SimpleTech Duo Pro Drive 3.5-inch USB 2.0/eSATA External SATA RAID Hard Drive Enclosure General Features: Silver color Convenient, stackable design eSATA II 3 Gb/s interface USB 2.0 interface Supports two (2) 3.5-inch SATA hard drives (not included) Supports up to two 1 terabyte drives (2 terabyte total) Supports RAID 0 (SPEED) and RAID 1 (SAFETY) Quiet, high-speed cooling fan Kensington Security Lock slot Simple, plug and play setup Lead Free External Connectors: eSATA Type B USB 2.0 port DC in Power switch Unit Dimensions: 5.1 x 3.5 x 7.8-inches (H x W x D, approximate) Regulatory Approvals: FCC CE RoHS WEEE
Features Silver color Convenient, stackable design eSATA II 3 Gb/s interface USB 2.0 interface Supports two (2) 3.5-inch SATA hard drives (not included) Supports up to two 1 terabyte drives (2 terabyte total) Supports RAID 0 (SPEED) and RAID 1 (SAFETY) Quiet, high-speed cooling fan Kensington Security Lock slot Simple, plug and play setup Lead Free
Tech Specs External Connectors eSATA Type B USB 2.0 port DC in Power switch
Unit Dimensions 5.1 x 3.5 x 7.8-inches (H x W x D, approximate)
Regulatory Approvals FCC CE RoHS WEEE
Package Includes SimpleTech Duo Pro Drive 3.5-inch USB 2.0/eSATA External Dual SATA RAID Hard Drive Enclosure Power Adapter (Input: 100-120V~1.0A MAX., 50/60Hz, 80-90VA; Output: 12V, 4.0A ) Power cord USB 2.0 cable Quick Install Guide Screws (inside case)
Additional Information Package states hard drives included, however, hard drives are NOT INCLUDED Requirements: Two (2) 3.5-inch SATA hard drives; Available USB port or eSATA II port; Windows 2000/XP/Vista; Mac OS X
urbandk said: EDIT: NM says only 2 tb total with 1 tb drives. .. but anyone have it and try it with a 1.5 tb?Good question. Often these things support more than they say.
Looks like heat might be a problem. Perhaps green drives or laptop drives can be used instead to reduce heat. Drill some holes on the case and disconnect the noisy fan.
I am getting two. It's hard to find one with RAID and especially eSATA at this price.
Note that these boxes are designed to operate with 2 drives, it doesn't seem to function correctly with only 1 drive. Furthermore, it does not support JBOD mode, you must either select raid 1 or raid 0.
The reviews on Amazon are pretty bad. I was hoping the 4-star review to hold true, but the reviewer updated with his issue. I guess it is not worth saving a little $ but end up losing valuable data.
To save others time looking up: (Assumes two 500gb drives)
JBOD mode simple runs both hard drives independently, so you will have two storage partitions each with a 500 GB gross capacity.
The RAID 0 mode is called FAST and provides the total capacity of both 500 GB hard drives (932 GB net at 1 KB = 1,024 bytes) in a stripe set. This delivers the best performance, but increases the risk of total data loss: all of the data will be inaccessible should even one of the two drives fail.
The RAID 1 mode is called SAFE100, which means that 100% of the storage capacity is mirrored. This, of course, means that you get only the capacity of a single 500 GB drive.
I don't understand how anyone could buy one of these after reading those reviews, but I'm just curious, running these in RAID 0 mode wouldn't make sense unless you're backing up from a RAID 0 configured source, would it?
Slickone said: I don't understand how anyone could buy one of these after reading those reviews, but I'm just curious, running these in RAID 0 mode wouldn't make sense unless you're backing up from a RAID 0 configured source, would it?
Nah, wouldnt make any difference. To the host a raid 0 drive just looks like a large single drive, and it'd look the same as a backup drive. I dont think I'd bother with a striped backup since either drive failing would eat the entire backup. I also dont think I'd run this as an online raid drive given the reviews.
