Rosewill RSV-S4-X RAID 0, 1, 10, 5, 5+spare, spanning and JBOD (using bundled utilities) 4 3.5" Drive Bays eSATA 3Gbps (via Port Multiplier) 4 Bay SATA to eSATA (Port Multiplier) JBOD / RAID 0, 1, 1+0, 5 Enclosure

Pros: Installation was quick and simple. Installed the card, drives, hooked up the cables, etc. Turned it on and all the drives were recognized.

Cons: If you're looking for hot-swap, this isn't it (see other thoughts below). IMO, no need for the blue LEDs in the fan. Also, only 1 cooling fan.

Other Thoughts: I bought this specifically to use as an external backup device for my Ubuntu 10.04 file server. I installed 4 2TB drives and Ubuntu didn't seem to have any problems recognizing the drives. Within a few minutes I had my software-based RAID 5 up and running. I also tried stopping the array and turning off the device, then turning it back on. Ubuntu re-recognized the drives (after several minutes) and I was able to re-start the array. This effectively means that I can replace a faulty drive without having to bring down the server. A reasonable compromise for the lack of hot-swap capability.

I did not utilize the card-based RAID functions -- only software raid (mdadm). Maybe they work, maybe they don't.

Pros: Update to my previous review: Unit worked ok after replacing cooling fan, until secondary issue.

Cons: The cooling fan stopped working after a week and the unit overheated. Lights on the fan worked but the motor would not start. Replaced the fan with one that worked much better. Also the RAID controller is faulty and only starts up with the computer after restarting multiple times.

Other Thoughts: My advise is set up your RAID in a Computer.... Not an external enclosure, if at all possible. Haven't found a good replacement.

Manufacturer Response:

Dear Valued Customer,
Thank you very much for purchasing this unit.
We strive to provide the most reliable and highest quality products to our customers.

Please kindly contact the Rosewill support team
Phone: 1- 800-575-9885
Email: rma@rosewill.com

So we may assist you with (in-warranty) replacement.
We look forward to hearing from you.

Thanks,
Rosewill Customer Care

Pros: Slick little box and not too bad for pushing drives into back plane. Mine runs cool with 3 drives in it.

Cons: But cool doesn't cut it when you have a striped drive drop out and get orphaned. Not sure if card or box - so gave 3 eggs because it is really a set (card and box). Good thing I hadn't tranferred much data yet. It was 2 500G drives striped and 1T drive as passthru as a backup mirror (robocopy nitely script). Maybe the controller with Marvell chip was a better choice?

Other Thoughts: Currently trying the same drives striped with Win2008R2 in 'disk management' instead of SATARAID5 software. I'll see if it fails around the same time or space. Still not a lot of confidence, though.

Pros: This is a nice looking unit and hardware is easy enough to install. 8Tb Max and Raid support via the included Silicon Image controller card. Blue LED Fan is quiet..

Cons: The software and drivers supplied for the Silicon Image controller card are outdated and you must go to the Silicon Image Website to download the correct ones. The correct Driver, Bios, and Program must be chosen for your OS which is a task in itself because of bad labeling and large selection!! You Must download, Install, and restart your system multiple times and tweaking may be needed to get it all to work together. The software SATARAID5 that comes with it has an ugly interface and runs via Java Runtime, which you will need to install the right version as well. Also I've noticed that with three drives in this unit, it is overheating. I'm sad that after looking for days that this seamed to be the only option for a reasonably put together and priced RAID Enclosure. Also don't Get the Sans Digital ones either. I had to return one of those to then purchase this one...

Other Thoughts: Please AMD Start making RAID Enclosures!! Or someone please make one that doesn't take weeks to set up.

Pros: Price. Perfectly cheap JBOD solution with the SATA card. Great solution to not adding load to your PC and it is a simple plug and play with external Power. Works with my 8 TB set up with 2 HDD from Samsung (one with green and one without) and 2 HDD from Seagate. All different model and made HDDs works perfectly under windows 8 and JBOD.

Cons: Power Supply will most likely failed, but thanks to Rosewill's warranty policy you can get it repaired in no time within its warranty period of 1 year.

Other Thoughts: Issue resolved, my JBOD unit is working great ! I don't know about the RAID users.

I recently wrote a really bad review about this and might have had some misunderstanding with Rosewill and Newegg. I would recommend that you write to them for any issues other than going through the customer service on the phone who just reads the company policy.

I was lucky enough that after I check my order again and again I fell within the warranty range and got the replacement P/S that my unit needs and it is now working in perfect condition for a few days now.

