Compare Brands and Review Your Choices

NAS systems are file-level computer data storage devices connected to a computer network that provides data access to heterogeneous clients. They are networked appliances that contain one or more hard drives which are often arranged into redundant storage containers or RAID arrays.

There are pros and cons to every NAS brand, educate yourself before you buy!

NAS systems are becoming more popular as a convenient method of sharing files among multiple computers. Compared to file servers, they have faster data access and easier administration. NAS networks typically provide access to files using network file sharing protocols such as NFS, SMB/CIFS and AFP.

There are many companies that manufacture NAS systems and consumers have a wide field to choose from, below is a comprehensive list of brands to compare for your online shopping needs.

HP: Founded in 1939, the Hewlett-Packard is one of the world leaders in information technology. They are recognized as the symbolic founders of Silicon Valley and one of their earliest customers was the Disney Corporation. Today they have revenue of $126.033 billion. They produce such NAS devices as the HP X500 Data Vault; which can provide automated back-ups for up to 10 PC clients. With options it can expand from 7 TB to 15 TB of memory. The HP X1000 G2 Network Storage Systems; which are a great way to add Windows-powered unified shared storage to a small or medium IT environment. Storage-specific tools and features are available such as Windows Active Directory and DFS Replication.

NetApp: This Californian Company specializes in propriety computer storage and data management. They are a member of the NASDAQ-100 and Fortune Magazine voted them the fifth best place to work. Their line of NetApp Fliers is their flagship products and they also make NAS protocols, Network File System.  NetApp can help you cut costs up to 40% with consolidation, higher utilization and reduced downtime. This protocol can also help you reduce your administrative overhead by up to 60% while delivering scalable and reliable file storage.

Dell: This famed multinational information technology corporation is based out of Texas and they employ over 103,300 worldwide. They are listed at 41 on the Forbes 500 list. They had notable acquisitions in 2006 (Alienware) and in 2009 (Perot Systems). They are also well-known for their early 2000s “Dude, you’re getting’ a Dell!” commercials. Dell also manufactures a number of network-attached storage devices. Like the PowerVault NX3100; this is a capacity-dense, dedicated network device. It supports up to 24TB in a compact 2U chassis and has twelve data drives. Dell also produces the NX4; which can save time and lower costs in mixed Windows and Linux/UNIX environments. It has optional 10Gb connectivity for NAS and Internet SCSI.

Cisco Systems: This San Francisco Company had revenue of $40.0 billion in 2010. Cisco designs and sells consumer electronics, networking, voice and communication technology/services. They have more than 70,000 employees and were founded in 1984. They manufacture NAS products like the Cisco NSS300 Series. Their class-leading performances reduce backup time and allow multiple users to use the device simultaneously. It safeguards information and reduces downtime with RAID 0, 1, 5, 6 and 10. It has 5 USB 2.0 and 2 eSATA expansion ports. It comes in three different models, the NSS322, the NSS324 and the NSS326.

Netgear: Since 1996 this company has manufactured computer networking equipment and other computer hardware. They sale their products primarily through a sales channel network and in 2004 they won a Good Design Award from the Chicago Athenaeum for the Netgear Platinum II Exposure. One of their upcoming products is the RNDP6310; it has up to 12TB of storage, data protection with RAID management and online volume expansion.  It is iSCSI compatible for Microsoft Exchange and database servers. The RNDP6620 works with Windows, Mac and Linux clients across any network. It has Dual Ethernet failover design for high availability and has Setup Wizard for easy browser-based interface.

Sun Microsystems: Sun products include computer servers and workstation based on its own SPARC processors and whole host of software products like the Solaris operating system, web infrastructure software and identity management applications. In 2010 they completed a $7.4 billion merger with the Oracle Corporation to form Oracle America, Inc. This union makes such products as the Sun ZFS Storage 7120; which has such features as Enterprise data services and 96GB of Flash-based write-cache for optimal performance. It has DTrace storage analytics and up to 120 TB of raw capacity. The Sun ZFS Storage 7420 consolidates virtual environments and has an industry leading performance. It scales up to 1.15 PB raw capacities and has Flash hybrid storage pools to improve response times.

