Fusion F2QR portable two-drive hardware RAID storage system

Sonnet Technologies has just announced their Fusion F2QR portable two-drive hardware RAID storage system that comes in a tough-as-nails aluminum enclosure which measures roughly the height of two stacked CD cases. Despite being relatively thin, this rather diminutive system will hold a couple of 2.5″ 1TB hard drives, where it draws inspiration from the Fusion F2 which is a portable two-drive RAID SATA storage system.

What’s new to the F2QR would be a built-in hardware RAID controller that allows you to configure the drives, in addition to a quad interface with eSATA, FireWire 800, and USB 2.0 ports that provides additional compatibility and a greater storage capacity.

What kind of performance figures can you expect from the Fusion F2QR? Well, we are looking at up to 160 MB/second read and 100 MB/second write data transfer rates, and since it is bus-powered by a FireWire port, you need not tote around additional power cables on your travels. The rugged aluminum shell ensures the drives inside remain shock- and vibration- isolated so that rough handling is not an issue, and since the aluminum case was specially engineered in a way to transfer away heat efficiently, you need not worry about the noise of a fan. Expect to fork out $569 for this puppy.