Regardless of what you use your PC
for, few things are as important as keeping your
data backed-up. These days, for speed
capacity and price, nothing beats an extra hard
drive or two for accomplishing this critical task.
With that in mind, we’re going to take a look at a
solution that will not only save you money but a lot
of grief when disaster strikes—the Sans Digital
MobileSTOR MS2UTN+.
Hard disk backup devices can include
everything from an additional hard drive installed
inside your PC, to a multi-drive NAS (Network
Attached Storage) device complete with
administrative utilities for managing users,
security, backups and network options. Adding a
single drive to your rig gives you the advantage of
not having to worry about desk space, external
cables and power cords. Connecting the drive to your
motherboard’s SATA port insures maximum read and
write performance, as opposed to the comparatively
slower USB 2.0 bus. It does however, require that
you open up your case to install it, and assumes you
have the additional SATA data and power cables for
the drive available, as well as an available drive
bay.
A hard drive in an external enclosure
adds the benefit of portability and convenience when
it comes to sharing the data on that drive with
multiple machines at home or work. These enclosures
connect to the PC via a USB 2.0, or eSATA connection
(Firewire connections are found less frequently in
these enclosures, these days). Often bundled with
backup software and often have quick and convenient
“one-touch-backup” buttons that work in conjunction
with the included software to make launching backups
quick and easy.
The drawback to the single spare hard
drive and single-drive external storage solutions,
is that they are prone to data loss if they
fail, due to a lack of redundancy—just like
the primary boot and data drive inside a PC. A NAS
can provide redundancy via RAID and a host of other
features and functionality, but at a much higher
cost—even with the price of NAS technology and
high-capacity hard drives becoming more affordable.
One option that lies between
single-drive solutions and a NAS, are multi-drive
external enclosures that connect to the PC via USB
or eSATA. Although they lack the amenities of
administrator configuration for file sharing and
user security and Ethernet connectivity for
networks, they are capable of hardware-level RAID
for data redundancy and cost considerably less than
a NAS. Which is where the Sans Digital MobileSTOR
MS2UTN+ comes in.
About Sans Digital
Sans Digital is a provider of high
capacity, multi-functional advanced storage
solutions. These storage units can be used in home
offices, small and medium-sized businesses, video
editing, data backup, surveillance systems and many
other industries. Sans Digital's products provide
great solutions for companies and individuals across
the world who need effective and reliable data
storage systems.
Technology and Service
Differentiation:
Sans Digital offers storage
products for RAID and bare-bone systems. With
technologically advanced products, Sans Digital
ensures that the products will meet the customers'
needs. By incorporating the latest technology, Sans
Digital sets the standard in the storage industry.
Product and Service Innovation:
Sans Digital offers products and
services that are exclusively unique, which help
customers improve their productivity. With over 10
years of experience offering complete storage
solutions, Sans Digital's products have come to be
distinct with their unmatched technology.
Business Productivity Solutions:
Every customer is different and
Sans Digital recognizes that one size fits all
storage solutions are unlikely to meet everyone's
requests. As a result, Sans Digital joined a wide
variety of industry leaders to offer storage
applications that are specific to various
industries. This includes off-the-shelf or fully
customized solutions.
Audiences:
Sans Digital's main customers
include business and enterprise, government and
education, creative professionals, as well as
consumer and SOHO, which are reached through our
Distributors, System Integrators,
Value-Added-Resellers, and Dealers.
Sans Digital specializes in, but
is not limited to, serving these vertical
industries: Audio-Video Editing, Data Backup,
Surveillance Systems, Database Storage, Imaging,
File Servers, and etc.
Package & Contents
A black background partially backlit
with blue light and with a pair of MS2UTN+
units sitting on a dark reflective surface, graces
the box. Although this particular motif has been
used in countless print ads and on packages of other
products, it’s still a good looking and effective
design that will catch your eye when browsing the
storage products in your favorite office/electronics
superstore. One thing Sans Digital isn’t shy about,
is the copy of NTI Shadow that they’ve thrown
in with the package, which retails for thirty bucks
(more that later). The MS2UTN+ is listed in
two colors near the bottom, and the one checked is
the color of the unit inside.
