Pros: Cheap price.

Cons: Cheap quality.

Other Thoughts: Followed the meager instructions, RAID1 setup. Able to copy small files, anything past a gig and the unit goes offline.

Purchased for archiving video files on a RAID1, totally unable to perform this function.

Pros: 2 slots, which despite the description here and on AMS site, as well as the thin documentation in the box, EACH take 2 TB drives! It runs very quiet with its 80mm fan, but maintains good airflow with 2 drives in a cool aluminum structure which is very sturdy. Runs JBOD so you can see each drive seperately in Windows if you've got a port-multiplier eSATA card. Front intake also has a foam air filter.

Cons: Documentation is thin, and it wasn't completely clear on how to NOT run it in RAID, but I figured it out. Documentation is also wrong in claiming it supports up to 1 TB drives. It in fact takes 2TB drives.

Other Thoughts: Got this to add to more drives to my WHS 2011 setup, giving me 18TB total. I'm very happy. It has low power draw, is quiet, and cool.

Pros: Fast eSATA (requires a port-multiplier-aware adapter, otherwise only one drive shows up). Looks nice - passes the WAF (wife acceptance factor). Plenty of airflow keeps the drives cool, and an air filter on the front is a nice bonus. I would buy another if I needed more than 12TB (2TB x 2 bays x 3 units). Fans have lasted years - still working fine.

Cons: No cons really. It would be nice if they broke the 2.2TB limit, but this is an older model now, and I'm actually surprised to still find it on Newegg!

Other Thoughts: It's been a while since anyone left a review for this box, so I thought I'd update everyone with my experience with 3 of these in use for a few years now. I'm running 2TB drives in each bay (4TB in each box) as JBOD (each drive shows up individually in Windows).

I haven't tried "SAFE" (RAID-1/mirror), but I have tried "FAST" (RAID-0/stripe) with 2TB drives, and it does have the 2.2TB limitation, which is why I run them in JBOD.

I've burned out a couple PSU bricks - drives spin 24/7 and when they start having errors, PSU is getting weak, then occasionally only spins a single drive. I do electronics repair, so rebuilt the PSU bricks and they're working fine again. AMS does sell replacement PSU's on their website.

Pros: Silicon Image 5744 chipset and configuration capabilities are nice.

Cons: Physically, the unit is very poorly built. The rails don't guide the drive onto the SATA connectors very well, be careful inserting your drive. The front panel barely fit in place once a drive was installed. Be careful not to snag the loose wires flopping around inside the enclosure when sliding a drive into the bottom bay.

Other Thoughts: I never even turned it on. I am returning it immediately as the cheap physical construction of the unit makes it not a viable solution for my needs. Other drives available on Newegg for $10-$20 more that are of significantly higher quality.

Pros: Overall - VERY good unit for external storage. Accepts two hard drives (for mirrored raid/raid 1). Fast via E-sata, keeps drives VERY cool, quite a quiet fan (woah I spelled those right?!), USB 2.0 or Esata connections (NOT to be used simultaneously), built in air screen keeps dust out, mine came with 4 rubber feet to keep the unit from sliding across the top of my tower.

Cons: ESATA REQUIRES SPECIAL RAID CARD ON PC OR LAPTOP! (See Other Thoughts for more info) USB 2 is only good for 200mb/sec (USB 3 would have been nice), external power supply is a pain when transporting, no temp monitor or fan speed sensor built into this model, needed rubber band buffer to keep drives from metal to metal clanking in transport (ouch!)

Other Thoughts: I didn't read the requirements, and Silicon Image chipset is a must or it will not function. I figured that the 'storage controller' meant it was all inside, but thats not the case. With dumb luck my laptop card was Sil Image, so I thought the ESATA on my PC was bad. After looking at the requirements I will be ordering a 4 port internal SATA card, and make one of the ports connect to an ESATA jack (never have too many internal SATA ports, but right now I have 2 of the 3 I can get to used - vid card covers 3 other SATA ports). As far as what drives are compatible, I didn't have any troubles with the 1tb Hit@chi Deskstar drives timing out (Western Digital drives don't allow for RAID as they will time out since TLER is disabled). I don't know if this device allows for users to specify the time-out value, but its still a great unit. Buy big drives and then mirror them for your enjoyment and use for years. Great device, but make sure you buy your Silicon Image cards if you want to use ESATA

Pros: • Easy to Use
• Plug and Play
• eSata & USB
• RAID 1 (and 5 other configurations) Supported

Cons: • Included Product Documentation
• Speed over USB (not really device's fault though)
• Power Supply (cable and adapter) runs Warm/Hot

