DataWhale 2 Bay RAID System

Introduction

Hard drive enclosures have come a long way since they were came into the market. The features offered by these devices have grown exponentially which is really great for the end user. If you read our previous review on VIZO’s URANUS external Enclosure you would see most enclosures that come out today have features such as one touch backup facilities, USB 2.0 and eSATA connectivity.

And now ONNTO Corporation have gone a step further and introduced the DataWhale 2 Bay RAID enclosure. It’s a 2 bay hard drive enclosure supporting RAID Striping, Spanning, Mirroring and JBOB (Just a Bunch of Disks) and includes eSATA II connectivity option which has a transfer rate of 3GB/sec. What’s more the DataWhale even supports hard drive hot swapping.

Let’s take a look at the specifications before going on to more details of this really unique device. The DataWhale comes in 3 models, depending on the connectivity options you need. One model comes only with USB 2.0 support, another with USB 2.0/Firewire 800 support and lastly with eSATA/USB 2.0 support. We’re looking at the eSATA/USB 2.0 model here today.

FEATURES

• Provides Striping, Spanning, Mirroring, and JBOD RAID modesfor effective storage management
• Easy configuration of RAID modes, no IT expertise required
• Simplifies RAID management, no software installation required
• Achieves fastest performance via Striping mode
• Ensures data integrity with redundant backup capability
• Eliminates potential downtime, repair costs, and lost sales due to disk failure
• Supports automatic rebuild in Mirroring mode
• Easy monitoring of system status via LED indicators
• Dissipates heat efficiently with aluminum housing
• Maximizes airflow with silent, high quality fan
• Supports current SATA II compliant HDDs, fully backward compatible with SATA 1.0 and SATA 1.0a compliant HDDs
• Simplifies HDD installation; user friendly design enables effortless HDD hot-swapping
• Supports hot-plug and HDD hot-swap
• Flexible connection via an eSATA port

Specifications

• Interface: eSATA x 1; USB 2.0 x 1
• HDD Support: 3.5″ SATA HDD* Supporting a maximum of 1TB (Terra Byte)
• RAID Level: Striping (RAID 0), Spanning, Mirroring (RAID 1), JBOD
• Data Transfer Speed: eSATA: up to 300 MB/sec; USB 2.0: up to 480Mb/sec
• System Material: Aluminum case with plastic front and rear panels
• LED: Power on/Power off/Access/Rebuild/Error
• Power Supply: Input: AC 90-264V; Output: DC +12V/2A, +5V/2A
• Dimension: 220 x 85 x 130 mm
  *Identical HDD recommended – same manufacturer, capacity and RPM