3PAR: This Company is a manufacturer of systems and software for data storage and information management. Founded in 1999, it has 657 employees and has been recognized by Forbes Magazine as the fourth fastest growing company on its Tech25 list. In 2010 it was acquired by Hewlett-Packard for $2.35 billion.  The HP P10000 3PAR Storage System is designed to deliver enterprise IT simply and efficiently. It has a new version of HP 3PAR InFormOS and up to 50% increased performance over the HP 3PAR T-Class. It has adaptive optimization software and secure multi-tenancy.

Aberdeen: Founded in 1991, Aberdeen is a leader in the field of servers and storage. They recently expanded into the Israeli market. This company produces NAS products like the AberNAS 160 LX-Series; this system can be deployed from the smallest business to the largest IT environment. It utilizes four RAID optimized SATA 3Gb/s drives and the SAS expansion port which allows for connection to many different Aberdeen XDAS units.  The AberNAS N80L Series features a 3^rd generation Linux OS and has a system memory that can support increases from 4GB to 1TB. It also can handle up to 48 RAID optimized hard drives. Two external SAS ports allow for expansion with one of Aberdeen’s new 3U 28-Bay or 4U 45-Bay JBOD enclosures.

Avere Systems: This Company is dedicated to accelerating NAS performances. It was founded in 2008 and has found success in demand-driven storage solutions. The FTX Series hardware platforms provide high-performance storage media. They contain DRAM and NVRAM to accelerate the performance of their active data. Write performance is protected by 1GB of NVRAM per application and is available in FXT 2750, FXT 2550 and FXT 2300 models. Their A-3 Architecture is one of the futures of NAS evolution. It works on a tiered filed system and has scaled-out clustering with GNS functionality. It provides unmatched visibility into your NAS environment.

Fujitsu: With the slogan, “Shaping tomorrow with you” this multinational information technology company is the third largest IT services provider in the world. Its 2010 revenue was $50.482 billion and they focus on IT-driven business solutions. Their Fujitsu CELVIN NAS Servers are tremendous products. The Q700 satisfies the need for data management for any state-of-the-art business network; it has three years of parts supply guarantee and multiple options for file management, remote access and database usage. It also has iSCSI target and initiator for simple and platform independent IP-capacity provision. The Q600 has excellent download features for BitTorrent, iTunes and Twonky media servers. It also has encrypted remote replication and powerful PC-client backup software with multiple backup modes: instant/schedule/auto-sync.

Hitachi:  As of 2009, this Japanese company was, by revenue, the third largest technological company in the world. They produce a wide variety of devices from nuclear plants to ATMs. Hitachi also produces NAS storage devices like the Hitachi NAS Platform. This product has high performance of up to 1.6GB/sec and 200,000 IOPS per node. It is highly scalable with up to 16PB of capacity. It features intelligent file tiers that enable policy-based hierarchical storage management and it has rolling upgrades and faster failover times that reduce planned and unplanned downtime. The NAS Platform 3080 has massive computing parallelism and hardware accelerated network storage that supports up to 1,100 MB/sec throughout sequential workloads and up to 73,000 IOPS per node. It has a 256TB file system and its CNS enables can cluster up to four nodes in a single namespace.

Iomega: This American company has been producing consumer external, portable and networking storage hardware since 1980. In 2008 it was acquired by the EMC Corporation and Iomega became the SOHO/SMB arm of the world’s largest storage company. Their Iomega StorCenter ix2-200 offers content sharing with advanced media features. It has RAID support with automatic RAID rebuild and Gigabit Ethernet connectivity.  The network protocols CIFS/SMB/Rally, NFS, AFP/Bonjour, FTP, HTTP, HTTPS and SNMP are supported. The Iomega StorCenter ix2-300r is ideal for small to medium-sized businesses.  It’s four-drive disk packs can be expanded into right or twelve disk configurations and it can access files from any networked Windows, Mac or Linux workstation/server for easy file sharing, data backup and print serving.

LaCie: Originally two companies, LaCie in Oregon and electronique d2 in France, they focus on external hard drives, RAID arrays, optical drives, flash drive and computer monitors. They have 450 employees and a 2010 revenue of 351.8 million Euros. They are pioneers in computer aesthetics. The LaCie d2 Network 2 offers professional, reliable and central storage for any PC or Mac. Thanks to its 19” rackmount capability, it is perfect for any professional IT server. With the UPnP-IGD/NAT-PMP compatible routers you can access it remotely. The LaCie Network Space 2 is ideal because it is easy to set up and easy to use. It has Gigabit Ethernet and two-year limited warranty. It is UPnP-IGD/DLNA certified and its USB moves at 30MB/sec.