Don't let
the "(B)" designation in the Sans Digital MobileSTOR
MS2UTN+'s title fool you. When
purchasing in a store, be sure to check
the lower front panel to make sure the
color you're getting is the one you want.
A
description of the MS2UTN+, features, model
numbers and supported drive capacities are
listed on one side of the box. Surprisingly,
the model of the enclosed unit isn't
checked...
...for
that, you'll need to look on the opposite
side of the box at the serial number label
on the right. Also on this side of the box
are the specs of the MS2UTN+.
On the
back we have a connection diagram for the unit, along with a summary of its
features and the contents of the box.
Carrying
handle.
Open the
box, and you'll be greeted with a full-color
"reminder" card to call Sans Digital's Toll
Free Number for any support issues, and the
accessories box with two holes in it...
...which
makes it convenient for you to stick your
fingers in to pull it out...
...exposing the Sans Digital MobileSTOR
MS2UTN+ safely tucked away in a thick
plastic bag between foam shipping
protectors.
Looks
like everything's here.
There’s a summary of the
MobileSTOR MS2UTN+’s features and a list of the
five models it’s available in, with their respective
storage capacities on one side of the box. Below are
check boxes for indicating which model the unit is,
but as you can see from the photograph, it’s not
checked. You’ll find that on the other side of the
box on the label with the serial number, along with
the MS2UTN+’s specs. On the back are diagrams
of the unit and its layout, a bullet summary of its
features, and a list of what’s inside. The top of
the box has a foldout plastic carrying handle, which
is a bit thicker and heavier than average to
accommodate the extra weight of the models that ship
with hard drives pre-installed.
Inside, the box containing the
MS2UTN+’s accessories has two large holes which
will make it easy to pull it out so you can get to
the MobileSTOR MS2UTN+ underneath, which is
sealed in a heavy plastic bag and held in place by
thick shipping protectors made of bonded plastic
polyurethane foam.
The accessories box contains the
usual necessities for a device such as this.
Power Cord, an eSATA Cable and
Expansion Slot Bracket. A USB 2.0 Cable,
Screws for the hard drives, and four Hard
Drive Tray Keys. A four-page fold out Quick
Installation Guide (quick indeed) and Sans
Digital-branded CD with NTI Shadow for
Windows 2000/XP/Vista and Mac.
Overall, the Sans Digital
MobileSTOR MS2UTN+ is expertly packed and well
protected.
The Sans Digital MobileSTOR
MS2UTN+
Measuring 4.8"W x 8.0"D x 4.0"H and
weighing approximately 3.8 lbs. without hard drives
installed, the Sans Digital MobileSTOR MS2UTN+
is compact enough to fit almost anywhere on your
desk or work area. The silver paint on the
MS2UTN+ that I received has an attractive,
semi-gloss appearance with a slight texture to it,
and appears durable enough not to chip or flake off
easily. There are three LEDs up front: one for
power, the other for temperature if something causes
the unit to overheat, and the other to alert you to
a drive failure. A Mute button is included to
silence the alarm from overheating and drive
failure. Although there’s plenty of room for it,
there is no power button on the front panel.
At
4.8"W x 8.0"D x 4.0"H and a hair under
4lbs., the Sans Digital MobileSTOR
MS2UTN+ is compact enough to fit on even
the most crowded desktop.
A head-on
view of the MobileSTOR MS2UTN+.
The
Digital MobileSTOR MS2UTN+ relies on
three front panel LEDs to display its
status. Temp lights up if the unit
overheats (70°C). Alert turns on if
one of the hard drives fail.
Nope,
there's no MP3 Player hidden within
the Sans Digital MobileSTOR MS2UTN+. There is,
however, a loud and annoying alarm when the
unit gets too toasty for its own good or a
drive fails—at which point, you can press
this Mute button and deal with the
matter in relative peace and quiet.
The
larger holes on the drive bay latches are
release holes for disengaging the trays from
the unit. The smaller ones to the right are
LED RAID Indicators.
Here's
the top of the MS2UTN+...
...with
an embossed and stamped Sans Digital
corporate logo.
Not much
to look at underneath, though you don't see
this particular style of rubber feet on exterior
storage units that often.
The
MS2UTN+ from the right...
...left...
