Customer Reviews

StarTech.com 3.5-Inch Silver eSATA USB Dual SATA External RAID Hard Drive Enclosure (SAT3520U2ER) - Silver

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Bought this enclosure after reading mixed reviews on Amazon & Newegg. And I am happy to report that this was an Excellent purchase. Honestly, this is one awesome little box which supports MIRRORING, relatively inexpensive, quiet, very simple to setup and best of all, it comes with USB/eSATA cables and drive mounting screws.

I did a lot of reading before buying the unit, and was well aware of some of the challenges other people had with this unit. Maybe all that reading/research helped me during the configuration process as I knew exactly what to do. Moreover, I chose Hitachi 1TB drives which have been around for a while and are rock solid and had no issues using them with the enclosure.

I would have given this unit 5 stars ... the Power LED is so bright that it illuminates my Home Office ... not suitable for living room or Home Theaters.

[Configuration Details]:
Hard Drives: Two 3.5" 7200 RPM Hitachi DESKSTAR 1TB SATA drives in RAID 1 (mirror) configuration.

Interface: Drive enclosure is connected via USB 2.0 port as I have an older desktop (running WinXP SP3) which does not support SATA nor has PCI-e slots for an add-on SATA/eSATA card. Adding a PCI based SATA/eSATA card was not going to give exceptionally better performance than USB so save some $$.
Please Note: If you are connecting via eSATA then read about requirements for SATA port multiplier to ensure drives are available to your system correctly.

Enclosure Setup: The drive enclosure's default configuration is set for GUI mode. This requires installation of software application (included on CD) to control different drive settings (JBOD, BIG, RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 33 and RAID 55). Since I don't like the idea of installing unnecessary software , opted for hardware based configuration managed through the DIP switches on the drive enclosure. Now for the tricky part. First you will need to set the configuration to JBOD mode by toggling the appropriate combination on the DIP switches. VERY IMPORTANT: The settings are finalized/saved (committed to memory) by clicking on the RESET button for few seconds. If you don't press the reset button the system will not make the changes .. so don't close the enclosure till you are done. In JBOD mode the PC sees the two drives in the enclosure as 2x SEPARATE drives. Plug the USB port to the PC (with drives/enclosure powered ON). XP will recognize the internal drives and proceed with automatic driver installs. Once the drivers are installed, XP will need to initialize and then FORMAT the disks with your choosing of FILESYSTEM. Once this is done you will need to set the DIP switches to RAID 1 (or whatever configuration you want). Set the appropriate disk configuration and press RESET button to save the settings.

I am using the unit for storing my movie collection which is in MKV, MP4 and ISO formats. Since I am using a WINDOWS machine the disks are formatted as NTFS for better performance. I watch the movies using an ASUS O!Play HDP-R1 HD Media Player connected to my HDTV over 100Mbps LAN. I have not noticed any performance issues, delays or buffering with the setup.

Step-by-Step for USB based setup:
1. Take enclosure out of the box.
2. Unscrew the 4x screws (at the 4 corners) using a Philips screw driver.
3. Slide out the enclosure cover to expose the internals.
4. Mount the drives by sliding into drive trays until a snug fit is established with SATA connectors.
5. Secure the drives to the trays using the supplied Phillips screws (included with the unit).
6. Connect power supply to the adapter.
7. Turn ON the unit by toggling the power switch.
8. Unit will power up and bright blue LED will illuminate the world (heh heh).
9. Set the DIP switches to JBOD (1=ON, 2/3/4=OFF)
10. Press the RESET switch to SAVE the settings.
11. Connect the unit to Windows PC via USB cable.
12. XP will auto-detect and install appropriate drivers.
13. XP will prompt to initialize the drives.
14. Once drives are initialized the drives will need to be formatted (for new drives). Formatting is done via Computer Management and then Disk Management.
15. Once the drives are initialized and formatted disconnect the USB cable from the PC.
16. Select the appropriate RAID setting via the DIP switches on the enclosure (REMEMBER to press the RESET button to save the new settings).
17. Re-connect the USB cable to the PC.
18. XP will automatically detect the new settings and new drive will show up in My Computer.
19. Power down the unit and disconnect cables.
20. Close the enclosure.
21. Reconnect cables (power / USB).
22. Turn ON the unit.
23. Enjoy more disk space :)

Hope this helps.

