Sans Digital Towerraid TR5UT(-B)

Introduction:

With laptops going mainstream and everyone looking for the smallest and lightest possible mobile computer companies have to make sacrifices in the name of battery life and unit size. Usually the sacrifice is screen real estate and hard drive size, fortunately Sans Digital as a fix for this reduction in hard drive size and speed and it comes in a beautiful redundant flavor. While not actually an editable product it is none the less one of 12 other options in the Towerraid series each featuring different connection options or drive arrangements. Join me while I review the TR5UT(-B) which is in the middle of the Sans Digital Towerraid product line of external raid storage.

Features:

• Hardware RAID, supporting RAID 0, 1, 10, 3, 5, JBOD, Clone and hot spare disk.

• Over 200MB/s read and 170MB/s write performance.

• eSATA and USB 2.0 interface.

• Bundled SATA 6.0Gbps PCIe 2.0 x1 controller card, supports PCIe 2.0 with over 200MB/s performance. (Highpoint R622)

• Backward compatible with PCIe 1.0 slot is supported.

• True hardware RAID design within the enclosure, no driver and no additional RAID controller needed.

• New Clone mode (N-way Mirror) – all the hard drives connected will be mirrored. Clone mode is especially useful when users would like to copy data form a hard drive to several hard drives at the same time.

• Supports SATA I (1.5Gb/s) and SATA II (3Gb/s) hard drives.

• Over 2TB per volume via eSATA and USB on OS that support 2TB and above.

• Automatic insertion / removal detection and rebuild.

• Hardware RAID with standard Interface. No extra drivers required.

• Included five hot-swappable hard drive trays for easy trouble shooting.

• Compact, stylish 5 bay tower design with protective ventilating cover.

Specs:

Model	TR5UT
HD Trays	5 Hot-Swappable 3.5″ Hard Drives Tray
Raid Level	0, 1, 10, 3, 5, Clone (N-way Mirror) with Hot Spare, and JBOD.
Maximum Capacity	10TB
Auto Rebuilding	Yes
Hot Spare	Yes
Host Interfaces	USB and eSata
Drive Interface	SATA I and SATA II
Cooling	4.7″ Ball bearing fan
Power Supply	220w
LED indicators	Status and Power LEDs
Dimensions	6.0″W x 8.25″H x 11.0″D
Weight (lb)	9.3
Safety regulations	CE, FCC, UL, RoHS
Warranty	1 Year Limited
Package Contents	TR5UT (1) Power Cord (1) eSATA Cable (1) USB 2.0 Cable (1) PCIe 2.0 x1 two ports eSATA 6Gbps Controller card (1) Screws (1 set) Quick Installation Manual & CD (1)

The Sans Digital TR5UT(-B) has as its name implies the capability to house up to 5 drives for a total capacity of 10TB of storage space. This tremendous amount of storage is accompanied in the TR5UT(-B) package by a PCIe 2.0 eSATA 6Gbps controller card. The card our unit came with was actually a Highpoint controller so you are getting top notch products instead of a no name or re-branded card.  This further means two things

1. You can be assured of driver updates.
2. You are getting a maximum performance card.

Closer Look:

The unit I tested had a plastic silver bezel front with matching metal casing. The unit is made of both plastic and metal in a design that reminds me of a micro ITX case.

Front door opens to reveal drive bays, door is made of plastic but the surrounding case is metal.	Standard power connector as well as the raid settings which are  in the form of mini switches with an easy to read key as to what each setting does. This is a very easy to setup raid solution.
On the bottom right you have a power button, and on the left are all the drive LED lights.	Drive mounting brackets are a nice design but defiantly not tool less. Drives must be secured by screws much like most cases. The black tab on the front is for easy removal from the Towerraid unit.

Testing:

All three tests showed the same performance levels between Raid 1 and Raid 0. The following tests show sequential read and writes using a large file as well as smaller sized file transfer rates ranging from 100MB to 4K. The values are the same regardless of raid striping the only difference in read/write speeds is the host interface as such I showed both USB and eSATA

USB

As to be expected USB lags quite a bit behind eSATA though I was very surprised by the paltry 34MB/s read speed under the USB interface. It does however perform on par with the other contestants as shown by Sisoftware Sandra (top left)

eSATA

As expected the eSATA interface blows the USB interface out of the water in terms of raw transfer rate and read/write capabilities. Its a real shame you don’t see this interface being utilized more often. Under the eSATA interface the Sisoftware Sandra(top left) test shows us that this unit almost matches a regular internal SATA drive which is excellent for an external device.

Conclusion:

Over all if you have need of a storage device of up to 10TB in size but not connected to your network than the Sans Digital Towerraid TR5UT(-B) is for you. But honestly for this price range a NAS is probably a better investment for most users as it would allow multiple computers access to this one device to take part in its massive storage capabilities. The only conceivable usage for a normal user would be as additional storage for a home server potentially for someone using the Jetway NC94-510-LF which I reviewed recently. Usage aside if your in the market for a single machine back up or storage solution you will find the Sans Digital Towerraid TR5UT(-B) to be a perfect fit for your needs with its fast eSATA transfer rate and redundant storage capability it is an awesome piece of equipment to add to any storage need.