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Mike H.

Mike H.

Joined on 06/01/03

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Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 6
Most Favorable Review

Works well

SANS DIGITAL TowerRAID TR4M-BNC JBOD (Hard drives are accessed individually) 4 3.5" Drive Bays eSATA (via Port Multiplier) Port Multiplier supported eSATA port required 4 Bay eSATA Port Multiplier JBOD Tower (no eSATA Card Bundle) (Black)
SANS DIGITAL TowerRAID TR4M-BNC JBOD (Hard drives are accessed individually) 4 3.5" Drive Bays eSATA (via Port Multiplier) Port Multiplier supported eSATA port required 4 Bay eSATA Port Multiplier JBOD Tower (no eSATA Card Bundle) (Black)

Pros: Hooked 2 of these up to my mac pro (using 2 SoNNeT Tempo eSATA PCIe Cards). I'm running an old copy of Apple's ZFS on Snow Leopard and needed more drive bays to mirror my data (hence 2 PCI cards). Its fast and works well.

Cons: Two minor things: 1) It has a ridiculously bright blue light on the fan that shines out the back. I wish there was a way to disable this. Just seems kinda childish. 2) I find it odd that there's a door on the front. You have to screw the drives into the enclosure from the side -- which requires taking off the top/sides. I just don't understand why I'd want to open the door unless I opened the whole thing up. You really do want to screw the drives down. They vibrated a little when I tested not doing this. Just an design choice, but it made me think that I could just slide them in and lock them into place from the front only -- which would be nice.

Overall Review: The product clearly says it requires a port multiplier card. Macs have very few of these so I'm glad it didn't come with one (the brand they use isn't Mac compatible).

Works well

Kingston 2GB DDR3 1066 (PC3 8500) ECC Memory For Apple Model KTA-MP1066/2G
Kingston 2GB DDR3 1066 (PC3 8500) ECC Memory For Apple Model KTA-MP1066/2G

Pros: Plugged it into my 2009 Mac Pro. It works. Not much else to say.

Cons: None.

Works well

SoNNeT Tempo E2P PCIe SATA Card with 2 Extended eSATA Ports Model TSATAII-E2P
SoNNeT Tempo E2P PCIe SATA Card with 2 Extended eSATA Ports Model TSATAII-E2P

Pros: Works with my mac pro running snow leopard. I got two of these to connect to some external JBOD enclosures (SANS DIGITAL TowerRAID TR4M-BNC -- I put a review there as well). Plugged it in, installed the driver. Done.

Cons: None

Works for me

WD My Book Essential 1TB USB 2.0 3.5" External Hard Drive WDH1U10000N
WD My Book Essential 1TB USB 2.0 3.5" External Hard Drive WDH1U10000N

Pros: Works with a Macs. Plugged it in and everything worked fine as expected.

Cons: A 1 Terabyte drive is really only 930 GB. But you should already accept that. :) The only odd thing was that unlike the other My Books I own, this one gave an error when I tried to change it's format from Fat to OS X's Journaled format. I had to "partition" it rather than erase it.

Overall Review: I own 3 other My Book products and have had no problems with them over the last 2+ years.

11/17/2007

Works Great

BYTECC ME-525U2FW Aluminum 5.25" / 3.5" IDE USB2.0 & 1394 External Enclosure
BYTECC ME-525U2FW Aluminum 5.25" / 3.5" IDE USB2.0 & 1394 External Enclosure

Pros: Works as advertised. The enclosure is very sturdy feeling. I got this so I could hook up an additional DVD burner to my iMac. No problems.

Cons: The fan is a tad on the loud side. Probably not a problem for many computers, but next to a dead-silent Mac it's very noticible. I only turn it on when needed.

Works well

BYTECC BT-280SATA COMBO(S) Aluminum 2.5" SATA USB & eSATA External Enclosure
BYTECC BT-280SATA COMBO(S) Aluminum 2.5" SATA USB & eSATA External Enclosure

Pros: It does what it advertises. Pretty simple. I had no problems with the screw holes lining up with my drive (stock 60 GB taken from a MacBook). The holes seemed to be enlarged to allow for a little play here (so maybe they've addressed the problem). I also notice no rattling. Everything is very secure. The case is very small and light.

Cons: Screw holes to close the case are not pre-threaded making the first attempt at closing it awkward. The screws are self-taping so you have to be very careful.

Overall Review: On an iMac and a MacBook you don't need to use both 'heads' of the USB cord to power it up, however, oddly, only my Linksys self-powered USB hub, I did. The manufactures site (at least for a while) mentioned this supported FireWire. It does not.

10/20/2006