ Legion Hardware
- Netgear's Marvell Based ReadyNAS NV+ v2 @ AnandTech
- ynology DiskStation DS212j NAS Review @ HardwareHeaven
- Synology DS212j NAS Review – the new budget class leader @ kitguru
- Plextor PX-PH500U3 USB 3.0 Portable Hard Disk Drive Review @ Madshrimps
- Kingston USB 3.0 Media Reader @ HardwareBistro
- Hitachi G-DRIVE Mini & Touro Mobile Pro 750 GB Review @ OCC
- Freecom Mobile Drive USB 3.0 XXS Leather Review @ eTeknix
Good news storage fans, the motors are revving up again
Subject: General Tech, Storage | November 8, 2011 - 10:54 AM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: thailand, nidec, hdd
While Western Digital is still nowhere near the point where they can think about cleaning up their factory and getting started on the road to recovery there is good news for other HDD manufacturers from Thailand. Nidec, a company which provides about 75% of the global supply of motors for HDDs, also has quite a bit of their manufacturing capacity in Thailand, in the neighbourhood of 62% according to DigiTimes. Two of their Thailand based plants are back in business and they are redistributing quite a bit of workload to their Philippines manufacturing plants, in the hopes of increasing the supply of these critical motors.
Seagate, Fujitsu and other major HDD manufacturers desperately need these parts in order to help meet the demand from the market before we can even think to see prices begin to return to previous levels. This is not going to be a quick return since Western Digital and its subsidiaries accounted for about 50% of the HDD market and they have much more work to do in order to repair their factories than Nidec.
"Nidec currently has 10 production bases in Thailand with eight of them have been damaged by the floods. As water started to recede, Nidec announced its Rangsit plants, which stopped operation on October 13, already resumed production on October 25, while Ayutthaya plants also started operating normally on November 4.
Nidec's two plants in Philippine will also see their monthly capacity rise from 15 million units originally to 25 million units with capacity in China plants also increase from 10 million units to 15 million units. However, the total capacity in the fourth quarter will still drop close to 30% from 140 million units in the third."
Here is some more Tech News from around the web:
- Asustek delays Transformer Prime to December @ DigiTimes
- Boffins spy on iPhone screens from 200ft away @ The Register
- Interview with Jon Waring of Buffalo Technology @ HardwareHeaven
- VirtualBox 4.1 OpenGL 3D Guest Performance @ Phoronix
OCZ Technology Introduces the RevoDrive 3 Max IOPS Edition
Subject: Storage | November 7, 2011 - 02:19 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: ocz, RevoDrive 3, Max IOPS, X2 Max IOPS, PCIe SSD
SAN JOSE, CA - Nov. 7, 2011 - OCZ Technology Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:OCZ), a leading provider of high-performance solid-state drives (SSDs) for computing devices and systems, today launched the RevoDrive 3 Max IOPS and RevoDrive 3 X2 Max IOPS solid state drives. Designed to deliver maximum throughput in multithreaded applications, the new Max IOPS edition is an extension of the company's industry-leading RevoDrive 3 product line, supporting workstation users that require greater transactional throughput and bandwidth.
The RevoDrive 3 X2 Max IOPS series combines a proven cutting-edge PCI Express architecture and OCZ proprietary Virtualized Controller Architecture™ (VCA) 2.0 flash virtualization layer with premium NAND flash components to deliver exceptional 4KB random write performance of up to 245,000 IOPS, along with increased transfer rates at 1900MB/s reads and 1725MBs/ writes.
"The new RevoDrive 3 Max IOPS solid state drives further expand on our original PCIe series, and are designed to deliver even more bandwidth for the most demanding applications," said Daryl Lang, VP of Product Management, OCZ Technology Group. "Engineered to leverage the benefits of multi-threaded processors and applications, the Max IOPS provides both the performance and features required by clients to address the most intensive workloads common in high performance computing and workstation environments."
The RevoDrive 3 Max IOPS edition will be available in 120GB to 480GB capacities while the RevoDrive 3 X2 Max IOPS edition will be available in 240GB to 960GB capacities, providing ample space for primary persistent storage, multimedia files, and operating systems with the superior durability, energy efficiency, and reliability of SSDs. The new RevoDrive 3 Max IOPS and RevoDrive 3 X2 Max IOPS will be available throughout OCZ's global distribution channel and come with a three warranty.
OCZ's new Sandforce SF2281 firmware update tested
Subject: Storage | November 4, 2011 - 02:36 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: ocz, firmware, Sandforce SF2281
The Tech Report has been investigating the OCZ 2.15 firmware update for their Sandforce SF2281 based SSDs. The firmware was released to fix several specific issues that users were encountering which caused BSODs or stuttering during normal usage. The testing was a little odd for The Tech Report, they certainly didn't see any BSODs after flashing to the new firmware, however they never saw any BSODs on their drives previously. A little investigation showed them a significant decrease in the number of people complaining about BSODs on forums which leads them to believe the firmware update is effective at what it does. Even better, the firmware has no real negative effect on the drives performance.
"SandForce SSDs have been dogged by reports of BSODs and other issues, but new firmware promises relief. We take a quick look at OCZ's recent 2.15 firmware update to see how it affects SSD performance and the BSOD bug."
Here are some more Storage reviews from around the web:
- Solid State Drive Roundup 2011 @ Real World Labs
- OCZ Vertex 3 240GB SSD @ XSReviews
- MemoRight FTM Plus 240GB Solid State Drive @ Tweaktown
- OCZ RevoDrive Hybrid PCI-E SSD Tests @ Benchmark Reviews
- A Complete SSD Upgrade Kit for MacBook Pro @ Bjorn3D
- Seagate Barracuda 3TB Review; A 1TB / Platter Monster is Unleashed @ Hardware Canucks
- Seagate Barracuda 3TB Hard Drive ST3000DM001 @ Benchmark Reviews
- OCZ RevoDrive Hybrid 100GB (PCIe SSD + 1TB HDD) @ techspot
- OCZ Technology RevoDrive Hybrid @ Tweaktown
- Seagate's New Barracuda 3TB @ AnandTech
- Vantec SuperSpeed USB 3.0 PCI-e Host Card Review @ circuitREMIX
- Hard Disk Drive Myths Debunked! @ TechARP
- ADATA Nobility N005 Pro 64 GB (USB 3.0 Flash Drive) @ Kitguru
- LaCie Little Big Disk (2TB) Review: More Affordable Thunderbolt Storage @ AnandTech
- Raidon GR5630-WSB3 4-Bay Desktop Storage System Review @ OCC
- 1TB 3.5" USB 3.0 External Hard Drives from Iomega and Seagate Review @ circuitREMIX
- SilverStone SST-TS07B External USB 3.0 HDD Enclosure Review @ Legit Reviews
Check out LSI's Raid cards before the purchase of SandForce
Subject: Storage | October 31, 2011 - 02:55 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: LSI, 9265-8i MegaRAID, Adaptec 6805, RAID Card, 6gbps
Many readers may have had their first introduction to LSI with the news that they had purchased SandForce and have never encountered their products. Understandable as the bill the SSD Review had to face in order to test out the card was just short of $50,000, which is far more than even the most devoted enthusiast is going to pay. In the realms of the server room however, that represents a fairly major investment but certainly within budget for a large upgrade. The card its self is powered by the LSIISAS2208 dual-core 6Gb/s ROC-x2 800MHz PowerPC processor and can handle eight storage devices out of the box, for real space you will need to pick up an extender which will raise the total possible number of connected drives to 240. Drop by the SSD Review to see the current leader of speedy reliable RAID cards; nothing even comes close to this monster.
