Cavalry CADA002SA8 2 TB 8 Drive SATA RAID 0 to RAID 5 System

First, I'd like to say that this is my third Cavalry product purchase. What I'd like to know is how they put out such great products at these price points?!? I mean, consider how much 8 250GB SATA drives alone costs. The other external solutions that I was considering didn't even come close price wise, especially not for 2TB of storage.

As Toby said, the packing could have been better. My unit arrived with one bay dislodged. It was, of course, one of the more difficult ones to get to due to the design of the case (the top bays are between two steel panels). Still didn't take more than 10-15 minutes to fix the problem. My driver CD was also damaged; it had some kind of solvent on it... THAT didn't happen in transit! I just went to Addonics web site & downloaded what I needed. I'd have given this system 5 stars otherwise.

The unit installed very easily. The provided cables are plenty long enough for most any installation. The included Addonics controller card setup without a hitch.

This unit has been in service for about 4 weeks now and is performing splendidly. It's actually very quite considering that it has 19, yes, I said 19, cooling fans. It has, however, added a little more warmth to an already hot server room. Now I've got to get that cooled down... it never ends, does it?!?

I ordered two of these arrays. Both arrived ahead of the estimated delivery date.

Upon arrival, the packing material was a bit crumbled. It appeared that the units had been shipped fully populated in the same box that shipped the empty case to the manufacturer. Those styrofoam bits are made to be used with a certain weight item, and additional weight crushes them and reduces how well the protect the unit inside. Upon inspection, no concealed damage was noted, despite the rough ride.

One of the units was missing the drive bay keys. The other shipped with only two keys for 8 bays. Those bays almost invariably ship with 2 keys per unit. It's a good thing we ordered two arrays! This leads to the question: Who is hoarding all those spare keys at the Calvary Storage factory?

The SATA RAID controller shipped with the unit was manufacured by Addonics, a company I've dealt with directly in the past with good results.

The system is split into 2 4 drive channels, 2 SATA cables (included and lengthy) are needed gain access to the entire drive system.

All in all, at abit more than 3 weeks installed, I'm happy with the overall experience. Cavalry needs to make sure all the material that's supposed to be in the box is there, however.