Cavalry Storage CAXM Series 500 GB USB / eSATA External Hard Drive CAXM37500 - Includes eSATA Kit Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I've been using this for a few months and I'm probably going to get another one soon. I've checked out other drives with esata, and they were more expensive and/or didn't have the esata accessories. Also, some of the esata drives didn't have USB 2.0 and just had esata. I don't use USB to connect to the drive but if I need to I'd like the option. Not all motherboards have the hookup. The esata bridge goes directly to one of your slots on the motherboard.
PROS
Definite pros are the speed, size, and cost. Also, consider that you don't have to buy any additional cards to use esata. My machine doesn't have any firewire ports and the cards cost roughly third the cost of this drive. I've read the drive gets hot, but mine is really cool. Maybe this is because I have mine sitting vertically. Also, it's really quiet even with the fan. Esata is roughly 300% faster than USB 2.0, firewire.
CONS
It was slightly tricky to install with Vista. I turned mine off serveral times before I saw the drive.
I reformatted the drive to one FAT32 partition and I couldn't do it from Vista, I had to use a machine with XP. But this is not the drives fault.
The light is really bright. I cover the light up and never really touch the button. My drive is always on.
The esata bridge takes up a PCI slot, sort of as stated before it goes directly to the motherboard not into the PCI slot. There is only one esata port. If I buy a second one I would either use another PCI. However, I bought a bridge that has two esata ports with two cables that plugs to each of my free motherboard sata ports for less than 10 dollars.
I think the MyBooks look better, LOL.
All in all this is a smart buy. The pros definitely outway the minor cons.


Click Here to see more reviews about: Cavalry Storage CAXM Series 500 GB USB / eSATA External Hard Drive CAXM37500 - Includes eSATA Kit

The Cavalry CAXM37500 3.5-Inch 500 GB SATA External Hard Drive is superb external mobile solution for all your data storage needs. The hard drive features an aluminum casing to keep the pre-installed 500 GB SATA hard drive nice and cool to extend the life of the drive. The CAXM37500 supports an incredible transfer rate of 3 Gbps (SATA) and 480 Mbps (USB 2.0), making it easy to add storage to any system with either SATA or USB connectivity. And with it's portable design, and plug and play, hot-swappable connection, Cavalry makes it hassle-free to take your data with you anywhere.
What's in the Box Cavalry CAXM37500 3.5-inch 500GB SATA external hard drive, power adapter, power cord, eSATA to eSATA cable, USB cable, and vertical stand. The latest drivers and resources and be downloaded at http://www.cavalrystorage.com.