"The SSD Review has put together a 6Gbps ShowDown that we don't ever think can be matched. Total value of testing equipment exceeds $45,000 US. Top speeds come in at 2.7GB/s performance performance and over 461000 IOPS and we have absolutely pushed two RAID cards and 13 SSDs as far as we think they can be pushed. Grab a seat and buckle up because this is going to be our best ride yet, one you definitely won't be seeing attempted elsewhere anytime soon!"
Here are some more Storage reviews from around the web:
- Kingston HyperX 240GB SATA III SSD @ XSReviews
- Patriot Pyro SE 120GB SATA III SandForce SF-2281 SSD Review @ Hi Tech Legion
- OCZ RevoDrive 3 240GB PCIe Solid State Drive @ Pro-Clockers
- Hard Disk Drive Performance Comparison Guide @ TechARP
- Seagate GoFlex Upgrade Cables Overview @ eTeknix
- ASUS BC-12B1ST Optical Drive @ Pro-Clockers
- QNAP TS 219P II Turbo NAS @ kitguru
- Buffalo LinkStation Pro Duo 2 TB 2-Bay NAS Drive @ X-bit Labs
- iStarUSA BPN-DE340SS SAS/SATA 3x5.25" to 4x3.5" Hard Drive Hot-Swap Cage @ circuitREMIX
- Western Digital Caviar Green 3TB Hard Drive Review @ eTeknix
- Ineo Tech I-NA309D-Pro USB 3.0 Dual Bay RAID Enclosure Review @ Real World Labs
- Synology DiskStation DS411 NAS Server Review @ Real World Labs
- Western Digital Scorpio Blue 1TB 2.5? Hard Disk Drive @ TechwareLabs
- Silicon Power Diamond D10 750GB and Stream S20 750GB @ Legion Hardware
Intel Releases Updated SSD Toolbox
Subject: Storage | October 27, 2011 - 09:19 PM | Tim Verry
Tagged: trim, toolbox, ssd, Intel, 34nm
Intel recently updated it's SSD Toolbox software to version 3.0. The new version has a few under the hood changes; however, the most obvious change is an overhauled interface. If you're not familiar with the Intel SSD Toolbox, it is a small application provided by Intel to manage and diagnose the company's solid state drive lineup. The software includes tools to optimize the SSD using TRIM functionality, estimate drive health, and provide diagnostic scans to verify data integrity. According to the changelog, version 3 builds upon the previous version by adding:
- A new graphical interface
- An integrated help and support system
- Support for additional languages
- The ability to update firmware on supported Intel SSDs (SSDs in IDE mode and older 50nm drives need not apply). Users of older SSDs and those running their solid state drives in IDE mode can update their drive firmware by using this Intel Firmware Update tool.
- Viewing drive health
- Displaying estimated remaining drive life
- Viewing and exporting system information
As mentioned above, the first thing you are likely to notice upon starting the software is the new interface. Intel has kept the blue and white color scheme of the older versions; however, that is where the similarities end. Fortunately, Intel has not downsized the tools and you are able to do the same actions as the previous iterations; they are just easier to access. The interface is now made of two panes split horizontally. On the left are tabs that users click on to navigate to the various tools while the right side of the window is where the action takes place with the selected tool's output being displayed therein.
The new Intel SSD Toolbox's home page
For a full breakdown of the new interface in the SSD Toolbox including screenshots and a video, follow this link to the full story!!
Hard Drive Prices Spike on Thailand Flooding
Subject: General Tech, Storage | October 27, 2011 - 04:00 PM | Ryan Shrout
Tagged: wdc, shortage, Seagate, Samsung, hitachi, hdd, Hard Drive
Chances are good you have heard about the recent flooding in Thailand - as Yahoo puts it: "The country's worst flooding in half a century, caused in part by unusually heavy monsoon rain, has killed 373 people since mid-July and disrupted the lives of nearly 2.5 million." Obviously this is a horrific disaster and we feel for the people affected by it.
But there is a tech angle to the story that has been showing up in many of our discussions as late and is the impact this disaster has had on the production of spindle-based hard drives. Looking for a 2TB hard drive today on Newegg.com this is what I found:
Prices for hard drives have sky rocketed in the last week or so due to the pending shortage of them across the world. Many of the top manufacturers have facilities based in Thailand for production as well as partners that are responsible for supplying companies like Western Digital, Seagate, Samsung and Hitachi with the parts they need to produce platter-based drives.
While we used to talk about finding 2TB hard drives in the $89 price range, the best prices we could find on comparable units today start at $129; and this is for the slower units. Western Digital Caviar Black drives are starting at unit prices of $229 now!
Pricing graph from Pricegrabber.com for Western Digital Caviar Black 2TB
If you are careful and shop around, you can still find drives like this for the $149 price point at sellers like Amazon are bit slower to update their prices. (Scratch that, after publication this was already at $199!) But don't just blindly purchase drives at this point - do your research!
WD drives aren't the only ones affected. When doing a search for a Seagate 2TB drive, these were our results:
When asked for comment, a representative of one of the affected manufacturers expressed concern for the people of Thailand first, but when pressed, said:
"The entire hard drive business is affected. Two of our factories are inundated with water, which supports 60% of our output. But a ton of suppliers that the entire industry uses are also flooded so we are all impacted."
While looking over at WD's press center we found this comment from John Coyne, President and CEO:
In mid-October, to protect our employees and our equipment and facilities, we temporarily suspended production at our two factories in Thailand, which have been inundated by floodwater. In addition, many of our component suppliers have been impacted, leaving material for hard drive production considerably constrained. We are working with suppliers to assess the extent of their impact and help devise short- and long-term solutions. This is a complex and dynamic challenge that will require extensive rebuilding for the Thai people and government, and present unprecedented obstacles to the hard drive industry for multiple quarters.
Obviously with a majority of the facilities affected we can only expect these prices hikes to increase and to linger. That fact that Coyne specifically notes "multiple quarters" indicates that users likely won't see a return to the pricing we were used to until at least mid-2012. With competition from solid-state drives heating up, this could be bad timing for companies dependent on spindle drives as the driving revenue source: comparing a $300 SSD to a $90 standard drive is a much different decision than that same $300 SSD and a $240 standard drive of high capacity.
According to this report from Xbit labs, the industry has "two to four weeks" of hard drive inventory available. The author claims that this points to the situation not being so dire, but with the WD's CEO stating the effects will be seen for "multiple quarters", I am guessing we will see a major buy-up of inventory from system builders like HP and Dell that will cause drive shortages much more quickly than anticipated.
PC Perspective will keep tracking the effects on driving pricing and if any player in the business has other input they want to offer us. Stay tuned!
SandForce jumps into bed with LSI, not OCZ
Subject: Storage | October 27, 2011 - 02:57 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: LSI, sandforce, merger, purchase
LSI, known for their high quality RAID cards here at PC Perspective have just agreed to purchase our favourite designer of SSD controllers, namely Sandforce. The deal is for $322 million in cash, with another $48 million of unvested stock options and restricted shares also being picked up. This deal makes an interesting pair of bedfellows, with Sandforce being well known by consumers but making few inroads into the server room or other corporate markets. LSI is the opposite, with very few consumers running out and picking up a $700 SAS RAID controller while in the corporate environment they are a common purchase.