The drive trays are released from the
MS2UTN+ by inserting one of the four black
plastic keys provided, into the larger of two holes
on the drive tray latch (the smaller one is the HD
activity LED), pushing the spring-loaded button
inside the release hole until the tray pops out a
few inches from the MS2UTN+’s chassis. Sans
Digital no doubt went with the existing design to
prevent the possibility of accidentally bumping a
more conventional push-button release and ejecting a
drive while in use—as the MS2UTN+ doesn’t
have a door over the drive bay. Good thing three
extra keys are included, as it wouldn’t take much to
misplace one.
The only plastic components on the
hard drive tray are the rails, which insure that the
tray slides into the MobileSTOR S2UTN+’s bay
effortlessly and remains free of vibration noise
once in place. The rest of the tray is
metal—including the latch and hinges—a feature some
higher-end external bays and even some NAS units
lack. There’s no dust filer, but there is a metal
perforated shield that provides airflow to the
drives. You’ll probably notice how rigid the drive
tray is. The support bar mounted near the back of
the tray is responsible. It prevents any possibility
of the tray flexing and getting out of shape without
a hard disk installed while mounted in the
MS2UTN+’s drive bay. The bar must be removed
before installing a drive into the tray.
As a side note, the trays in the
MS2UTN+ are interchangeable with other Sans
Digital MobileSTOR and MobileRAID units—meaning you
can swap drives containing data into other Sans
Digital units with identical storage processors for
maximum flexibility—a very nice feature. Unlike more
expensive NAS units, since there is no hard drive
“vendor compatibility or qualification” list for
MobileSTOR MS2UTN+, you can use just about any
3.5” SATA I or II hard drive in existence for it.
There’s not much to see inside the
MobileSTOR S2UTN+. A circuit board sporting the
latest
Silicon Image 5744 "SteelVine" Storage Processor,
SATA power and data connectors, and of course, the
drive rails. The board has a pair of rectangular
slots that allows the exhaust fan to remove heat
from the hard drives. Turn the unit upside down, and
you’ll find an elongated set of white translucent
rubber feet that keeps the S2UTN+ in one
place on almost any surface, and are less prone to
pop off over time than their smaller, round
counterparts.
Moving to the back of the Sans
Digital MobileSTOR MS2UTN+ we gave the jack for
the power cord and a rocker-style power switch. Due
to the unit’s compact footprint, reaching behind the
MS2UTN+ to turn it on or off is only slightly
inconvenient (a button or switch on the front panel
still would have been better, in my opinion). The
temperature-controlled 40mm fan below might give you
pause as to how effective it is in cooling a pair of
hi-performance SATA drives, but during my tests the
TEMP LED never lit up, the alarm remained
silent, and the MS2UTN+ remained very cool to
the touch. eSATA and USB 2.0 ports are to the right.
Below are the Reset button and RAID Dial,
with a diagram displaying the dial position of each
setting.
To configure the RAID setting on the
Sans Digital MobileSTOR MS2UTN+, a small
bladed screwdriver (like a jeweler’s screwdriver),
is required to turn the dial. The notch at the end
of the screwdriver slot in the dial is the indicator
for selecting the MS2UTN+’s six operational
modes:
BIG—also
referred to as spanning, multiple disks are
joined together to form one large disk volume. The
primary advantage is that the maximum disk space off
all the drives spanned is utilized to create the
single large volume. While there is a performance
improvement over a single drive, it is only the
result of the file system utilizing multiple disks.
It is not as fast as drives striped together in a
RAID 0 array. Like RAID 0, there is no redundancy. A
failed drive means lost data.
JBOD—“Just
a Bunch of Disks” (JBOD) represents the individual
hard drives installed in the enclosure that are the
foundation of RAID and non-RAID configurations. The
drives are not redundant, nor are they combined into
a single volume. RAID controllers default to JBOD
mode so that the individual drives can be selected
for the desired RAID or non-RAID configurations. For
eSATA connections, port multiplier support is
required.
FAST—also
known as RAID 0, data is striped (split
evenly) across multiple disks. The result is maximum
performance from the RAID 0 volume at the expense of
redundancy. If a drive fails in a RAID 0 array, all
data on the array is lost.