All my drives were not damaged in any way due to the order P/S Failure and they are all in JBOD Mode.

Might take some patient and about 20 to 30 minute of quiet time to replace the P/S. Then it is home run.

I am using a system with newly installed windows 8 on a system with 8 gig DDR3 ram , as well as a Intel Quad Core Q6700 chip and this is great ! 100 MB per Second read and write speed from Drive to Drive within the same Enclosure. Transferred 250 gig of stuff from one drive to another in no time. I love it !

Pros: Easy to setup, easy to install or remove drives. Comes with card

Cons: Included card works, but is nothing special, definitely replace it.

Other Thoughts: So far this has been a useful little box. Setting it up for RAID on my server once a new raid card arrives. Very handy on it's own though. So far I've use it to test drives from a failed raid enclosure, recover data off a laptop SATA drive and back up data in an emergency across my network when my wifes system went AWOL. I will most likely buy more of these in the future.

Pros: Cheap mass storage

Cons: Stability

Other Thoughts: I have owned two of these for over a year now. At first I thought it was me but now I am finding more and more issues with one of my units.

One of my units requires a 48 hour rebuild every time my PC reboots, once a month for M$ patching. Also I have had the same unit disconnect from my PC and rebuild about once every other month. At first I thought this was a cable issue but even with high end eSATA cables I am having issues now.

For the current asking price you can get a lot more bang for your buck with other units. Don't use this enclosure as part of a backup system or put data on it that you might miss later on. Every month there is a 50/50 chance you will have no data when it comes back up.

Pros: It's only as good as the e-Sata Card your using.
It's Scalable with the purchase of any new e-Sata RAID-Ready card.
The RocketRaid 622 Card that came with my NAS was only good for 2 Gig Drives to a max of 8 GIGS. Still Good for the price of this NAS.
As for setting up this to boot from your Motherboard's Hard Drive as first boot device I set the Motherboard BIOS to IDE and not AHCI or RAID and I had no Problems
I've used this on my Mythbuntu TV System with no problems and also with my Vista 32 and 64 Systems.
Rock Solid, no problems at all especially in Linux! RocketRaid supported.

Cons: No Network Card!
The NAS or Card that came with mine didn't offer any info on the functions such as the LED lights on the bottom.
I received no Documentation or software, but I did get the software on line.
The Hard Drives only come up as 1.5G e-Sata Drives not 3G but that is probably again the RocketRaid Card.
Check: http://www.rosewill.com/products/1503/ProductDetail_Overview.htm

Other Thoughts: All in All it's a good NAS. Not as good as the NetGear ReadyNAS Series (which I also have) but it's still a good NAS.
Now if I can put MicroSoft Home Server (WHS) or compatible server software on this, this would be a great NAS. Thinking of setting up a IPCop Box with Copfilter with this NAS as it's Home Server.
Checking these for a home made router/AP
http://www.newegg.com/Barebone-Systems/SubCategory/ID-3
Any Thoughts on this Rosewill?

Pros: Nice Paper Weight !

Cons: Do not get this, Newegg played with the website and added a dash to the model number so you would think that this is a brand new product ! WRONG !

Other Thoughts: I had this piece of junk for just over a year and only were able to turn it on about 20 times. The power supply is badly designed and the SATA connection doesn't get connected for more than 10 minutes. Too much trouble to return this so I have to suck it up until I see how Newegg and Rosewill tried to trick all of you ! I am thinking of reporting this to the better business bureau for their business practices. Re-name their product, add a dash so all the bad reviews are gone ? Come on !!!

Pros: I now use it as a coffee table stand.

Cons: Everything about it from how it failed to start.

Other Thoughts: I have purchased this product when it was on sale late 2011 and didn't have a chance to take it out of the box until sometime in 2012. I have to apologize to everyone who purchased this RAID Enclosure recently. I had this a little more than 1 year (our of warranty) and used it for about 2 days. I think if more people who had this piece of junk writes the review sooner then maybe Rosewill would just discontinue this other than deleting so many people's memories or files. I think my frustration said it all , I swear I could only turn this junk on less then 20 times and now that darn red LED just flashes. Most likely the Power Supply like most have said it and I am now out of warranty. Yeah you can ask why I don't RMA it but just think about how much trouble it will be calling them, wasting hours , and then to pack the 6 LB piece of Metal and hope USPS will deliver ? Thank you Newegg and Rosewill for teaming up so well together and "f" me to the rock bottom.