Wonderful enclosure for the price & i guess it was the cheapest ($69) of RAID supporting enclosure that i could find with e-SATA port. Folks configuring this enclosure for the first time better check out the manual on their website before configuring. Well... the manual is not gr8 but you will get to know of things for better understanding

This enclosure can easily do ~ 75MB/sec sustained transfer rates & probably more (not tested though!) in RAID but you need to have a drive which can do faster than 130 mb/sec read/write to take advantage of RAID.

Wish it was bundled with a longer e-sata cable, e-sata bracket for extending the SATA port & a quality fan which could h'v been quieter.

Things to Remember:

1. Hit the the reset button (located on top of the PCB) inside the Enclosure+hard disk (POWERED ON) & hold it for few seconds after you have change the DIP switch setting in case you wish to setup any of the configuration supported by the enclosure other than the default one. I guess the default setup is in JBOD mode. This will save you setup troubles

2. Mull over again if you are thinking of configuring RAID setup with the enclosure. There is a catch here.. your SATA chipset must support port multiplier to make it work in RAID. You will be forced to use single drive/HDD if the chipset does not support port multiplier functionality. Check with SATA chipset manufacturer. Older chipset & most of the newer intel chipset including laptop & desktop does not support port multiplier. My notebook with PM45 chipset is at fault here! so watch out....

1) I bought this product 11 July 2009, it is delivered on 20 July 2009. When took out the package box, it looks solid and beautiful;

2) However, when I setup the driver step by step according to the paper Instruction Manual (also as the online one found on StarTech website), my nightmare started. I spend 4 days (total about 3 hours) to figure out by myself to make the RAID 1 mode work. Below is my experience, hope it helps for you.

a, I bought 2 HHD "Western Digital AV-GP 500 GB Bulk/OEM Hard Drive" , which are installed with StarTech SAT3520U2ER (this product) on 21 July 2009, I set the DIP Switch to 1/2/3/4=On/On/Off/Off, that would be RAID 1 (safe) setting according to the Instruction Manual page 4.

b, The same page in the Instruction Manual stated that "GUI** (Requires Software Installation", so, by my understanding, RAID 1 (and other modes except GUI mode) does not require to install the software.

c, After HDD 1 and HDD2 both installed and setup the DIP to RAID 1 (1/2/3/4=On/On/Off/Off, and push the RESET), I connect it to my Windows XP system, then "Partitioning Installed Drivers" exactly according to the Instruction Manual. When I looked it through Start - My Computer - Explore, it shows me there are 2 separated HDDs (that's JBOD); Reboot the computer, still the same.

d, I went to StarTech website, fill-out the Technical Support form [...] on July 21 night about 10pm EST.

e, I don't get any phone call or email response as of right now (10:40pm EST, 25 July 2009).

g, I start to fix it by myself today from 8:30pm EST. Finally I figured out how to make it work as RAID 1 mode. This is what I found. 1,You need install the software ANYWAY; 2,You have to set the DIP to GUI ANYWAY; 3,You have to find the default password for the software (SteelVine) by reading the SteelVine Manage Help (total 108 pages) and search for "default password"; 4,then you can use that password to set the Product to RAID1 mode.

f, My experience has indicated, the Instruction Manual is not useful as customer wanted; (By the way, a lot of the wording are copying from the SteelVine Manage Help). And StarTech Customer Service is nearly non-existing.

I would come back to update my experience for using the SAT3520U2ER.