SAFE—also
known as RAID 1, data is mirrored (copied)
across multiple disks for redundancy. The drawback
to RAID 1, is that the volume can only be as large
as the smallest single drive in the array—which is
why it’s important to used two drives of identical
capacity in the array, as the capacity of one drive
is lost to the mirrored drive. There is also a
performance penalty due to the mirroring process
(how much of a penalty will depend on your specific
hardware configuration).
SAFE33—a
hybrid RAID mode that creates two hard drive volumes
where 1/3 (33%) of the volume is mirrored (Safe) and
2/3 (67%) of the volume is spanned (Big). When
connected to an eSATA controller, the controller
must be port-multiplier capable—otherwise
only the first of the two storage volumes are
accessible.
SAFE50—same
as SAFE33, except half of the volume is used
for spanning and the other half for mirroring. The
same restriction on the eSATA controller being port
multiplier capable to access the two storage volumes
under SAFE33, also applies under SAFE50.
...and
back. Everything is simple and well laid-out.
From top
to bottom: the USB 2.0 Cable; eSATA
Cable, and Power Cord.
Also
included is an eSATA Bracket, HD Tray
Keys and Mounting Screws for the
hard drives.
The
NTI Shadow CD and the MS2UTN+ Quick
Installation Guide.
The
eSATA and USB 2.0 ports.
The
RAID Dial and ResetButton.
A
Jeweler's Screwdriver is required to
turn the RAID Dial to the desired setting, then press
Reset to complete the procedure.
To eject
a drive tray, take one of the tray keys and
push it into the larger of the two holes in
the tray's latch. You'll feel the spring
release, and the tray latch will pop out...
...like
so.
Next,
pull out the hard drive tray, and you're
ready to mount a hard drive.
You needn’t concern yourself with the
other two settings (RESERVE and GUI) for the
MS2UTN+. After selecting the desired
mode, it is necessary to push Reset button to
activate it.
The Sans Digital MobileSTOR
MS2UTN+ has a reassuring, solidly constructed
feel with a simple yet effective layout for status
monitoring and configuration. All the cables are
sufficiently long enough to give you a reasonable
amount of flexibility in placing your MS2UTN+
just about anywhere in your workspace you might want
to.
Installation & Configuration
The most “difficult” part of setting
up the Sans Digital MobileSTOR MS2UTN+ is
selecting the desired RAID setup with the recessed
dial. Especially if you don’t have a small enough
screwdriver. And seeing inside the little hole to
determine where the selection notch on the dial is
pointed before changing the setting—which can easily
be remedied with a flashlight or holding the back of
the unit up to the light so you can see inside the
hole.
A peek
inside the
MS2UTN+.
With the
exception of the drive rails, which are
plastic, the hard
disk trays in the
Sans
Digital MobileSTOR MS2UTN+ are made of
rugged steel...
...including the latch and hinge
mechanism—insuring that the tray won't meet
the same fate as those using more fragile,
plastic parts.
This bar
is the tray protector that protects the tray
from bending when installed in the
MobileSTOR MS2UTN+ without a drive.
However...
...to
install a hard drive in the tray, the
protector must go. Remove the screws on both
sides to take it off...
...like
so. It's a good idea to insert the screws
back on each end of the protector so they
won't get lost, as I've done here.
Now all
that's left is to slide the drives back into
the
MS2UTN+, lock them down...
...and
power on the unit. The HDD Tray LEDs will
light and flash in variations of red, blue
and purple depending on what the status of
the drives are and what they are doing.
The
Sans
Digital MobileSTOR MS2UTN+ connected to
the test system. Again, notice how little
room it takes up. Plus it's very quiet—you
can only hear it during a lot of disk
activity.
Waiting
to be tested and benchmarked.
The BIOS
is where you configure your mobo's eSATA
port. Be sure to consult the manual that
came with your specific board to locate the
setting and its options.
AHCI mode
is preferable to allow hot-swapping of the
drives in the
MS2UTN+ Also, if you're planning on
using SAFE33 or SAFE50 mode,
your onboard eSATA ports must be
port-multiplier compatible. Again, check your
documentation and/or the manufacturer's
website.
