Reprinted from a LaCie press release:
LaCie today unveils the Biggest S2S, a five-bay RAID tower capable of reaching interface speeds of 3Gb/s with next generation serial ATA (SATA) technology. With sustained transfer rates of 187MB/s, this compact tower is ideal for fast real-time storage of uncompressed video files thanks to its true SATA II-to-SATA II connection.* Biggest S2S is the second new RAID solution from LaCie in less than a year, offering an extraordinary combination of up to 2.5TB capacity, RAID security and fast throughput at a fraction of the cost for traditional RAID systems.
Biggest S2S can be easily configured to Fast (RAID 0) in which disks are striped together for best performance without redundancy; Safe (RAID 1) in which all data is mirrored on duplicate disks for ultimate redundancy; Safe + Fast, (RAID 0+1) a combination of striping for speed and mirroring for redundancy; Big in which drives are strung together or concatenated and treated as one large volume for maximum storage; or JBOD in which each physical disk is independent and mapped completely to its logical volume.**
"With sustained transfer rates of 187MB/s, Biggest S2S offers the fast throughput needed by video editors," says Emanuela Boila, LaCie Product Manager. "Biggest S2S is the most secure true SATA II-to-SATA II solution available at the lowest price imaginable. Its simple to set up with easily identifiable RAID settings, and video editors or IT administrators can instantly get the extra headroom they need for real-time editing or fast backup."
This all-in-one storage solution comes bundled with the LaCie SATA II 3Gb/s PCI-X Card 4E. Users simply plug the Biggest S2S into this next-generation SATA II 3Gb/s host to achieve sustained transfer rates of up to 187MB/s. Designed with video editors and IT administrators in mind, Biggest S2S satisfies the need for high-volume security and speed at a comparatively cost-effective price.
Features
- Huge scalable capacities of up to 2.5TB
- Supports uncompressed video editing
- Easy setup – simply plug into a SATA host
- Automatic on-line rebuilding
- Comes with the LaCie SATA II 3Gb/s PCI-X Card 4E
- Cross-platform for PC and Mac
Availability
LaCie Biggest S2S will ship in the US beginning July and worldwide in September. All units ship with drives preconfigured to Fast (RAID 0) for immediate use. Biggest S2S comes with necessary cables and the LaCie SATA II 3GB/s PCI-X Card 4E. All Biggest S2S towers include a standard two-year warranty. More information can be found at: http://www.lacie.com.
301030 LaCie Biggest S2S 1.25TB: $1999
301032 LaCie Biggest S2S 2.5TB: $3499
* Rates and storage capacity will vary depending on RAID setting used. Transfer rates of up to 187MB/s can be achieved in Fast configuration (RAID 0) on current Macs. Rates as high as 160MB/s can be achieved in Fast configuration on PC.
** Fast (RAID 0) can only be configured using four drives. A Windows XP partition limitation does not allow the configuration of Big with more than 2TB. This limitation does not exist for Mac OS X.
