As megapixel counts climb, speed and available storage space declines. But one startup is aiming to bring innovation to external hard drives right out of the gate. GigaDrive is, according to the startup of the same name, “the fastest external SSD in the world” that claims to be not only breaking speed records, but is also purported to be small enough and durable enough to mount directly to a camera.

The GigaDrive hits a 2,800 MB/s read speed and a 2,500 MB/s write speed. Those speeds are made possible by the SSD design and a DRAM cache chip for pre-processing data. The connection type also plays a role: the external hard drive uses the newer, faster USB 4 and Thunderbolt 4. It’s also backwards compatible with older versions of both USB and Thunderbolt, a must considering many devices don’t have USB 4 yet.

[Read: 14 Storage Drives to Keep Your Deep Archives Safe]

Those speeds are high enough that the startup is claiming that they have the fastest SSD in the world. As New Atlas points out, existing high-end hard drives can already hit 2,800 MB/s read speeds, but don’t quite offer the same write specifications as GigaDrive claims.

But, if the speed isn’t enough to take a risk on a startup, the design may sway some photographers. The drive is about 1.5 inches wide and roughly 4.5 inches long. That’s small enough, the company says, to mount onto a camera for recording data directly to the drive, either for recording video or creating backups. The company says the drive can record 8K RAW footage in real time. While the company pictures the drive mounted on a camera, it’s unclear exactly what accessories—or DIY rigging—is necessary for mounting.

[Read: 10 Awesome Portable and Stationary Storage Drives]

Of course, photographers and videographers wouldn’t want to mount a drive prone to failure from bumps and mishaps onto their camera. The company says the SSD has an IP67 rating and can take drops from 10 feet, as well as submersion in 3 feet of water for 30 minutes.

The GigaDrive, so far, however, is only a prototype. The startup is turning to Indiegogo to fund the next steps and they’ve already crushed the original $15,000 goal—as of this writing, it is more than $304,000. Early backers could potentially be one of the first to get the GigaDrive, with prices starting at $153 for 1 TB and $359 for 4 TB—half of the expected retail price.

Crowd-funding and purchasing an item that hasn’t yet been mass produced, of course, comes with a much higher risk. Besides only existing as a prototype, the Indiegogo is also GigaDrive’s first campaign. If the startup is successful, however, the small but fast and durable drive could have big potential for photographers.

The post GigaDrive’s External SSD: “Breaking Speed Records” appeared first on Rangefinder.

In case you missed it, some new product releases have just been announced, including two new LED Monolights from NanLight and MAC Group USA, and a full-frame 100-400mm lens from Sigma. There’s also an alert from Sony about it SD memory cards in the SF-M series, SF-M series TOUCH specification, and SF-G series TOUGH specification.

NanLite Forza LED Monolights

NanLite and MAC Group USA just announced two new LED monolights: the NanLite Forza 60B (above) and the NanLite Forza 200.

[Read: Your Illustrated Guide to 5 Strobes and When to Use Them]

Both lights are built around a Chip-on-Board (COB) LED module. The bicolor Forza 60B, an update to the Forza 60, now offers variable color temperatures from 2700K to 6500K while the Forza 200 is daylight balanced at 5600K.

At 1.8 pounds and a diminutive footprint of 7.6 x 4.1 x 3.2 inches, the Forza 60B is highly portable (and comes with its own carry case and a reflector). Multiple power options include the bundled AC adapter, a 14.8w V-mount style battery, or two Sony NP-F series battery with an optional battery grip.

Despite its size, the light’s output is powerful (up to 5560 Lumens). And a series of 12 special effects are pre-programmed on the unit (CCT Loop, iNT Loop, Storm, TV, Explosion and more). In addition to the NanLite modifiers, an options Bowens mount adapter is available. Keep an eye out for a projection attachment, which can be used like a Gobo to, for example, put a pattern on the background during an interview. The 60B is also now firmware updateable.

