SimpleTech Duo Pro Drive

Reviewed by: andydg

12-23-07

Duration of ownership: 2 Weeks

Strengths: plenty or space, quiet even with fan.

Weaknesses: Have to initialize each time it is reconnected. Tech support is non-existent.

Overall Evaluation: Running Leopard I first could not format the drive properly. Kept giving me input/output errors. Had to format it via a windows machine. Tried contacting tech support, haven't heard back from them even though promise within 24 hours. Been nearly two weeks now. Also when not in use I store it. Reconnecting it I get an error each time telling me the drive has to be re-initialized. Huh? Doubt that I'll be keeping this as I just do not trust it to save my data.

Reviewed by: martesian

12-12-07

Duration of ownership: 2 Days

Strengths: Product was not operational when I received it.

Weaknesses: On two different purchases, both had loose screws inside the sealed case. Warranty restriction did not allow me to open the case.

Overall Evaluation: It is apparent that the Quality Control of this product is weak or non-existent. Both should never have been shipped to the reseller. The product operational quality may be O.K. but they must produce a product which allows it to be used for me to find out.

Reviewed by: BenG

Updated: 02-Jun-08

Strengths: Can do RAID 0 and RAID 1

Weaknesses: Large, no eSATA cable

Overall Evaluation: The Simpletech Duo Pro 1TB drive is a solid external drive. It actually contains 2 500 MB drives in one case. Due to this, it is considerably larger then some other 1 TB drives. However, this does give the drive some flexibility. It has a switch on the back that allows you to change the drive between RAID 0 and RAID 1. In RAID 0 mode, you get the full 1 TB, faster then a standard drive, but if one of the drives goes south, you lose everything. In RAID 1 mode, you only get 500 GB, but if one of the drives dies, you won't loose your data. You can't switch back and forth without reformating your drive though.The drive comes with a USB 2 cable, but no eSATA cable, which is a bit of a disappointment. Others have complained about broken cases when they bought theirs, but my case was fine. It also comes with some backup software, but as it is for Windows only, I haven't tried it.The RAID capabilities are about the only thing that stands out with this drive. I got a good deal...

Reviewed by: Phubar

Updated: 31-May-08

Strengths: 1TB storage, Dual drives, e-sata.

Weaknesses: none!

Overall Evaluation: I bought this about 5 months ago, to this day it has worked realizably and constantly, I use it to store my home made HD movies, transfers to and from this unit are very fast, I can also play HD content directly from the unit without any stuttering!

Reviewed by: xdr4gon

Updated: 30-May-08

Strengths: Looks nice (would match a mac pro nicely)Lots of storage at 1 TBRAID0 (1TB)RAID1 (500GB redundancy)Runs cooleSATA is really fast!USB is a plus to have as an option

Weaknesses: Fan can get noisy (may bother some, but not that big of a weakness).

Overall Evaluation: This drive is probably the last drive you will buy in a while. It's got plenty of storage to last a long time and is great for videos, pictures, and music. It runs very fast with external eSATA allowing you to transfer and copy your data quickly. I also like the RAID features so you can really backup your data securely or just run it in performance mode for quick access. The drives inside I believe are 500GB western digital WD5000AAJS drives so they are decent and should last a while (3 year warranty). If your looking for storage, look no further!

Reviewed by: jbhongw

Updated: 26-May-08

Strengths: 1TB, Options of RAID 0 or 1, eSata

Weaknesses: Plastic enclosure, A little bulky

Overall Evaluation: I was looking to buy an external hard drive to store family photos and home videos. This was a perfect fit, because the RAID 1 option. I used to make two copies of everything on two different hard drives. I reconfigured this drive to use RAID 1. Now I only need one copy of my files without the fear of a failed hard drive. It's been working great. The eSata interface is really fast. This drive is pretty quiet comparing to the other external hard drives that I've been using. Overall, I am very satisfied with this drive

Reviewed by: ltcooperoki

Updated: 09-May-08

Strengths: A lot of storage space.

Weaknesses: Overall the product is too large.

Overall Evaluation: When I received this product it was in it's original packaging, obviously. The plastic was still sealed around the box itself, and yet the hard drive was rattling when I took it out of the box. Also it looked like the warranty seal had been broken. So, in that case, because the warranty was already void, I opened up the hard drive to try and find what the rattling was. Come to find out, it was a screw that had fallen out of the casing somewhere. I could not figure it out so I closed it back up. I would have sent it in but I knew the seal was already broken and there was really no point in sending it especially since I am in Afghanistan and by the time I would have sent it to you guys, assuming you would fix it or replace it, and got it back, I would be about ready to leave. I bought it for my personal use out here. Then to top things off, about a week later, I hear another rattling sound. Open it up and yet another screw had fallen out. This time I took the hard drives complete...