The 1TB (2x500GB) Guardian MAXimus mini Portable Hard Drive Array from Newer Technology is a portable hard drive array which features two 500GB 7200rpm disks. It is powered by an Oxford 936DS controller which allows you to configure the array as a RAID 0 or RAID 1.
A RAID 1 array mirrors data on two separate drives for total redundancy. If a single drive fails, none of your data will be lost. Simply replace the dead drive with one of identical capacity and the array will rebuild, once again preserving mirrored data integrity. Because of this, even though the total physical capacity of the array is 1TB, only 500GB is available for data storage.
RAID 0 is pretty much the opposite of RAID 1. It writes data to both disk simultaneously -- but not the same data. Data is spread across the disks rather than mirrored, allowing it to be written and accessed more quickly than if you were writing to a single disk. Because of this, RAID 0 arrays perform read and write operations faster than single disks or RAID 1 arrays. The downside to this is that if either drive in the array fails, you will lose all of your data. Professionals often use RAID 0 arrays as scratch data drives, using them for tasks that demand performance, but making sure that the data stored within is also stored on a separate physical disk for backup.
The array features a quad interface for flexible connectivity. You can opt for eSATA or FireWire-800 to maximize performance, or USB 2.0 for broad compatibility. Although it doesn't have a FireWire-400 port, you can connect it to any FireWire-400 host using an optional 9-pin to 6-pin adapter cable. This is possible due to the backwards compatibility that is built into the FireWire-800 bus. A front-panel LCD display is present to display array health and status.
- Quad Interface drive supports FireWire-800, FireWire-400 (via adapter cable), USB 2.0, and eSATA for flexible connectivity
- Pre-set for MAXProtect RAID 1 mode
- Selectable MAXPerform RAID 0 mode via front panel menu
- Supports bus powering via USB 2.0 and FireWire
- Includes AC adapter for use with systems that cannot provide bus power
- Data transfer speeds up to 300MB/sec via eSATA
- Daisy chain multiple FireWire-800 devices thanks to dual ports
- Disks boast a fast 7200rpm rotation speed
- Perfect for A/V editing, digital photography, professional music, graphics, data storage, and Time Machine backup
- Includes eSATA, USB 2.0, and FireWire-800 cables
- Weighs only 1.5 pounds and measures only 3.5 x 2.1 x 5.2"
- Brushed aluminum, impact resistant, heat dissipating, super-quiet fanless enclosure