G-Technology G-SPEED eS 4 TB High Speed eSATA RAID Array with Enterprise 24x7 Duty Cycle Hard Drives

• 4TB Storage capacity per unit - scalable to 32TB
• High-speed, low-cost RAID designed specifically for professional content creation applications
• Whisper quiet aluminum enclosure features (4) hot-swappable drives and 3Gbit eSATA connectivity
• Supports multi-stream SD, ProRes 422 and uncompressed HD workflows
• 4-port, G-Tech PCIe x4 RAID controller supports RAID levels 0, 1, 5, 10 & JBOD

This is my second G-SPEED es from G-Technology. The first drive stopped working after about 2 years of use. Everything was working great and then one day, the enclosure would not power on. I took out all of the drives and the enclosure would turn on so I am not sure what happened. When I put the drives in a new G-SPEED es enclosure all of my data was fine (I believe this is because RAID for the G-SPEED es is handled via their RAID host bus adapter and the enclosure is really just a port multiplier for SATA drives).

I am giving this a 1 star rating because my experience in getting support from G-Technology was awful. The gentleman I worked with suggested very basic troubleshooting tasks (like trying a different power cord and outlet). It was so frustrating because the problem was clear that the power supply in the enclosure was not working.

When the support folks agreed that the enclosure needed to be replaced, they said I had to return the entire unit to them and that my data would be lost. This just seemed nuts. How was I supposed to backup data that I couldn't access because the enclosure wasn't powering on? Their suggestion -contact a data repair service.

Then they needed to verify that my unit was under warranty (which is a very reasonable request). Since I purchased the unit directly from G-Technology.com I asked if they could just look up my info based on the serial number. And their answer was no, they don't talk to the sales side of the business. Nice, really nice.

While I really like G-Technology's products (I own many of them), I will no longer purchase their drives anymore. Their support is awful. I wouldn't purchase their equipment for anything that is mission critical or time sensitive. I was without my data for about 2 weeks.

I hope this review helps other folks who are considering this drive. If you need support look elsewhere -I have been very fond of Synology (although not a completely fair comparison as they don't make direct attached storage devices).

Buy G-Technology G-SPEED eS 4 TB High Speed eSATA RAID Array with Enterprise 24x7 Duty Cycle Hard Drives Now

Great functionality, very quiet fan, well designed, great throughput with eSATA. Plays back my 4:2:2 HD material flawlessly using their Rocketcard eSATA card in a PowerMac. In RAID 5 it leaves you with about 5.5TB but I feel like I'm covered if one drive goes south. It's a bummer that I need to buy another one or find one that has the 3TB drives inside rather than the 2TB. Really appreciate the web interface to the drive. Well done all around. Highly reccommend.

Read Best Reviews of G-Technology G-SPEED eS 4 TB High Speed eSATA RAID Array with Enterprise 24x7 Duty Cycle Hard Drives Here

Great drive, easy to setup (even though since I bought this from a third party and not the direct distributor, which I would recommend to others, so that you get the drive, card, and software all together), it's till this point been reliable and fast. Customer service at G-Technology was helpful too when I had questions since this was my first time setting up a RAID drive. The Array took about 3 days to compile, so if its anyone else's first RAID and you're doing the same thing as I did, expect the compile time to be about the same. The fan is a moderate humming sound that is not distracting and no louder than my Mac Pro's fan.