G-Technology by Hitachi Demos 4TB HDDs

Dedicated to serving the Apple Mac and creative professional A/V markets, G-Technology by Hitachi is demoing its first 4TB hard drives at IBC 2011 in its two-drive, RAID 0, G-RAID.

External 4TB Hard Disk Drives
Continuing to develop storage solutions for those looking to push creativity beyond the limits, the 8TB G-RAID demo shows how G-Technology is making digital production faster, super-sized and affordable, giving users a competitive edge in the demanding entertainment and film industry.

G-RAID with Thunderbolt
More than Just High-Speed RAID
Not only does the G-RAID Thunderbolt demo showcases the fastest interface you can find with data transfer rates up to 10 Gbps, it shows amazing sustained throughput for handling multi-stream compressed HD workflows including REDCODE, DVCPro HD, XDCAM HD and ProRes 422.

At 8TB it is the highest capacity, two-drive, RAID-0 external storage device in the world for storing hours of clips, composites, digital intermediate, proofs, effects and more. Connected to an Apple MacBook Pro, the G-RAID solution enables a portable editing workstation to take on the road, in the studio or even at home to complete projects after hours.

All G-RAID drives come pre-configured in a RAID-0 for maximum throughput and are designed for video editing with cooling and air flow. Its sleek, all-aluminum enclosure acts as a heat sink, keeping the drives cool, while a quiet smart fan makes it a fit in any audio or video post production environment. The G-RAID solution is ready right out of the box for use with Mac OS X systems and appears to the system as a single, big and fast disk drive. The G-RAID solution also supports Windows systems with a simple reformat.

Hitachi GST’s 4TB Hard Drives
G-Technology by Hitachi will be incorporating Hitachi’s 4TB 7,200 RPM drives into its G-RAID and G-DRIVE.

Just how much storage do you need? Since there are substantial differences in storage requirements for the different types of high quality HD video files, G-Technology provides this guide to show how much storage space you may need.

Every 1TB holds up to:

• 84 hours of HDV 1080i
• 17 hours of DVCPRO HD 1080/60i
• 30 hours of 2K RED
• 10 hours of ProRes 422 HQ
• 10 hours of 10 bit SD
• 2.5 hours of HD 1080/60i

"We understand the process of creation, and today, digital video editing is no longer facility-driven – It’s driven by the places and lifestyles of the people doing the work," said Steve Pereira, vice president, Hitachi GST, Europe Middle East and Africa. "Our G-RAID Thunderbolt demo connected to a MacBook Pro shows how our customers can get lightning speed and huge capacity in a single RAID 0 storage solution to easily edit anywhere. Built like a tank, our G-RAID solution has been the cornerstone of our business, and we look forward to bringing our Thunderbolt-based family and 4TB-based solutions to the market. With G-Technology’s high quality, high performance commitment, our customers can continue to focus on their work and not on their equipment."

G-Technology will begin shipping its 4TB-based G-RAID and single-drive G-DRIVE solutions with eSATA, FireWire 800 (FireWire 400 via cable) and USB 2.0 ports in October. First in a family of solutions, the company’s Thunderbolt 4TB-based G-RAID and G-DRIVE solutions will ship in Q4.