Price : Too low to display
The CAXB Series external hard drive delivers reliable storage expansion and the incredible 3.0Gbps transfer speed of eSATA, all in one sleek aluminum package. The transfer speed, at six times faster than USB 2.0, will blow you away. The external hard drive's solid aluminum enclosure boasts exceptional heat dissipation for near-silent, fan-less operation. The CAXB is remarkably durable, offering state-of-the art shock absorption and superior all-around performance, and its stackable design gives you a streamlined, uncluttered workplace.
This review is from : Cavalry CAXB Series USB 2.0 / eSATA 2 TB 7200 RPM External Hard Drive CAXB3702T0
Faster than a speeding bullet. . This device is about the fastest you can get for a PC. Please note that if you do not have ESata connections external to your computer you will need to get the bracket that is shown above. In any case you will need to get an ESata cable. The pictures above show those 2 items but they don't come with this unit. They do come with the 1 TB item.
The device can run on USB, but don't bother. USB runs at 480, ESata runs at 3000, just as fast as the drive in your computer runs.
Setup is just connecting the wires and turning it on. If you deal with with large files you will be in heaven. My nightly backups to Firewire 800 drives were somewhat over 2 hours. It is just under an hour with this drive.
These devices are totally quiet. No fan. The case is the heat sink. The 1 TB drive barely warms the case, with this drive the case gets quite warm, but that is the design.
The only reason I did not give it 5 stars is the lack of the 2 items mentioned above. I don't need the bracket and I did need a wire. I would give the 1 TB 5 stars (I have that one also).
I had occasion to write to the company about placement, etc. He mentioned that leaving the drives on is better for the longevity of the drive than turning them on and off.
If you have Win 7 you may have some trouble with this or any other external drive. If the drive disappears after a while this is the answer. I found it on a forum and it works (but I hope you don't need it):
Open Power Options in Control Panel.
For the currently selected plan, select "Change plan settings", then "Change advanced power settings".
Under Hard disk, change the setting to "Never".
Reboot (shouldn't be needed, but do it just in case :)
Faster than a speeding bullet. . This device is about the fastest you can get for a PC. Please note that if you do not have ESata connections external to your computer you will need to get the bracket that is shown above. In any case you will need to get an ESata cable. The pictures above show those 2 items but they don't come with this unit. They do come with the 1 TB item.
The device can run on USB, but don't bother. USB runs at 480, ESata runs at 3000, just as fast as the drive in your computer runs.
Setup is just connecting the wires and turning it on. If you deal with with large files you will be in heaven. My nightly backups to Firewire 800 drives were somewhat over 2 hours. It is just under an hour with this drive.
These devices are totally quiet. No fan. The case is the heat sink. The 1 TB drive barely warms the case, with this drive the case gets quite warm, but that is the design.
The only reason I did not give it 5 stars is the lack of the 2 items mentioned above. I don't need the bracket and I did need a wire. I would give the 1 TB 5 stars (I have that one also).
I had occasion to write to the company about placement, etc. He mentioned that leaving the drives on is better for the longevity of the drive than turning them on and off.
If you have Win 7 you may have some trouble with this or any other external drive. If the drive disappears after a while this is the answer. I found it on a forum and it works (but I hope you don't need it):
Open Power Options in Control Panel.
For the currently selected plan, select "Change plan settings", then "Change advanced power settings".
Under Hard disk, change the setting to "Never".
Reboot (shouldn't be needed, but do it just in case :)
Cavalry CAXB Series USB 2.0 / eSATA 2 TB 7200 RPM External Hard Drive CAXB3702T0 Reviews
worked excellent for my DVR . I used this to expand my DirecTV DVR capacity. The first attempt it was not recognized. Upon fastening the cable everything worked fantastic and I've been enjoying the extra space for recordings for the last couple weeks.
The thing makes no noise, and I have it situated such that the light is barely visible.
worked excellent for my DVR . I used this to expand my DirecTV DVR capacity. The first attempt it was not recognized. Upon fastening the cable everything worked fantastic and I've been enjoying the extra space for recordings for the last couple weeks.
The thing makes no noise, and I have it situated such that the light is barely visible.
Cavalry CAXB Series USB 2.0 / eSATA 2 TB 7200 RPM External Hard Drive CAXB3702T0 Opinions
Still Working . Update (30 Nov 2010): I have two of these, they still working.
