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So you want SSD-like performance but you don't want to shell out big bucks, what do you do? Well, one answer is to wait a few months for prices to continue dropping.

Taiwan-based RAIDON, however, has another answer, and it comes in the form of its RAID-ready SSD enclosure.

With the lid closed, it almost looks like a 2.5in SSD, but, it clearly isn't. This here is an SSD enclosure that'll house two CompactFlash cards and run them in RAID 1 or or NRAID modes. It'll feature both IDE and SATA interfaces when it lands in August 2008, but pricing remains unknown.

The enclosure's key features, as listed by RAIDON, are as follows:

• Support SATA or IDE host interface
• The same size as a 2.5-inch SATA/IDE hard drive
• With two replacement CF card slots
• Support RAID 1 mode for data backup & NRAID mode for capacity expansion
• Durable operation, high/low temperature resistance, lower power consumption and shock prevention help for working in rigorous environmental condition

We're guessing RAIDON tried to hide the fact that it's using Transcend CF cards in the above image, but it hasn't done a very good job. There's no indication as to how well the enclosure will perform in real-world tests, but that'll all depend on the CF cards used.

All sounds rather useful, unfortunately, CF cards don't come cheap. If you're looking to get into SSD territory, you might want to throw two 16GiB cards into this and they're currently retailing at around £94 each. With SSD prices tumbling, this one might be a little too late.

Official press release: RAIDON Reveals New IDE Interface RAID ready SSD Enclosure

Official product page: RAIDON.com.tw

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