CineRAID CR-H458 USB 3.04 Bay RAID Enclosure

I have connected this CINERAID to all of my Macs and I have had Zero issues with it. The optimum way to use this device is to connect it to a network. I have connected it to my LYNKSIS Wireless Router using the eSATA port and I can connect with this enclosure easily using simple IP ADDRESS. I have attached two 2TB Drive in RAID FORMAT with no problem. I am going to reconfigure with another 4TB internal Hard Drive in it so that I can create multiple TimeMachine Backup for all of my Mac. It's a great file management device in a small office configuration... For Mac users especially, always eject the drive and then turn the device OFF when it's not needed. I have had mine for a very long time.

I read all of the "One Star" reviews of this product before buying it and came to the conclusion that they were, by and large, cases of a one-off.I have been searching, for a couple of years now, for a substitution for a RAIDBank5 by Micronet. I reviewed the RB5 and gave it 5 stars because it is by far the best mid-priced external storage array I have ever used (I'm an IT consultant and manage dozens of business networks). Sadly, Micronet has stopped producing the RB5 and the few that can be found on the Internet are exorbitantly over-priced.I needed a solution for my media library and after studying the offerings at Amazon I settled on the TekRam CR-H458, and so far I am quite satisfied with the purchase. It has a rather large footprint compared to the RB5, which required some re-arrangement in my server cabinet, but it was a minor inconvenience. The case is solid and well made and the overall engineering is adequate. Understand that I am comparing this to the RB5 which I consider the gold standard, so despite some criticism I hold that the CR-H458 is an excellent solution.I purchased 4 Toshiba 3.5-Inch 2TB 7200 RPM SATA3/SATA 6.0 GB/s 64MB DT01ACA200 hard disk drives for the unit and configured them as a RAID5. The unit is connected to an HP DL360 G5 server with a 4-Port LaCie Esata Pci-express Card to which the RB5 is also connected. Throughput is good and the connection is reliable. The unit has been online for 10 days and it has not timed out or dropped a connection. My KODI media center is experiencing no issues with search or playback. The unit is quiet and running quite cool.Configuration was simple and very straightforward. Upon inspection I found that the software that shipped with the unit was the same as that provided with the RB5, so installation was unnecessary. The pre-existing software recognized the CR-H458 as an additional controller and I was able to configure it from there.The software recognized the disk geometry without issue and updated the SMART database. It also e-mailed me indicating that a new unit, disks, and array were put into service. To be overly cautious (and also test the unit) I performed a low level format which took a couple hours. No issues whatsoever.ProsSolid construction on case and overall hardware.Quite and reliable.Dependable 24/7 operation.Easy setup and configuration.Cons (The reason for 4 stars instead of 5)The drive trays are a bit lightweight and drive alignment is tricky (Caution is recommended during insertion).Separate 12v power supply as opposed to standard molex connection at unit.All in all, this unit has been a pleasant surprise. Having been spoiled by the Micronet RAIDBank5 I was ready to be less than overwhelmed. I am happy to report that is not the case. I would recommend this unit to anyone looking to build, or expand, a media library or simply add capacity to their network.

I purchased this item as a gift for someone starting off with home NAS. He's very happy with the device thus far and it has performed as expected. The software for it was was terrible but from other reviewers that was expected and it's also not necessary. Third party or Windows to manage the raid is fine enough. This was open box and was definitely reasonably priced however it was missing the eSATA cable, wasn't happy about that because there was no mention of possible missing cables but everything else was there and he'd rather use USB 3 which is faster anyway so the missing cable was just a minor blemish (I have an unused eSATA, we both work in IT so retrieving an eSATA cable would not have been a hassle to get a hold of even if he wanted to go that route). Overall, very pleased with early delivery, packaging, price and operation.

I bought this to use as a media server for a HTPC that sits in my living room. CineRAID describe this drive as "super quiet", on their web site, and that was the reason that I bought this over the Mediasonic HF2-SU3S2 ProBox which is half the price, but looks to be very problematic when used with a Mac.The first unit I received was anything but quiet, in fact it was so load that I could hear it from the next room over. I called CineRAID's tech support and received a call back within fifteen minutes (very impressed) and spoke to someone who said that I should not be able to hear the fan over the sound of the drives. I was given two options, RMA the unit and get a refund and have all shipping paid by Amazon, or have them send me out a new fan which I could install myself, but void the warrantee. I chose to RMA the unit. After the purchase price was credited back to my account I purchased a second unit. As soon as it arrived I plugged it in to see if this one was quieter. Sadly It was just as noisy, so either I was unlucky and received two bad units, or my idea of super quiet and CineRAID's idea is very different.Not sure what to do now in order to build my quiet media server other than buy a three or four bay open drive dock and use ambient convection cooling.

I wish I could rate this enclosure higher than two stars, but it honestly earned the two. While you can certainly connect this device to any particular common OS (I attempted several procedures with a Ubuntu Server, a Windows Desktop, and a Mac Mini,) the software package is only compatible with windows. The Linux download is identical to the Windows download (yes, really) and the Mac download isn't compatible with any of the Mac OS releases going back several years.Further, as I indicated, the RAID is not a hardware RAID. Perhaps I missed this somewhere, but that's the fault of the seller since it is a critical detail that should be made very clear.I used this enclosure with a RAID 1 configuration and it managed to start the process of automatically rebuilding the array. It would have finished on its own had it not gone to sleep out of the blue for no reason whatsoever (given that the onboard software is quite well aware it has a rebuild to finish) except when attached to a Windows system with the manufacturer's software package to mind the process.This isn't a bad product per se, but a potential buyer should make certain it is the right product for them.