Seagate:  While originating in Ireland in 1979, Seagate Technology calls California home. It recently released a stand-alone 3TB hard drive and has been releasing hard drives since 1980 Their line of NAS devices is called BlackArmor. The BlackArmor NAS 110 has easy desktop USB storage; it can provide centralized storage and full automatic backup to up to 10 PCs. SafetyDrill bare metal recovery provides protection for your essential data and it has 1 Gigabit Ethernet port and 2 USB ports. The BlackArmor NAS 440 can provide optimum uptime and data integrity for up to 50 workstations. It has four hot-swappable drives configurable in RAID 0, 1, 5 or 10 or JBOD. It is VMware ready and has government-grade hardware encryption technology.

Targa Systems: This Canadian company is a world leader in providing military, aerospace, avionics and ground vehicle data storage solutions. Some of their clients include; Lockheed-Martin, Eurocopter, Northrop-Grumman, The Boeing Company, the U.S. Navy, Daimler-Chrysler Aerospace and NASA. Their NAS storage line includes several lines. One is the Targa Series 4 Data Transfer Unit; it has Gigabit Ethernet and provides a compact self-contained system to store and receive data from a Serial ATA (SATA) flash disk in the most demanding environments. It is configurable for simultaneous NAS and iSCSI operations and comes in three components; the single DTD, the ground station unit and the dual DTD. There is also the Targa PC Card Data Transfer Unit; this system is built to store and retrieve data from industry standard PCMCIA/ATA cards and have been qualified to meet the most demanding MIL-STD-810 and RTCA DO-160 environments. It’s PC cards have up to 32GB ATA capacities and power fail detect with DOS FAT & directory auto-save to prevent file corruption.

Western Digital: One of the largest computer hard disk drive manufacturers in the world, it began in 1970 as an integrated circuit and storage products company. By 1975 they were the largest calculator chip manufacturer and by the 2000s they were the first mainstream company to offer ATA hard disk drive with 8MB of cache buffer. Western Digital’s My Book Live has centralized storage and wireless backup. It also has a 800 MHz CPU for maximum performance and between a 1TB and 3TB capacity. The WD VelociRaptor Enterprise Hard Drive has the fastest SATA hard drive on the planet with 10,000 RPM, 32 MB cache and a SATA 6 Gb/s interface. It has 600 GB worth of capacity and great reliability with 1.4 million hours of MTBF and a five year limited warranty.

Permabit: This American company designs, builds and sells OEM-embedded data optimization software solutions and NAS appliances targeted at enterprise archiving applications. With their Albireo High Performance Data Optimization Software, Permabit has created a powerful sub-file level deduplication solution that can be flexibly integrate a parallel, inline or post-process solution. This NAS software has block, file and unified storage integration and has an ingest performance of 140+MB/sec/core (3.0 GHz Intel Xeon) linear performance scale-out as additional CPUs are added. Their Permabit Cloud Storage solution is massively scalable storage to power cloud storage. It has self-healing data protection and storage grid architecture. It also has replication flexibility no more backups; the data is protected by advanced erasure coding algorithms designed for large capacity drives.

BlueArc Corporation: Founded in the United Kingdom in 1998 and acquired by the Hitachi Corporation in 2011 for a reported $600 million. BlueArc’s product line is differentiated by its FPGA technology. It produces a variety of NAS devices like their Titan Series Servers. Their Titan models are the next generation of intelligent platforms designed to meet the needs of today’s data servers. Their IOPS are between 100,000 and 200,000 and between 10Gbps and 20Gbps. It comes in two models, the 3100 and 3200. The Mercury Mid-Range Network Storage System has open architecture that excels across a wide variety of application environments. It enables high performance and scalability through a hardware accelerated file system. Organizations that use Mercury can replace a number of their dedicated legacy systems. It’s just that efficient.

IBM: This legendary company holds more patents than any other U.S. technology company. Their employees have won five Nobel Prizes, four Turing Awards, nine National Medals of Technology and five National Medals of Science. It ranks as one of the largest firms in the world. Their IBM NAS N7000 Series has many different excellent models. The IBM SONAS has a 14 PB capacity and can store up to a billion files in a single file system and can have up to 256 file systems. It has backend tape support for long-term saving and a robust, automated tiered storage and lifecycle management. The IBM RTCA Appliance STN6500 has 16 x1GbE ports and can compress data in real time up to 80% while maintaining or improving performance.  It also has two physical ports for each NAS port and its link speed is 1 GbE.

