G-Technology Expands Evolution Series With Four New Products

[MacRumors]

G-Technology today expanded its popular Evolution Series aimed at creative professionals, adding the new G-Speed Studio XL with ev Series Bay Adapters, ev Series Reader RED MINI-Mag Edition, G-Dock ev Solo, and ev Series FireWire Adapter.

For those unfamiliar with G-Technology's Evolution Series, it's a collection of flexible, interchangeable docking stations, external hard drives, and accessories, designed primarily for photo, video, and music editing.

The new G-Speed Studio XL, an eight-bay Thunderbolt 2 storage solution, introduces cross-compatibility between the ev Series and G-Technology's high-performance Studio XL. This version of the modular Studio XL includes two ev Series Bay Adapters that can accommodate all ev Series G-Drives. With the G-Speed Studio XL, it's possible for creative professionals to use one of the G-Drives out on location to capture content like photos and then plug directly into the G-Speed Studio XL when returning to the studio.

It's configurable in RAID 0, 1, 5, 6, and 10, and supports high volume data transfer rates of up to 1,200 MB/s. Pricing starts at $2,799.95 for 18TB and goes up to 48TB for $4,999.95.

G-Technology's ev Series Reader RED MINI-MAG Edition was created in collaboration with RED Digital Cinema and lets RED camera users transfer content from a RED MINI-MAG media card to any standalone USB 3.0 drive, G-Dock ev docking station, or the new ev Series G-Speed Studio XL. Because it can be plugged into G-Technology's Thunderbolt docks, it's a good solution for RED camera users looking for a Thunderbolt-connected reader. It's priced at $199.95.

The G-dock ev Solo is a simple USB 3.0 docking solution designed for shared environments like studios, computer labs, and classrooms. An existing ev Series hard drive can be plugged directly into the ev Solo, allowing users to transfer and edit files quickly. The G-Dock ev Solo is priced at $99.95.

G-Technology's last product debuting today is the ev Series FireWire Adapter that lets ev Series drives be attached to an older computer that has a FireWire 800 port. It's priced at $49.95.

All of the ev Series products being announced today will be available from the G-Technology website beginning in October, aside from the Firewire Adapter, which is available now.

Article Link: G-Technology Expands Evolution Series With Four New Products

 

[star-affinity]

What about USB 3.1? Looked at their (G-Technology's) website and found no device that supports it. I thought it was time.

Here is one:
http://www.startech.com/HDD/Enclosures/usb-3-1-sata-drive-enclosure~S351BU313

Maybe 10 Gb/s in bandwidth is a bit high for todays 3.5" drives but I heard there are other benefits to USB 3.1, such as ”reduced line encoding overhead to just 3%” whatever that means:

”The USB 3.1 standard increases the data signaling rate to 10 Gbit/s in the USB 3.1 Gen2 mode, double that of USB 3.0 (referred to as USB 3.1 Gen1) and reduces line encoding overhead to just 3% by changing the encoding scheme to 128b/132b.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB#USB_3.1

Would also be nice to start seeing som USB-C external cases that I think (at least in theory) would be able to bus power an external hard drive case even for a 3.5" drive. So, no need for a separate power adapter.

So, to sum up, please give me external hard drive case with one USB-C port, one USB 3.1 port and perhaps one Thunderbolt 2 or 3 port.

 

[Dargoth]

What about USB 3.1? Looked at their (G-Technology's) website and found no device that supports it. I thought it was time.

Here is one:
http://www.startech.com/HDD/Enclosures/usb-3-1-sata-drive-enclosure~S351BU313

Maybe 10 Gb/s in bandwidth is a bit high for todays 3.5" drives but I heard there are other benefits to USB 3.1, such as ”reduced line encoding overhead to just 3%” whatever that means:

”The USB 3.1 standard increases the data signaling rate to 10 Gbit/s in the USB 3.1 Gen2 mode, double that of USB 3.0 (referred to as USB 3.1 Gen1) and reduces line encoding overhead to just 3% by changing the encoding scheme to 128b/132b.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB#USB_3.1

Would also be nice to start seeing som USB-C external cases that I think (at least in theory) would be able to bus power an external hard drive case even for a 3.5" drive. So, no need for a separate power adapter.

So, to sum up, please give me external hard drive case with one USB-C port, one USB 3.1 port and perhaps one Thunderbolt 2 or 3 port.

Basically, the line encoding overhead from USB 3.0 and earlier resulted in only 80% of the bandwidth as actual usable bandwidth. It used to use an 8/10 encoding scheme, so for every 10 bits sent, 8 bits were actual payload, and 2 bits were check bits for verification. Now, with the 128/132 scheme, 128 bits are data, and 4 bits are check bits, and 128/132 is roughly 0.97, meaning about 3% of the bandwidth is used for those check bits, and the rest is usable. Far better than the way it was done in earlier versions. USB's performance should be much closer to its theoretical now than in the past.

 

[star-affinity]

Basically, the line encoding overhead from USB 3.0 and earlier resulted in only 80% of the bandwidth as actual usable bandwidth. It used to use an 8/10 encoding scheme, so for every 10 bits sent, 8 bits were actual payload, and 2 bits were check bits for verification. Now, with the 128/132 scheme, 128 bits are data, and 4 bits are check bits, and 128/132 is roughly 0.97, meaning about 3% of the bandwidth is used for those check bits, and the rest is usable. Far better than the way it was done in earlier versions. USB's performance should be much closer to its theoretical now than in the past.

Sounds good! Thanks for the info/clarification!

 

[stiligFox]

I never heard of mini-mag before - I assumed it would be expensive since it's for film making, but the official price for a 240GB card is $1400 :0 For film-makers, that reader certaintly is a good deal.

 

[macs4nw]

.....So, to sum up, please give me external hard drive case with one USB-C port, one USB 3.1 port and perhaps one Thunderbolt 2 or 3 port.

From what I understand, Thunderbolt3 will be delivered via one of these (about to take off in a big way) USB-C ports only.

 

[Dargoth]

From what I understand, Thunderbolt3 will be delivered via one of these (about to take off in a big way) USB-C ports only.

Yep. 5 years from now, I can imagine that USB-C will be incredibly popular with both consumers and professionals. The same port will do different things for different people. For consumers, it'll operate in USB-mode and run mice, keyboards and external hard drives, for professionals, it'll run in Thunderbolt mode and operate RAID arrays, external monitors (this goes for DisplayPort mode too) and docks. Then, if you plug a charging cable into it, it'll operate in "charger" mode, and charge your laptop. It's one fascinating little port, there can be no doubt!