1.I formatted each drive with a single external USB enclosure I had laying around.
2. I make sure that the drives worked.
3. I installed the drives in the Startech SAT3520U2ER enclosure then set the switch to... 1 on; 2 off ; 3off ; 4off (JBOD)
4. Use the USB port and both drives were recognized by WIN7. As two separate 2TB for a total of 4 TB..
5. Push the set button for good measure
6.Turn off the enclosure
7.Disconnect the USB cable.
8.Set the switch to RAID1 ... 1on; 2on; 3off; 4off.
9. Turn on the enclosure .
10.Pushed the reset button.
11.The reconnect the USB cable. Now only one drive was recognized for 2 TB (as it should be in a Raid1).
Note: To Test I copied some file to the RAID1 drive and disassemble the Startech SAT3520U2ER and tested each drive separately with the other single enclosure to make sure that the files were mirrored correctly each of the 2tb had the files. RAID1 worked perfectly.
Reassemble the drives and the thing works perfectly with the USB port.
The e-SATA did not work for me.
I am very happy with the enclosure of a 2TB fully RAID 1 drive even if the e-SATA did not work I just did not have more time to work on it.
I My opinion I recommend.
The Max drive size per the manual was 1 TB for each single drive for me it works for 2TB Each single drive. Sometimes manufacturers only test with what is available at the time they lunched the product but there is no reason that I should not work with a larger drive. Thanks A.L Alam for thanking the time to post the detail explanations, they were very helpful.

The manual for this is product has just enough in it to be very confusing when setting up your drives. It took me several different iterations to figure out that my eSATA port doesn't support port multiplication (needed if you want to have more then one drive visible), and that eSATA is not plug and play like USB is. You either need to have the drive turned on and plugged in before you computer boots or you need to rescan your devices (right click my computer -> manage-> right click disk management (under storage) -> rescan disks) to get it to show up correctly. None of this is explained in the manual at all.

I am happy with the speed which is definitely faster then USB2.0. 60MB/s vs ~10MB/s. However i do wish the enclosure was quieter. You can turn the fan off which make a huge difference, but i am slightly worried about the drives overheating (i got a caviar black which is better performance then the green or blue series but can run hot). If i had to do it again i probably would have gotten a green series drive that would run a lot cooler and keep the fan off.

I bought this enclosure to use with my Tivo HD. This is because of the eSATA. I was unable to get it to work but that is not the fault of the manufacturer. Other than that issue this is a really nice tight external enclosure.

I have 1TB inside on 2 seperate drives. The setup is very easy to do, there is a simple dip switch inside that the guide tells you to adjust for the different types of RAID. Right now I set it for JBOD for use as a backup drive.

* Combined capacity of up to 3 TB using two 1.5 TB SATA hard drives
* eSATA supports plug and play with PCI-Express
* Rear interfaces that supports both eSATA and USB 2.0
* Separate rear panel Power and Fan ON/OFF switches
* Supports port multiplier functionality

Not a bad backup solution for your older disks or even if you want to add some new ones. If I can figure out how to get it to work with Tivo I will update my review.

Thanks for looking!

According to the manual, it can handle up to two 1 TB drives. On its website and also other reviews found online, it can handle more than that. What isn't said is that it cannot handle more than that amount over eSATA and even a single drive over 1 TB in BIG or FAST modes.
Other than being terrible waste of time for anyone looking to span or stripe, this thing is physically machined very well and has a very sturdy design that I wish more enclosures had.

Before the time that 1TB drives were about $212.00 a pop, I purchased this great unit. It took some little mingling, researching and trial/error to get it running. I run it on JBOD with 2 1TB hard drives enclosed (got this to take all my data with me). I've had this unit for about 2 years and is CONSTANTLY running. Zero hiccups.

It still works perfectly, and in fact, I'm finally getting around to buying the proper hardware to set it up with eSata.

Highly recommended!

To be honest I read a lot of bad review and I was puzzle with this enclosure But it is Great.
The main issue is that you need to have the power supply working when you press reset button in order to save the configuration.
I uses Linux (Kubuntu 11.04) and My PC have a edata. (Edata cord is very short).
At the beginign I was thinking in a compatibility with Windows, So I formatted both HDD with NTF1. All was working fine until I checked both HDD. The HDD that is a mirror needed a process that windows did. NONONONONONO. I do not want to depend on windows. So I Format all my HDD with EXT4 and no more problems.

I was looking for extra storage and a backup and I found it.

This was one of the best purchases I've ever had. I install two 1 Terrabyte drives using one for media and the other backup. The unit offers extremely easy installation and worked great right out of the box. It comes with the capability of plugging directly into an eSATA port and operates exactly like your other SATA drives or you can use it as USB drive so that you can move it from desktop to laptop and back with with ease.