Overland Storage: This Company recently acquired the SnapServer line of NAS devices; Overland was founded in 1980 and originally manufactured IBM-compatible 9 track-tape drives. Their SnapServer line is powered by Overland’s award winning GuardianOS. The SnapServer N2000 has a high performance scalable platform for storing both file and block data. It has a Java-based utility integrated with the GuardianOS and the ability to scale from 1.2TB to more than 140TB. The SnapServer 410 has up to 8TB of storage needs and SATA drives with fixed capacities ranging from 2TB to 8TB and supports RAID levels 0, 1, 5, 6 and 10. Its out-of-the-box support for multi-platform environments keeps all your security and access permissions intact.

Buffalo Technology: This subsidiary of Melco Holdings Inc was founded in 1975 and entered the computer peripheral market in 1981. They produce a large number of NAS devices including; the Linkstation Pro LS-VL which is available in 1TB, 2TB and 3TB. It is significantly faster than a USB drive and includes NovaBACKUP professional software for Windows and Time Machine support. It has DDR3 RAM and transfer speeds up to 76MB/s. The TeraStation ES TS-XEL/R5 is available in 2TB, 4TB and 8TB capacities and cost-effective RAID based storage and active directory integration. It also has front-loading hot-swap hard drive in the front panel for easy access and 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet with jumbo frame support.

Proware Technology: A Taiwanese company that was founded in 1992 and is known for its RAID storage array hardware and software. Proware is also known for its hardware storage arrays and NAS solutions. The flagship product line is the Epica series which was launched in 2006.  Their NAS products are equally impressive; such as the proNAS Series DN-500 SATA NAS. It supports up to five hot-swappable SATA II hard drives and has a Linux-based OS design. It is also configured by Flex/Ruby browser based software. The EPICa Series EN-T800 SAS NAS offers RAID levels of 0, 1, 5, and 10 along with Linear (JBOD).  System reliability is assured by an environmental monitoring unit which tracks the enclosure temperature and individual hard disk temperature which is good because it supports up to eight hot-swappable SAS/SATA II hard drives.

ioSafe: This company is unique for the fact that they produce lines of disaster-proof devices. It was founded in 2004 and their first product was the ioSafe S1, the first external hard drive with fire and flood protection.  In July 2008 they introduced the first disaster-protected internal hard drive, the ioSafe R4 and in January 2010, they premiered the first disaster-protected external solid state drive, the ioSafe Solo SSD. IoSafe used to make a NAS backup appliance. This device is engineered to resist fire, flood, primary server or hard drive failure. Its airflow cooling ability ensured enterprise class reliability and it had a three year product warranty. With its constant technical support and optional EMC Retrospect data backup software, there was no better way to defend your data.

Synology: This Taiwanese company manufactures NAS devices for the SOHO and SMB/SME. Since 2000 their products have been distributed all over the world. They have three main product lines, for the home, for the home/small office and for the medium to large business. Synology is known for embracing the power-user/programmer community. Their DiskStation DS2411+ can scale up to 24 drives at the same time. It has average 165 MB/sec writing and 195 MB/sec reading. It can scale up to 72TB with the Synology DX1211 and 2 LAN with failover and link aggregation support. The DS411slim is green, compact and quiet. Perfect for a home or small office with its small footprint and cross platform file sharing and backup. It is designed for 2.5” hard drives and it has flexible RAID management.

A business will want to get every ounce of energy and productivity out of their NAS devices. The field is large enough so that individuals and businesses can tailor their NAS to them and not the other way around. So study, research and shop around; remember it’s your choice and your responsibility.

For more information on hard drive brands, you can read our list of comparing hard drives.