The two markets are very different; consumers want both speed and affordability in a drive and are quite willing to sacrifice a little reliability to that end. Corporate usage places reliability first, there is no point having incredibly fast storage medium if it is occasionally unreachable and so are willing to pay a high price for that reliability. This purchase seems to be indicating that SandForce feels that there is a market for their controller in the corporate world, if they can overcome the reliability and MTBF of their SSD drives. LSI can provide experience with that in spades, their testing methodology is capable of detecting and pinpointing flaws that a consumer would never notice but which a heavily loaded server might. This might just see SandForce arrive as a controller in a server room near you. Keep your eyes peeled for more information from Allyn.
MILPITAS, Calif., October 26, 2011 – LSI Corporation (NYSE: LSI) today announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire SandForce, Inc., the leading provider of flash storage processors for enterprise and client flash solutions and solid state drives (SSDs). Under the agreement, LSI will pay approximately $322 million in cash, net of cash assumed, and assume approximately $48 million of unvested stock options and restricted shares held by SandForce employees.
SandForce's award-winning products include flash storage processors at the heart of PCIe flash adapters and SSDs. Flash storage processors provide the intelligence required to deliver the performance and low-latency benefits of flash storage in enterprise and client applications. With market-proven, differentiated DuraClass™ technology, SandForce flash storage processors improve the reliability, endurance and power efficiency of flash-based storage solutions.
The acquisition greatly enhances LSI's competitive position in the fast-growing server and storage PCIe flash adapter market, where the WarpDrive™ family of products from LSI already uses SandForce flash storage processors. The complementary combination of LSI's custom capability and SandForce's standard product offering propels LSI into an industry-leading position in the rapidly growing, high-volume flash storage processor market space for ultrabook, notebook and enterprise SSD and flash solutions.
"Flash-based solutions are critical for accelerating application performance in servers, storage and client devices," said Abhi Talwalkar, LSI president and chief executive officer. "Adding SandForce's technology to LSI's broad storage portfolio is consistent with our mission to accelerate storage and networking. The acquisition represents a significant, rapidly growing market opportunity for LSI over the next several years."
Michael Raam, SandForce president and CEO, said, "The combination of SandForce and LSI allows us to deliver differentiated solutions in the PCIe flash adapter segment by tightly integrating flash memory and management. In addition, leveraging our flash storage processors with LSI's comprehensive IP portfolio and leading-edge silicon design platforms will lead to innovative solutions."
The transaction is expected to close early in the first quarter of 2012 subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals. Upon closing, the SandForce team will become part of LSI's newly formed Flash Components Division, with Raam as general manager.
Pump up the volume; pump up the IOPs? The performance scaling of larger SSDs
Subject: Storage | October 20, 2011 - 05:49 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: ssd, Corsair Force Series, Crucial m4, Intel 320. Intel 510
We know that there are several reasons that larger SSDs perform better than their smaller compatriots. More flash memory means more channels for the data to traverse, which has a very noticeable effect on SATA 6Gb/s drives. The Tech Report demonstrates just how effective a larger SSD can be, with 10 SSDs ranging from 120GB up to 300GB as well as having a healthy mix of different 25nm flash and a variety of controllers. As you'd expect Sandforce continues their dominance by simultaneously offering better performance and a lower cost than Intel's SSDs. Of course, the stability and durability of those drives is a hot topic right now.
"Fresh from rounding up a collection of the latest 120-128GB solid-state drives, we've turned our attention to a pack of 240-300GB models to see how SSD performance scales as one climbs the capacity ladder."
Here are some more Storage reviews from around the web:
- Corsair Force 3 60GB SATA III SandForce SF-2281 SSD Review @ Hi Tech Legion
- OCZ RevoDrive 1TB SSD Review @ The SSD Review
- OCZ RevoDrive Hybrid 1TB PCI-E SSD Review @ Legit Reviews
- Silicon Power Velox Series V30 120GB Solid State Drive @ Tweaktown
- Intel 320 Series SSD 300 GB @ techPowerUp
- ADATA S511 60GB 6Gb/sec Solid State Drive Review @ Madshrimps
- Hard Disk Drive Myths Debunked! @ TechARP
- SilverStone Treasure TS07 USB 3.0 Enclosure @ Benchmark Reviews
- Synology DiskStation DS211j NAS Review @ Hardware Secrets
- Synology DiskStation DS712+ and DX510 @ Legion Hardware
- ynology DS411+II 4-Bay Desktop NAS Server @ Tweaktown
- Lacie 2big Network 2 Review @ TechwareLabs
OCZ Technology Introduces Octane SATA 6Gbps and Octane-S2 SATA 3Gbps Solid State Drives
Subject: Storage | October 20, 2011 - 01:29 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: Indilinx Everest, Octane, sata 6Gbs, sata, ssd, ocz
SAN JOSE, CA - Oct. 20, 2011 - OCZ Technology Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:OCZ), a leading provider of high-performance solid-state drives (SSDs), today launched the Indilinx Everest-based Octane SATA 3.0 and SATA 2.0 SSD series, striking the ideal balance between capacity, physical size, and speed. In addition to being the world's first SSD to achieve up to a 1TB capacity in a compact 2.5 inch format, OCZ's Octane SSD series combines high-speed data transfer rates with record-breaking access times to provide a superior user experience and improved application performance.
"OCZ has reached an important milestone in the development of its own controller technology," said James E. Bagley, Senior Analyst with Storage Strategies NOW. "The high sustained performance, even with compressed files, the rapid boot feature and high access speeds using SATA 3.0 protocol puts their controller technology in the major league."
"Until now SSDs have been tailored for specific applications, forcing users into a product which maximizes performance for a narrow band of applications, but is significantly lacking in others," said Ryan Petersen, CEO of OCZ Technology. "The Octane Series solves this problem by providing the highest level of performance across varied workloads including mixed file sizes and mixed compressible and uncompressible data, all while nearly doubling NAND flash endurance."
The Octane series leverages the cutting-edge Indilinx Everest platform to deliver up to 560MB/s of bandwidth and 45,000 IOPS and is optimized for the complete spectrum of file types and sizes. In particular, the Octane's proprietary page mapping algorithms allow for steady mixed-workload performance, mirroring real world conditions across a wide range of applications. The Octane series also includes a number of advanced features unique to Indilinx, including innovative latency reduction technology, enabling both read and write access times as low as 0.06ms and 0.09ms respectively, the lowest of any commercially available SSD. This enhances application responsiveness and enables features such as "fast boot" in consumer applications.
Octane SSDs also come equipped with Indilinx's proprietary NDurance™ technology, increasing the lifespan of the NAND flash memory, ensuring the most consistent and reliable performance as well as minimizing performance degradation even after the drive's storage capacity is highly utilized. In addition, Octane series drives support AES and automatic encryption to secure critical data.