Exclusive of the reported flimsy construction and failures, a raid 0 dual drive esata might be handy to back up a server with a big raid 3/4/5 array, since you might be able to put 2 2TB drives in it and make them look like a 4TB drive.
That of course is if the unit can handle drives >1TB. I wouldnt take that as a given.
simpletech has been very responsive in the Newegg review threads....if it doesn't work, I will just follow up with them. At $16 it's hard not to see this as a super deal(Raid/esata)!
sklar said: Slickone said: I don't understand how anyone could buy one of these after reading those reviews, but I'm just curious, running these in RAID 0 mode wouldn't make sense unless you're backing up from a RAID 0 configured source, would it?
Nah, wouldnt make any difference. To the host a raid 0 drive just looks like a large single drive, and it'd look the same as a backup drive. I dont think I'd bother with a striped backup since either drive failing would eat the entire backup. I also dont think I'd run this as an online raid drive given the reviews.
Exclusive of the reported flimsy construction and failures, a raid 0 dual drive esata might be handy to back up a server with a big raid 3/4/5 array, since you might be able to put 2 2TB drives in it and make them look like a 4TB drive.
That of course is if the unit can handle drives >1TB. I wouldnt take that as a given. What I meant was, wouldn't it be a bottle neck if the source isn't RAID 0?
Slickone said: I don't understand how anyone could buy one of these after reading those reviews, but I'm just curious, running these in RAID 0 mode wouldn't make sense unless you're backing up from a RAID 0 configured source, would it?
The configuration of the array has nothing to do with the source.
The reason RAID 0 is picked is for a larger volume size and somewhat increased performance at the expense of safety. Lose one of the drives and the whole RAID 0 array is lost.
uchamish
Member
posted: Oct. 13, 2009 @ 10:32p
do not believe chinese specs. The drive size limit stated for those cases should always be verified through testing! It could be far lesser than 1TB per drive or even above 2TB, depending on how block management was written in firmware.
uchamish said: do not believe chinese specs. The drive size limit stated for those cases should always be verified through testing! It could be far lesser than 1TB per drive or even above 2TB, depending on how block management was written in firmware.
DolceV
Member
posted: Oct. 14, 2009 @ 1:11a
I put two brand new 2 Terabyte Seagate Barracuda drives (ST32000542AS) in this enclosure, plugged it in and Windows XP does not recognize the full size, it only shows 8GB, so I guess there is a real limit on drive capacity. It doesn't seem to recognize the 2 terabyte drives. I have tried in both Raid 0 and Raid 1 configuration, both shows up as 8GB and then causes an error in Windows Disk Manager and becomes unusable. I verified my two drives worked fine in a different external enclosure. Does anybody have any other results they want to share with testing larger capacity drives?
happypants said: Slickone said: I don't understand how anyone could buy one of these after reading those reviews, but I'm just curious, running these in RAID 0 mode wouldn't make sense unless you're backing up from a RAID 0 configured source, would it?
The configuration of the array has nothing to do with the source.
The reason RAID 0 is picked is for a larger volume size and somewhat increased performance at the expense of safety. Lose one of the drives and the whole RAID 0 array is lost. Read above your post.
Larvi
Member
posted: Oct. 14, 2009 @ 8:49a
I ordered one of these last week to go with my 2 $59 WD green drives from Frys to run in a mirrored configuration. Still waiting for delivery so don't have any hands on impressions yet but from what I've read it should be suitable for what I want to do.
Slickone said: happypants said: Slickone said: I don't understand how anyone could buy one of these after reading those reviews, but I'm just curious, running these in RAID 0 mode wouldn't make sense unless you're backing up from a RAID 0 configured source, would it?
The configuration of the array has nothing to do with the source.
The reason RAID 0 is picked is for a larger volume size and somewhat increased performance at the expense of safety. Lose one of the drives and the whole RAID 0 array is lost. Read above your post.
You asked if the source has to be RAID 0 and I answered your question.