When you’re selecting which hard drive to buy, you have a plethora of products to choose from. Here is a selection of companies that produce hard drives, some of the choices they offer and links to their websites.

ioSafe: This company broke new ground when they were founded in 2004 by creating the industry’s first fire and flood protected external hard drive. They incorporated in the state of California in 2005 and won Design Magazine’s Golden Mousetrap award in 2006. In 2007 ioSafe received patents for their fireproof and waterproof technology. IoSafe continues to make many varieties of disaster-proof hard drives. Like the ioSafe Rugged Portable; this product lives up to its name with Crush protection up to 5,000 lbs. and virtually any situation is covered. It has Shock/Chemical/Immersion/Altitude/Extreme Environment protection. As with all ioSafe products, the drive comes with a no-hassle warranty and the Data Recovery Service.  Another well-regarded ioSafe product is the ioSafe SoloPRO. This drive is available in 1TB, 1.5TB, 2TB and 3TB capacities and has quiet forced air cooling. It can protect your data from 1550 degrees of heat for 30 minutes and has USB 3.0 SuperSpeed which allows it to plug and play up to 5Gb/s.  The SoloPRO comes with several optional DRS plans, three year warranty and the forensic recovery service.

Toshiba: This company is a world leader in high technology and has roots going back to 1875. It is the world’s fifth largest personal computer vendor and is among the top 20 world leaders in semiconductor sales. In 2009 they acquired Fujitsu’s HDD product line. They produce several varieties of hard drives for personal consumers. Among them the Enterprise HDD, this family of solid state drives is designed for higher performance and lower energy consumption and has SAN/NAS storage applications. Toshiba also offers 2.5-type Hard Disk Drives which offer fast data transfer rates, large storage capacity and efficient energy consumption. They are ideal for personal computers as well as other electronic devices such as TVs and digital recorders.

Samsung: They are the 19^th most popular brand in world for consumer electronics and the company has continued to grow for the last 70 years. They are the world’s second largest chipmaker and second largest shipbuilders. The Samsung Group accounts for a fifth of South Korea’s total exports and it were a country; it would have the 35^th largest economy in the world. They produce many different solid state and external hard drives. One such product is the 64GB 470 Series Solid State Drive; built for multitasking and gaming, this drive can access data very quickly and can boot up a computer in as little as 15 seconds. In the external sector, they have such products the G3 1 Terabyte Desktop Hard Disk Drive.  This product has a 1 terabyte storage capacity, USB 2.0 connectivity and features a 480 Mbps data transfer rate.

Seagate: Incorporated in 1978, this company is one of the largest manufacturers of hard disk drives in the world. Their first hard drive was the 5-megabyte ST-506 which was released in 1980. In 2008, Seagate was the first company to ship over a billion hard drives.  One of their most popular products is the Barracuda XT 3.5 Internal Kitted Drive; it has a 64MB cache for improved burst performance, native command queuing for organizing incoming command in the most efficient order and combines a SATA 6Gb/s interface with a 7200 RPM spindle speed for optimum performance. For external storage; their FreeAgent line offers many good choices such as the FreeAgent Desk. This product is available in 500GB, 640GB, 1TB, 1.5TB and 2TB capacities. It has a USB 2.0 interface, preloaded software, smart utilities and a five-year limited warranty and is compatible with Windows 7.

Hitachi Global Storage Technologies: This company is scheduled to be acquired by Western Digital this year for 4.3 billion dollars. HGST’s parent company is Hitachi, Ltd.; which is one of the world’s largest technology companies. They produce a variety of drives and support systems. Their drive are high-quality, like the Deskstar 7K3000. This design can store up to three TB of data, has a halogen-free design and is very eco-friendly. It has 7200 RPM performance in a 3.5 inch form factor and it is the first Hitachi hard drive with a 6Gb/s SATA interface. They have made great strides with external drives as well; the LifeStudio Desk Plus is an inventive product. It is a USB 2.0 drive available in 500GB, 1TB and 2TB storage capacity. It has an auto-sync USB key and automatically finds and organizes your files and data.

Western Digital: Founded in 1970, Western Digital has a long history as a maker of semiconductors and integrated circuits. They made the jump into the hard drive market in the early 1980s and today are one of the largest hard disk drive manufacturers in the world. Among their many innovations was the 1990 introduction of the Caviar Drive. They have also launched a line of products using green technology and they make the fastest SATA drive in the world. Western Digital’s Caviar Blue drive is an award-winning product with a SATA and PATA interface and it is available in 80GB to 1TB capacity.  Their My Book Essential external hard drive has WD SmartWare backup software, universal compatibility with the option of upgrading to a USB 3.0 connection and has password and encryption options.

