CeBIT 2014 might be wholly aimed at the B2B crowd, but that doesn't stop some vendors from showing off consumer PC components-- such as Plextor and the M6 SSD lineup launch.

The first M6 offering is the M6S, a combination of Toshiba 19nm NAND flash and Plextor firmware within a 2.5-inch format. It promises sequential read/write speeds of up to 520/440MB/s, and random read/write of 94000/80000 IOPS.

It has a smaller variant with the M6M, an identical (spec-wise) drive in the mSATA format.

For high-performance desktops Plextor offers the the M6e, a PCI-express SSD the company claims eliminates SATA III performance bottlenecks. It delivers sequential read/write speeds of up to 770/625MB/s and random read/write speeds of 105000/100000 IOPS. Being an AHCI device it requires no additional drivers.

Sony and Panasonic team up in long-term digital storage development and announce "Archival Disc," a high-capacity optical disc format promising to initially hold up to 300GB of data.

The discs will be the same size as current Blu-ray discs, and should be readable for at least 50 years with 3 storage layers per side. According to the two companies larger capacity and higher playback quality is archived via crosstalk cancellation and high-order Partial Response Maximum Likelihood (PRML) technologies.

Aiding long-term storage applications further is the discs having no need for constant temperature or humidity, as well as reduced power consumptions compared to magnetic tape formats.

Western Digital expands the My Cloud personal cloud NAS range with the My Cloud EX2, a 2-bay solution delivering up to 8TB of storage for consumer, prosumer and workgroup customers.

Sitting between the 1-bay My Cloud and the 4-bay EX4, the EX2 is a RAID 1 storage device. As the name suggest customers can set it up as a cloud storage device for online access to files and media via My Cloud app, or simply hook it up to local Pcs for ethernet-based backup via WD SmartWare Pro or Time Machine (for Mac users).

It can also act as an FTP or P2P download server. A USB 3.0 port allows the addition of further storage capacity via external HDD.

Toshiba upgrades the HG5.d 2.5-inch SSD family with the HG6, a consumer-class SSD module lineup in a variety of form factors ideal for applications ranging from ultrabooks to data centre servers.

The HG6 drives are the first to use Toshiba 19nm MLC NAND flash, and carry the company's own controller and firmware. The interface of choice is SATA-6Gb/s, and form factors include 2.5-inch (7/9mm heights), mSATA and M.2 (single-sided, dual-sided).

Performance clocks at up to 534MB/s sequential read and 482MB/s sequential write.

According to IDC global personal and entry-level storage (PELS) shipments reach 75.2 million units with 13.6% growth in a "strong" 2013, while revenues are up by 6.2% to $6.7 billion.

PELS covers storage solutions with 1-2 (personal) to 3-12 (entry-level) configurations aimed at individuals, small/home offices and SMBs.

The year does end on a slightly sour note, since Q4 2013 shipments drop by -4.2% Y-o-Y to 20.4m units as revenues total $1.8bn with a -10.3% Y-o-Y decline.

"The PELS market finished 2013 strong even with the difficult comparison with a strong H2 2012," IDC says. "Q4 2012 showed exceptionally strong growth as the PELS market was in full recovery mode after the Thailand floods, which led to HDD shortages. Despite the resulting slight decline in Q4 2013, the PELS market was able post Y-o-Y growth for all of 2013. This continued annual growth is driven by on-going consumer education, better marketing by vendors, and progressing product evolution to address items such as higher capacity, faster transfer speeds, and mobile device integration."

SanDisk announces the Extreme Pro SDHC/SDXC UHS-II card-- the fastest SD card from the company yet, with write speeds reaching up to 250MB/s and transfers speeds of 280MB/s.

Being UHS Speed Class 3 (U3) enabled the card is handles 4K video recording, allowing for sustained video capture of 30MB/s. The card also optimised for next generation DSLRs and pro video camera supporting the UHS-II standard.

“The Extreme PRO SD UHS-II card shatters the existing barrier of UHS-I limitations, delivering speeds up to 3x faster than current cards,” SanDisk says. “Our goal is to deliver the fastest memory cards on the market, enabling next generation cameras to take advantage of new levels of performance. This is another example of our legacy of innovation and technology leadership in the digital imaging and video industries.”

CES is a good place to find all kinds of quirky hardware, so here's one such device from LaCie-- the Sphère, an external HDD inside a shiny silver, err, sphere. As one might expect.

Mind, it's not just any silver sphere. The (steel) case is designed and hand-crafted by French silversmith Christofle, who stamps, silver-plates and polishes at Yainville, Normandy workshop.

Meanwhile the actual drive features 1TB of storage and connects to PCs and Macs via USB 3.0. It is bus-powered and the package also includes a variety of LaCie software, namely Private-Public password protection, Backup Assistant and Eco Mode.

Samsung claims an industry first-- the 1TB capacity member of the newly launched 840 EVO mSATA SSD portfolio, promising high density and performance in a format approximately 25% of standard 2.5-inch SSDs.

“With the new mSATA SSD line-up offering up to 1TB of memory and an optimized software tool, we expect that consumers can enjoy high storage volume and performance on ultra-slim notebooks besides desktop PCs,” the company says.

The 840 EVO uses 128Gb NAND flash based on 10nm process technology, with the 1TB model using 4 flash memory packages (each with 16 layers of 128Gb chips) within a package 3.85mm thick and 8.5g heavy.