Axus FiT RAID 500 Storage Device Review

Conclusion
The Axus FiT500 has opened my eyes to the world of RAID. Not only can it increase your available hard drive storage space by grouping all the disks together, but it can also act as a redundant system to help ensure data loss is kept to a minimal.

Axus FiT RAID 500 Storage Device Axus FiT RAID 500 Storage Device

I love the design of the Axus FiT500. It sits on my desk without adding to the clutter. It isn’t bulky nor has too big of a footprint. When it is on and when data is being read/written to, the noise is kept to a minimal. The external fan at the back is also very quiet and if it breaks (fans to break down overtime), it is easy to replace as Axus did not choose to go with some permanent, proprietary solution.

Installation and set up was simple. Yes it does require a screwdriver, but mounting the drives to the rails/drawers is easy and quick. Once they are mounted you just slide the drive in and click it into place.

The Axus FiT500 and the FiTManager takes away the fear (at least mine) of setting up a RAID system.  Close to being a one-touch interface for setup using the provided software made the experience of using this smooth and without headache. You could even opt to leave the software out of the equation and have the FiT500 do everything for you by selecting the appropriate dial setting at the back, though I tend to like graphical interfaces.

The connection interface options that this particular enclosure came with (USB and eSATA) allows for adding more functionality to your existing computer without the need to open it up and fiddle with the guts. If your computer does have eSATA ability I would highly recommend going that route instead of using the USB option.  The Fit500 does come with an eSATA header bracket and cable so there isn’t anything extra to buy. I also noticed that after I installed the bracket for the eSATA connector that I already had a spare eSATA port on the back. Oh well, the more the merrier!

The performance is what I would expect from an array of hard drives. The read/write speeds in the various configurations assured me that the enclosure was doing its job properly.

Granted I didn’t have any drive failures while using the FiT500 but I wasn’t expecting any either. I guess time will tell to find out how it handles a drive failure, but hopefully I never have to see that. I haven’t seen a drive fail (none of mine anyway) throughout my computing history.

The only downside I would see is that fact that once you’ve created the RAID array of your choice, you do have to manually initialize the drive. At least Windows for me wouldn’t automatically prompt me to do so. After that, you are good to go!

On a side note, please remember that if you decide to change the RAID setup, you will lose any data that you have on your disks.

If you’re looking for a great way to add storage to your current existing system, perhaps add a bit of data redundancy as well, then I highly recommend checking out the Axus FiT500. If 5 drives are too many for you, then you can check out its smaller brother, the Axus FiT300 which has 3 drive bays but the same functionally as the 5-drive design. Though, having the ability to add up to 5 drives, for me, is a great option. Imagine using x5 2-Terabyte drives!

Pros:

  • Compact Design
  • Ease of Installation & Setup
  • No need to use software
  • Multiple RAID Configurations
  • USB & eSATA connectivity
  • Quiet operation

Cons:

  • Price
  • Remember to initialize drive after setting up RAID configuration