Avoid storage woes with G-Technology’s new speedy 8-bay Thunderbolt 2 RAID system

For the working photographer, storage is a very important concern. With ever-rising megapixel numbers and bit-depths, storage solutions need to offer a lot of space for current as well as older projects. On top of that, the ideal storage solution also includes an option to back-up important data.

G-Technology has been creating storage solutions for professionals for several years now, and with every new generation their products are getting more powerful. The company's latest device is no exception to that trend. Called the G-Speed Studio XL, it's a hard-disk rack that comes with eight bays that can each take drives with up to 8 TB capacity, for a total maximum of 64 TB of data storage.

G-Technology's products are designed not only to look good when being used a with an Apple computer, they also support Apple's Thunderbolt 2 standard for high data transfer rates. (And Thunderbolt ports are arriving on PCs now, too, so if you're a Windows-based photographer or video editor, these new drives could work for you as well.) The G-Speed Studio XL can, depending on its configuration, shuffle data at incredibly high speeds of up to 1350 MB/sec. -- enough to ensure a quick workflow even with such demanding tasks as 4K video editing.

 

At this year's Photokina, G-Technology showed off the variety of its storage solutions.

But even if you're "just" a "regular" photographer, the device might be interesting for you, as it can be set to work in RAID modes 0, 1, 5, 6, 10, 50 and 60. What this means is that you'll have an ultra-safe option for storing massive amounts of data, and won't have to worry should one of the disks fail for some reason. 

The G-Technology Studio XL 8-bay storage system will be available "soon" according to the manufacturer, and will come with pre-installed disks with a total storage space of 24, 32, 40, 48 or 64 TB. Prices will start at $3,600 for the 24 TB model and go all the way up to $7,000 for the 64 TB model. Mind though that these prices include a 3-year warranty, something you won't get with most cheaper storage options.

If you opt for one of the smaller versions of the Studio XL, upgrading will be no problem as the drives can be easily exchanged, making the system future-proof.

(via Photography Bay)