Newer Technologies has added a new drive model to its lineup, the portable Guardian Maximus Mini, a small RAID enclosure that supports 2.5-inch hard and solid-state drives that mirror each other in a plug-and-play, bus powered hardware RAID 1 (or optional RAID 0 mode) with total capacity of 2TB using hard drives (1TB of storage capacity mirrored), or up to 960GB (480GB mirrored) of SSD storage.
The drive is a quad-interface unit with USB2, two Firewire 800 ports (can also be used with Firewire 400) and an eSATA connection, and through its support of SSDs can offer transfer speeds up to 300MB per second. If needed, the drive can be switched to RAID 0 for up to 2TB of storage. The fanless and compact design makes it ideal for “mobile offices” and on-the-go users who nevertheless need constant backup of important data. The drive is Time Machine compatible and is also very light, as little as 1.25 pounds (using SSD drives).
The unit works with legacy and modern Macs as well as Windows-based PCs, and features 16MB per drive of cache. Although the case is bus-powered, an external power adapter is included for use if needed, along with a full set of connecting cables. The brushed aluminum case doubles as a heat dissapator, and the unit has a front-panel LCM control interface that provides visual system status and options for managing the drive. Prosoft Engineering’s Data Backup 3, InTech’s SpeedTools Utilities, Carbon Copy Cloner and NovaStor’s NovaBackup software are also included.
The unit is available through NewerTech’s exclusive distributor, Other World Computing and affiliated retailers. The Guardian Maximus Mini can be sold without drives for $115, or pre-configured with matched hard drives up to 2x1TB for $300. Buyers can also specify matched SSD drives, starting at 2x120GB for $550 up to 2x480GB drives for $1,950.
