G-Technology G-Speed RAIDs Ship With 4TB HDDs

G-Technology announced that its G-SPEED* RAID external storage solutions now come equipped with the 4TB HGST Ultrastar HDDs.

With 7,200 RPM performance, 64MB cache, the highest 2.0 million hour MTBF and enterprise-class features, the G-SPEED family continues to deliver performance, quality and reliability for the escalating demands of today’s post-production workflows.

Capacity and Performance Requirements Explode
With video resolutions and frame rates increasing, and 3D projects multiplying, high-capacity high-performance storage requirements are exploding. For example, a short film or commercial shot in 2K resolution requires up to 20TB+ of storage capacity and up to 1,000MBps sustained data rates for editing and post production to ensure data integrity, no dropped frames and a quick workflow. However, to keep up with capacity demands, scaling storage requirements can be challenging especially with limited or shrinking budgets, tempting some to buy cheaper RAID solutions with desktop-class hard drives. But the pros know, when your digital content is your livelihood, it is important to properly balance system requirements with RAID storage features that match the rigors of the post-production environment.

Just like data centers that use enterprise-class solutions, creative studios and post production houses are constantly streaming business critical data in RAID environments, and demand 24/7 reliability and performance. By combining capacity, performance and enterprise features, G-SPEED solutions set a new bar in meeting the demands of professional content creation applications, spanning all levels of audio, video, image and post-production.

Why Enterprise-Class HDDs Matter
The 4TB HGST enterprise drives are the only SATA HDDs rated at 2.0 million hour MTBF, and receive additional manufacturing and testing at extended temperature ranges to ensure a target of less than one non-recoverable bit error per 1,015 bits read (i.e. no dropped frames). They also utilize firmware to minimize the performance impact of rotational vibration interference (RVI) found in rack-mounted servers and multi-drive storage arrays, and feature error recovery and detection features that help maximize performance and improve data integrity.

Integrating enterprise HDDs since 2011, G-Technology is an external storage vendor  with a line of enterprise-class 7,200 RPM drive-based, RAID external storage solutions specifically designed for the A/V market. All G-SPEED solution feature an aluminium enclosure with four hot-swappable drives, and a ‘smart’ cooling fan that ensures a quiet, reliable operation.

The G-SPEED family includes:

G-SPEED Q
An affordable, high-performance RAID storage solution for creative professionals. It comes equipped with 3Gbit eSATA, FireWire 800, FireWire 400 (via cable) and USB 2.0 interfaces for flexibility. With capacities up to 16TB and speeds reaching in excess of 200MBps using eSATA, the G-SPEED Q solution supports SD and HD Final Cut Pro and Adobe Premiere compressed workflows. With its built-in RAID controller, the G-SPEED Q solution is not tied to a single workstation and can be transported and used on a laptop or desktop in the edit bay or on the road. Formatted for Macs, the G-SPEED Q solution can be configured in RAID-0 or -5. Available, the G-SPEED Q comes in 8TB ($1,399.95 MSRP), 12TB ($1,799.95) and 16TB ($2,299.95).

G-SPEED eS
A compact four-bay eSATA solution that gives professional content creators outstanding performance, high storage capacity and fail-safe operation at an unprecedented low cost per gigabyte. When used with the G-Technology PCIe x4 RAID controller (sold separately), a single G-SPEED eS supports up to four simultaneous streams of ProRes422 HQ or one stream of uncompressed 1080/60i. As many as four G-SPEED eS enclosures can be attached to a single workstation, providing up to 64TB of high-performance RAID protected storage. The G-Technology PCIe x4 RAID controller supports RAID-0, -1, -5 and JBOD, and is configured and monitored using a web interface. The G-SPEED eS external storage solutions are available and come in 8TB ($1,399.95 MSRP), 12TB ($1,899.95) and 16TB ($2399.95).

G-SPEED eS PRO
A ast solution for uncompressed HD and 2K workflows with mini SAS connectivity that provides FC-like performance at a fraction of the cost. When used with an ATTO R680 PCIe RAID controller (sold separately), a single G-SPEED eS PRO enclosure supports real-time playback of 10-bit uncompressed 1080/60i with more than 400MBps sustained performance. When two G-SPEED eS PROs are connected to an ATTO R680 card in RAID-5 it delivers speeds close to 1,000MBps, supporting two simultaneous streams of uncompressed 10-bit HD or a single 2K DPX sequence. The G-SPEED eS PRO with the ATTO eight-lane PCIe RAID controller supports RAID levels 0, 1, 5 and 6, and can scale up to 32TB, making it a cost-effective desktop RAID storage solution designed for high-end post. The G-SPEED eS PRO solution is available in 8TB ($1,899.95 MSRP), 12TB ($2,399.95) and 16TB ($2,899.95).

"We are in a high def revolution, and professionals in performance-intensive environments cannot afford dropped frames, latency issues or compromised reliability as their livelihood depends on the content they create," said Mike Williams, VP and GM of HGST’s Branded Business. "Because of their stringent requirements and our commitment to their profession, G-Technology continues to optimize its G-SPEED family to offer the best RAID solutions in terms of quality, value and performance for the professional content creation market."

All G-SPEED products with enterprise drives feature a three-year standard factory warranty.

* The G-SPEED Q, G-SPEED eS and G-SPEED eS PRO models are not supported by Windows XP or older 32-bit OSs, which limit maximum volume size to 2.2TB. All G-SPEED solutions are compatible with Mac OS X, Windows Vista or other 64-bit OSs.