Pros: We use WD RE3 750s and 500s in a number of raid systems. Compared to other brands, the WD RE3s have been the most dependable. We do occasionally have a drive go bad, but with over 70 drives installed, that is bound to happen. We run raid 6, which will tolerate two failed drives. Typically if a drive dies it is only one at a time. HOWEVER, we did lose a fan in a computer once that cause over heating and we did lose two drives, so it can happen.

Cons: None.

Overall Review: The RE3s are for heavy duty (think continuous 24x7x365 use) and/or raid use. If your needs don't fit that description, you may be better off with the a WD Caviar or similar.

Pros: Hmm.. None!

Cons: I have successfully used 2820SAs before, so I'll chalk this up to being a bad card, but what a nightmare. I did get a nice 4.7TB raid 5 built and initialized, but after two weeks of random issues, the card simply stop working. The onboard bios would stop at boot up with the message "Controller Kernel Stopped Running". Of course I contacted Adaptec support, but thus they haven't bothered to get back to me.

Overall Review: I've had good luck with 3Ware on other builds, so I'm going to go with the 9550SXU-8LP

Pros: I went with the SNT SAC3051B over other similar products because it has a bigger and more powerful fan, which is cool (get it, cool...). The fan has 2 settings, 2400 rpm and 3600 rpm. Since this server is in it's own room, I left the setting at 3600.

Cons: The biggest con is the poor documentation and results in losing one egg. That said, if you read the reviews here, you can learn what you need to know.

Overall Review: Useful tips: 1) As 12o points out (thanks bud!), there are tiny little push button power switches for each of the 5 bays. On first use you may have to press these buttons. The LED lights will come on to let you know the bay is powered up. 2) The back of the cage has three 4-pin molex power connectors and two sata power connectors. You DON'T have to connect all 5 up. I used the two sata connectors and it works fine.

Pros: Nice looking unit, but...

Cons: I've had 8 of these installed in a raid tower. Over the past year 3 have failed mysteriously. In the end I traced the issue to a bad sensor. Basically the unit would complain that the drive was over heating, even though it wasn't even close to being hot. In the worst case unit would take the drive offline, thus screwing up the raid system. 'Supposedly' you can adjust the temperature setting for the alarm. I tried doing this in an effort to try to stop the units from taking the drives off line. Anyway, after several attempts of following the alarm setting instructions, I gave up as my setting never seemed to 'stick'. For me these units are worse than a single star. They cost me A LOT of time and aggravation.

Overall Review: After researching alternatives I'm lean towards either a simpler design (no alarms, etc) in the form of the BYTECC BT-135E-BK (I have a few of these and never have had a problem), Or I'm also tempted to try the Granite Digital Sata Vue LCD Hot-Swap Tray. Unfortunately these latter units are not sold by New Egg.

Pros: This is a must have for anyone who needs to manage data or want to take advantage of extra hard drives sitting on the shelf. It is simple, but very effective. I also got it to work with Linux with out much effort.

Cons: Nothing major. Wish the power button wasn't on the back - but this isn't a big deal.

Overall Review: I'm using this to back up critical data. I have two HDDs and I rotate them to an offsite location. Powerful yet easy data security for cheap dollars.

Pros: Card is working as it should.

Cons: Card can be difficult to deal with under adverse conditions. For example I have seen a failure such a bad sata cable result in the controller not not being able to boot properly.

Overall Review: I gave this card a very poor rating at first, but in fairness I'm upgrading it to good. It turns out the problem I was have was due to two issues: 1) An intermittently bad sata cable, and 2) a hard disk with SMART and bad block errors. I guess it is too much to ask, but this card couldn't deal with or provide any clear clues that these mentioned problems were there. After I corrected these issues, the card started working as it should. More advice: Use 'latching' sata cables, especially is builds were the cables are cramped for space. I now have set a policy of throwing away the 'free' sata cables that come with raid cards - latching cables are the only way to go. I had to buy the latching sata cables from another vender as NewEgg didn't have any (or I simply couldn't find them)