Sans Digital MobileSTOR MS2UTN+B 50 Enclosure - 2 Bay SATA to eSATA, USB 2.0 RAID 0 / 1, SAFE33

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1. RAID1 disks can be read like separately like a conventional disk (not true with our $$$Dell RAID controller).2. RAID1 rebuilds are as straightforward as removing the bottom drive and sliding in a new one particular. Because the disk is conventionally formatted this is a super-easy way to get a backup.3. Works without having software program. If server fails move to yet another computer and read your information!four. Audible alarm if drive fails (amazingly, $$$ Dell Perc six controller lacks this)five. Software can monitor the drive even though setup is software-cost-free.six. In Raid 1 you can use 1 drive at 1st (top bay). When you add the lower drive it will mirror it automatically. You can take a drive that currently has data, get it recognized in the best bay, then add a lower drive. RAID 1 doneő. eSATA is quick, USB is convenient, both operate fine.8. Metal work and tray top quality is high. 1. Poor documentation. Documentation from Silicon Image web site is much better than Sans documentation. Sans documentation wrongly describes the LED indications. Constantly push reset when you change anything.2. One particular unit froze through a firmware update (don't bother with the update, the delivered firmware is fine. A second unit had a flaky alarm on/off button. Sans Digital folks had been readily available on the phone, & RMA's went without having incident.three. If you have many units on 1 machine the Silicon Image computer software only sees one unit. I believe this could be because Sans Digital does not load the enclosure firmware with a exclusive serial number. All the units we have purchased have the same serial in the box serial in the computer software. The other units still operate, they just cannot be monitored in computer software. Backups!!!! Soon after fighting flaky and pricey Backup computer software for ages, it is easier to just swap the bottom drive and let the unit make a mirror. Since the drives are conventionally formatted the mirrors/backups are easy to read on any Windows machine. With 1TB drives the mirror takes 5 hours followed by a five hour verify. That is over 50MB/s, and the array is obtainable in the course of the rebuild. Swap drives at the finish of the day and you have no-hassle takeaway backups.The RAID1 box looks to the laptop or computer like any other SATA drive it so 'should' be simple to use these to put the OS in RAID 1 with no fussing in bios, etc. We will try this when we re-do our server.These are so transparent and hardware independent (if the box or personal computer fails just plug one particular of the RAID1 drives into something and off you go!) that we no longer use the fancy Perc six RAID controller in our brand new Dell Poweredge 2900 III. Don't bother with complicated RAID five. Drives are low cost. IT labor is expensive!

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Functions wonderful with 2 1TB drives. I have it in RAID1 and configured it employing the software program. I had the problem of only seeing 8GB accessible utilizing eSATA so I plugged it in via USB and saw the entire drive. Set it up via Windows and went back to eSATA and haven't had issues due to the fact. Seems to copy extremely rapidly too. The documentation could be better and so could their web page. It was fine for downloading software for the unit, but I can\'t figure out how to upgrade the firmware or if there is any need to have to upgrade it. There are firmware upgrades for goods comparable to it, but seems to be operating with no errors. I don't fully grasp why it takes so extended to initialize the RAID1. I can recognize if it was a RAID5, but it's just a mirror so why the long initialization? I've setup several hardware RAID0ǗǛ in my years and RAID1 by no means took extended at all. Great unit though and I would invest in a different one particular or upgrade to the RAID5 if needed in the future.

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Appears to be created of superior good quality materials (not all plastic like some other people). Came with ESATA cables! The item came in some sort of bracket to safeguard it during shipping which was a great concept as not to bend it if shipping was rough.I have had the item going on a couple of weeks now, and every thing is fantastic so far. Fairly Loud - If in a quiet space, this thing is fairly loud. But my Pc is a lot louder that sits above this factor, so I don't care either way.Slow Raid Construct - Building two x 2TB drives in Raid 1 took nearly an entire day. But as soon as it was done these items are swift and I am incredibly content with the Transfer speeds more than ESATA-1 EGG - Poor Documentation - Its sad when a company invests in study and development of a great product, but hire an individual not fluent in English to write the manual for the item. Manual is in Poor English and very lacking on directions and descriptions of the product. The Raid dial was set to on mine when I received. I was able to see the quite tiny arrow on the actual gray dial you turn and set this to RAID 1 (Mirror) . It was very really tiny arrow but it was there none the much less. Not sure if I got a newer version then others but I did have 1. Seems to not have any difficulties with the 2 drives i bought along side of this factor (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822145473) HITACHI Deskstar 7K3000 HDS723020BLA642 Ɛf12115) 2TB

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Cost, Simplicity and support Lackluster directions and poor design of mode dial. As others have mentioned, the arrow on the rotary dial is practically impossible to identify but is truly there. It would have also helped to know that a Secure mode volume needs a lengthy rebuild and verify prior to you can make your partition and format the drive. If you attempt to get ahead of the rebuild you will only cause problems for oneself. bottom line, it works as created but could use some greater directions and labeling.

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(I bought two of the silver edition from Newegg, but it has been discontinued so I'll write my assessment here) The unit is little and properly designed so that it doesn’t take up much more space than necessary. I adore the truth that it has on-board power, NO power brick! :) Installing drives was straightforward ƒ x WD10EADS 1TB). Prior to power up I set the selector switch to Safe. Once powered on I pressed the reset button and somewhere among 30 seconds and a minute later the rebuild approach started and ran for just under 10 hours. The documentation (as others have mentioned) is a bit scarce, but I followed the recommendation of george (see: Solid Product) and factors went really well. In my case the selector switch was pre-set to position ŕ" (JBOD). You would feel it would ship with the switch in the very same position each and every time, but not these devices. I ordered two and when I checked the second 1 was set for Ŕ" (BIG). Do your self a favor, download the 57XX SteelVine Manager Tool and install it, then read the manual by means of chapter 5 prior to you do anything. It will give you a window into what this device is performing so you don’t have to guess what the flashing lights mean. It also gives you a log file so you can read what’s been happening with the drive. Note: The PSU fan will most likely show up as poor, but it is not. You will need to edit the UserConfig.xml file and alter the "PwSupFanSpeedLo" setting from the default to 蔯". Read the help file chapter 13 for a lot more facts (in SteelVine Manager press CTRL+H for the manual).