Octane Product Features:
- Dual Core CPU
- Up to 512MB DRAM cache
- 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB models
- High sequential speeds: Octane (SATA 3.0) Read: 560MB/s; Write: 400MB/s Octane-S2 (SATA 2.0) Read: 275MB/s; Write: 265MB/s
- High transactional performance
- Optimized for 4K to 16K compressed files Octane (SATA 3.0) 45,000 random read 4K IOPS Octane-S2 (SATA 2.0) 30,000 random read 4K IOPS
- Industry-low latency: Read: 0.06ms; Write: 0.09ms
- Strong performance at low queue depths (QD 1 – 3)
- Up to 8 channels with up to 16-way Interleaving
- Advanced BCH ECC engine enabling more than 70 bits correction capability per 1KB of data
- Proprietary NDurance Technology: increases NAND life up to 2X of the rated P/E cycles
- Efficient NAND Flash management: Dynamic and static wear-leveling, and background garbage collection
- Boot time reduction optimizations
- NCQ support up to 32 queue depth - End-to-end data protection
- TRIM support
- Industry standard SMART reporting
The OCZ Octane SSD Series will be available November 1st in models ranging from 128GB-1TB capacities throughout OCZ's global channel.
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text:
Orioles expect Mora back Friday
Manager Trembley says slugger will play one rehab game
BALTIMORE -- Orioles manager Dave Trembley said he's looking to get third baseman Melvin Mora back later this week, possibly Friday.
Mora was placed on the disabled list on April 15, retroactive to two days earlier, with a strained left hamstring. Trembley said he expects Mora to go on a rehab assignment on Tuesday or Wednesday and then come back when the team goes to Toronto at week's end.
"I'd expect Melvin to play on Friday," Trembley said. "I'd expect Melvin to be in the lineup on Friday."
Trembley said Mora's rehab will likely be just one game.
In addition, Trembley said that the Orioles haven't decided yet if they'll keep the 13 pitchers they're carrying now when Mora returns. Ty Wigginton has filled in at third base during Mora's absence.
Mora had gotten off to a good start, hitting .313 in his first five games, with one homer and seven RBIs. His biggest hit was a grand slam against Tampa Bay on April 11 that helped Baltimore to a 6-0 victory.
The Orioles acquired Mora from the Mets in 2000, and he's become a very popular player in Baltimore. He bounced back from a subpar 2007 to hit .285 with 23 homers and 104 RBIs last year.
Jeff Seidel is a contributor to MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Enjoy All The Comforts Of Home While You Take In Amazing Gulf Views in Cape San Blas
- bedrooms 6
- baths 5
- sleeps 20
- pool yes
- hot tub no
- pets considered yes
- type House
rates (USD)
/ week
vacation rental description
GEORGEOUS HOME WITH BEAUTIFUL BEACH AND OCEAN VIEWS Book now for summer 2014
Watch the dolphins play and the sunset all from your deck. This large home is perfect for several families vacationing together or a single family that enjoys lots of space. State of the art, fully stocked kitchen with a beautiful living room and two dining room tables. Large flat screen TVs throughout as well as a office area with fax machine.
Separate teen hang-out area is a fun way for the teens or others in your group to have their own space away from main living area.
** One of the only homes on the Cape with cell phone coverage (with most companies).***
This home will be a part of your families' vacation memories that will last a lifetime.
Great for several families wanting to vacation together!!
FLOOR PLAN: Ground level enclosed two car garage with ping pong table.
A large teen bedroom with two twin/full bunk beds with pull out trundles on each, a small sitting room off this bedroom gives privacy to those who may want to just sit and relax. Private full bathroom on this level.
2nd Level: Bedroom 2 is a king bedroom with beautiful gulf views and private bath, bedroom 3 is a gulf view room with two full beds large flat screen TV, bedroom 4 has a twin/full bunk with pull out trundle bed and TV, bedroom 5 has a queen bed and a half bath as well as a flat screen TV.
3rd level: The most beautiful views you have ever seen! Large open, fully stocked kitchen and living area with under the counter ice maker and wine cooler. State of the art appliances. Bedroom 6 is the master bedroom with large walk-in closet and full bathroom with garden tub, a desk area and fax machine as well as a sitting area and large flat screen TV, all in the very large gulf view master room.
This home comes with free DVD rentals and unlimited long distance calling. Terrapin Station is one of the largest homes on Cape San Blas which makes it perfect for family reunions or large groups! Look at calendar for current availability
property availability
- dates with deals
- unavailable dates
Last modified on 08-5-2014 at 4:08 PM.
email owner view full calendar
house rental amenities
Property Type
- house
- guests provide their own meals
Location Type
- beach view
- internet
- telephone
- air conditioning
- heating
- linens provided
towels provided
- Bath towels are provided but not beach towels
- parking
- garage
- living room
- hair dryer
- iron & board
- dining area
Pool / Spa
- communal pool
- Bathrooms
- 4 bathrooms 2 half Baths
- bathroom 1: shower, jetted tub, toilet
- bathroom 4: combination tub/shower, toilet
- bathroom 6: toilet, combination tub/shower
- bathroom 5: toilet
- bathroom 3: toilet
- bathroom 2: combination tub/shower, toilet
- Bedrooms
- 6 bedrooms, sleeps 20, beds for 20
- bedroom 1: 1 king
- bedroom 2: 1 queen
- bedroom 3: 1 double, 1 twin/ single
- bedroom 4: 2 double
- bedroom 5: 1 queen
- bedroom 6: 2 double, 4 twin/ single, Teen bunk room on first floor
- television
- satellite / cable
- dvd player
- ping pong table
- outdoor grill
- deck / patio
- balcony
- children welcome
- wheelchair inaccessible
minimum age limit for renters
- 25
- non smoking only
pets considered
- no cats, there is a $150 non refundable pet fee
payment methods
Owner has not provided their accepted payment methods
Prior to paying a reservation deposit, always verify payment instructions by calling the phone number displayed on this listing page. By contacting the owner directly and paying by an approved method - credit card, paypal, check or bank transfer - your reservation payment will be protected up to $1,000.Learn more in our Security Center


text:
In December of 2000, at the age of 22, I was charged with capital murder of a police officer. After a ridiculously unfair trial I was sentenced to death by a Harris County (Houston) judge and sent to death row. I am completely innocent and I am sure anyone who takes the time to look into my case will come to that same conclusion. A few quick facts about my case: I was handcuffed when the shooting occurred. The officer radio logs confirm this fact. The actual shooter, who is the son of a well-known and well-connected police officer, has confessed to the crime numerous times. Various scientific evidence points to my innocence as well. I had court-appointed lawyers so, of course, this evidence was not used or not used properly at my trial. My dad was murdered when I was younger, and I don
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Class Notes | Obituaries
Submit a Class Note or Obituary »
Showing class notes submitted in the last month by graduates in the 1960s
Irv Scott '64 and his wife, Sylvia, just celebrated their 49th wedding anniversary. They have three sons—Chris, Brian '93, and Matt—and two grandchildren. In 1976 Scott founded the Sacramento law firm Porter Scott, specializing in defense of civil lawsuits. He's a pitcher/second baseman in the Sacramento Mens Senior Baseball League and in National Tournaments put on by the MSBL, NABA and ROY HOBBS organizations. The team has won 13 World Series Championships since 1992. In 2008 he was inducted into the Sacramento Mens Senior Baseball League Hall of Fame. His other interests include golf, skiing, hiking, reading, and traveling. He and his wife divide their time between Sacramento, Calif., and Sun Valley, Idaho.
