Mediasonic Dual Bay Raid (HUR1-SU2FWB)

[jgerber]

Hi,

I recently got the Mediasonic Dual Bay Raid (HUR1-SU2FWB) and wanted to set it up as Raid 1 (mirror). I have put two 750gig Seagate HDD's into the unit (both NTFS formatted).

I tried Mediasonics directions of only have the one drive (HDD1) in place on the first Raid1 power up, and then instructed to power down once the HDD2 error light turns on (which happens imediately), and then to insert HDD2 and then power back on. I did this, and when I power it back on, I'm getting the red light for "rebuild", and both HDD1 and HDD2 flash an orange LED, but the HDD2 error light is STILL on. Regardless of this I let the unit run like that for a whole day (as a review on this site stated that it takes a while for the array to build). At the end of the day I checked on the unit and saw that the rebuild light was off. Both HDD1 and HDD2 would 'occasionaly' flicker a orange light, and the HDD2 error light was still on. I then tried to hook up to my computer, but it would reckognize the drive(s) at all. (I figured it should at least show up as one drive? but nothing... even tried the disk management to see if it saw anything)

Switched it back to "single" mode, and it reckognises both drives... no prob.
(in single mode, the HDD2 error light is no longer on)

I called Mediasonic, but they said to try to copy a small amount of data to the HDD1 in single mode, and then try the RAID1 again, wait for it to rebuild... then turn back to Single mode, and see if the data was copied over to the HDD2. (... which I'm doing, and the unit is "rebuilding" as we speak). I kept asking if the HDD2 error light should be on during the process, to which they said "no, it shouldn't" ... but still asked me to try this.

Anyone else here have experience with this product?
(or might know what's going on?)

RAID1 is the main reason I got this thing, because i've gone through so many ruined cd's and corrupt drives, I figured this was one of the best ways to back up my data.

thx,

j.G.

[jgerber]

Well... looks like the "2nd' time seems to have worked ;)

So perhaps the HDD2 error LED was a "glitch" and it was actually working fine this time.
(Started the "rebuild" at about 6pm... still was working at 1am.... so I'm not sure exactly how long it took, but it seems to have been finished by 7:30 am).

Pretty much my main concern with this product at this point, is the temperature of the drives. Inside this thing, they get extremely hot! I ended up leaving one side off, to allow more air flow. (not sure if this has to do with the drive slots being so close to each other?

Is it normal for the drives to always be on? I seems the 'fan' is always running on it, but at the same time, for no activity, the drives are still really warm.

I'm only going to have this thing on when I do backups... but still... perhaps I should look into a different product?

[Tazer-[X]]

The thing about raid products, is that, okay, lemme put it nicely LoL. They mostly all suxx the big digital 1. Get an adaptec add in card, or use on board raid.

[jgerber]

thanks for the feedback... perhaps I'll have to consider that!
(will probably have to remove one of my DVD drives or something to accomodate the extra HDDs)

The thing I like about an 'external' solution... is that I can plug other systems (notebooks) into it directly and back up data without having my desktop turned on.
(and I generally would like to keep the price of the product under 200 dollars... I guess I'd be using my existing HDD's)

I'm keeping an open mind... so I'm definately going to have to consider your advise.
(if I did put my HDD's into the desktop, with the adaptec card or whatever, would they need to "rebuild" the raid again?)

thx,

jG

[jgerber]

Just wanted to give an update.

I did not feel the Mediasonic enclosure was safe environment for the HDD's (with all the heat, etc... I'm still convinced the fan on the back of it was facing "outward" which basically drew air from the unit)

Also, I sent 2 emails (both with different questions about the product) to Mediasonic's techsupport... and did not hear back from them in either case.
The ONLY way I was able to get questions answered, was to call them via phone.. and even then, the answer was not as clear as I had hoped.

I've since returned it, and upgraded to the ThermalTake Muse R-Duo, which seems to be keeping the HDD's much cooler.
(it's system seems to "push" fresh air through the unit)

Also after reading up more on the Raid setups, I've decided NOT to go with the Raid-1, but rather keep the two drives as individual ones, and will back up manually (and/or usage of software). A decision which pretty much made the purchase of the Thermaltake a bit "overkill" for what I'm doing.