The Forza 200 is brighter than the Forza 60B but smaller than the Forza 300 and 500 models. It has a Bowen’s style mount so you have a wide range of modifiers to choose from. And, when you want to use an umbrella, the unit comes with a dedicated umbrella mount. Eleven special effects are pre-programmed into the unit and, like the 60B, there’s a trio of power options: AC adapter, 14.8V V-mount battery and 26V V-mount battery. The Forza 200 comes with a reflector, COB protector, light stand clamp, AD adapter and carry case.

Prices: $319 (Forza 60B), $699 (Forza 200). Pre-orders are being accepted now; ship date TBD.
nanliteus.com

Sigma Full-Frame 100-400mm Lens

Sigma just announced its first ultra-telephoto zoom lens for full-frame mirrorless cameras. The Sigma 100-400mm F/5.-6.3 DG DN OS (above) is available for L-mount and E-mount cameras. This is the fifth Sigma DG DN lens for full-frame mirrorless cameras and features a quiet stepping motor and four-stops of image stabilization. Add pitch and yaw axis stabilization when the lens is mounted to a camera with in-body stabilization. The lens measures 3.4 x 7.8 inches and weighs around 40 ounces and is constructed of 22 elements in 16 groups with 9 rounded diaphragm blades. Look for the lens on July 10 for $949.

[Read: 17 Powerful Lenses for Portrait Photographers]

At the same time, Sigma announced a new USB Dock UD-11 for Sigma L-Mount and Canon EF-M Mount mirrorless lenses. The dock will be available on July 10 for $59.

Two new teleconverters (TC-1411 and TC-2011) were also announced with magnification specs of 1.4x and 2x, respectively. The teleconverters are dust- and splash-proof.

Prices: $949 (Sigma 100-400mm lens), $399 (the TC-1411), $429 (the TC-2011). Available July 10.
sigmaphoto.com

Sony SD Memory Card Replacement Program

In June, Sony put out an alert about Sony SD memory cards in the SF-M series, SF-M series TOUCH specification, and SF-G series TOUGH specification. Recorded data on the card may be damaged or data may not be recorded correctly when shooting video on a camera (compatible with video speed class V60/V90) in video speed class mode.

Sony is offering free replacements for the affected SD cards from June 11, 2020 through March 31, 2022 (subject to the card’s limited warranty). For more information about the replacement program and how to check if your memory card is affected, please visit the company’s website.
sony.com

The post New from NanLite and Sigma, plus Sony Card Replacement appeared first on Rangefinder.

Desktop Storage

Editor’s Choice: Drobo 8D  

This is the first Drobo drive to incorporate new “Intelligent Volume Management” technology that lets you control how data is handled across different drives. For instance, you can create volumes as large as 128TB even if you have a 2TB drive so that you can add additional storage to the volume without having to format it. A dedicated SSD slot lets you establish a hot cache for quickly accessing data, and there’s a battery backup to protect data stored in your cache. You can outfit the drive’s eight bays with HDD and SSD memory up to 256TB and connect via Thunderbolt 3.

Price: $1,299
drobo.com

[A Photographer’s Guide to Computers and Software in 2019]

Lacie 2big

The dual-bay 2big can be configured in capacities up to 28TB using HDD or SSD memory. It offers a pair of Thunderbolt 3 ports, SD and CF card slots, a USB 3.0 hub and a DisplayPort. The 2big drive includes Rescue Data Recovery Services, a data recovery service you can access for the length of your five-year warranty. 

Price: $649+
lacie.com

[How to Back Up Your Digital Photos]

Synology DiskStation DS1019+

This five-bay NAS drive can accept both HDD and SSD memory and supports several RAID levels (JBOD, 0, 1, 5, 6, 10). You can configure it for up to 70TB of memory or add a second expansion bay to push storage to 140TB. It boasts a quad-core processor and upgradable memory to 8GB, plus dual M.2 NVMe SSD slots so you can create an SSD cache for storing frequently accessed data without occupying the main drive bays you’re using for longer-term storage. 

Price: $650 (diskless)
synology.com

QNAP TR-004

The TR-004 includes software for controlling RAID settings and supports JBOD, 0, 1, 5 and 10 RAID levels across its four drive bays. Its hard drives (or SSDs) are hot-swappable and can be locked in place to prevent accidental removal. Select QNAP NAS drives can use the TR-004 as an expansion storage drive to increase your digital carrying capacity. The hard drives are not included. It connects via USB-C. 