Vincent Mancuso '69 writes, "We recently sold our house in Bethesda MD and downsized to a condo in Arlington VA. The condo is adjacent to the Iwo Jima Memorial and Arlington Cemetery. We spend a lot of time at our cottage in south eastern West Virginia in the Alleghany Mts. WV is a very special place with wonderful people."


text:
"The Savannah River Site is the single largest economic engine in this region," said David Jameson, representing the SRS Community Reuse Organization, and as the president of the Greater Aiken Chamber of Commerce he said South Carolina residents need to contact their congressman and push for a federal budget that won't threaten the local economy.
In a community forum, representatives with the Department of Energy explained how President Obama's 2014 fiscal budget could impact the Savannah River Site.
"Yes we have a very tight time," said Dr. David Moody, manager at the Savannah River Site. "Our communication is, 'We'll take all the dollars you can spare, and we deliver. We will be efficient and effective.'"
But advocates for a better budget are less optimistic. They say the proposed budget would slice $100 million, specifically from operations disposing liquid waste at the site, putting hundreds of jobs on the chopping block.
"These jobs are important to our community," Jameson said. "Five hundred jobs, 600 jobs, or I guess the number that they were throwing around today; that means 40 to 50 million dollars in annual payroll will disappear from this community starting in October."
While job loss is one of the issues community members are worried about, the budget cuts are also raising concerns of environment and safety measures for residents near the site.
"If this decrease in funding continues for the out years then, as they said, we're going to spend more and more time with that waste in the tanks, we're not going to get that risk out of the tanks, increasing the risk of the citizens of South Carolina," said Karen Patterson, chairwoman of the South Carolina Governor's Nuclear Advisory Council.
Last year SRS officials said they were on track to cleaning and closing a remaining 47 tanks storing 37 million gallons of highly radioactive waste. Cutting liquid waste funding could delay those closures.
And while SRS officials say they support the president's budget county leaders are urging residents to push for something different.
3933 Washington Road
Augusta, GA 30907
(706) 650-5400
FCC Public File
(706) 650-5400
EEO Report
Closed Captioning


text:
The wait is over! Download the BeerAdvocate app on iTunes or Google Play now.
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Bitter Brewer - Surly Brewing Company
Displayed for educational use only; do not reuse.
Ratings: 903 | Reviews: 420 | Display Reviews Only:
Reviews by markasparov:
District of Columbia
4/5 rDev -0.2%
07-13-2012 22:13:07 | More by markasparov
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4/5 rDev -0.2%
07-07-2014 03:36:37 | More by tectactoe
4/5 rDev -0.2%
From BeerAdvocate Magazine Volume II, Issue VI:
Hmm ... brewed in the tradition of a traditional English Bitter, but made with American hops. Guess that makes this an American Bitter? Love that angry brewer on the back of the can! Anyway ...
Hazy amber, with bright orange hues and a solid white foam lace that gently clings to the glass. Aroma is oh so pleasing on this one. Floral, woody, dense with jam-like oranges and a light grainy note in the back. Body is very light and fluffy with a lively level of carbonation that complements a prickly hop presence that's snappy, bitter, but clean and crisp. Not sharp. Full of complexities, like pithy, coarse wheatgrass, floral bouquet, rosemary and bitter orange peels, with a grainy breadiness beneath and some mineral notes. No real sweetness to speak of, it's all about the raw hop bitterness. Bone dry finish, with a strong biscuit flavor in the linger. Some bicarbonate, too.
We need more beers like this. Session beers, that are moderate in alcohol, packed with flavor and keep you grabbin' for more. Get bitter!
09-10-2010 14:01:04 | More by BeerAdvocate
3.33/5 rDev -17%
Served on-tap in a pint glass at Stub & Herbs in Minneapolis, MN. Has a bright amber body with a thin white head. Toasted malts dominate the aroma with hops coming in a distant second. Medium bodied with a spicy carb bite, this beer has woody hop flavors up front followed by malt sweetness, then a fairly long hop finish. Drinkability was okay, but half way through I was looking forward to a differnt beer. This is the first Surly offering that I didn't fall immediately in love with.
09-11-2009 16:38:02 | More by blackearth
3.85/5 rDev -4%
A: a translucent golden amber with subtle carbonation.
S: hints of hops and wheat gently tease the nostrils.
T: smooth blends of hops that tickle the tongue while citrus hints spatter the throat with the swallow.
MF/D: an initial buzz of carbonation that dissipates as quickly as it hits the tongue for a smooth swallow. excellent session beer.
09-14-2010 21:47:29 | More by newk340
4/5 rDev -0.2%
07-12-2013 17:04:14 | More by supa0525
4/5 rDev -0.2%
05-26-2014 00:56:20 | More by danthehopslamman
4.35/5 rDev +8.5%
A nice pour into my nonic. Very good head retention with a very nice lace.
What there is of the aroma is mild citrus.
Very pronounced orange zest flavor up front and holds throughout. Dry and bitter. Stinging carbonation on the aftertaste.
A good representation of the style.
Very enjoyable. Another fine beer from Surly.
12-26-2011 21:06:35 | More by NWer
4/5 rDev -0.2%
03-01-2014 03:15:15 | More by DaftPatrick
4.22/5 rDev +5.2%
A- Pours clear orange brown with one finger of quickly dissipating off-white head. Leaves some nice lacing.
S - Smell contains both bitter and sweet citrus notes and a nice grain character.
T - Taste follows the smell pretty closely with a more prominent bread character. Finishes with a nice clean bitterness.
M - Medium mouthfeel with relatively low, but good carbonation level for the style. Bitterness is subtle, but lingers nicely.
O - A very welcome flavorful low abv brew. The citrus notes are quite nice.
09-23-2011 17:44:50 | More by warnerry
4.5/5 rDev +12.2%
06-04-2014 03:47:57 | More by 77apm
New York
4/5 rDev -0.2%
08-19-2014 11:50:40 | More by Billolick
4/5 rDev -0.2%
10-26-2013 01:43:27 | More by Guinnsslvr
3.73/5 rDev -7%
Goldish copper color with a white head with great retention and lacing. Aroma of tangerine, apricots, and some perfume notes. Taste is immediately of apricots, followed by some sort of sweet candy that I'm not sure of the name of, followed by some tangerine in the finish. Light bodied and on the lower side of medium carbonation.
12-28-2008 01:45:10 | More by badbeer
3.9/5 rDev -2.7%
Thanks to hophead101 for sending me this beer.
Pours a slightly murky yellow with a white head. The aroma is wet grass with some oranges, but overall it is a little faint. The flavor is pineapple, orange and some grassyness. The beer is slightly bitter. Medium mouthfeel and medium carbonation. Overall, a lot of flavor is a 4 percent ABV package.
02-10-2010 17:32:27 | More by Mora2000
4.3/5 rDev +7.2%
Poured into a Duvel tulip
Appearance is a golden amber color with a nice white one inch head at the top.
Smells strong malt and hops a nice citrus malt the whole thing kind of reminds me of fresh biscuits with marmalade and damn it is making me hungry
Taste a lot like it smells a great citrus front which fades into the malty under tone damn that is tasty and finally it leaves a slight bitter finish on the back of your tounge.
Mouthfeel is very creamy the carbonation level seems spot on just a nice light creamy beer.
Drinkability is through the roof I could sit here in this warm spring sun and drink these till I come to the realization that I am laying on the floor and have spilt some of this wonderful beer. Lucky since t is only 4.5% I can have quite a few.