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The create top quality feels incredibly superior and the unit is somewhat attractive. The 1st unit I received only had 1 drive tray, rather of the 2 that it was supposed to come with. When I got a replacement unit, it seemed to function without having a dilemma for about 2 months; at that point, I turned it on and it was dead. The energy LED lit up, but there was no drive activity and the drive was no longer recognized on my machine. This looked to be a good interim resolution for me to shop the a variety of and precious media that I have collected over the years (photos, video, music). Regrettably, I have been burned by these guys twice now and don't program to give them an additional opportunity to take my income or destroy numerous years worth of memories. Manufacturer Response:All MS2UTN+B units come with two trays. If you are missing accessories, please contact us for missing part.This is a isolated energy supply failure and you are covered by one year part and labor warranty. Please get in touch with us tech@sansdigital.com or 626-322-3868 for technical assistant.Thanks.

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Nice case construction, comes with eSATA bracket, cables, and so on. Very good price-based on specs Oh boy that little mode switch on the back, how I loath you! There is no visual indicator what is selected (plus mine was way off-center), the only way I figured it out was to use the Silicon Image software to detect it.As soon as I figured out the mode, I could not get the case to show more than 2TB of storage over USB (I'm utilizing 2x2TB Hitachi drives). I updated the firmware (shipped with 1 from 2007), which was a royal pain due to the fact Sans Digital does not publish it on their web page (why?) and you want to get in touch with their technical support team Ƙ-5, M-F) to get the link. Tried several versions of Windows, Mac, but over USB I could in no way get a lot more than 2TB to appear. Lastly gave up and tried eSATA... RAID - 6 TB shows up and won't format properly, Spanning - 8 TB shows up and won't format. JBOD showed 2x2TB drives, so I was able to develop a Windows Spanning partition and it finally worked! Wow, what a hassle... Oh and the rear fan makes a small clicking noise (cheap fan noise). If I had any notion how a lot time I would have wasted on this product I never ever would have bought it. In the end the only reason I didn't return it was since the SATA cables inside my Poweredge T410 wouldn't reach the PCIe controller card appropriately that I was employing (default cables in the Poweredge combine the SATA and Power into 1 connection so employing 3rd party cables is a bit of a discomfort). Manufacturer Response:Thank you purchasing our merchandise.The unit is shipped with the firmware that support over 2TB. On the other hand, there is not adequate data of how 8TB and 6TB show up working with two bay unit. Please get in touch with us at 1-800-980-1988 or e-mail us at tech@sansdigital.com to resolve your present concerns.

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Nice paperweight DOSNT Function! Manufacturer Response:Thank you for purchase our item. Most of the widespread difficulty customer is do not press reset when RAID mode is set and do not format/partition the drive in their OS in other to show up in the computer.If you have difficulty with the unit, please make contact with tech@sansdigital.com or 1.800.980.1988 for the issue. We will be able to help you with your current concerns.

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Just installed my second copy of this item today, and it worked beautifully perfect out of the box. I've only utilized this product consistently in JBOD mode, and this works quite effectively, but see below. Exceptional product for the cash. I searched a long time for a two-drive e-SATA external enclosure, and I really feel I produced the right option. RAID capability wasn't a requirement for me, but as soon as my two new drives arrive I program to put it to use. I'll be a bit much less wary now that I know there will be (purple? alternating red and blue?) flashing lights for three or four hours although the 2nd drive in each unit builds. Installation guide is really skimpy, but then this appears to be par for the course these days. This unit provides quite small feedback about what it's doing, so you might be left wondering at times. I don't recommend building a RAID system on it unless your files are backed up elsewhere. Flashing lights don't say "Oh, by the way, I'm erasing all your information" in any Earth language I'm conscious of. All you get in the way of feedback are flashing lights that don't actually (in my opinion) match what the supplied documentation says. To me, "flashing purple" looks specifically the exact same as "alternating purple and red." When working with an e-SATA connection, your e-SATA controller ought to support port multiplier, or the unit will only see your very first drive when utilizing JBOD, Safe33 or Safe50 modes. This facts is given on the Sans Digital web page, but not in NewEgg's details on this item (or wasn't at the time of my initial acquire, anyway). I took a opportunity getting my first unit considering that I couldn't uncover any critiques at that time, but now there are several great critiques accessible on the internet.I still am willing to give this product five eggs. It doesn't take up a lot of room, works quietly, and when you figure out what the heck it's doing, it does it well. Utilizing e-SATA, my drives benchmark specifically the similar as if they connected as internal SATA.

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Just got this, had it for one day. Am backing up my Mac using timemachine via the included USB cable, works great so far. Haven't tested any RAID or eSATA funtionality yet as I still need to purchase another drive. Got this to use for audio recordings, but I've noticed the fan is quite loud (my HTPC running full blast is quieter) so I may have to replace the fan (which would no doubt void the warranty) or build an enclosure to keep it quiet, which is a shame because it looks quite nice. The only thing wrong with it was cosmetic, the "sans digital" nameplate was bubbled an loose so I just peeled it off and chucked it.