Price: $198
qnap.com

[How to Edit Your Wedding Films Like a Pro]

Promise Pegasus32 R8

With a pair of Thunderbolt three ports and eight drives bays, the Pegasus32 R8 can tackle everything from long-term archiving to 4K (and beyond) video editing. It offers multiple RAID options and a maximum capacity up to 112TB.  Included ChronoSync backup software enables you to clone your drives, sync files between computers and store files in the cloud. 

Price: TBD
promise.com

[5 Things To Know Before Switching From Digital to Film]

Portable Storage

Editor’s Choice: SanDisk Extreme 1TB microSDXC Card  

If you need to store hours of drone or action-cam footage, SanDisk’s giant microSD card is right up your alley. The card offers transfer speeds of up to 160MB/s and write speeds of up to 90MB/s for UHS-I speeds. If you own an Android device, the card is A2-certified so it can load apps to save space on your mobile device. RescuePRO data recovery software is also included.

Price: $450
sandisk.com

[Why Mobile Shooting Isn’t a Threat to the Photo Industry]

Sony SF-M TOUGH SD Cards

If your photography has you pushing the extremes of climate and weather conditions, then Sony’s Tough series of SD cards are for you. The cards conform to the UHS-II specification, so they’re suitable for 4K video recording and feature an exterior design that’s 18 times stronger than your standard SD card. The cards are waterproof and dustproof, and are speed-rated to deliver read speeds of 277MB/s and write speeds of 150MB/s. They’re available in 64GB, 128GB and 256GB capacities.

Price: $71.99 +
sony.com

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Lacie Rugged RAID Shuffle

The Shuttle has a streamlined designed while retaining the Rugged series’ durability. The drive can withstand falls from as high as 4 feet and is water and dust resistant. You can connect via Thunderbolt 3/USB-C or USB 3.0 and enjoy transfer speeds of 250MB/s. The drive’s digital contents are secured behind AES-256 hardware encryption. You have 8TB of storage space that can be set to RAID 0 or 1. 

Price: $530
lacie.com 

[What Does It Really Take to Photograph Adventure Elopements?]

Angelbird AV PRO CFast

With CFast becoming a defacto standard for video cameras, Angelbird’s 1TB card can cope with the demanding needs of cinematographers. It can deliver a sustained read and write speed of 550Mb/s with bursts hitting 560Mb/s. It’s X-ray and magnetic proof and complies with the CFast 2.0 specification. 

Price: $900
angelbird.com

[Filmmaker Alex Douglas on How to Make Award-Winning Wedding Cinematography]

Lexar Professional SL100 Pro

This is an ultra-compact SSD drive sold in 500GB and 1TB capacities and features 256-bit AES encryption. You can hit read speeds up to 950MB/s and write speeds up to 900MB/s via the drive’s USB-C connection. A Type C cable and a C-to-A adapter cable are included. Also included is DataVault Lite software to protect the drive’s contents behind passwords. 

Price: $190+
lexar.com 

[Printers, Papers and Custom Art Options for Photographers]

The post 10 Awesome Portable and Stationary Storage Drives appeared first on Rangefinder.

Synology DiskStation DS1019+

Drive Bays: Five (expandable to 10)
Drive Types: HDD, SSD
Connectivity: NAS (1GbE), two USB 3.0
RAID Levels: JBOD, 0, 1, 5, 6, 10
Maximum Capacity: 70TB or 140TB (with expansion bays)

Special Features: With a quad-core processor and upgradable memory to 8GB, the DiskStation is robust enough for speedy file transfers and 4K video editing. Thanks to its dual M.2 NVMe SSD slots, you can create an SSD cache for storing frequently accessed data without occupying the main drive bays you’re using for longer-term storage. With Synology’s Active Backup Suite, you can back up Windows computers and servers, VMware virtual machines, and Office 365 and G Suite apps to a centralized location. You can also stream videos to connected TVs and use the included Moments photo organizing software to sort through images.

