Pros: Gigabit speed, even on the WAN port. IPS shows who is trying to get into your network as well as how. It replaced my BEFSX41 firewall router, mainly for the gigabit but for other nifty features such as DHCP static address assignment based on MAC address.

Cons: Restarting takes some time as the box runs Linux. Some config changes require restarts.

Overall Review: Contrary to what a previous reviewer said, this is a bona fide router. If it works on IP addresses, i.e. is a layer 3 device, it is a router. The new firmware gives 802.1q VLAN tagging, allowing the LAN to be divided into as many as four segments. And ya gotta have a router to pass data between VLANs.

Pros: Cheap, has both FW and USB, good for boxes lean on PCI slots.

Cons: The bracket is too long and leaves a gap where the screw attaches it to the chassis, causes the logic board to flex if you try to tighten it. Also the first two cards I got were defective, one had bad firewire and the other was completely dead. The replacements work ok.

Overall Review: I got a pair of these to use in G4 boxes running Mac OS X Server to handle external storage. Unlike with the built-in firewire ports, you can't have devices powered up before booting the system, or else they won't appear on the desktop. It requires booting the system and powering up the externals once the Finder is running. I pulled the cards and made do with the built-in firewire ports, daisychaining the devices on them, and put in a separate USB 2.0 card that allows powering up the externals before booting. I see that Sabrent has a nice looking combo card with an one more external USB port than this card has, I might give it a try.

Pros: Whopper capacity in a small package. I have a pair of these along with a Seagate Expansion 5TB external, They connect to a Dell PowerEdge R300 server via a USB 3.0 expansion card. The system runs Win Server 2012 R2 and is used for file sharing and backups. The server isn't running all the time so using desktop grade storage ought not be an issue, definitely not so far.

Cons: Sure it's the current reigning standard for interconnect, but I sure wouldn't mind if disk devices supported eSATA along with USB 3.0. Surely providing a bridge that could do both wouldn't add much to the cost. Speaking of the bridge, as I read in other reviews, the throughput could be better. I see ~60 MB/second on the high end when accessing file shares on the disks.

Overall Review: I had quite the stroke of luck a few months back when I found one of these in a local pawn shop with a $40 price sticker on it. Needless to say I was all over it. I got the Expansion disk a few months before that and just added the second Backup Plus courtesy of the egg at a good price. With 15TB connected, I think my file server will be set for a while.

Pros: Came with a low profile bracket, those seem few and far between.

Cons: Haven't seen any yet

Overall Review: I got the card to go in a Dell Opti GX240 SFF, which can only take a low profile card. The box lacks USB 2.0 so it needed an upgrade. I use this antique to run Kali Linux, and the box has plenty enough oomph for that job.

Pros: Went into a PCIe slot in a Dell Poweredge SC440 box and Win Server 2008 R2 worked with it just fine with Win 7 driver software. File copying shows around 85 MB per second throughput to attached disks.

Cons: This server is always running and sits on a shelf running file sharing service and has no keyboard or mouse or display, login is strictly via RDP. If no user is logged on, the disks attached seem to disappear off the box and are inaccessible to file sharing. Logging in and opening Computer brings them slowly back online. If I just disconnect the RDP session and leave a user logged on, they stay connected. Unsure if it's a card/driver or Win Server issue. Luckily the workaround is simple enough.

Overall Review: My favorite non newegg vendor was selling off empty USB 3.0 disk enclosures for $1 each so I got myself a stack of 'em. I had four WD green 750 gig disks functioning as paperweights for lack of somewhere to put 'em, so I stuck 'em in four of the enclosures. Then I needed something USB 3.0 to connect 'em to so I went looking for a four port card and thought this one would do. Aside from the above problem, the setup is working great.

Pros: I got a used example some time ago from a popular online auction site for a good chunk of change less than the going price. It sat on the shelf for a while since for one, the firmware was such that the device wasn't ready for prime time as other reviewers have said, and also my Cisco/Linksys RVS4000 was going strong. I put the 1.0.3.10 firmware on it, released in Jul 2013, and it made the thing work well enough to put in service. I got it all configured up and put it in place of the '4000. Been working great.

Cons: It was basically unusable with the firmware on it when I got it so it was a paperweight. No more, it's working as well as my '4000 did. The release notes say a few things are still broken but no show stoppers for my type of use.

Overall Review: My trusty RVS4000 reached its end of life and it got time to replace it. It had actually been an eternity since any updates came out so the EOL notice only served to make it official. Cisco's notice said the RV180 is the replacement product. I got several years of use out of the '4000 so I naturally went with its replacement. I hold a CCNA cert so I feel justified in giving myself high tech knowledge.