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Latest Video: Bleeding Edge TV 311: Hauppauge HD PVR 1212 reviewx

We give you a review of the Hauppauge HD PVR personal video recorder in this episode.
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Bleeding Edge TV 310: NewerTech miniStack v3 review

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Gizmatic, Short Bytes, Features, PC / Laptop, Podcasts, Product Reviews, Storage, Videocasts, Videos

We’ve had the NewerTech miniStack v3 quad interface powered hub external storage solution running for 9 months now, and we are reporting back with our review of the device. The miniStack v3 is a hard drive enclosure that had FireWire 800, FireWire 400, USB 2.0, and eSATA ports, giving you four ways to connect this external storage device to your computer. It supports Plug and Play, and is simple to set up and use. Plus, as you’ll see, it sits atop a Mac mini perfectly, hence the name miniStack. Check out the video for our full review of the NewerTech miniStack v3.

You can get the miniStack v3 in the following configurations:


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LaCie d2 Quadra Hard Disk

Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Peripherals, USB

LaCie Quadra

It’s easier than ever to increase your computer’s memory. LaCie’s d2 Quadra Hard Disk has a quadruple interface for PC/Mac/Time Machine compatibility, eSATA transfer rates up to 115MB/s and is loaded with FireWire 800, FireWire 400, and USB 2.0. It comes with Setup Assistant that helps format your disk for creating digital content, A/V editing, animating or DVD authoring. We like the looks of the NAS that comes in 1.5TB for $269.99, 1TB for $229.99 or 500GB for $159.99.

Read More | LaCie

DroboPro: 8 drives of networked goodness

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: PC / Laptop, Storage

DroboPro

You guys probably know that we are big fans of here at Gear Live, which is why we are happy to bring news of the DroboPro. When the last Drobo refresh happened a few months ago, the DroboPro is what we were hoping we would see. A smart, sexy, almost-foolproof NAS box that can currently hold up to 16 TB of storage in its 8 hard drive bays. So, what else is different about the DroboPro, aside from the 4 extra drive slots? How about that fact that there is no need to purchase a DroboShare to get this thing on your network? It has an integrated gigabit Ethernet port, in addition to it’s dual FireWire 800 ports and USB 2.0 connection. The gigabit Ethernet uses iSCSI, which allows for speedy file transfer of about 100 MB per second. Not bad, at all.

The DroboPro is also rack-mountable, thanks to the wider form factor. Drobo is definitely coming out big with this one. We desperately want to get our hands on one (along with either 2 TB hard drives.) Oh wait, did you feel that? That was the shudder of realizing that this might be a tad on the expensive side. You see, ordering a DroboPro with no hard drives will run you $1300. Of course, for businesses and the like, not a big deal—but for us home folk, it’s spendy in this rough economic climate. Still, price notwithstanding, the DroboPro is slick. Hit the jump for a shot of the back of the unit.

Click to continue reading DroboPro: 8 drives of networked goodness

Read More | DroboPro

2008 Holiday Gift Guide: Apple Time Capsule

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Accessories, Apple, PC / Laptop, Wireless / WiFi, Family, Women, Men, Techies, Under $500

Time Capsule

Yeah, we know, the Time Capsule is a router and backup device. Not that exciting, right? Well, not all gifts are meant to spur excitement - this one is practical and functional. If you know someone who owns a Mac, and doesn’t take advantage of , then they need a Time Capsule - especially if they use a MacBook or MacBook Pro. The Time Machine sports either a 500GB or 1TB hard drive, and is a combination wired/wireless network attached storage device. Even better, it doubles as an 802.11n/g router as well. The 500GB Time Capsule sells for $299, while the 1TB version will run you $499.

Read More | Apple Time Capsule

Data Robotics releases second gen Drobo

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Accessories, PC / Laptop, Storage

Drobo second generation

Yesterday, we would have said that is the best external storage solution out there, but today’s news cements that statement. The folks at Data Robotics have just announced the second generation Drobo, and this one is a doozy. The new Drobo is faster inside and out, and we are impressed. First and foremost, Drobo now features two FireWire 800 ports, while maintaining the USB 2.0 connection of the original Drobo. The two ports mean you can daisy chain these bad boys together. The core processor has also been upgraded, so Drobo feels snappier to boot. They’ve also done some firmware tweaking, so now heavy load won’t start bogging down Drobo’s software. What does all this mean? The new Drobo is more than twice as fast as the original at reading data, and almost twice as fast as writing data as well.

