The NewerTech Guardian MAXimus Drive, distributed by Other World Computing, is a desktop RAID Level 1 storage system suitable for home and small business. It is available in several sizes from 150 GB to 1 TB. I found it to be extremely well engineered, fast, and well worth the price as a high reliability backup drive.
RAID Level 1 “mirrored” means that, in this unit, there are two matched
drives of equal size, and data is written redundantly to both drives
simultaneously. If one drive fails softly, the data structures can be
rebuilt from the other drive. On a hard failure, the bad drive can be physically replaced, then rebuilt from the good data on the other drive. This process promotes a high level of data redundancy.
These hard disk systems are available in 150, 250, 320, 400, 500, 750 GB and 1 TB sizes. The 150 GB system is unique in that it operates at 10,000 RPM while all the others operate at 7,200 RPM. I reviewed a 500 GB unit*.
Specifications
Here are the important specifications of the MAXimus. They will put the system
into quick perspective.
- Two matched Seagate Barracuda* SATA drives, 7,200 RPM
- Chipset: Oxford 924 bridge, SATA to FireWire and USB
- Interface: FireWire 400, 800 and USB 2.0
- 32 MB Data buffer (16 MB x 2)
- Estimated MTBF: 300,000 power-on hours
- Dimensions: 9.3 x 2.8 x 5.6 inches (24 x 7.2 x 14 cm.)
- Weight: 5.8 lbs (2.6 kg)
* The 500 GB unit I tested had Barracuda drives. Other capacities, according
to OWC, may have different drives such as Hitachi or Western Digital.
The MAXimus has a two year warranty. However, according to NewerTech,
“the internal hard drive mechanism(s) may be covered by up to an additional three year warranty direct with the drive manufacturer. Drive replacement is handled by NewerTechs primary distributor, OWC.”
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