It does what it suppose to do:
You plug it, and a new hard disk unit appears. Sounds simple, but certain hard disk comes with backup software and stuff that makes things more difficult. Simple things are the best.
Aluminium box: This help to disipate heat from the hard disk, and that is good, because is equal to long life. People just get afraid by this, because you can feel the heat, but unless is a low power hard disk like the 'green' versions of Western Digital, all the Hard Disk get hotter (or solid state hard disks, which die even faster than a normal one, I'm waiting new technologies). Unfortunately, my pocket can't hold that expensives WD usb green hard disks. This price is good... hell yeah.
Faster data transfer: faster like a rocket, and even faster if you use the eSATA connection. They don't include the eSATA cable, as.h.les !, but USB cable.
Power adapter: I don't like it, the power pins are attached, and you can't hide in the case, like many power adapters, and that means, that they will scratch anything that they can when you put all together in a backpack or something, I hate that.
Anyway, nothing better for the price until now. 4.5 S.T.A.R.S.
Still Working . Update (30 Nov 2010): I have two of these, they still working.
It does what it suppose to do:
You plug it, and a new hard disk unit appears. Sounds simple, but certain hard disk comes with backup software and stuff that makes things more difficult. Simple things are the best.
Aluminium box: This help to disipate heat from the hard disk, and that is good, because is equal to long life. People just get afraid by this, because you can feel the heat, but unless is a low power hard disk like the 'green' versions of Western Digital, all the Hard Disk get hotter (or solid state hard disks, which die even faster than a normal one, I'm waiting new technologies). Unfortunately, my pocket can't hold that expensives WD usb green hard disks. This price is good... hell yeah.
Faster data transfer: faster like a rocket, and even faster if you use the eSATA connection. They don't include the eSATA cable, as.h.les !, but USB cable.
Power adapter: I don't like it, the power pins are attached, and you can't hide in the case, like many power adapters, and that means, that they will scratch anything that they can when you put all together in a backpack or something, I hate that.
Anyway, nothing better for the price until now. 4.5 S.T.A.R.S.
You may want an "eSATA kit" f you buy this . I'll echo the previous reviewer's indication- I just received this and there is no "ESATA kit"as was in the decription, the box doesn't even suggest that there was one in the box. You may want to not gamble on one being in there is you're looking for eSATA.
Tsk Tsk Tsk.... . I decided to buy this because I'd used one of their CAUM Series Externals for three and a half years without any incident at-all (still going strong) but I was beginning to run out of space and so I THOUGHT that I'd get the same quality and longevity by going with this brand again. WRONG!
Instead of the Western Digital Green HDD's Cavalry Storage used to use for all of their External Drives, they are now using the by far inferior Hitachi Deskstar line (Hitachi's cheapest available, "bottom of the barrel"). Looking at user feedback all over the net one can clearly see that these particular drives have a higher incidence of sudden failures/errors, run hotter, make tons more operational noise, and seem to reach their end-of-life after about a year of use (slightly more if the buyer in question is incredulously fortunate) - when compared to the Western Digital Green drives, there is NO comparison whatsoever. Need more be said? And no, this is not coming out of bias from the ancient IBM screwup dubbing the old Deskstars "Deathstars"... this is purely based on data of THESE very drives.
BUT WAIT!!! Not only all of that, but Cavalry has tried to hide this embarrassing downgrade by changing the HDD's identifier under its "Properties" to: "DMI External HDD USB Device"... compare this to my old Cavalry CAUM series 500GB's "Properties" which clearly states what it is: "WDC WD50 00AACS-00ZUB0 USB Device". What this CAXB External should be returning under "Properties" is: "Hitachi HDS5C3020ALA632 USB Device", because that is exactly what you've gotten for your hard-earned money. A bottom of the barrel HDD!
Very, very, very deceptive. You'd never know what was inside unless you install third-party software that can directly communicate to the Drive and pull up its SMART information, so as not to void Cavalry's PATHETIC one-year warranty!
