Unboxing the Promise Pegasus R6

Ever since Apple the inclusion of Thunderbolt technology on its new MacBook Pro laptops and iMac desktops, we've been waiting eagerly for products that take advantage of the fast and flexible interface. That wait is , with Promise Technology unveiling the newest iteration of its Pegasus R4 and R6 external RAID hard drives. When our own review unit came into the labs, we jumped on the chance to get our first look at the new device.

First known by its Intel development code name of "Light Peak," Thunderbolt technology offers dramatically faster transfer speeds than eSATA or USB 3.0–up to 10Gbps. The port itself looks identical to the Mini-DisplayPort that Apple has used in the past, and the DisplayPort technology is baked into the new interface. Mac owners with DisplayPort-equipped monitors could use the port for an external display, but thus far, there has been nothing on the market that fully utilizes the new interface, and no way to take advantage of the accompanying speeds. The Promise Pegasus R6 is an external RAID hard drive, combining the storage capacity of six 2TB hard disk drives to offer up to 12TB of total storage capacity. Because it supports RAID 0, 1, 5, 50, 6, and 10 configurations, the Pegasus R6 provides several combinations of capacity, speed, and data redundancy.

Designed with professional graphics designers and video editors in mind, the Promise Pegasus R6 (12TB) sells for $1,999. That hefty price tag doesn't actually include a Thunderbolt cable, so you'll need to order the $49, six-foot cable separately through Apple if you want to hook it up.

See the below for all the unboxing details.