| | |  | Office Supplies | Home » » Cavalry Storage CADA-SA2 Series 2 TB USB / eSATA 2-bay RAID Personal Disk Array CADA002SA2 | | | | | | Colors: | | | | | Description: | | The CADA-SA2 Series offers an unbeatable combination of RAID data protection, 3.0Gbit/sec eSATA speed and a vast storage capacity of 2 TB (1 TB mirrored). This dual-bay disk array features swappable hard disks and a built-in RAID controller. The unit arrives preconfigured in RAID 1 to protect your important data¿if one drive fails, replace it with an identical drive and the data will automatically rebuild. Leave it in RAID 1 mode for automatic background rebuilding and optimum security for your files, or configure to RAID 0 for increased data reading and writing speeds. Factory default is RAID 1 GUI mode, but also supports RAID levels 0, 1 and 0+1(safe 33/safe 50). Its SATA interface provides a faster boot process and quicker loading of programs and data. Ideal for saving hefty files, video, music, protecting databases or working directly on the drive, it delivers high-capacity performance and data security. The unit is factory pre-configured in RAID 1 and ready to use out of the box. Install the easy-to-use RAID configuration software and the included SATA to eSATA bracket kit to take full advantage of the incredible set of features. | | | Product Details: | | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 11 reviews |
| | | | Customer Reviews: | |
Average Customer Review:
 ( 11 customer reviews )
Write an online review and share your thoughts with other customers.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 found the following review helpful:
 Works well...setup is challengingFeb 24, 2009
By Kaymee Photography
"www.kaymeephotography.com"
I purchased this model because of the price and options, specifically being able to plug it in to an eSATA port. After getting everything setup (more below), the drive has worked wonderfully. With the included WD drives, the drive verify and storage is very nice. It works great as a backup system.
Now the problems. Setup was a bear! Given the fact that documentation is non-existent out of the box, I had to "rebuild" the drives twice, at over 12 hours EACH! The drive is supposed to be PnP, and maybe it is, but there were no clear instructions on setting it up. I plugged it in and it didn't work. I played with my eSATA connection and couldn't get it to work. I plugged it in to a USB and it worked fine so no drive issue. I then plugged in the included eSATA port and then couldn't figure out how to "format" the drives, so the 2nd rebuilding began. Finally, I found instructions online and after skipping 3-4 pages, found where to setup the software to make it work.
Without that setup fiasco, this product would be rated higher. It has worked fine for me since.
4 of 5 found the following review helpful:
 Works as intended.Jul 18, 2009
By Ernesto Sabogal Gomez
I was kind of worry after buying this disk because although I had read some reviews it wasn't after I bought it that the bad reviews appeared.
Documentation
No paper documentation, only a CD but really it is very bad.
Installation
Some reviews talk about hours of doing this correctly. When it arrived: shutdown computer, plug in power to the disk, plug esata cable to disk - computer, turn on disk, turn on computer, during POST the message of new drive recognized, into windows, into disk manager, format just in case, done. Five minutes. I am using Windows 7 RC x64.
This disk arrived RAID 1 as I needed so no problem or messing around changing to RAID 0 or RAID 0+1.
Performance
I used Everest to benchmark the disk.
Linear Read Middle: 74MB/s
Buffered Read: 101.8MB/s
Average read access: 12.98ms
Just for comparing, the results with my internal WD Velociraptor 300GB:
Linear read middle: 103.1MB/s
Buffered read: 245.8MB/s
Average read access: 6.87ms
Real performance:
I transfer a folder with +4400 files, 13.3GB from internal drive to this unit in 4:32, gives a rough 48.9MB/s
A second transfer with +28000 files, 92.9GB in 25:15, 61.3MB/s.
Not bad, in the "normal" range.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
 So you think your data is protected now? Well, it is BUT...Mar 31, 2010
By Gene
"Gene"
I bought this drive because of a simple reason - RAID1 - I wanted to make sure my data is protected, so I am using just 1TB of space, the second drive is used for mirroring. Today the enclosure went bad (lasted just 6 months) - blinking green light (according to the Cavalry manual indicating no connectivity to the host computer), and OS stopped recognizing the drive. I tried USB instead of eSATA, and also tried USB on another computer - negative, OS does not see the drive, enclosure is blinking green.
The unit is still on warranty, but check the choices I have:
(1) send the unit back to manufacturer for warranty repair. Then my data is LOST, since the manufacturer will either send me a replacement or will fix this original unit and erase all data in the process.
(2) send this unit to a third party company to get the data off the unit (and pay like $500 for the service), then ship the unit to Cavalry for repair along with a paper from the third party company explaining that the unit was opened for data recovery, so Cavalry would not void the warranty
(3) open the unit myself and copy the data from it (remember, the drives are OK, it is the enclosure itself that went bad) but then Cavalry voids the warranty since I should not open the unit.
Laughable situation.. but the data is safe ;-)
A side note - the unit is noisy too.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
 Fast drive and great tech supportFeb 20, 2010
By John Cowgill
This 2Tb array is a great deal. It worked as a Raid 1 drive right out of the box and was reconfigured to Raid 0 using the supplied utilies in about 10 minutes. The trick is you have to READ THE DIRECTIONS. You can't skim over them or just look at the pictures.
After I was finished installing the unit I had a question about tranfer speed and was thrilled to find that when I called Cavalry that not only did they put me through to a real tech, he was glad to talk to me and knew what he was doing. Other companies just don't do that anymore.
All in all, one of the better experiences I've had with a tech product.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
Fast shippingSep 12, 2009
By kkfredde
"kkfredde"
It was difficult to install, directions have alot to be desired. Drive is shipped with the drives unplugged from the socket, this requires the disassembly of the unit. Drive is also shipped raid "1," wanted raid "0." After 1 day of toying with the drive I got it to work. If you are uncomfortable with taking apart the unit and building a Raid array you might want to opt for a single drive thats plug and play. So far no problems with the drive. I do like the esata option, much faster read/write times compared to USB. I build high-end gaming machines, so I am used to building multi-array systems.
See all 11 customer reviews on Amazon.com
| | |
* Estimated shipping rate for US 48 states. Final rate calculated at checkout. |
;){kind=link}