|
|
-
- 5
-
- 49%
- 4
-
- 24%
- 3
-
- 11%
- 2
-
- 0%
- 1
-
- 16%
| Product Rating: |
 
|
| Total Reviews: |
37 |
Works great
- Pros: It works out of the box with ubuntu. It is trivial to set up and get working. The hot swap now means I don't have downtime when adding new hard disks to my system.
- Cons: Instructions on handling the hardware could be better. It took me a few minutes to realize how the bays come out. The software instructions were very detailed but irrelevant to me since I don't use windows.
Bought a second unit
- Pros: I was so thoroughly pleased with this product that I bought another one for my 64bit Hyper-V 2008 R2 Server system. (If you look through the reviewes, I had previously purchased one for my Vista Media Center) My server was going to host multiple VMs so I wanted the RAID as well as the multiple drive capability at a cost efficient price. As with my earlier review for the unit installed with the media center, this unit was relatively easy to install drives and have them up and running (with caveats listed below). As with the earlier entry, having a low cost solution to include up to 8 various hard drives made the system hard to beat for a home environment. Disk performance is on par with other SATA / eSATA systems, and the Sil3132r5 based RAID hardware is decent for the system's purpose. The hot swap drives are a plus, and with the relative low cost of drives, do not settle for anything less
- Cons: Along with my previous review, I'm focussing on additional cons for "business class" minded intent:
1) Single power supply - This unit is certainly not meant to be a enterprise class solution, but having an atx style power supply makes replacing relatively easy if needed.
2) No locking capability - If you need to protect this device from theft, use a lockable server cabinet or locked door / room. This unit has no locking mechanism capability.
3) 64bit Server 2008 R2 support requires some additional steps vs. 32bit Vista Home Premium - When I installed the first unit in my 32bit Vista Home Premium Media Center, the system detected and ran the unit without extra effort necessary. With the 64bit Server 2008 R2 system, I installed the RAID software bundle which included a driver meant for 64bit use. The software / driver is located on the included CD, but is also available on the Rosewill support site.
4) Installing drives properly - (Continued below...)
- Other Thoughts: (Continued from above...) Two tips for installing drives: Make sure the drives are installed with all 4 screws for support and that the drive is as far "forward" as possible to reduce connection issues. And second, when insterting the drives, push the drive in using your thumb on the chrome silver part until the drive is docked in place, then push the black arm in to close and lock.
5) Single cooling fan - Although the fan certainly pulls a decent amount of air, if that fan should fail then all those drives will heat up quickly. But if you require business/enterprise redundancy you'll pay a higher premium.
Closing thoughts: The system is very cost efficient and flexible for a home / small business environment. If you're using 64bit, be prepared for a small bit of "intermediate" activities installing driver/software bundles. Don't confuse onboard motherboard RAID with the x1 PCIe RAID system. Take precautions for physical security of the device if needed.
Looks good - doesn't work!
- Pros: Great packaging, probably works fine with PCs, customer service at Rosewill passed the buck onto another company for tech support. This other company was very polite, but could not resolve my concern.
- Cons: Not compatible with iMac. Would be if they just included an inexpensive adapter. Customer service referred me back to Newegg to purchase the adapter. Newegg was of NO help in finding the right one. So now I have a product that stated it is compatible with MAC, however without this specific adapter - it is NOT!
Do not purchase this item if you plan on using this with a MAC. Search other sites as there are plenty available from other sources than Newegg that are compatible right out of the box.
- Other Thoughts: I guess I will either return this and only buy name-brand electronics that are truly compatible or maybe give it a try on a PC I have.
-
Manufacturer Response:Dear Valued Customer, Thank you very much for purchase the RSV-S8. This product requires the PCI RAID card to work properly with the RAID server. Due to the iMAC not being able to install add-on cards, this product will not work. This will work for MAC Pro due to them being able to install the card. If you have any questions or concerns, please give us a call at 800-575-9885 so we may further assist you. We are eager to assist you in any possible way. We look forward to hearing from you soon. Thanks, Rosewill Customer Care
| Model |
| Brand |
Rosewill |
| Model |
RSV-S8 |
| General Spec |
| Drive |
SATA 150 & 300 |
| External I/O |
eSATA 3Gbps (via Port Multiplier) |
| RAID Levels |
RAID 0, 1, 10, 5 and JBOD |
| Expansion |
| 3.5" Drive Bays |
8 |
| System Management |
| OS Supported |
Support Windows 2000, XP, Vista, Windows Server 2003, Server 2008 and MAC 10.4/10.5 (Support MAC and Linux via Port Multiplier)
Support Windows 7 32 & 64-bit |
| Mechanical Spec |
| Power Supply |
Full 300W |
| General Spec |
| Features |
Sil3726/ Sil3132R5 Software RAID Design
Form Factor: Compact Tower
Cooling Fan: 120mm silence cooling fan
Providing 8 bay SATA II 3G HDD huge storage space for your multi media data backup.
RAID 0/1/0+1/5 subsystem design protects your data from losing. e-SATA (300 MB/s transfer rate) connects RSV-S8 to your system. 5 times faster than USB 2.0 (60 MB/s) interface.
120 mm silence fan guarantees the best cooling performance.
Full 300W power supply included.
Special tray in and out/ easy replacement design.
Solid SECC body to protect your HDD hardware.
Warning: RSV-S8 Must work With Silicon Image Multilane compatible host (like RC-213/ RC-214/RC-219, which included in box). If you connect RSV-S8 to a host without Port Multiplier function, the system might only catch one HDD instead of all.
RSV-S8 can provide a huge storage space with 8 SATA 3G HDD.
Please remind that the limitation for each partition for Windows system is 2 TB.
If you set a partition which is more than 2 TB, system can only detect 2 TB max.
Please read all document carefully before installing RSV-S8.
Access to 8 Hard Drives while using two cables via Port Multiplier function.
NOTE: In order to enable Port Multiplier function of RSV-S5 and RSV-S8, it can only work in the system with PCIe slot. It can't work with PCI slot. |
| Packaging |
| Package Contents |
RSV-S8 (Sil3726 chipset)
PCIe x1 slot card (Sil3132R5)
eSATA Cable
AC cable
HDD Screws x 32
Set and installation Driver Disk |
|
Reviewed By: on 10/25/2009
Tech Level: somewhat high - Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