WiebeTech: A relative newcomer to the hard drive market, WiebeTech was founded in 2000 by James Wiebe, a 25 year veteran of the computer industry. Their goal is to put more and more storage into smaller and smaller packages. In 2008, the company was acquired by CRU-DataPort which continues to operate it as a unique brand. One of their more popular products is the ToughTech FS Mini; slightly larger than a deck of playing cards, this drive features passive cooling, accepts SATA drives and stores up to 750GB. WiebeTech’s  SilverSTATA series is another well-regarded product line. They accept the largest and most high-capacity 3.5” SATA drives and it is fully interchangeable for transferring data.

CRU-DataPort: Since 1986 this company has been at the forefront of the data security and data devices field.  Its products are available throughout the world and are used in many technological fields. Their DataPort 10 is one of the latest designs in removable drives. It has vibration resistant features, features applications in; hard data swapping, physical data protection, disk-to-disk backup, media archiving, PC sharing and drive cooling/protection. It also combines 30,000+ insertion-rated connectors with a five year warranty plan. Another popular product is the Data Express DX115; which has dependable steel construction; supports 3.5” serial attached SCSI or serial ATA and has applications in security, backup, testing, audio/video editing and drive swapping/testing.

Dell: This well-known company has been setting trends in the computer industry for years. Founded in 1984, they were a pioneer in the “made to order” approach to manufacturing. They are one of the largest technological companies in the world and are number 41 on the Fortune 500 list. One their most highly rated products are the DELL 500 GB 7200 RPM Serial ATA Internal Hard Drive. A spindle speed of 7200 rpm and a 16MB cache ensure fast data access while a SoftSonic motor ensures a quiet operation and perpendicular recording enhances data density and Clean Sweep calibrates your drive every time you start up. Dell also puts out the DELL 160 GB Serial ATA Hard Drive. It is marketed toward laptops, workstations and small form factor PCs. It provides data transfer rates up to 300Mbps and includes the 3D defense system.

Buffalo Technology: A subsidiary of Melco Holdings Inc. Since 1975 this company has been about building strong international alliances with corporations like Intel and Microsoft. They are committed to environmental standards in all of their technology. Buffalo’s DriveStation USB 3.0 HD-HXU3 is their next generation in high speed external storage. It offers maximum interface speed of up to 5 Gbps and it will work with all future 3.0 models. It has an eco-manager which monitors power consumption and backup software. In portable storage they offer such products like the MiniStation Plus HD-PNTU3. The MiniStation has a compact and lightweight shock-proof chassis with hardware disk encryption. It also is Time Machine compatible and USB powered.

Iomega: Since the late 1980s this company has sold over 410 million digital storage drives and disks. They were acquired by the EMC Corporation in 2008. They produce many different types of desktop hard drives like the Iomega Professional External Hard Drive. It has one the fastest speeds available with its eSTATA interface. This drive has secure MozyHome and Iomega Never Down software and one free year’s subscription to Trend Micro Internet Security.  In the portable drive sector Iomega has such products as the Iomega Prestige Super-Speed USB 3.0 Portable Hard Drive. It is 2.0 USB compatible with 256-bit hardware encryption and Protection Suite software. It is durable with Drop Shock technology incorporated into its design and it has a three year limited warranty.

Lexar: This California-based manufacturer has been in business since 1996 and they were acquired by Micron Technology in 2006 and in 2007 Lexar began marketing Kodak brand flash memory products. They are one of the largest DRAM and NAND manufacturers in the world. An example of their backup drive technology is the Echo ZX Backup Drive. It has interface speeds of up to 28MB/s read, 15MB/s write and it securely encrypts files. It is compatible with both PCs and Macs and has a two year limited warranty. Another great product is the JumpDrive V10 USB Flash Drive. This product can be purchased with 4GB, 8GB or 16GB storage capacities. This hi-speed USB drive is also available in several different colors and is compatible with over 800 digital devices.

Apricorn, Inc: Established in 1983, this company produces computer storage products and has branches in the United States and Canada. They have a line of hardware encrypted drives, an example being the Apricorn Padlock – USB 2.0; this product has an encrypted drive with PIN access, up to 10 PIN keys can be added and it comes with real-time 128-bite or 256-bit military grade AES hardware encryption. It also comes with Brute Force Self Destruct, a software free design and a integrated USB cable. It is also protected by VTC technology. They also produce external drive products like the Aegis Max 1TB. It is a 2.5” ultra-high capacity portable hard drive. There is no need for an AC adapter because it is Bus powered and it has a 16-point Omni-directional shock mounting system.

