Photography News Issue 53

Photography News | Issue 53 | photographynews.co.uk

First tests

Imaging kit First tests We get our hands on the latest kit and share our first impressions – so you know whether or not to add it to your wish list

Reviews by Will Cheung, Kingsley Singleton

G-Technology G -RAIDwith Thunderbolt 3 16TB £911.74

Your photographs are beyond value, whether you are a family snapper, enthusiast or professional, so a fail- safe backup strategy is very much a good thing. Uploading files onto a server or cloud is an option unless your broadband is slow, and if you are working with large files then an external drive hardwired to the computer is preferable. But what if your hard drive goes wrong? Most of us are on traditional hard drives that have moving parts so they do go wrong and while data recovery is possible, that is an expensive option. For peace of mind, perhaps you should consider a RAID, such as G-Tech’s G-RAID, the latest version boasting Thunderbolt 3. It is plug and play for Mac and easily reformatted to exFAT for Windows. Its 16TB capacity is thanks to two 8TB SATA drives. The drives are pre-installed so all you have to do is plug it in and power up. The default set-up is RAID 0 which means that you get 16TB capacity with data being shared (but not backed up) roughly equally on both drives. That is a serious amount of storage but lose one of your disks in RAID0 and you have a big, expensive problem. So, setting up the drive as a RAID 1 is best and will give you

Specs

Prices 8TB £589.57; 12TB £708.98; 16TB £911.74; 20TB £1184.53; 24TB £1459.16 In the box G-RAID with Thunderbolt 3 dual-drive storage system, one Thunderbolt cable (20 Gbps), one USB-C to USB-A cable for backward compatibility (compatible with USB 3.1, 3.0 and 2.0), quick-start guide, power cable, AC power adapter Interfaces Two Thunderbolt 3 ports, one USB-C (USB 3.1 Gen 2) port, one HDMI (HDCP 2.2 supports 4K 60/ HDR Drive speed 7200RPM Transfer rate Up to 500MB/s Compatibility Mac OS 10.12+, Windows® 10, 8.1 (via reformat) Dimensions 25.9x13x9.9cm Weight 3kg Contact g-technology.com

Above The G-Tech RAID comes complete with two 8TB SATA disks pre-installed. You can set it up to get 16TB of storage or 8GB in RAID 1 configuration so the two disks have the same data.

USB-A cable and then it works with USB 3.1 gen, 3.0 and 2.0 ports but obviously not at the pace of TB3. Turn the unit on and the big G on the front flashes red and white and then constant white after 20 seconds; then the disk’s icon appears on the desktop. If you get a red flashing G you’ve got trouble. Drop down the front and you’ll see the two drive caddies. Replacing drives (should you need to) is easy. I’ve been using the 16TB model over the past three months as my everyday drive and I think it is a compliment to the drive that I haven’t really noticed it. It just sits on my desk doing its job without fuss and histrionics and while you get a little noise, it isn’t much, and the lit white G is reassuring. Having 8TB of storage on tap knowing that all the files are duplicated is a great feeling, and that is enough to store my last ten years of photography if I wanted. Looking ahead, with ever bigger files and 4K video shooting, that storage capacity is going to be needed. WC

greater peace of mind. To do this means downloading and installing the G-RAID with Thunderbolt Configurator app. The process is quick, and while your capacity is halved, what you have is the same data put onto both drives. If one goes kaput, the other is your backup. SATA drives are standard too so you just slip in a replacement and the drive makes a new copy automatically from the working disc. In RAID 0 and 1 configurations the two disks appear on the computer as one icon. If you want them to appear as separate disks, the configurator app has the JBOD (Just A Bunch of Disks) option and then you can back up manually. TheG-RAIDhas twoThunderbolt 3, one HDMI and one USB-C (3.1 gen 2) ports. Many new computers have TB3; if you have, then you can enjoy superfast data transfer (up to 400MB/s on the 16TB version). TB3 can also charge devices, carry video, audio and power at the same time. If don’t have TB3 yet, no problem, just use the supplied USB-C to

Verdict

The G-Technology G -RAID with Thunderbolt 3 is a wonderful piece of kit that performs really well and in my time with it, totally reliably. It is, of course, a significant investment, but for peace of mind it rates as good value for money. If you don’t need the speed of TB3, G-Tech has USB/FireWire 800 and Thunderbolt 2 RAID products in its range.

Pros Reliable, fast, interface options, solid build, great look Cons Price