In terms of pricing, the good news is that there is no price increase. The second generation Drobo can be purchased on its own for $499 USD. If you want a couple of 1TB drives thrown in, then the bundle will run you $899. If you want to go all out and bundle in 4 1TB drives, then that will cost you $1,299. That’s the best deal on the market quite frankly, as Data Robotics just buys their drives direct from drive manufacturers and doesn’t mark up pricing when bundling them with Drobo units. With the new speeds, Drobo is starting to look like a location for primary storage rather than just secondary. We like where this is heading.

The second-gen Drobo is compatible with the DroboShare NAS add-on, and if you are upgrading from the older model, you can simply pull the drives right out of those and drop them into the new model, and you will be up and running immediately. If you prefer to keep the older version, and just want to chain it to the newer model, you can do that too.


Bleeding Edge TV 270: Computex 2008 - A look at the Promise SmartStor NAS Media Server

Posted by Nate True Categories: Gizmatic, Announcements, Home Entertainment, Internet, Movies, Music, PC / Laptop, Storage, Videocasts, Videos


is meeting some fierce competition from Promise this year.  The SmartStor is an all-in-one RAID5 controller with hot-swappable drives just like the Drobo, but it also includes a built-in NAS to share files over the network, and a BitTorrent client to boot.  It’s compatible with dlna, UPnP, and AMD Live! systems so sharing media is a breeze as well.

We talk with Alex Ling from Promise at Computex 2008 and he walks us through the SmartStor’s many features.


Unboxing Live 035: Drobo and DroboShare

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Features, Laptop, Networking, PC, Peripherals, Robots, Videocasts


Drobo is billed as the “World’s first data storage robot.”  We like to think of it as super, super simple data storage that also doubles as a fantastic backup destination. Backing up your data is both extremely boring, and excruciatingly essential. has tried to spice things up in this area with their technology in Leopard (which Drobo supports), and Windows Home Server offers easy backup for your Windows-based computers.

As you may recall, we got a full feature rundown of Drobo back at CES 2008, so check that out if you need a refresher, or in case you missed it. We were thoroughly impressed, and had to get our hands on one to bring you the scoop on what we think of the device after using it in the real world. While the review is soon to come, we knew you’d want to see the Drobo unboxed. Oh, and as a bonus, we also have the DroboShare as well. This add-on turns your Drobo into a NAS device, and can even pair two Drobos up together for the ultimate in small environment networked data storage.

Check out the video above for the full unboxing of the and DroboShare NAS device.


Ripserver Makes CDs

Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Misc. Tech, Music, USB

RipserverWhether you have your own band or want to start a mini-music production company, Ripfactory has unveiled its NAS with integrated CD ripping engine. Plug the Ripserver into a network connection via USB and it will hold up to 1TB of music files. Insert a CD into the loading drive slot and it will be converted in a matter of minutes, adds it to your library with its UPnP media server, and spits it back out. No keyboard or monitor is needed. Ripserver runs on Linux and needs minimal setup. Select from 500 or 1TB capacity, black or white, for £599 (~$1,200.00) or £699 (~$1,400.00.)

Read More | Ripfactory

MacWorld 2008: Apple announces TIme Capsule Airport Extreme with built-in hard drive

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Storage, Wireless / WiFi

Apple Time Capsule

During this morning’s keynote, announced a brand new router specifically meant for those of us running Leopard on Apple notebooks, called Time Capsule. Basically an Airport Extreme NAS, the Time Capsule router allows those running Leopard while connected over WiFi to run Time Machine. Currently, unless you use a back-end hack to enable WiFi backups, you have to plug and unplug your laptop to an external drive to run Time Machine backups. Time Capsule removes that requirement, thus making WiFi Time Machine backups simple. Of course, it comes at a price. A 500 GB Time Capsule retails for $299 USD, which a 1 TB version costs $499.

Read More | Time Capsule Product Page

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