Other Thoughts: I bought this with (2) Western Digital RE3 WD1002FBYS drives. The drives snapped right in. I then powered the device on, pushed the "mode change" button, and turned the dial to "SAFE" for RAID 1. After a few seconds, I plugged it into a Windows XP desktop (via USB), and went to Computer Management > Disk Management where I initialized the disks array and partitioned it to use NTFS. I then formatted the array using the full format option (which only took about 10-15 mins). From there, I installed the latest version of SiI57xx SteelVine Manager and downloaded the latest firmware from siliconimage.com. I then flashed the firmware of the device using SteelVine Manager, rebooted the device, and watched the status as the array built out and verify itself from SM tools. That took about 7-8 hours, but once it was done I powered everything down and then back up and started transferring files to the unit. I will soon connect this to the server it will pull NAS duties for via eSata (for speed).

Pros: Excellent build quality and tasteful design. The big fan keeps big low power drives cool while remaining silent. The dust filter is a nice touch.

AMS technical support is very responsive. A beta firmware is available which enables 1.5 TB drive compatibility. Silicon Image's SteelVine is a powerful chipset.

Cons: There is a USB conflict with my system (ICH8, Ubuntu 8.10). When connected to the front USB port the array floods the USB host controller with errors and other USB peripherals (mouse, keyboard) become unresponsive. There is no conflict when connected to other USB ports on the same system.

The SteelVine Manager software is buggy at best. Seemingly incompatible with Windows Vista or Linux, it's minimally functional on Windows XP. The software is informational only (plus firmware updating), there is no interactive control over USB.

The tabs which secure the drives are loose and ineffectual. The drives remain snugly connected, but would disconnect or even fall out if the case were held face down. The screws anchoring the tabs are tight, the design is simply faulty. The mode switch does not have firm detents, making mode changes finicky.

Other Thoughts: It gets the job done as I expected, but be prepared for frustration during setup. The hardware is well built but there are design flaws. The great AMS tech support makes me confident in the purchase and is why I give 4 stars.

Pros: Nice build, solid and big enough to create separation and airspace for your drives. Front is open but not bare so the fan and hard drive noises are muffled - if you think that isn't a big deal, buy the Fantom Raid enclosures and you'll think a jet plane is taking off. Easy to set the RAID type, provided most of the cables, lights are pretty good for each drive, the cases are stackable... very nice, good job for the price.

Cons: Just a few. Could use some rubber feet on the bottom so the drive won't slide around. Easily remedied with a trip to your local hardware store for $2. The instructions are horrible. Unless you know how to configure the raid, you will be at a loss. (In Windows - programs, admin tools, computer management - then select the HD which you will need to format and you're done.) No explanation about the lights, which eventually you'll probably figure out. Had trouble connecting via sata, but it might have been my mobo needing a bios update as my other drive has same issues.

Other Thoughts: While the manual is terrible and leaves much to the user, once you've figured it out you'll be glad the case is solid and reliable.

Pros: Twin Raptor 150 GB 10,000 RPM in Raid 0 (Fast) working well. Tried Raid 1, Safe & JDOB all worked. Used Steelvine to update SilIm 5744 then discarded.

Cons: Transfer rate average 75 MB/Sec. Highest to date 111 lowest seen 33 - 1 egg

Other Thoughts: Just toying around for now with those old Raptors. Running off BlackOps ICH9R cabled to back ESATA bracket, not on-chip Jmicron This allows use of Matrix Storage Manager - AHCI SMART and NCQ

Pros: I bought this from another store today together with 2 seagate 1.5TB disks. Small size and eSata connection + USB. Fan is quiet.

Cons: It took me almost a whole day trying to make it working with the 1.5TB drive. It's either showed up in Vista disk management as 4GB or 6TB volume or not at all. The only time I can make it appear on the "SteelVine Manager", a software comes with the the box, installed as a windows service with a taskbar icon, is when using mode JBOB, however it can only correctly detect one of the two 1.5 TB disks. Guess the disclaimer of 1TB disk limitation is true after all. While the disk displayed in the "SteelVine Manager", there are additional menu enabled. I took the advantage to install the a newer firmware downloaded for sil5744 chip (used in this box) to upgrade its 1.1516 to 1.1576, but found no effect on 1.5TB disks.

Other Thoughts: One reviewer commented on 6/29 claimed he's able to download a dev release of the newest firmware from AMS. However, there is nothing I can find on AMS website. Hope the reviewer reveal the web address where he found the firmware that make 1.5TB worked.