Price: $650 (diskless)
synology.com

WD My Book Duo

Drive Bays: Zero
Drive Types: HDD
Connectivity: Two USB 3.0 (hubs), one USB C (3.1) port
RAID Levels: JBOD, 0, 1
Maximum Capacity: 20TB

Special Features: This desktop drive offers speeds up to 360MB/s and supports 256-bit AES encryption and password protection using included security software. It’s formatted for Windows PCs out of the box but can be reformatted for Mac operating systems.

Prices: starting at $260
wd.com

G-Technology G-SPEED Shuttle T3

Drive Bays: Four
Drive Types: HDD
Connectivity: Two Thunderbolt 3 ports
RAID Levels: 0, 1, 5, 10
Maximum Capacity: 56TB

Special Features: Fast enough to edit up to 8K resolution video, the Shuttle features a design that’s equally at home in the field or in the studio. You can daisy-chain up to five additional Thunderbolt devices to the Shuttle. It’s preformatted for RAID 5 but its hardware RAID controller let’s you switch settings with ease. 

Prices: starting at $1,800
g-technology.com

Highpoint RocketStor 6314B

Drive Bays: Four
Drive Types: HDD, SSD
Connectivity: Two Thunderbolt 3 ports
RAID Levels: JBOD, 0, 1, 5, 6, 10
Maximum Capacity: 56TB

Special Features: While it has a processor for hardware RAID control, you can also access a browser-based console to make drive configurations and receive alerts on drive status (alerts can also be sent via email). Hard drives are hot-swappable using an accessory tray.

Prices: starting at $529
highpoint-tech.com

Promise Pegasus3 R8

Drive Bays: Eight 
Drive Types: HDD, SSD
Connectivity: Two Thunderbolt 3, DisplayPort 1.4
RAID Levels: JBOD, 0, 1, 5, 10, 50, 60
Maximum Capacity: 112TB

Special Features: Included ChronoSync backup software enables you to clone your drives, sync files between computers and store files in the cloud. The DisplayPort output can drive monitors up to 8K in resolution. The unit’s drives are hot-swappable. 

Price: tbd
promise.com

Drobo 8D

Drive Bays: Eight
Drive Types: HDD, SSD
Connectivity: Two Thunderbolt 3 ports
RAID Levels: Uses Drobo’s Beyond RAID software
Maximum Capacity: 256TB

Special Features: This is the first Drobo drive to incorporate new “Intelligent Volume Management” technology that lets you control how data is handled across different drives. You can create volumes as large as 128TB even if you have a 2TB drive so that you can add additional storage to the volume without having to format it. A dedicated SSD slot lets you establish a hot cache for quickly accessing data—good for video editing—before moving information to the other drives for longer-term storage. There’s also battery backup to protect data stored in your cache.

Price: $1,299 
drobo.com

OWC ThunderBay 4

Drive Bays: Four
Drive Types: HDD, SSD
Connectivity: Two Thunderbolt 3 ports, one DisplayPort 1.2 port
RAID Levels: 0, 1, 4, 5 1+0
Maximum Capacity: 56TB

Special Features: Included SoftRAID XT software lets you configure RAID levels and monitor drive health with both desktop and email notifications in the event something goes awry. It’s built using a vented enclosure with vibration-dampening, non-skid feet. 

Prices: starting at $480
macsales.com

Areca ARC-8050U3-6

Drive Bays: Six
Drive Types: HDD, SSD
Connectivity: OneUSB 3.1 (Gen 2) port
RAID Levels: JBOD, 0, 1, 3, 5, 6, 10, 30, 50, 60
Maximum Capacity: Drive dependent

Special Features: The Areca’s hardware RAID controller is driven by 2GB of DDR3 RAM so it can cope with the demands of 4K video and other file-heavy workloads. It has an expansion port that allows you to add more storage enclosures (up to a total of 512 hard drives in all). It also works with an optional battery backup module. 