Overall a very enjoyable beer.
04-25-2009 23:06:07 | More by Grafter
4/5 rDev -0.2%
05-28-2013 19:28:14 | More by ryancl
3.5/5 rDev -12.7%
05-23-2014 02:09:31 | More by SjConroy
4.25/5 rDev +6%
Thanks to darkerthebetter for handing me this brew when he & the missus were over for dinner. Pours with athick head that settles nicely. Light brown in color. smells mostly malty with a hint of spice. Taste is a nice blend of malt & piney hops. Mouthfeel is very smooth. Lots of flavor with a low ABV makes this extremely drinkable. Highly recommended.
08-20-2008 22:08:43 | More by SkinnyElvis
4.38/5 rDev +9.2%
Serving glass: Poured from can into Nonic Imperial Pint.
Appearance: Dull orange-gold, very thin head, looks flat but expected for style.
Smell: Citrus due to dry-hopping, leading to a stronger smell than typical for style. Also, faint malts detected.
Taste: Clean toasted tea-like malt taste balanced by metallic hop bitterness. Light citrus flavor that is less evident in the taste than smell.
Feel: Low carbonation, firm and dry. This is where most American attempts fall short; Surly nailed it.
Drinkability: Very easy to drink and at 4% abv, it is an ideal session beer.
04-18-2009 02:31:20 | More by bsp77
3.83/5 rDev -4.5%
A-Golden orange color, hazy with white foam that laces the glass
S-Orange marmalade and citrus hops. Smell is like a sweet citrus pie
T-First you get the hit of sweet, apricots with a fair amount of malt backbone. Quickly the hops take over and the aftertaste is bitter yet sweet at the same time. Hop flavors are citrusy with a hint of pine tree.
M-Moderate to high levels of carbonation. Medium bodied. Smooth for the style.
D-The bitterness of this would limit my consumption. But is good for the style.
O-Another well balanced beer from Surly. Has a lot of flavor for a 4% ABV beer. My preference would be for a slightly less bitter hopped taste, but those who are fans of this style will likely approve.
07-16-2011 23:59:39 | More by deebo
New York
4/5 rDev -0.2%
11-15-2011 05:10:57 | More by mjtiernan
New York
3.25/5 rDev -19%
08-12-2013 14:40:34 | More by virinow
4/5 rDev -0.2%
08-13-2014 16:38:52 | More by bpfrush
4/5 rDev -0.2%
03-16-2013 21:50:17 | More by warmbier804
Bitter Brewer from Surly Brewing Company
90 out of 100 based on 903 ratings.


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Comic-Con Goblet of Fire SpecialGoFFilm
This year's Comic-Con is just wrapping up in San Diego, and at this convention Warner Brothers was there promoting the upcoming Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire film. There was a special trailer shown, and thanks to reader Moony, we have a very detailed description of what was shown. There are mentions of new footage of Mad-eye, Wormtail, and even Ralph Fiennes as Voldemort. Click below to read.There are also similar reports at Coming Soon.net, IGN Film Force, and Aint It Cool.com(language/HBP book spoilers caution in comments at that link)
We also told you previously that Gentle Giant is making some new Harry Potter statues. These were all on display at Comic-con, including some new ones of Horntail, Snape, and a Dementor. We will have some great photos posted here soon, but in the meantime do check out these pics posted on Figures.com
The trailer was introduced as being 'cut specifically for Comic-Con," and it will never be shown again. It was introduced by Mike Newell, who listed the terrifying ordeals that Harry would be going through: dragons, Voldemort, and girls. :-)
The trailer opens with Dumbledore announcing the Tri-Wizard
tournament, and the arrival of the other schools. Beauxbatons was
only half-done CGI but really cool, with Hagrid trying to direct the
carriage for landing and then diving out of the way. The Durmstrang
boat pops up out of the water, and you see Beauxbatons marching in,
and then Durmstrang stomping in. Dumbledore activates the Goblet
announcing that the Tri-Wizard Tournament has begun.
(I don't remember what order everything happened in, because it went
by really fast.)
- Harry asking Cho to the ball. She's cute, and he stumbles over his
words. It's precious.
- Hermione looking at Viktor and thinking, 'Oh, yeaaaah.' ;-)
- Hagrid: "I remember the first time I met you three, the biggest
bunch of misfits I've ever seen!" Cut to a shot of Harry and Ron in
their dress robes looking in the mirror.
- When the champions are announced, they show Viktor, Fleur and
Cedric, then Harry's name comes flying out of the Goblet in red fire
(the others were blue), and Dumbledore roars his name. He's really
angry. Cut to Harry and Ron bickering in the dormitory about whether
or not Harry put his name in the fire, and Ron sulking mightily.
- Yule Ball! Lots of waltzing, beautiful scene. Hermione peeks out
and then comes down in her dress, cut to a shot of Harry looking very
surprised and Parvati or Padma saying "Is that HERMIONE?" Cut to Ron
hissing at Hermione, "You're fraternising with the ENEMY," to which
Hermione sneers and says, "The ENEMY?" Viktor is seen kissing
Hermione's hand, and dancing with her.
- There's a shot of Harry and Hermione in a real clinch, a desperate
hug, and they're surprised by someone.
- Shot of Rita Skeeter! She looks fabulous.
- Sirius's face in the fire, telling him that things are getting
worse. It's really creepy, the head in the fire, it's completely made
of fire and looks almost like it's part of the log.
- Wormtail! He's in the graveyard, stirring the cauldron and
announcing Lord Voldemort's return. VERY quick shot of Voldemort in
his hood, you can't even TELL it's Ralph Fiennes. It looks really
horrid. Wormtail's arm is missing, but it was too dark to see
anything else. Harry lashed to the tombstone.
- The maze moves, the bushes seem alive. The dragon paddock/task is
on a cliff. The second task has platforms in the great lake, and
Harry leaping out of the water like a dolphin. The mermaids are
- Harry rubs his scar: "He's coming closer. I can feel him."
- A really great moment with Moody (whose eye is fantastic, it flicks around and is held in place by a contraption that seems bolted to Moody's face) and the Defence lesson. He sets a spider on Draco who shrieks like a girl when it latches onto his face. Moody AKs it (wow!) and then says the line about how only one person's ever survived the Killing Curse "and he's in this room," to which Harry just looks up at him.
- The dragon is incredible, though it wasn't quite finished, nor was
the second task. That's going to be a really intense scene.
Everything happens incredibly fast.
- The Dark Mark hovering over the campground is sinister - it's green
and a combination of smoke and flame, and seems like it comes out of
the fires burning in the camp. Everyone's running in twenty directions.
That's all I can remember, it went by really fast and I couldn't type
and take everything in at the same time. :-)


text:
|Life's lessons
By Mary Friedel-Hunt
The weather has changed with highs now in the mid-40s. It seems early to have these cold temperatures but winter is knocking at the door here in Spring Green. I imagine it started knocking a while back up in your territory. I lost the summer, having made eight trips to Chicago focused on my eye surgeries, which were successful. The summer months slipped away as I drove back and forth, spent time at my brother's monastery in the south suburbs, saw the ophthalmologist, and listened to audio books as I completed 4,400 miles of driving — many under conditions that were not the best but I always made sure I was safe, i.e. that I could see clearly to drive.The thing that made my drives so
|Tuesday, October 22, 2013 3:13 PM


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What are Your Priorities for BART in San Francisco?
