Computex 2007: Storage, 4+ GHz Quad Cores and Systems

Introduction

In tropical climates, it usually rains in the afternoon, but for some reason it has been raining here every day in the morning. We're glad that there are covered walkways that connect some of the exhibition halls.

Storage

2.5" Compact Flash Based HDDs With RAID: Apacer SRFD

Did you ever think of running one or two Compact Flash cards as your primary storage device? The SRFD by Apacer allows you to use single CF cards, or combine two CF cards in a RAID 0 or RAID 1 configuration.

Imagine a drive that has the size of a 2.5" hard disk, but uses a smart controller to run two CompactFlash cards in RAID mode. This is exactly what the SRFD by Apacer does. The product employs a SATA/300 interface and supports both RAID 0 and RAID 1 by setting mini DIP switches. Given that CF cards can reach a transfer rate of approximately 30 MB/s today, a RAID 0 stripe set would result in a maximum of around 60 MB/s. This concept also has the advantage that it is upgradeable whenever the industry creates higher capacity and higher speed Compact Flash cards.