Price: $1,899
aereca.com

QNAP TR-004

Drive Bays: Four
Drive Types: HDD, SSD
Connectivity: One USB-C (3.0)
RAID Levels: JBOD, 0, 1, 5, 10
Maximum Capacity: Drive dependent

Special Features: The TR-004 includes software for controlling RAID settings. Its hard drives are hot-swappable and can be locked into place to prevent accidental removal. Select QNAP NAS drives can use the TR-004 as an expansion storage drive to increase your digital carrying capacity. The hard drives are not included. 

Price: $198
qnap.com

Buffalo TeraStation 3410DN

Drive Bays: Four
Drive Types: HDD, SSD
Connectivity: Two USB 3.0 ports, RJ-45 NAS
RAID Levels: JBOD, 0, 1, 5, 6, 10
Maximum Capacity: 16TB

Special Features: The TeraStation ships with NovaBACKUP software for archiving files. Files stored on the drive can be accessed using the free WebAccess service, and the drive’s contents are encrypted to keep unwanted users from poaching your photos. 

Prices: starting at $460
buffalotech.com

ioSafe 218 NAS

Drive Bays: Two
Drive Types: HDD, SSD
Connectivity: One GbE LAN port, one USB 2.0, two USB 3.0 ports
RAID Levels: JBOD, 0, 1, Synology Hybrid RAID
Maximum Capacity: 24TB

Special Features: While most hard-drive arrays promise file protection for virtual calamities, the ioSafe 218 can protect data from physical ones as well. It’s built to endure fires as hot as 1,550 degrees Fahrenheit for up to 30 minutes and it can be submerged in up to 10 feet of fresh or salt water for 72 hours. It works with an optional floor mount system that lets you bolt the drive to the ground so that thieves can’t make off with it (at least without immense effort). Beyond durability, the drive can transcode a variety of media formats for streaming and it can synchronize data with several cloud backup services. 

Prices: starting at $660 
iosafe.com

Oyen Digital Mobius Pro 5c

Drive Bays: Five
Drive Types: HDD
Connectivity: Two USB-C (3.1, hub and port) 
RAID Levels: 0, 1, 4, 5, 1+0
Maximum Capacity: 70TB

Special Features: The Mobius ships with SoftRAID software for configuring RAID levels and monitoring disk status. Its front drive bay door is lockable.

Prices: starting at $349 
oyendigital.com

Rocstor Rocpro T38

Drive Bays: Eight
Drive Types: HDD, SSD
Connectivity: Two Thunderbolt 3 ports, one mini DisplayPort
RAID Levels: JBOD, 0, 1, 5, 6, 10, 50, 60
Maximum Capacity: 112TB

Special Features: Speedy enough for 4K and 8K video editing, the Rocpro T38 uses a hardware RAID controller and includes a monitoring utility to keep you apprised of the system’s health. The utility also lets you test the quality of third-party drives (both HDD and SSD).

Prices: starting at $1,520
rocstor.com 

Lacie 2big

Drive Bays: Two
Drive Types: HDD, SSD
Connectivity: TwoThunderbolt 3 ports, SD and CF card slots, USB 3.0 hub, DisplayPort
RAID Levels: JBOD, 0, 1
Maximum Capacity: 28TB

Special Features: The 2big drive includes Rescue Data Recovery Services, a service you can access for the length of your five-year warranty. 

Prices: starting at $649
lacie.com

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The post 14 Storage Drives to Keep Your Deep Archives Safe appeared first on Rangefinder.

This article was updated on January 16, 2019.

If there’s one thing we know for certain about digital photography it’s that it’s freed us to take a lot of photos. Trillions, in fact.

But if digital photography has liberated us to be carefree with the shutter, it’s also shackled us with a significant challenge–how to back up your digital photos so that your work and digital memories are available for future generations.

Fortunately, there are a few steps you can take to ensure your digital images last for the long haul.

Step One: Secure Your Files with 3-2-1

The ideal solution, says stock photographer and image preservation expert David Riecks, is known as the “3-2-1 approach.” That’s three copies of a file, stored in two different places with one of those locations off-site.

There are several ways to approach the 3-2-1 standard: you can place one copy of your digital archive in a hard drive stored in a safe, one copy stored in a hard drive that’s connected to a computer and upload a third copy to a cloud service like Google Drive or Dropbox (fulfilling the off-site requirement).