As for the enclosure itself... well, ask a buddy or someone else you know who had bought a Cavalry EHDD a few years ago to compare to these new ones... you will notice immediately that they are cheaper, flimsier and emanate a feeling of "CAUTION!" - the difference is just night and day. The power switch itself is very weak and flimsy... I'm concerned it will fall off or cause a short! What irks me the most, however, is the lack of rubber feet on the side... and yet they claim they are "stackable"?! Huh???
BUT THE BIGGEST SLAP IN THE FACE: go to Google Shopping and enter in "Hitachi HDS5C3020ALA632". Notice how much they cost? Just under $10x8 from almost everywhere... definitely does not justify the sharp price hike on these CAXB's price. For what these cost, you could buy a superior make and model of HDD (ones without thousands of complaints tied to them), toss it into a stand-alone HDD Enclosure (most include long-reaching AC and USB cords and are very inexpensive), toss the drive in there and format it to NTFS yourself, AND get a significantly longer warranty period, AND end up saving money compared to this drive's cost! Which sounds like the better option to you? Wish I'd done that in the first place, if only I'd known about the HDD inside BEFORE transferring my sensitive data... I'm stuck with this soon-to-be paperweight. =(
All of this said, I'm hoping and praying I will have to eat my words about this HDD only lasting about a year. Maybe I will be one of the fortunate 20% whom these drives do not up and die on... will report back in a year.
Instead of the Western Digital Green HDD's Cavalry Storage used to use for all of their External Drives, they are now using the by far inferior Hitachi Deskstar line (Hitachi's cheapest available, "bottom of the barrel"). Looking at user feedback all over the net one can clearly see that these particular drives have a higher incidence of sudden failures/errors, run hotter, make tons more operational noise, and seem to reach their end-of-life after about a year of use (slightly more if the buyer in question is incredulously fortunate) - when compared to the Western Digital Green drives, there is NO comparison whatsoever. Need more be said? And no, this is not coming out of bias from the ancient IBM screwup dubbing the old Deskstars "Deathstars"... this is purely based on data of THESE very drives.
BUT WAIT!!! Not only all of that, but Cavalry has tried to hide this embarrassing downgrade by changing the HDD's identifier under its "Properties" to: "DMI External HDD USB Device"... compare this to my old Cavalry CAUM series 500GB's "Properties" which clearly states what it is: "WDC WD50 00AACS-00ZUB0 USB Device". What this CAXB External should be returning under "Properties" is: "Hitachi HDS5C3020ALA632 USB Device", because that is exactly what you've gotten for your hard-earned money. A bottom of the barrel HDD!
Very, very, very deceptive. You'd never know what was inside unless you install third-party software that can directly communicate to the Drive and pull up its SMART information, so as not to void Cavalry's PATHETIC one-year warranty!
As for the enclosure itself... well, ask a buddy or someone else you know who had bought a Cavalry EHDD a few years ago to compare to these new ones... you will notice immediately that they are cheaper, flimsier and emanate a feeling of "CAUTION!" - the difference is just night and day. The power switch itself is very weak and flimsy... I'm concerned it will fall off or cause a short! What irks me the most, however, is the lack of rubber feet on the side... and yet they claim they are "stackable"?! Huh???
BUT THE BIGGEST SLAP IN THE FACE: go to Google Shopping and enter in "Hitachi HDS5C3020ALA632". Notice how much they cost? Just under $10x8 from almost everywhere... definitely does not justify the sharp price hike on these CAXB's price. For what these cost, you could buy a superior make and model of HDD (ones without thousands of complaints tied to them), toss it into a stand-alone HDD Enclosure (most include long-reaching AC and USB cords and are very inexpensive), toss the drive in there and format it to NTFS yourself, AND get a significantly longer warranty period, AND end up saving money compared to this drive's cost! Which sounds like the better option to you? Wish I'd done that in the first place, if only I'd known about the HDD inside BEFORE transferring my sensitive data... I'm stuck with this soon-to-be paperweight. =(
All of this said, I'm hoping and praying I will have to eat my words about this HDD only lasting about a year. Maybe I will be one of the fortunate 20% whom these drives do not up and die on... will report back in a year.
No Problems . I now have SIX of these... they are all running great and I have had NO problems. I am running Windows 7 and things are all good.
Best external drive I've had . I've now bought 3 of these (as well as one model CAXM), and I can't say enough good things about it. I've previously owned drives from Seagate and WD, and this one is a step above. I've had the first for about 9 months now, and reliability has been perfect, though I should expect that out of any drive for that length of time.