With the news that BART Director Dorothy Dugger will most likely be stepping down (getting pushed out) in the coming days, it seems like a great opportunity to talk about what San Francisco residents think priorities should be for BART in the future.
I commute to and from work everyday on BART and am generally very pleased with its performance during rush hours. The vast majority of the time the trains are on schedule and get me from A to B very quickly. My main issue is the cleanliness or the lack thereof and what seems to be an incredibly out-dated fleet of trains. The seats look like people have been sitting and spilling on them since the 80s and the on-train speaker system and signage is awful. It is usually impossible to hear anything the conductor says and their is no signage to indicate what stop is next. This is not just a functionality issue but a major potential public safety issue in the event of an emergency!
So my priorities for BART are:
- An upgrade to the fleet of BART's incredibly outdated trains
- A vast improvement in audio and visual communications capability on-board trains
- Better signage on-board the train and on BART platforms.
What are your priorities for BART in San Francisco!? Let's make sure the BART Board listens to the people it actually serves as they fight their internal political battles.
BART delays are a big problem
I'm not an engineer and I don't understand the inner-workings of mass-transit. However, as someone who has ridden BART for over 20 years I still do not fully understand why it is that trains will get stuck and the BART operator (who I agree is often very difficult to hear) says "we're just waiting for the train in front of us." I'm sorry - waiting for what exactly? These trains run themselves almost automatically and, oh yea, they're on tracks! It's like there can be a big traffic jam at a red light or a pack of cows crossing the road. So just keep it moving! Sure there will be times when there is some malfunction and the train needs to be repaired. But really, what keeps them stalled for those 5 and 10 minutes that seem to happen a few times a week? If I had one priority for BART it would be to just keeeeep moving
Full Night Service
I agree with Ben, the delays are super dissatisfying. However, I am more annoyed that BART doesn't run late at night. I think it would be a great source of economic activity for people in the East Bay to be able to get to SF and vice versa during night time hours. Even if the BART only ran every hour after midnight, this would be a huge support for nightlife in the area.
Infill Stations
Here is an article by the transport politic that suggests one way to improve BART and increase ridership potentially to DC levels is to create more frequent station stops.
This poses an interesting question of if we would like fast train speeds (with a max speed of 80mph BART is currently one of the fastest rapid transit systems in the US) or if we would like increased access to the system (this would potentially allow more people to walk or bike to stations)?
BART Parking
I like BART but I live in SF and can walk from my house to BART. However... I have a friend in the East Bay - San Ramon - who comes to SF for shopping, matinee performances and dining. It seems that about one out of every 3 or 4 times she comes over she has to drive. Why? No available parking at the east bay BART stations. Yesterday she again drove to SF because she tried three - yes, THREE -- BART stations and all of them had full parking lots. Because she had a scheduled appointment over here she couldn't take time to drive to yet more stations to look for parking, so she drove to SF.
We say we want to raise costs of piblic parking in SF to encourage people to take BART to SF. Fine. But unless SF works with BART and other bay area cities to have adequate parking for cars at the east bay BART stations, then people will be forced to drive - even when they would prefer to take BART.
Any solutions in mind? Maybe multi-level parking garages in the east bay? At least a cell phone app that could let you know which, if any, BART stations have available parking.
If we want BART to be used we need to address this pretty basic problem.
BART woes: Parking and MRSA in seats
I appreciate gcotter's input.
I am a huge fan of BART. Other than the screeching sound it has when coming into the station (where it starts sounding like a Battlestar Galactice fighter jet coming in to dock) and some mess ups in timing, it is by far the most reliable form of public transit in the Bay Area.
gcotter brings to my attention what must be a big issue for East Bay folks around the clock, not just during commuter or party hours. This issue will only be aggravated further as more and more people move to the East Bay, fleeing SF housing prices and not as awesome locales from abroad (I'm not biased at all, no I am not).
Another huge issue for those Easy Bayers and others is the fact that the seats on BART are harboring dangerous bacteria in that disgusting tacky nylon seating they have. You can find more information on the Bay Citizen/New York Times article published today: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/06/us/06bcseats.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&ref=homepage&src=me
Basically, I think we should go with hard vinyl seating, that make has some give to it. I'm really scared of MRSA, apparently 19000 preventable deaths happen from infections from it a year and they found it in the BART seats. That doesn't mean its in amounts that will be dangerous to anyone, but just look for their comments about bacteria from fecal matter. BART, that is not a delightful thought I will be having when I board your trains.
I sit on the speed side for BART vs. more stations
I think one of the most crippling elements of the MUNI system is that there are just too many stops in the system, particularly for lines like the N-Judah, which is already filled to the brim during commuter hours and stops every two blocks to let one or two people off each time. Its important the MUNI do this because there are a lot of differently abled and older folks who need to be able to get home by walking not that many blocks. I would disagree that BART needs to adopt a similar stance. I agree that infill stations like the one at Fruitvale have done great things for the local economy there and is definitely a well-used station, but, bottom-line, I like BART because it can take me from downtown Oakland to the Mission in 19 minutes. I would rather have to bike 5 minutes to get to my final destination than have the BART have to slow down by some extra minutes so that there is a BART stop right in front of the taqueria I want to go to. I love Washington's Metro system, but it covers way less distance, covering areas that aren't nearly as distinct as the regional nodes represented by Berkeley, SF, Oakland, South SF, and a lot of the east bay like Walnut Creek.
If we really want to provide more access to people to walk/bike to BART, I would argue more for BART extensions. I wholeheartedly support the extensions occurring from Oakland to San Jose. That will allow people from way more regional nodes to have access to the BART system. For everyone who's out of walking and biking distance, they can take a bus to BART. For everyone who's on the BART line but not near a stop, they probably have even more access to a bus that can take them.
Love the Idea of night BART.
Love the Idea of night BART. Even a reduced service of one train per line per hour would allow night-birds to stay in the bars and clubs longer and keep that bevridge economy ticking!
Also...Bikes on bart
There could also be a more elegant solution for bringing bikes transbay on BART. At the moment bikes crowd into the regular trains which can cause obstruction and irritation to other users, particularly at rush hour. As a cyclist I don't want to be a problem but I do need to bring it sometimes. With increasing numbers of cyclist commuters, there is reasonable argument for a bike carriage with racks on one side and benches on the other. This is in the interest and safety of all passengers.


text:
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Crystal Discovery at the Val Saint Lambert Castle
- Address:
Château du Val Saint-Lambert (Cristal Discovery)
Esplanade du Val
- MAPS: Google Maps
- Opening Dates
- from Saturday 5 April 2014 to Sunday 2 November 2014
- Daily : 10:00-17:00
- from Saturday 5 April 2014 to Sunday 2 November 2014
The Val Saint Lambert Crystal factory is the only European crystal factory that is open to the public. Discover the art of crystal manufacture.
The Crystal factory and the Castle of Val Saint Lambert unveil to you the glass works and the history of crystal and the site in the magnificent setting of an old cistercian abbey.
Crystal Discovery at the Val Saint Lambert Castle is:
- The museum with its 250 unique pieces, from 1826 to the present day,
- The factory and the demonstration in the only European crystal factory that is open to the public,
- the show route in the castle's converted cellars.