Other than that, setup is quick and
straightforward. Once you have the drive trays out
and the metal protector bar removed, simply screw
the drives in place with the supplied screws, then
slide and latch the drives back into the
MS2UTN+’s drive bays. Select the interface cable
of your choice (USB 2.0 or eSATA), plug it and the
power cord in; flip the power switch and press the
Reset button. Windows should notify you in the
system tray that it’s found a new device. Your drive
volume(s) should appear under the Safely Remove
Hardware system tray applet. After that, it’s
just a matter of going into Disk Manager to
partition and format the drive volume(s). Selecting
the SAFE (RAID 1) adds some waiting time to the
process as the mirrored array builds.
The drive tray’s disk activity LEDs
blink in a variation of blue, red and
purple depending on what the drives are doing:
● Blue—power
on/idle
● Purple
(Flashing)—the drive(s) are accessing data
● Purple & Red
(Alternating)—RAID rebuild. Solid
Red represents the source drive
● Red—hard
drive failure, replace the drive
One drawback to the MS2UTN+’s
simplicity of operation is the scant amount of
feedback you get during the configuration process.
The MS2UTN+ does not ship with any utilities
that allow you to manage drive configurations, or
provide you with any indication of the progress of a
RAID rebuilt. When I set the MS2UTN+ to RAID
1, it took eight hours for the two 500GB
Seagate Barracudas drives to perform a RAID 1
rebuild/synchronization. The upside, is
that if you change interfaces—going from USB 2.0 to
eSATA (or visa-versa), you don’t have to do a RAID
rebuild all over again. As no mirroring is involved,
RAID 0, BIG and JBOD will initialize much faster.
SAFE33 and SAFE50 will take longer than RAID 0, BIG
and JBOD, but not quite as long as RAID 1.
Naturally, array build times will vary with your
particular hard drive configuration.
One change you should make, is to
right-click on the drive(s) you configured under
Device ManageràDisk Drives and going to the
Policies tab. There, you’ll be able to tweak the
Write caching and Safe Remove settings for
the drives in the Sans Digital MobileSTOR MS2UTN+
to your preferences.
Here, you have the option of
optimizing for quick removal, which disables
write caching on the drives and allows you to
disconnect the MS2UTN+ without using the
Safely Remove Hardware applet. This is handy if you
plan on swapping the MS2UTN+ around with
different systems, and is the default setting when
using the USB interface on the unit. The downside is
that you lose some write access performance. Or, you
can optimize for performance, which enables
write caching (be sure to check the box labeled
Enable write caching on the disk), and maximizes
disk write performance—but requires that you
use the Safely Remove Hardware applet to disconnect
the MS2UTN+ properly to avoid potential data
loss and corruption. This option is the default for
eSATA.
Benchmarks
Test System Configuration:
●
Intel Core2 Duo E6850 CPU @
3.00 GHz
●
Zalman CNPS9700 LED CPU
Cooler
●
Abit IP35 Pro P35 “Bearlake”
Motherboard (BIOS 11 – 07/09/07)
Windows XP Professional SP-2
w/latest critical updates, latest drivers
for all hardware, NVIDIA ForceWare 174.74
Beta Drivers
I used the read and write disk
benchmarks from
EVEREST Ultimate Edition v4.50.1330 to measure
RAID 0 and RAID 1 throughput on the Abit IP35 PRO’s
USB and eSATA controllers. For a “real world test” I
copied my 11.8 GB Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
installation from the C:\Program
Files\Bethesda\Oblivion folder, which represents
a good mix of small, large and medium sized files,
down to the target RAID 0 and RAID 1 partition
created on the MS2UTN+. I used
Thread Factory Elapsed Time v4 (Evaluation
Edition) to measure how long it took to copy all the
files to the MS2UTN+. Note that for all the
tests, the option for write caching was enabled on
the two
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 500 GB SATA Hard Drives
inside the MS2UTN+ for both USB and eSATA.
The write caching optimizes the drives for
performance, but also requires that the Safely
Remove Hardware system tray applet be used to
safely disconnect the drives from the host system.
Keep in mind that the performance results shown here
will vary depending on your individual hardware
configuration and other factors.
Let’s take a look at the synthetic
EVEREST benchmarks first.
Reviewed by Barry Little -
May 5, 2008