It feels sturdily built, and the choice of USB or eSATA is a great plus (but you'll have to provide your own eSATA cable). The packaging is nice and compact. It has the smallest sizeof any of my drives even though it has the highest capacity. I use them almost solely for backup using Roxio (formerly Dantz and EMC) Retrospect, and usually get about 1.0-1.1 GB/s of throughput.
Another minor plus feature is that it has a power switch, which I like for my intermittent usage of the drive.
And finally, the drive comes without ANY bloatware. You plug it in, it installs its drivers, and that's it. You look at the disk, and it's devoid of any other ads or trial software, or as in the case of one of my other drives, a partition that is wasted as a virtual CD drive for said bloatware.
Clean and simple. A great product.
It feels sturdily built, and the choice of USB or eSATA is a great plus (but you'll have to provide your own eSATA cable). The packaging is nice and compact. It has the smallest sizeof any of my drives even though it has the highest capacity. I use them almost solely for backup using Roxio (formerly Dantz and EMC) Retrospect, and usually get about 1.0-1.1 GB/s of throughput.
Another minor plus feature is that it has a power switch, which I like for my intermittent usage of the drive.
And finally, the drive comes without ANY bloatware. You plug it in, it installs its drivers, and that's it. You look at the disk, and it's devoid of any other ads or trial software, or as in the case of one of my other drives, a partition that is wasted as a virtual CD drive for said bloatware.
Clean and simple. A great product.
Cons Review
DOA . Ordered this unit because it met my exact specifications. 2tb size, eSATA interface, snappy 7200 rpm drive, low price. I got it all set up via USB (due to the lack of an included eSATA cable. - 0.5 stars just for that) to test it out. Powered on only to be greeted by a sustained 2 second cycle of very sickly sounding clicks. Not surprisingly, the drive could not be detected even after several reboots. A call to Cavalry tech support confirmed it was a high tech paperweight.
I still give the product 2 out of 5 for 2 reasons:
1. It seems like a solid, well constructed drive, and given the minimalist nature of the shipping container from Amazon (almost no padding whatsoever) the thing may well have been murdered in transit. Can't blame the OEM for that.
2. Cavalry's tech support was top notch. I got a genuine human being within minutes. He knew immediately what was wrong, apologized and offered an immediate replacement drive. I opted to return it via Amazon.
The lesson: Maybe Amazon could give some thought to more robust packing materials for this kind of item.
I still give the product 2 out of 5 for 2 reasons:
1. It seems like a solid, well constructed drive, and given the minimalist nature of the shipping container from Amazon (almost no padding whatsoever) the thing may well have been murdered in transit. Can't blame the OEM for that.
2. Cavalry's tech support was top notch. I got a genuine human being within minutes. He knew immediately what was wrong, apologized and offered an immediate replacement drive. I opted to return it via Amazon.
The lesson: Maybe Amazon could give some thought to more robust packing materials for this kind of item.
Product Image
Feature Cavalry CAXB Series USB 2.0 / eSATA 2 TB 7200 RPM External Hard Drive CAXB3702T0
- USB 2.0 (USB 1.1 backwards compatible) and eSATA interface
- Plug and play for Windows 2000 and newer (pre-formatted to NTFS)
- Unit Includes - 2 TB 3.5-inch 16 MB cache hard drive in a single bay aluminum enclosure, USB cable
- System Requirements - Available USB or SATA port, Mac OS 9.x or newer, Windows 98SE / Me / 2000 / XP / Vista
- 1 year manufacturers warranty
Product Details
EAN : 0094922822277UPC : 094922822277
MPN : CAXB3702T0
Brand : Cavalry
Weight : 4 pounds
Height : 5 inches
Length : 9 inches
Width : 7 inches
Binding : Personal Computers
Format : CD
Manufacturer : Bason Computer, Inc.
Model : CAXB3702T0
Operating System : N/A
Publisher : Bason Computer, Inc.
SKU : INBH4241
Studio : Bason Computer, Inc.
Where To Buy
You can buy Cavalry CAXB Series USB 2.0 / eSATA 2 TB 7200 RPM External Hard Drive CAXB3702T0 on Amazon . Click here to Read More