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Western Digital My Book Home Edition 500 GB USB 2.0/FireWire 400/eSATA Desktop External Hard Drive Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Pros:
Triple interface with USB 2.0, eSATA, and FireWire 400 ports
Two FireWire 400 ports to support daisy-chaining devices
Relatively quiet, passively cooled design (i.e. no fans)
Automatically powers on/off with your machine, spins down when inactive
3-year warranty, vs. 1-year for the Western Digital 500GB My Book Essential 2.0
Cons:
No boot support for PowerPC-based Macs
Mac software not yet compatible with OS 10.5 (i.e. capacity gauge and power button do not presently work)
*Fixed - see my update, posted as a comment on this review, for details.*
Power button on rear rather than front
Summary:
I bought this drive primarily as a backup drive to be used with the built-in Time Machine backup program in Mac OS 10.5. Providing the pending ButtonManager software update works, I will have no reservations in recommending it for similar usage. Even without the capacity gauge and power button, I am relatively happy with the drive. You should be aware that this drive IS NOT BOOTABLE from PowerPC-based Macs (see WD Support Answer ID 1715), so if you were planning to do that, you need to look elsewhere. It is bootable from Intel-based Macs, though.
In Depth:
As a basic drive, it worked right out of the box. Macintosh installers for "WD Anywhere Backup" and a "ButtonManager" program that enables the capacity gauge and power button are included on the drive, along with documentation in PDF format. I'm using Time Machine and had no interest in the included backup software, so I can't speak to its quality. Installing the ButtonManager seemed to go smoothly. The installer even asks if you want to reformat the disk, and opens Disk Utility if you opt to do so. (See notes on formatting below.)
Upon rebooting, I was initially pleasantly surprised to find no extra processes running related to the ButtonManager... until I discovered that was only because it wasn't working. No capacity gauge, and the power button on the back does nothing. It turns out that the software is currently incompatible with OS 10.5, although on their website Western Digital has promised a fix by the end of January 2008 (WD Support Answer ID 1716). A company representative assured me that this was still the case at MacWorld 2008.
Apparently WD used a StartupItem, which were deprecated in 10.4 in favor of launchd - and no longer work at all in 10.5. Considering that this drive didn't become available until September of 2007 and that StartupItems have been officially deprecated since April 2005, the commitment to Mac compatibility could be stronger. If you are using 10.5, there is no reason to install the ButtonManager at present and the representative I spoke with at MacWorld actually suggested removing it if you did install it.
I don't mind the missing capacity gauge gimmick, but the power button is a bit annoying. After unmounting the drive, it goes into standby mode, but (short of unplugging the power) there is no way to turn it off completely. The only way to remount the drive is to unplug the power and then plug it back in. Being able to just press a button would be much more convenient. Hopefully, the updated software will resolve this issue.
The problem is somewhat mitigated by the drive's automatic power management features. The drive turns off when your computer shuts down or sleeps, and turns back on when your computer does. In addition, the drive spins down and goes into standby mode when it's inactive. Western Digital seems to have intended the drive to remain connected and "on" most of the time, which is reflected in the awkward placement of the (currently non-functional) power button on the back of the drive. For the most part this works, and is actually quite convenient, but there are still times, especially with a laptop, when actually being able to turn the drive off is important.
The somewhat unusual on-end vertical drive mounting results in a relatively small footprint for the case, although its volume is comparable to, if not greater than, that of most other cases. The drive has no fan and is pretty quiet normally, although I found its peak noise (when spinning up and during heavy use) to be slightly more than my other drives.
In my tests transferring a 5 GB folder, the drive averaged 16.42 MB/s write and 20.17 MB/s read using FireWire, and 10.56 MB/s write and 14.12 MB/s read using USB 2.0, making the FireWire interface worthwhile. The inclusion of dual FireWire ports with the ability to daisy-chain another device is also a big plus, especially on a laptop with a single FireWire port. Performance of a daisy-chained drive didn't suffer in my testing and, since the FireWire bus is self-powered, it works even when the My Book is unplugged from power. While I didn't have the ability to test it, the inclusion of eSATA should allow for high performance. Unfortunately, the documentation indicates that the drive's automatic power management features only work with the USB and FireWire interfaces. Also, while 4 foot long FireWire (6-pin to 6-pin) and USB (Type A to Mini) cables are included, eSATA cables have to be purchased separately. If your Mac has FireWire 800 - and performance is an issue, you may want to look into the similar Western Digital 500 GB My Book Studio Edition.
How to format the drive:
If you intend to use the drive with both Macs and PCs regularly, leaving the drive formatted as FAT32 is the best choice. However, if you plan on using the drive exclusively with Macs it should be formatted as HFS+, and this format is required to use Time Machine. Unfortunately, the included PDF documentation doesn't explain how to format the drive, and instead refers you to an online document (WD Support Answer ID 287) which is decent, but a bit out of date. While the WD Support article suggests partitioning the drive using an Apple Partition Map, this is no longer the best choice. If you have an Intel-based Mac, using the GUID Partition Table is a better choice as it allows you to boot from the drive. Since the My Book Home doesn't support booting from a PowerPC machine, there really isn't any reason to use APM unless you use Macs with an OS prior to 10.4.

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Preserve your precious memories with this ideal combination of elegant, reliable storage and automatic backup features. Your baby's first step, your wedding in Bali, all your important milestones...all captured in digital photos and video. What could be more important? Store them safely and keep them backed up on My Book Home Edition external hard drives.

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Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex Desk 2 TB USB 2.0 External Hard Drive STAC2000100 (Black) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Pros:
1. easy to install
2. easy to use
3. Specific Folders can be selected for backup
4. It turns off and on when computer is turned off and on.
Cons:
1. Software license only allows use with 1 computer
2. Many ads to purchase more software in the bundled software
3. There is a memory leak in the software (version 4.60.0.7252)
I plugged this thing in and it automatically started the software install which was very easy to follow. Once it was done it defaulted to backup my entire computer which was perfect because 2 TB of space if plenty of space to do this for me. The software did have an option to select only specific folders which was nice to know in case I upgrade my pc and have to limit the amount of files for backup.
The software has built in advertisements asking you to try and purchase more of their software. They are easily avoidable, but I'd rather not see them. My favorite part about the backup software bundled with this external hard drive is that it is constantly working to create a mirror image of all the data on the pc. It updates files on the external as soon as they are updated on the pc.
The biggest issue I ran into was that the software only allows you to install it on one pc. I had planned on using this drive with both my pcs and backing it up over my home network. I am going to continue using the drive, but I will go back to using cobian backup which is free; though the interface is a bit less easy.[...]
I do want to say that if you are planning on only using this with one pc or you are willing to purchase extra licenses to utilize the very easy to use interface then this is a very good product.
** My original review didn't contain the below information ***
This problem didn't occur right away. The memory leak in the memeo software bundled with the drive causes windows to popup a message that there is a problem with .NET software. Windows will handle it when you click ok, but all that happens is the Memeo software is closed. I checked the system memory before I closed the program and saw it was using over 1.5 Gigabytes of RAM. I am currently running the most up to date version of Memeo instant backup (version 4.60.0.7252).