Using historical and contemporary aids (maps, engravings, scale-models, photographs, audio and visual effects, traditional and exceptional pieces), films and 'live' demonstrations, the visitor is immersed in the sparkling universe of crystal.
A metamorphosis of the site combining entertainment, history and technique. Be enchanted by the work and the material.
Organise your visit to Val Saint Lambert
Opening hours
Individual visit
30/03 to 03/11/2013 included, everyday from 10am to 5pm.
Last departure for glass blowing demonstration at 3:30pm. Duration of the visit: approximatively 3 hours.
Groups (minimum 15 persons)
All year round, everyday from 10am to 5pm. Booking necessary.
- Adults €12 pp
- Seniors €10 pp
- Persons with reduced mobility €10 pp
- Children from 6 to 18 years old €6 pp
- Free for children under 6 years old
Groups (minimum 15 people)
- Adults €10 pp
- Seniors €8 pp
- People with reduced mobility €8 pp
- Children from 6 to 18 years old €6 pp
- Free for children under 6 years old
€50 extra for a guide.
Adapted for people with reduced mobility.
Access: by car, motorway E42, exit 2 Seraing, then N604 and N90. Follow the signs "Val Saint Lambert". Public transport: by train - train station Liège Guillemins or Liège Palais and TEC bus 9.
Tourist information on the town SERAING


text:
Pinched Pitchers: A Fundamental Pottery Technique with Gorgeous Results
Pinch pots are often the first thing taught in a beginning pottery class because they require very few tools and are a great way to get familiar with the properties of clay. But that doesn't mean you can't make sophisticated forms with this method. In fact, the beauty of this technique is that the only limiting factor is your imagination. In this project, an excerpt from our free download How to Make Pottery: How to Learn Pottery Techniques and Enjoy Working with Clay, coil potter extraordinaire Emily Schroeder Willis shows how to make a beautiful pinched pitcher.- Jennifer Harnetty, editor.
Video of the Week: How to Make a Freeform Handbuilt Serving Tray with a Faux Foot
Gail Kendall has a fantastic ability to manipulate clay that seems too soft to form with. Time and time again during the filming of her new video From Plate to Tureen: Slab and Coil Building, I thought to myself "there's no way that is going to work!" But time and time again, Gail pulled off what I thought was impossible! In today's video, Gail demonstrates the unconventional method she uses to make trays and platters with what she calls faux feet. I love the low-tech simplicity of this method – all you need are a slab, a coil, and your hands (plus lots of practice to get it to work with such soft clay!). – Jennifer Harnetty, editor.
Birdie Boone's Belly-Bottomed Dishes
I first saw (and held) Birdie Boone's belly-bottomed pots at an NCECA exhibition a couple of years ago, and I absolutely fell in love with them. Not only were the soft subtle colors contrasting with red clay body beautiful, but they felt so good in my hand because of the rounded bottom. In today's post, Birdie explains the handbuilding techniques she developed for these pots, and the smart way she fires them to avoid slumping. – Jennifer Harnetty, editor.
Decoration as Structure: Integrating Ornamentation into Form
When I first saw Blair Clemo's work, I figured the ornate surfaces were developed with sprigs that were attached after the pieces were thrown. In fact, the ornamental elements are a part of the structure of the pieces. In today's post, Blair explains how he handbuilds with decorative sprigs and forming molds, and then finishes them off on the wheel. Ps. Next week, Blair is coming to town to film a how-to video of this interesting process!- Jennifer Harnetty, editor.
A Smart Way to Center a Coil Foot on a Square Slab Plate
Slab-built plates seem like a pretty simple endeavor, but it can be challenging to get the feet just right. Coil feet often have that pesky bump where the coil is joined and if you throw a foot on a slab plate, you can often have problems with cracking. In today's post, an excerpt from the January/February 2014 Pottery Making Illustrated, my good pal Liz Zlot Summerfield shares her nifty technique for getting a slab foot just right.
ps. Stay tuned for Liz's how-to video, due out in the Spring of 2014!
Lovely Handbuilt Forms and Intricate Sgraffito Drawings Reveal the Beauty of Red Earthenware
In Today's post, Shoko Teruyama explains how she creates her forms using coils and slabs over bisque molds. Plus she shares how she coats her pieces with slips and carves intricate drawings into them revealing the red earthenware clay underneath.
Festive Flower Bricks: Coil-Built Forms Fit For a Party
Today, in an excerpt from the November/December 2010 issue of Pottery Making Illustrated, Arthur Halversen takes us through the coil building process he uses to construct his flower brick forms. He also shares his recipe for the frosting-like glaze he uses – the icing on the cake, as they say. – Jennifer Harnetty, editor.
How to Handbuild Using Molded SectionsBrenda Quinn loves exploring new forms by mixing and matching techniques. In today's post, which is also included in our free download Five Great Handbuilding Techniques: Variations on Classic Techniques for Making Contemporary Handbuilt Pottery, Brenda explains how she used a mold originally intended for a platter to develop a lovely vase form. – Jennifer… Read More »
How to Make Interestingly Shaped Pots with Slump Molds
Slump molds are great tools in handbuilding because they allow you to dream up whatever shape you want and allow you to repeat it many times. They can be made from a wide variety of materials – from found objects to plaster. Plywood is Joe Singewald's slump mold material of choice. In today's post, he explains how he uses plywood to make his signature clover bowls.- Jennifer Harnetty, editor.
Productive Play: How Playful Experimentation Leads to Fun Pottery Forms!
Learning to play in the studio can have its rewards, especially when new and unique forms are discovered. As is evident in her work, Chandra DeBuse embraces play in the studio. How else could she create such fun pieces? In today's post, an excerpt from the hot off the presses November/December 2013 issue of Pottery Making Illustrated, she shares the process for making one of her "Treat Servers." I especially love the ingenious use of craft foam as a template! So smart. - Jennifer Harnetty, editor.


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Continental Philosophy Review
Continental Philosophy Review fosters a living international dialogue on philosophical issues of mutual interest. The journal elicits discussions of fundamental philosophical problems and original approaches to them. Its broad-ranging focus includes both expressly theoretical topics and topics dealing with practical problems that extend to the wider domain of socio-political life. It encourages explorations in the domains of art, morality, science and religion as they relate to specific philosophical concerns. Without advocating any trend or school in philosophy, the journal keeps abreast of developments in phenomenology and contemporary continental philosophy, and is interested in investigations that probe possible points of intersection between the continental European and the Anglo-American traditions. Continental Philosophy Review provides considerable space for reviews of recent, original works in philosophy, allowing critics to develop their comments and assessments at some length.
47 Volumes 179 Issues 1,436 Articles available from 1968 - 2014Browse Volumes & Issues
Latest Articles
Reaffirming "The Truth of Being"
Richard Capobianco (August 2014)
The secret according to Heidegger and "The Purloined Letter" by Poe
Rudolf Bernet (July 2014)
Joseph Schear (ed): Mind, reason, and being-in-the-world: The McDowell–Dreyfus debate
Eric J. Mohr (June 2014)
- Journal Title
- Continental Philosophy Review
- Coverage
- Volume 1 / 1968 - Volume 47 / 2014
- Print ISSN
- 1387-2842
- Online ISSN
- 1573-1103
- Publisher
- Springer Netherlands
- Additional Links
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