Customer Reviews

Cavalry Storage CAXM Series 500 GB USB / eSATA External Hard Drive CAXM37500 - Includes eSATA Kit

5 star:		(30)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(13)

 

 

I've been using this for a few months and I'm probably going to get another one soon. I've checked out other drives with esata, and they were more expensive and/or didn't have the esata accessories. Also, some of the esata drives didn't have USB 2.0 and just had esata. I don't use USB to connect to the drive but if I need to I'd like the option. Not all motherboards have the hookup. The esata bridge goes directly to one of your slots on the motherboard.

PROS
Definite pros are the speed, size, and cost. Also, consider that you don't have to buy any additional cards to use esata. My machine doesn't have any firewire ports and the cards cost roughly third the cost of this drive. I've read the drive gets hot, but mine is really cool. Maybe this is because I have mine sitting vertically. Also, it's really quiet even with the fan. Esata is roughly 300% faster than USB 2.0, firewire.

CONS
It was slightly tricky to install with Vista. I turned mine off serveral times before I saw the drive.

I reformatted the drive to one FAT32 partition and I couldn't do it from Vista, I had to use a machine with XP. But this is not the drives fault.

The light is really bright. I cover the light up and never really touch the button. My drive is always on.

The esata bridge takes up a PCI slot, sort of as stated before it goes directly to the motherboard not into the PCI slot. There is only one esata port. If I buy a second one I would either use another PCI. However, I bought a bridge that has two esata ports with two cables that plugs to each of my free motherboard sata ports for less than 10 dollars.

I think the MyBooks look better, LOL.

All in all this is a smart buy. The pros definitely outway the minor cons.

This drive works great and is a bit slimmer than most models I have seen. The Sata capability really makes a huge difference in speed if your computer has a free external Sata port. If not, the drive comes with an adapter to turn an internal Sata port into an external with a faceplate that attaches in an empty PCI opening.

Very fast and very functional!

UPDATE: Shortly after warranty period expired the control board failed. I had to remove the drive and scrap the case. I bought a replacement external case (with no hard drive) and placed the drive in the empty case.

...Well, I can't really attest to how well-known this company may be, seeing as how they claim to be well known in business-tech circles, but that makes no difference-this is one pretty powerful external! I was pretty skeptical at first, preferring to put my money on a more popular name brand, but I'm SO HAPPY that I didn't-I've got an Iomega, Western Digital and a Seagate, and this baby keeps up with them in performance & then some! You can switch the internal fan on & off (keep it on, though, it gets pretty hot without it), and it's got a great slim, unobtrusive profile, placed horizontally or vertically. It's a great financial save, too!

When this drive is used with the included e-SATA connection it is fast, very fast. (Did not test USB port but USB 2 speed is nothing close to e-SATA speeds) Between my internal SATA disk and this external e-SATA disk I see r/w access up to 50MBps, which is amazing. It takes just a couple of seconds to move a 1GB movie file from the internal drive to the external drive. Drive so far has been reliable

After searching for an external drive all over the web, I purchased this one, and am very pleased with it.. Many externals near this price do not have a fan, the storage capacity, or SATA connection.. The drive is very fast, and small enough to fit in my laptop case..

Solid drive, very fast, and does the job. The price is great too.
Not too much else you can ask for.

Got one 500 Gig. They are so cool, just got another one to backup the first one. The SATA works perfectly, plus they include a do-it-yourself kit so you can mosey on into your mobo and hook up the incredible SATA speed yourself. These drives so far are perfect, come fully formatted as 'active/partitioned' drives. Literally plug them in and you're set.

The instructions are about as big as a playing card, and even the semi-confident dad or mom can install the cool kit that will make available the SATA rear port (comes with the extra SATA cable that you need as well).

The form-factor is excellent as well as the cool-factor. I bought TWO!

A Terabyte of music, movies and kid stuff all in one drive, shared across a network. Cavalry might just be the next king of external drives.

Cavalry stuff has big problems with quality control, hence some rating it 5 in these reviews. Buying one is a roll of the dice -- it will either work fine or be dead on arrival. After receiving my latest drive and finding it to be completely non-functional right out of the box, I won't be purchasing anything of this brand again. Don't expect customer service either, their web site has some comments about a 3rd party company doing all their support. So the company makes low grade hooch, and won't stand behind it either.

I bought this, and less than 3 months later, it died. What use is a hard drive if its not reliable ? I have an Iomega that I bought years ago, a 250GB external USB, and its very slow, but its never died. I'll take slow over non-functional any day. I wrote the company a week ago and haven't heard anything yet. Skip this drive and buy one from an established company with good customer service.

I am so disappointed with this item, so far at least. It didn't work, I purchased it based on reviews on Amazon and had high hopes for it. After setting it up the computer did not recognize it and after spending an hour on the phone with tech support, they said "it happens sometimes" and to send it back. It was a gift for someone and I am very embarrassed that it didn't work.
Tech Support said it was purchased at BEST BUY....Amazon didn't bother to tell me that :-(
I hope the replacement, if they give me one, works.