Sans Digital MS2UT for $139.99 @Frys today (and online)

[caljr]

From the 6/1 Fry's ad (and the same price on frys.com)
Thought this might be a price mistake but was able to purchase in-store at this price.

Searchable PLU: 5251837

SANS Digital MS2UT External RAID Subsystem - Retail
Normally $199.99 on sale at $139.99

Normal price is around $250 and the Egg has it for $229.99 currently.

Features:
Support latest 750GB Hard Drive. Up to 1.5TB storage capacity Built-In Hardware RAID 0 and RAID 1 Compact, stylish aluminum design Supports 3Gb/s and 1.5Gb/s Serial ATA drives Hot Swappable trays which are compatible with different SATA I and SATA II Hard Drives (RAID 1) Data Auto-Rebuilding LCD Display Hard Disk, Fan and Temperature failure detectors to to ensure system stability

Sans Digital MS2UT Product Page

 

[DaveSimmons]

These support RAID 1 mirroring for a very reliable backup solution, since both drives have to die before you lose any files.

My brother uses one of these with his main work PC for data files and is happy with the eSATA performance. He liked it enough that he bought a second one for his iTunes music collection so that it would be mirrored.

 

[Beefy6969]

wow, awesome deal for RAID 1.

too bad im looking for something that looks like this that does RAID 1 & NAS.

must be around $100.

 

[dehemke]

Review:
http://www.pcmech.com/show/reviews/983/4/#Conclusion

 

[imported_Jackyl]

That review was for the MS2C1, a different enclosure.

But I'll tell you my story on this MS2UT....

I would like to comment on the MS2UT that I recently purchased. It is a mixed bag of problems. I have two Maxtor 7200 Proline 500GB drives in it, in a RAID-1. Sometimes when I power up the unit, one of the drives "fails" and won't turn on. The MS2UT display says the drive failed on the front LCD. I have to power cycle the unit to get both drives online. And sometimes when I do this, then it goes into rebuild mode and takes two hours to rebuild the 500GB drives!

Support from Sans Digital is non-existent, and there are no firmware updates for the MS2UT on their website.

For the amount I paid, I expected better reliability. How can I be sure the rebuild process didn't mess something up? This unit will be returned to the store. The fans on the unit are also so small, they hardly keep the drives cool enough. The drives still get hot to the touch, and the internal enclosure temperature runs 40c-47c. Drive temperatures can NOT be monitored, only the enclosure temperature!