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2TB USB2.0 FREEAGENT GOFLEX Desk

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Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex Desk 1 TB USB 2.0 External Hard Drive STAC1000100 (Black) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Pros:
1. easy to install
2. easy to use
3. Specific Folders can be selected for backup
4. It turns off and on when computer is turned off and on.
Cons:
1. Software license only allows use with 1 computer
2. Many ads to purchase more software in the bundled software
3. There is a memory leak in the software (version 4.60.0.7252)
I plugged this thing in and it automatically started the software install which was very easy to follow. Once it was done it defaulted to backup my entire computer which was perfect because 2 TB of space if plenty of space to do this for me. The software did have an option to select only specific folders which was nice to know in case I upgrade my pc and have to limit the amount of files for backup.
The software has built in advertisements asking you to try and purchase more of their software. They are easily avoidable, but I'd rather not see them. My favorite part about the backup software bundled with this external hard drive is that it is constantly working to create a mirror image of all the data on the pc. It updates files on the external as soon as they are updated on the pc.
The biggest issue I ran into was that the software only allows you to install it on one pc. I had planned on using this drive with both my pcs and backing it up over my home network. I am going to continue using the drive, but I will go back to using cobian backup which is free; though the interface is a bit less easy.[...]
I do want to say that if you are planning on only using this with one pc or you are willing to purchase extra licenses to utilize the very easy to use interface then this is a very good product.
** My original review didn't contain the below information ***
This problem didn't occur right away. The memory leak in the memeo software bundled with the drive causes windows to popup a message that there is a problem with .NET software. Windows will handle it when you click ok, but all that happens is the Memeo software is closed. I checked the system memory before I closed the program and saw it was using over 1.5 Gigabytes of RAM. I am currently running the most up to date version of Memeo instant backup (version 4.60.0.7252).

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1TB USB2.0 freeagent goflex desk

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Buffalo Technology LinkStation Quad 4 TB (4 X 1 TB) Network Attached Storage LS-Q4.0TL/R5(Black) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Good product for the price (paid $404 from Amazon). The price attracted me to this, since the "real" RAID 5 solution w/o performance issues are around ~$600~$800 w/o the hard drives. Bought it to protect my distributed data around 5 computers, and enough performance to keep all the files from the computers on the networked NAS drive, and protected.
RAID 1 (mirroring) was not my preference, and RAID 5 (parity, N+1 protection) was, which limited my choices to quad drive models.
Positives
- Easy management via browser, reasonable security and read/write privilege settings, even without setting up SMB server or equivalent (did not test the SMB server authentication yet).
- DLNA - for those who have DLNA TV, and TV connected to home network, the expected DLNA functions (content discovery, streaming, etc) worked well.
- Worked well with other SATA drives. Originally came w/ 4 x 250 G WD drives, and I put 500 G Maxtor, Seagate, WD, and Samsung drives, and all got recognized and ran without any issues.
- USB expansion -- I have a few of USB drives, that got instantly upgrade to NAS operation by connecting them (2) to this unit. Seems to handle mixed file systems fine: at least for NTFS and FAT32. Power on/off the external units as I need them.
Neutral
- Performance is reasonable -- works near 100% bandwidth in peaks over Fast Ethernet (100 Mb/s), but at Gigabit Ethernet speeds, it only peaks around 150~220 Mb/s. In human perception terms, no noticeable delay using files on NAS for editing or streaming music or video, but copy (e.g. back up) of 500 G data takes about 7~8 hours (compared to local disk to disk copy taking about 1~1.5 hrs).
- Performance during disk fault recovery operation is very good -- When fully operating, I removed a drive (simulated disk fault), and added a different drive (500G). The file server (access, copy from and copy to NAS) degraded performance was NOT noticeable during the fault recovery (as it shouldn't). A large directory copy (~20 G) was measurably noticeable (about 20~25% longer copy time).
- Performance per price point is reasonable that is.
Negatives
- RAID 5 should work on 3 or more drives. LinkStation Quad only supports RAID 5 on 4 drives. So, my original plan of using 3 drives for protected (and recoverable) data (e.g. family photo, work files), and 1 drive for bulk storage media (e.g. mp3 music, family video, etc) is not an option. So I configured RAID 5 over 4 internal drives, and put external USB drive for unprotected bulk storage.
- RAID initialization takes several days, YES, SEVERAL DAYS!. Manual warns about this, and it is true. I had several extra 500G drives, and had uses for 250G drives, so I bought the cheapest LinkStation Quad (1 TB model), and replaced it w/ 500G drives to get 2 TB (raw, before RAID). This replacement forced me to do format and the RAID initialization -- in my case, it took 2.5 days straight. The break down is about 1.5 days for individual drives to be low-level formatted to XFS (for 500G), and about 1 day to get RAID initialized (for 4 x 500 G) RAID 5 mode.
- Major ISSUE for Power users, but minor for casual users: Tested the gradual upgrade of the system capacity -- meaning start w/ 4 x 250 G, and start replacing each drive with 500 G, allowing to recover each time. When all 4 drives are replaced higher capacity drives, the unit SHOULD use higher capacity automatically, but it DID NOT. Had to remove all data, re-init the RAID 5 array (again 1 day), at which time the system reported higher capacity, and then put back the data (again about 1 day for 500 G).
Short Recommendation on selecting models (circa 01/2009) based on Price and Time only:
I bought 1 TB model, because I could use 4 x 250 G on my desktop PCs. But all the headaches and time does not justify the price difference. The 2 TB model is the best option (price, capacity, and upgrading w/ your own drives, all considered) if you have no use for the 4 x 250 G drives. 4 TB model seems to be the same price as if you bought 1 TB model plus 4 separate 1 TB drives (and you end up w/ "free" 4 x 250 GB drives. Again valuable only if you have use for those).
Not yet tested but will test:
- Access to this NAS storage behind home router from my work that has both firewall (incoming and outgoing), using both Buffalo's portal as well as fixed IP configuration. If this works well, my extended family could pull family photos directly from my home server, and I could access my personal documents on this NAS from work!