Don’t Miss: Great Hard Drive and Storage Options for Your Digital Photos

The life of any given hard drive is variable, but a study from the cloud provider BackBlaze based on a comprehensive examination of drives used in their servers, found the average to be six to seven years. Migrating data to new drives on a five-year basis may provide extra insurance.

Moving large amounts of data back-and-forth introduces plenty of opportunities for file corruption. Fortunately you can run the equivalent of a “DNA test” on files that are being transferred from one media to another to ensure they arrive intact. Riecks uses a hashing program that creates a checksum file that examines the bit structure of all his archived files. If there were any errors introduced during the transfer process, the checksum file will flag them. AV Preserve offers a variety of file-checking tools, some of them free, to verify the integrity of image collections across storage platforms. If you’re constantly synchronizing files between different hard drives, it makes sense to run one of these checksum programs on occasion to ensure your photo data is being properly preserved.

Don’t Miss: How Pro Photographer Michael Grecco Organizes His Digital Images

One shouldn’t overlook the value of printing as an archival method either, says Henry Wilhelm of Wilhelm Imaging Research. Properly produced and cared for, printed images can last for hundreds of years—far longer than any contemporary digital storage media. The key to ensuring a long-lived print is to use an inkjet printer and store your prints away from the sun. With the right paper and ink combination, you can create inkjet prints that last in excess of 200 years! While it’s not cost-effective to print every photo you take, you should identify the real keepers and make inkjet prints of those and store them in a cool, dry place away from the sun.

Making prints is actually doubly important for those who sell images. A signed and dated print is the currency of the fine art photographic market, Wilhelm says. If you want to sell photographic art, a print is the best vehicle to do it. “You don’t see people spending $5.6 million for a file,” Wilhelm says.

Don’t Miss: How Long Will Photo Prints Last? We Asked the Experts

Step Two: Make Your Files Readable

The second, and more challenging, step is choosing an image file format that has the best chance of being machine-readable in the future. Think of it this way, 30 years ago, no one outside of a few pioneering researchers knew what a “JPEG” was, let alone how to open and view one. When storing your digital photos for the long haul, you need to think carefully about how future generations will access this information. Will the file format you’re using be around and viewable in a generation? It’s not an easy question to answer.

“A primary characteristic for an archival format is that the structure and nature of the format be openly documented and understandable by any reasonable software engineer in the imaging field,” says Tom Hogarty, Director of Product Management at Adobe.

JPEGs and the Adobe-championed DNG format fall under this umbrella. Saving images in either format gives posterity a decent chance at viewing your photos.

“Support for JPEG codecs will remain part of photographic software years from now,” says Peter Schelkens, PR chair for the JPEG Committee. “I do not see main photo software vendors discontinuing support in the near and not so near future. Moreover, the fact that JPEG is an official ISO/IEC and ITU-T standard guarantees that it is well documented and generally accepted. Such standard specifications are well archived and should in principle allow you to decode these images even thousands of years from now, assuming of course we did not move out of the digital era.”

A “plain vanilla TIFF” file, while proprietary, is also very well documented and is Riecks’ archival format of choice. For Riecks, “plain vanilla” means an 8-bit TIFF file in the AdobeRGB color space.

The Library of Congress uses bitmaps in a TIFF wrapper to preserve their digital photo files, says Carl Fleischhauer, project manager in the Office of Strategic Initiatives at the Library of Congress. This approach prioritizes long-term readability over the ability to make future edits to a file, but photographers may want the emphasis on the latter. In that case, formats like DNG make sense, Fleischhauer says.

What our experts were less confident in was the ability of proprietary, camera-specific RAW files to offer as high a degree of longevity and readability. While it makes sense to keep a copy of your RAW file to make future edits on, making DNG or JPEG copies for longer-term storage will give you a best-of-both-worlds approach. (Another great argument for printing your photos: unlike digital files, which will require software and computers to view, prints are always “human readable.”)

