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"G-Technology Evolution Drive\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nGetting the Most out of Thunderbolt\nThe G-Tech Evolution system is designed to take better advantage of the high capacity of Thunderbolt connections. The dock can house two modular drives, and those drives can have transfer rates up to 250 megabytes per second (MBps) each. With two docks, each with a high-speed drive, the Evolution can achieve speeds close to 1 gigabyte per second (GBps).\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nG-Dock ev, Rear\nThe back of the dock is simple, with two Thunderbolt ports and a jack for the power cord.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nEvolution Family\nHere the G-Dock ev is seen with two standard-speed G-Drive ev drives and a high-speed G-Drive ev Plus (top).\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nG-Dock ev, No Drives\nThe \"doors\" for the drives are segmented to accommodate the two different sizes (the high-speed drives are thicker).\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nDrive Connectors\nThe drives connect to the dock via SATA ports, and can function as standalone drives via the USB 3.0 connector.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nG-Dock ev, With Drives\nThe G-Dock ev comes packaged with two standard G-Drive ev drives for $749.95.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nG-Dock ev, Front\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nEvolution System, Alternate Angle\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nVideo and photography pros love G-Technology's hard drives. They'd probably say it's because of their performance, but it's really because they're designed to match the look of Apple's Mac Pro desktops. But with the company's new Evolution system, no one would accuse them of fibbing.\nG-Tech created the Evolution to take full advantage of the high-speed Thunderbolt connector that's been standard on all Mac computers (except, oddly, the Mac Pro) since 2011. Thunderbolt tends to transfer data at about 1 gigabyte per second (GBps) in real-world setups, but a typical hard-disk drive will max out at around 150 megabytes per second (MBps), due to physical limits (those disks can only spin so fast) \u2014 so you can never really use all of that bandwidth.\nUnless of course you have the Evolution, which cleverly gets around the limit by using multiple drives. The system consists of the G-Dock ev, which has two bays for modular drives. Each G-Drive ev drive slips in and connects to the dock via a high-throughput SATA interface, and it has a USB 3.0 port for use as a standalone drive. Those drives max out at 136 MBps, but if you connect two, you'll be able to transfer data at double that speed.\nThat's still nowhere close to Thunderbolt, but there's more. G-Tech also offers the G-Drive ev Plus, a larger drive that actually contains two disks. That gives it a transfer rate of 250 MBps, and two of those will get you 500 GBps. To take full advantage of the 1 GBps of Thunderbolt, you'll need to get another Evolution dock with two more G-Drive ev Plus drives, but the system supports this.\nSEE ALSO: Seagate's New Hybrid Drives Promise Speed at a Low Price\n\nOf course, the high speed would only apply for situations where you don't need to duplicate the data or need to take advantage of the individual drives' portability (in other words, RAID-0 setups). But it's not a bad trick to get high performance out of old-school hard drives, as opposed to solid-state drives (SSDs).\nThat extra speed is going to cost you, though. The G-Dock ev sells for $749.95 with two 1TB G-Drive ev modules (Thunderbolt cable included). If you want the high-speed G-Drive ev Plus, each will cost you $349.95. While the G-Dock and standard G-Drive ev will be available in May, the G-Drive ev Plus won't be available till summer.\nG-Tech says Evolution isn't just another product \u2014 it represents the company's new storage \"ecosystem\" for both pros and enthusiasts. Future enhancements could include more purchase options (such as packaging the high-speed drives with the dock), more connectivity (Thunderbolt is the dock's sole connector) or even SSD modules. No firm plans yet, though.\nBesides the Evolutions system, G-Tech is also announcing the G-Drive Pro With Thunderbolt, a standalone drive that achieves \"sustained\" data rates of 480 MBps. How does it do that? The company isn't saying, but our money is on a similar multi-disk system as the Evolution, just within one device. That product will be available summer for $699.95 (2TB) or $849.95 (4TB), cable included).\nYou can't help but love the design of G-Technology's drives, and more speed is definitely welcome now that the age of 4K video is upon is. They're a little pricey, certainly, but you get what you pay for.\nHow do you like G-Tech's new drives? Let us know in the comments.\nImages by Mashable"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2013/04/08/g-tech-evolution/>