Click Here to see more reviews about: Buffalo Technology LinkStation Quad 4 TB (4 X 1 TB) Network Attached Storage LS-Q4.0TL/R5(Black)

Linkstaton Quad Nas 4tb 4x1tbPerpsata Raid Gbe 5 Web Access Dlna

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Iomega iConnect Wireless Data Station 34779 Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I was very wary about buying this product with so many negative reviews, but I wanted a way to make my USB printer accessible by the rest of the family from their wi-fi enabled laptops. I also thought it would be handy to add USB storage in the future. I looked at various NAS storage solutions, but all of them were more expensive than I needed for this simple job. The iConnect arrived, I followed the simple instructions, and, so far, it has done everything I wanted it to do.
I followed a couple of steps that may not have been obvious - I first of all plugged a 2GB flash drive into one of the USB ports to give it some local storage for its print serving function and connected it to a LAN port. I was able to see it fine, I checked for updates and found a newer release of firmware - that downloaded without problems and the device restarted. Then I set up the wireless information - no problem with seeing the WiFi from the basement. Then I disconnected the LAN and tried to connect wirelessly. It wasn't immediately seen by the iConnect software, and I noticed that there was an updated version of that software as well, so I downloaded and installed that. At that point, I could see the device and its storage wirelessly. I did give it a static IP address on my router, but that may not have been necessary. Finally, I plugged in the USB printer, loaded the drivers and it all worked fine.
I loaded the iConnect software on a couple of laptops (XP and Vista), updated the software, and then could see the printer.
Overall, this has worked as planned - I haven't stressed it yet, and I wish it had been seen wirelessly as soon as I had disconnected the LAN, but I got there in the end.

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The Iomega iConnect Wireless Data Station is a simple way to bring all of your desktop and portable USB storage to your network. Plug in your external USB drives or USB thumb drives (any brand) into the Iomega iConnect device and they are automatically connected to and accessible on your network. Remote access allows you to connect, share, and access your files securely from anywhere in the world via the Internet. Wireless connectivity allows you to place the Iomega iConnect device in the most convenient location in your home without having to run another cable. Taking backup data off-site for disaster recovery has never been easier. Simply back up all your networked computers through the Iomega iConnect device, and then take your hard drive off-site for safekeeping. The Iomega iConnect device truly makes your USB drives "smart" and includes the ultimate set of advanced media features, such as DLNA-certified UPnP AV media server, and iTunes server so that content can be easily shared between computers and any other digital media adapters such as game consoles, Iomega ScreenPlay products, digital picture frames, or networked TVs. Picture Transfer Protocol, torrent download compatibility, and the Cooliris slide show plug-in round out the advanced media features. Embedded RSA BSAFE encryption for protected installs and upgrades. Supports PC, Mac, and Linux clients. Three year warranty with product registration.

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