Step Three: Preserve the Metadata

Ensuring a photo has accurate and thorough metadata is critical to digital photo preservation, argues Riecks, because it enables future programs to find and organize a photographic collection. It also ensures critical copyright data travels with the images as they migrate from old storage solutions (like hard drives) to new ones that haven’t even been conceived of yet. It also protects images that are discovered online from being deemed “orphaned” works.

A first step to preserving metadata is to make sure it’s input early in your workflow, otherwise you’re “throwing images into a black hole,” Riecks says. Given the sheer number of images you’re likely managing, it makes sense to discriminate. Riecks will batch process all photos with a minimum amount of metadata to ensure basics like location, copyright, time and date, and captioning details are represented. For images he cares more about, he’ll input even more information such as tags, ratings and keywords. Riecks offers a series of detailed keywording guidelines on his site, Controlled Vocabulary.

Like image files, metadata files come in a variety of flavors and not all will be viable as a long-term preserve of valuable image information. Adobe, for instance, backs the open-source XMP (for Extensible Metadata Platform) format. News and photo agencies use the IPTC Photo Metadata Standard, which is built off of Adobe’s XMP and an older IPTC standard to ensure long-term interoperability (it also comes with its own manifesto). Another virtue of using widely available image file formats as opposed to proprietary RAW files is that they support embedding metadata into the image file.

Learn More:

Great Storage Drives to Back Up Your Digital Photos

**Get a Great Deal on Hard Drives & Memory**

The post How to Back Up Your Digital Photos appeared first on Rangefinder.

We’ve known for a while that the SD card had the potential for some very high capacities. We just didn’t know which manufacturer would be the first to ship a 1TB card.

Now we do.

At CES, Lexar announced that it would ship its 1TB Professional 633x SDXC UHS-I card this month.

Ironically, while the card sets a new benchmark for capacity, it won’t be the fastest card on the market. It will deliver read speeds of up to 95MB/s and conform the SD Card Association’s Class 10 (U3, V30) specification.

It’s fast enough for 4K video and roomy enough for literally thousands of high-res images. It’s also not cheap. Lexar set the retail price for the card at $499, though it’s available for pre-order now for $399. 

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**Get Great Deals on Digital Storage Products**

The post Lexar Has a 1TB SDXC Card appeared first on Rangefinder.

Western Digital pulled back the curtain on a few new portable storage products at CES, including a faster version of its SanDisk Extreme PRO Portable SSD drive and a new WD MY Passport GO rugged SSD drive.

The new SanDisk Extreme PRO drives are expected to ship in the Spring and will bring data transfer speeds of up to 1GB/s thanks to their USB 3.1 Gen 2 interfaces. They’ll be sold in 500GB, 1TB and 2TB capacities and are dust and water resistant. Included Secure Access software lets you password protect folders on the drive to keep unwanted users from poaching your goods. Pricing wasn’t announced.

Also due later this year is the WD My Passport Go drive. Available in 500GB and 1TB capacities, the SSD drives sport an integrated USB 3.0 cable and a rubber bumper to protect them from accidental drops. The drives deliver transfer speeds up to 400MB/s and are formatted for Macs and PCs out-of-the-box. Like the Extreme Pro, the My Passport Go will offer password protection capabilities. Pricing wasn’t announced.

Finally, WD also showed off a prototype USB-C drive with a capacity of—wait for it—4TB. It will be the world’s highest-capacity USB flash drive when it materializes. No word, though, on when that will occur.

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**Get Great Deals on Digital Storage Products**

The post WD Unveils New Storage Products at CES appeared first on Rangefinder.

Phase One is releasing the 12th edition of its Capture One software and the new version has a couple of significant changes and new tools.

The big news is that Capture One will now support third-party plugins.

Phase One is releasing a free Capture One Software Developer Kit (SDK) so developers can create unique plugins to extend the functionality and capability of Capture One. The initial plugins won’t run the full gamut of functionality, though–Phase says the SDK will cover image sharing, sending files to external editors and allowing images to be opened in other applications.

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Beyond plugin support, Capture One 12 has a redesigned interface with new icons, a new slider design and larger fonts. The menu system has also been revamped to make tools easier to find and to make the Mac and Windows version of the program identical.

