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Carl S.

Carl S.

Joined on 02/22/08

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Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 22
Most Favorable Review

Interesting card

Intel RAID SATA 8 internal port w/ 256MB cache memory PCI-E 2.0 x8 Controller Card (RT3WB080)
Intel RAID SATA 8 internal port w/ 256MB cache memory PCI-E 2.0 x8 Controller Card (RT3WB080)

Pros: Easy to use software and to install. I initially wanted to just use the card to connect 8 SATA drives to my system, I would then use raid later. Was told by Intel you could not do this turns out you can.

Cons: Needed to upgrade the firmware not big deal,was surprised at how old the code shipped on the card.

Overall Review: To use the card as connection to single drives set as raid 0 then select the size of the drive installed. Right now I am running 4 independent drives as 4 logical 1,5TB drives

10/24/2011
Most Critical Review

you may not want this drive

Hitachi GST Deskstar 0S03230 3TB 5400 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive Bare Drive
Hitachi GST Deskstar 0S03230 3TB 5400 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive Bare Drive

Pros: I just received and attempted to use this drive. The drive works as expected but only formats to 2TB for me. This is due to the fact that not all my components are at whatever level Hitachi is expecting. I was trying this on a windows Enterprise 64 bit system, rather new (2011). I noticed a utility for XP to format the drive to use 4K sectors so XP could see all 3TB. But they seem to have written this utility for either a very specific drive pr a drive in one of their enclosures. I did try putting the drive into a USB to SATA as the utility expected but no joy. I know Seagate has a utility to do this maybe I should have gone that route. No complains about NewEgg just a caution to others.

Cons: Will not work with most systems.

Great Value in my opinion

SAMSUNG 840 Pro Series 2.5" 512GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) MZ-7PD512BW
SAMSUNG 840 Pro Series 2.5" 512GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) MZ-7PD512BW

Pros: I now have 3 of these drives (all are the 512GB drives) in 3 different systems. All are performing very well and the desktop is showing a 7.9 on the windows scale. But the real story is what happened after replacing the boot drive with the 512GB version in a aging Lenovo T500. While I do not normally care about boot times lets just say I really noticed the improvement. From minutes (a few) to seconds more than a few less than 45.I then measured some applications, I am running SQL 2008 on this machine and the primary application is to evaluate Mainframe Computer performance. After building a new database on this machine using the SSD I measured the time difference to run a complex query. The baseline was against a Dell (6410 not the same I know but very similar in capabilities including processor) except the dell had a standard HD. The time to execute the query on the Dell was 365 seconds on the ThinkPad with the SSD 38 seconds, needless to say I was very happy. My expectation is that the ThinkPad time would have been similar to the Dell prior to this SSD. This is based other comparisons previously measured. I then ran a excel spreadsheet with what I describe as my macro from H*ll (a macro written by someone who does not write many macros). This macro runs over 100 SQL queries populates up to 104 different tabs on the spreadsheet and creates a PowerPoint and Word document. The speed difference was over 10 minutes needless to say saving this amount of time on a single task translates directly into productivity. Now I have less time to surf the net on the desktop while these things are executing. Summary took a machine I was considering replacing and now it is a work horse for me. Truth is I now have a new W530 and have ordered another of these drives to replace the stock SSD in the W530 and I have not yet even powered on the W530. That is how much I have come to love these drives. The T500 is still going to be used as my Test and Development machine checking out SQL 2012 and some new tool kits. It is the newer Dell 6410 that has been replaced.

Cons: none

2nd drive added still no issues to report

Seagate Desktop HDD ST4000DM000 4TB 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive Bare Drive
Seagate Desktop HDD ST4000DM000 4TB 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive Bare Drive

Pros: This is the 2nd 4TB drive I have added to the system, performance is as expected and capacity outstanding.

Cons: none

Really nice unit

VANTEC NexStar NST-D400SU3 Plastic 2.5" & 3.5" White SATA USB 3.0 & eSATA Dual Bay SuperSpeed Hard Drive Dock
VANTEC NexStar NST-D400SU3 Plastic 2.5" & 3.5" White SATA USB 3.0 & eSATA Dual Bay SuperSpeed Hard Drive Dock

Pros: I needed a external toaster device that could handle more than 1 drive (in my case 2 2.5 drives), and this fit the bill exactly. I am connected to an E-SATA port not USB. My machine is USB challenged in that I have USB 3 ports but they do not work very well, so I stat away from them. The E-SATA card is also from Vantec so I expected it to work and was not disappointed. Performance is as I expected.

Cons: Does it come in black? Mine is white would have preferred black maybe I should have looked at the Newegg site closer

Simple to instal performs well

VANTEC 2 Channel 4-Port SATA 6 Gb/s PCIe Host Card Model UGT-ST622
VANTEC 2 Channel 4-Port SATA 6 Gb/s PCIe Host Card Model UGT-ST622

Pros: Easy to install easy to use

Cons: Jumper settings could be clearer, but after thinking about it no problem. It would be nice to have a picture showing internal ports vs. external ports.

Overall Review: I was able to correctly set the jumpers first try so maybe it is not too bad. I had no issues with causing problems with USB ports or other Sata ports. I believe some have reported these types of issues I have seen none of them