OCZ Technology: This company produces a range of hard drive products. They were founded in 2000 and in 2007 it acquired the company, PC Power and Cooling. In January of this year OCZ announced that they would cease their RAM production. They have offices in the United States, Brazil, the Netherlands and Taiwan. OCZ produces such drives as the OCZ RevoDrive 3 X2 PCI-EXPRESS SSD. It has been designed with power users and multimedia designers in mind. It has command queuing and queue balancing algorithms and delivers 1.5 GB/s of bandwidth. There is also the OCZ Agility 3 SATA II 2.5” SSD. These machines are built for a balance of performance and value and it has a cutting-edge SATA 6Gbhps interface. It has no moving parts and never requires defragmentation.

Plextor:  Founded in 1985 as a division of the Shinano Kenshi corporation, they produce many different drive and flash memory products. Such as the SSD SATA 6Gb/s; it is one of the first drives to support the SATA 6Gb/s interface. It uses the Marvel 88SS9174 controller chip which helps boost read and write performance. It also has a 128MB cache buffer which stabilizes the SSD and results in a quicker transfer rate. There is also the PX-NAS2-2T1; which is a NAS device designed to offer more storage than ever before. It has auto backup software and has encryption algorithms and can come with up to two 1TB hard disks.  It also comes with utility software with minimum transfiguration duty.

Intel: This world giant was founded in 1968 and became a household name with its “Intel Inside” ad campaigns in the 1990s. Intel was an early developer of SRAM and DRAM memory chips and in 2010 was ranked 48^th in the Millward Brown listing of 100 most powerful brands. The Intel Solid-State Drive 710 Series is a high-endurance SSD designed for data center performance. This series brings out single-cell endurance in a multi-level cell package. They also combine NAND management techniques with NAND silicon enhancements. There is also the award-winning X25-E Extreme SATA Solid State Drive; it comes in 32GB and 64GB capacity and has a life expectancy of two million hours mean time before failure. Its native commands queuing is powerful enough to enable up to 32 concurrent operations.

Rebit: This company is a recent entry into the hard drive field, founded in 2005. They produce SaveMe, a backup and recovery solution and Rebit 5 which preserves automatic backups and system recoveries. They also offer both portable and desktop hard drives. Their portable version has 500GB capacity and their desktops come in both 1 TB and 2 TB varieties. They use a NTFS-formatted, non-RAID system disk drive and have available 1.1, 2.0 or 3.0 USB port. They also offer 90 days of free phone support and a one year limited warranty.

LaCie: This producer of computer hardware is based in France and Oregon that specializes in external hard drives, RAID arrays, optical drives, flash drives and computer monitors. Founded in 1987, they often gear their products toward graphics professionals with an emphasis on color matching. Their hard drives use a number of interfaces like Ethernet, FireWire and eSTATA.  One of their desktop models is the LaCie Hard Disk MAX Quadra; this product has a quadruple interface for universal connectivity. A front USB hub feature and a full software bundle for easy formatting and backup. It has a capacity of 2TB and two year limited warranty. The LaCie Rugged Safe is a portable drive that comes in either 500GB or 1TB capacity. It has 128-bite AES software for data encryption and Bus powered and fully compatible with Macs or PCs. It is fully plug and play and comes with a three year limited warranty.

Promise Technology: While it was founded in San Jose, California in 1988, Promise Technology, Inc is a Taiwanese company based in Hsinchun. They are long-time producers of hard disk controllers and they recently introduced a NAS enclosure. Promise also produces RAID host adapter cards. Their SmarStor DAS has four high-speed interfaces; eSTATA, FireWire 400, FireWire 800 and high-speed USB. It is ideal for storage expansion on a PC or Mac and has excellent media streaming performance. The SmartStor ZERO is a true zero configuration NAS and digital media server. It is available with a 1TB or 2TB hard drive; Windows and Mac OS X are fully supported. It has WebPasm II AJAX base for advanced setup. It also has iTunes and Facebook media applications and Gigabit Ethernet.