If this is being used for local backups, then the speed will be affected by the source drives, drive configuration, and motherboard chipset. In addition, the chipset used by the external drives probably does not have much (if any) cache memory.
Cabages
New Member
posted: Oct. 14, 2009 @ 3:36p
DolceV said: I put two brand new 2 Terabyte Seagate Barracuda drives (ST32000542AS) in this enclosure, plugged it in and Windows XP does not recognize the full size, it only shows 8GB, so I guess there is a real limit on drive capacity. It doesn't seem to recognize the 2 terabyte drives. I have tried in both Raid 0 and Raid 1 configuration, both shows up as 8GB and then causes an error in Windows Disk Manager and becomes unusable. I verified my two drives worked fine in a different external enclosure. Does anybody have any other results they want to share with testing larger capacity drives? That happened with mine when I first put them in there also. You need to hit the reset button on the back and it will create whatever configuration you have selected on the back (RAID 0 or 1). At least thats what fixed my problem. I am using two 500gb drives.
duckfan5554
Member
posted: Oct. 14, 2009 @ 3:53p
I love it when people talk about 2tb not being enough. My first hard drive was a 40 mb scsi in my Amiga 2000 and I thought it was great. Amazing. When will it end?
duckfan5554 said: I love it when people talk about 2tb not being enough. My first hard drive was a 40 mb scsi in my Amiga 2000 and I thought it was great. Amazing. When will it end?
“640K ought to be enough for anybody.” -Bill Gates
My first computer didn't even have a hard drive... obviously it didn't store high def movies either. I'm not sure about most people, but those of us that collect high def movies and want to store them all locally so we don't have to flip through a folder of discs will probably never be happy with the amount of storage space we have. Until everyone is streaming high def movies from massive movie storage databases to their home, I don't see this trend changing any time soon.
duckfan5554 said: I love it when people talk about 2tb not being enough. My first hard drive was a 40 mb scsi in my Amiga 2000 and I thought it was great.
40 mb, My lord! Thats over 50 floppy disks*!! How the heck are you ever going to use all of that space, not to mention, how will you back it all up?
*I mean real floppy disks, not those fancy hard shell 3.5" jobs. But seriously folks, I think cheap storage has finally outpaced actual requirements.
I am certain its a lot like a house, no matter what size you live in, you fill it up. However, just like a small houses force you to make choices, giant storage lets you keep everything, and never find anything.
padava1
New Member
posted: Oct. 14, 2009 @ 6:54p
Cabages said: DolceV said: I put two brand new 2 Terabyte Seagate Barracuda drives (ST32000542AS) in this enclosure, plugged it in and Windows XP does not recognize the full size, it only shows 8GB, so I guess there is a real limit on drive capacity. It doesn't seem to recognize the 2 terabyte drives. I have tried in both Raid 0 and Raid 1 configuration, both shows up as 8GB and then causes an error in Windows Disk Manager and becomes unusable. I verified my two drives worked fine in a different external enclosure. Does anybody have any other results they want to share with testing larger capacity drives? That happened with mine when I first put them in there also. You need to hit the reset button on the back and it will create whatever configuration you have selected on the back (RAID 0 or 1). At least thats what fixed my problem. I am using two 500gb drives.
Thanks for the tip. After hours of frustration, I was ready to junk it. A reset did the trick, and now I have a functioning 2TB drive system running on Windows XP.
groch said: 40 mb, My lord! Thats over 50 floppy disks*!! How the heck are you ever going to use all of that space, not to mention, how will you back it all up?*I mean real floppy disks, not those fancy hard shell 3.5" jobs. But seriously folks, I think cheap storage has finally outpaced actual requirements.
My first floppy disks were around 360K, I think. So 40MB would be at least 110 disks! I did have dual 360K floppy disks, so I was really blazing. When I finally put a 40MB hard drive in this very same computer, I was astounded at the speed increase. I used to get these astonishing speed increases every couple of years when I upgraded. Now I only get smaller upgrades. In fact, most computer have caught up with average users where they don't need a new computer every two years.
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