Cavalry Storage CAND Series 2 TB RJ 45 2-bay RAID Network Attached Storage (NAS) External Hard Drive CAND3002T0

(Read the updates at the end; way too many bugs in the product for me...)
Original review:
I have to say WOW - my expectations were low at the time of ordering, but it far exceeded my expecations so far.

Pros:
1. Small and fast (ethernet performance seems to be fine on my 802.11G network, but I will be testing it on gigabit network next week and will update)
2. No noise or too much heat!
3. Plug and play operation and an easy to use Web GUI
4. Great price!
Cons:
1. user manual!

Here is some more nuts and bolts on this product:
The setup CD that came with it is a little confusing. So here is how to set this up:
1. Connect the system to your Wireless/wired router, and power it on.
2. Use the included CD and run setup from one of the connected machines (no need to install on all the machines or no need to be connected by wire). Just set the IP address and name of the NAS BOX.
I set up a...Read more

This is a product which I have regrettably raved about at the beginning when I got it. I had suspected my own bad luck with this product at first but from the reviews I have read from other websites too, the flaws seems somewhat consistently. I have decided to write this so other users of similar needs can have a reference too. Here's why I gave this product such a low score.
Value: If you intend to use just the most basic part of this product (NAS) with primarily Microsoft Windows PCs, I would bump the value up to 3 (price to hardware ratio). However, if like me you eventually loses data due to the instability of the product, how much value would you really get. Data is priceless.
Performance: You better have a Gigabit LAN speed to have good performance, otherwise is pretty slow. And because of the other problems, it doesn't even deserve a 2 in my opinion.
Ease of use: It all seems so easy until you start to experience, puzzling connection problems to the FTP...Read more

I wanted a simple and functional network drive with a TB or two of space. I plugged the network cable into my wireless router, switched the drive on, and accessed the set up with my internet browser. I changed the name of its default workgroup and renamed the drive to something more to my liking. Then I mapped the drive and haven't looked back. It was that easy. It works. I expected no more and no less.

It comes with two Western Digital 1TB drives pre-formatted with RAID 1 set up where one drive mirrors the other. That effectively gives me 1 TB of storage and automatic backup. In the off chance one of the drives fails I should be able to recover my data without too much hassle.

So I have no complaints. It's nice to purchase a product that does what it's supposed to do without the usual three hours of cussin' to get it to work.

My only qualm, though, is the user manual that was obviously written by someone with a poor grasp of the English...Read more