Verbatim: This North Carolina based company is a subsidiary of the Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings Corporation of Japan. Verbatim was formed in 1969 and was acquired by Mitsubishi in 1990; it produces such products as USB flash drives, DVD-RAM, SD cards, Compactflash Cards and HD-DVD-Rs. They also produce several lines of hard drives; like the USB 2.0/FW 400/FW 800/eSTATA II Desktop Hard Drive.  Along with its combination drive, this product has a 500GB capacity and has data transfer rates of up to 3000Mb/s.  It also includes Nero BackItUp Essentials software and is backed by a seven year limited warranty. There is also the Acclaim portable hard drive. It is compact and compatible with all USB connections and has a 320GB storage capacity. It is backed by a seven year limited warranty and 5GB of Norton Online Backup and an eMusic offer of 35 MP3s.

Corsair: This computer peripherals and data storage company is headquartered in Fremont, California and has distribution centers in the United States, Europe and Asia. They also maintain a production facility in Taiwan. Corsair designs and sells speakers, ATX power supplies, high-speed DRAM modules, SSDs, USB flash drives, computer cases and many more products. Their hard drive lines include the Force Series GT 180GB SATA 3 6Gb/s Solid-State Hard Drive. This drive is built for speed; it has up to 85,000 IOPS and read speeds of up to 555MB/s. It is compatible with both STATA 2 and 3 and features support for the Windows 7 TRIM Command. It has no moving parts and S.M.A.R.T. support. Corsair’s Nova Series 2 60GB Solid-State Drive works well as a secondary unit in tandem with a boot drive. It features TRIM support and has an onboard cache of 128MB. It is fully compatible with PCs and Mac OS X.

Clickfree: A subsidiary of the Storage Appliance Corporation, this company was formed in early 2005 and is based in Canada. They specialize in backup systems such as the C2 Portable Backup. It automatically backs up any PC or Mac with no extra software needed. It includes Facebook integration, iPhone music sharing and built-in DVD archiving tool. It comes in storage capacities of 500GB to 2TB. It also has 256-bit encryption and EASY Organizer/Restorer/Archiver. There is also the C2N Automatic Home Backup; this backup drive includes the new BackupLink. It can connect to both Mac and a PC system at the same time and is available in store capacities from 250GB to 2TB. It is password protected and comes with EASY Run/Music/Viewer and allows you to create custom backup schedules.

Hewlett-Packard: This American company operates in nearly every country in the world. HP’s net revenue in 2010 was $126.3 billion and it is number two in the world for IT services. It has roots going back to 1939 and is a leader in the fields of personal computing, printers, data storage, networking hardware, designing software and delivering services.  They produce such hard drives as the HP Portable USB 3.0 500GB External Hard Drive; the maximum data transfer rate is 640 MBps. It is supported on the PC platform and uses the USB 3.0 host interface. HP also makes the HP 320GB Pocket Media External Hard Drive; which is meant for photos, videos and music. It is compatible with any USB-enabled PC or Notebook and is backward-compatible with PCs that use USB 1.1. The drive has integrated software and a one year hardware warranty.

IBM: Founded in 1911, this international, US-based conglomerate is the 18^th largest firm in the United States and the 31th largest in the world. Famous IBM inventions include the ATM machine, the floppy disk, DRAM, the magnetic stripe card, the relational database and the hard drive itself. IBM has over 425,000 employees in over 200 countries. The company produces such hard drives as the Ultrastar 73.4 GB Internal Hard Drive. This product has 320MBps and 10,000 RPM; as well as large 8 MB multi-segmented buffers.  It also combines 4.51GB and 9.10GB capacities with a Wide Ultra SCSI interface. It also has 7.5 ms average read seek time and a one year warranty. There are also the 160 GB, 500GB STATA and 500 GB SAS Hard Drives. These drives have SAS compliance, S.M.A.R.T. technology and rigorous testing has been done on them through ServerProven program. They are compatible with all major operating systems and come with one year warranties.

Crucial Technology: Another consumer brand of Micron Technology, this company produces SDDs, memory and hardware accessories. Their solid state drives include the 64GB Crucial m4 2.5” SATA 6GB/s; which has groundbreaking SATA SDD performance, it reads speeds up to 415MB/s and second generation command queuing with backwards compatible with 3Gb/s. Crucial also produces the 512GB m4 2.5” with Data Transfer Kit. This product has the most advanced NAND process technology in the semiconductor industry. SSDs have many advantages; no moving parts, less heat generation and reduced power consumption. This product comes with a limited three year warranty.

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