Capture One 12 also features several new masking tools. There’s luminosity masking for creating masks based on the brightness of pixels in an image. These masks can be applied from one image to another. A Linear Gradient mask lets you adjust the size, shape and symmetry of masks for more precise mask adjustments. Finally, there’s a new Radial Gradient mask tool which creates a fall-off effect and can be adjusted and moved just like the Linear Gradient mask.

Other new features in Capture One 12 include:

• Redesigned keyboard shortcut manager: Users can now search by the specific menu command or by the assigned keyboard shortcut.
• Fujifilm film simulation support so that images edited in Capture One will faithfully retain the look of Fujifilm’s film simulations.
• Extended AppleScript support.
• New camera support, including the Nikon Z 7 and 6, Canon’s EOS R and Fujifilm’s GFX 50R.

Capture One 12 is available now for $299. Upgrade pricing starts at $149.

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LaCie will ship several new SSD drives this month that leverage the speedy USB 3.1 Gen 2 specification for rapid file transfers.

The drives feature a USB-C connection and offer a read/write speed of 540/500 MB/s. They’re pre-formatted out-of-the-box to be compatible with both Windows and Mac PCs and include three year’s worth of the Seagate Rescue Data Recovery Plan.

The Portable SSD Drives can endure drops from as high as 6 feet and will be sold in 500GB, 1TB and 2TB capacities for $130, $290 and $580, respectively.

You’ll find be both USB-C and USB-A cables in the box and a free month of Adobe Creative Cloud apps with your purchase.

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Editor’s Choice! SanDisk Extreme Portable SSD

This splash and drop-proof portable SSD features transfer speeds of up to 550MB/s via its USB-C (3.1 Gen 2) connection. The drive ships with a USB-C-to-USB-C cable and a USB-C-to-USB-A adapter.

Price: $130+ (250gb)
sandisk.com

CalDigit T4 Thunderbolt 3 RAID

With four drive bays, the T4 is available in capacities up to 8TB of SSD memory or 32TB when using hard disk drives (HDD). The T4 supports multiple raid levels including 0, 1, 5 and JBOD. You’ll enjoy transfer speeds up to 1,370MB/s when using SSDs or 750MB/s with HDDs. The drive has a DisplayPort so you can attach a 4K monitor and there’s a second Thunderbolt 3 port for daisy-chaining additional peripherals.

Price: $899+ (8tb)
caldigit.com

QNAP TS-328

The TS-328 is a NAS drive with three bays and is one of the first such three-bay drives to support a RAID 5 setting. The drive can transcode H.264 and H.265 video, take snapshots of system status and data to help retrieve deleted data and works with the Qsync app to backup and sync data in real time. It boasts a 1.4GHz processor and 2GB of RAM to speed operation, plus SSD caching to improve performance.

Price: $299 (diskless)
qnap.com

G-Technology G-SPEED Shuttle SSD

If you have the need for speed, the Shuttle SSD supports up to 16TB of SSD memory and Thunderbolt 3 connectivity for transfer rates up to 2,800MB/s. It has a built-in handle and durable construction so you can take it on the road. The drive ships set to RAID 5 out of the box but can be reconfigured to RAID 0, 1, 10 and 50. There are a pair of Thunderbolt 3 ports and eight drive bays.

Price: $5,000+
g-technology.com

OWC ThunderBay 4

The ThunderBay 4 is twice as fast as its predecessor thanks to its Thunderbolt 3 connection, of which there are two for daisy-chaining. It’s sold in capacities up to 48TB and has four drive bays for 3.5- or 2.5-inch drives. It’s pre-configured for RAID 0 but supports additional RAID settings via included software.

Price: $650+ (4tb)
macsales.com

LaCie Rugged Secure

Pairing the durable physical protection of LaCie’s Rugged line of portable drives with Seagate Secure’s AES-256 hardware encryption, the Rugged Secure gives you the best of both worlds in digital defense. Once you disconnect the drive from a computer, it automatically locks the contents behind a password. The drive can survive falls from up to 4 feet, has up to a ton of crush resistance and is water resistant. It connects via USB-C and is sold in 1 and 2TB capacities.

Price: $110+
lacie.com

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