Home | Forums | Article Search | Subscribe & Shop | Contact Us | Log Out Caldigit S2VR Duo Email This Print This View My Personal Library Heavy Gear December 2006 • Vol.6 Issue 12 Page(s) 24 in print issue Add To My Personal Library Caldigit S2VR Duo S2VR Duo $549 Caldigit www.caldigit.com CPU Rating: 4 Specs: Capacity: 500GB to 1.5TB; Interface: e-SATA; Power: Input 100-240V auto switch, 50~64Hz 1.5A, Output 5V 4.2A, 12V 3A Caldigit’s S2VR Duo, which is available in capacities between 500GB and 1.5TB, is an external SATA RAID device whose claim to fame is support for 10-bit, uncompressed HD video capture and playback. To achieve the high performance necessary for this capability, the unit relies on e-SATA connectivity and its pair of fast 3Gbps SATA hard drives. The S2VR Duo has a custom aluminum enclosure, which resembles Apple’s Macintosh G5 case. The kit includes two hard drives in removable tray modules, an e-SATA cable, a quick installation guide, a driver CD with digital manual, and an external power supply. An optional e-SATA host adapter is available, as well, in either PCI-X or PCI Express flavors. A wire mesh at the front of the unit vents air, which helps keep the internals cool, and the rear is equipped with power and reset switches, power and e-SATA connectors, and a selector switch that lets you configure the array in Protected, Performance, Concatenated, or JBOD modes. The unit I tested included 7,200rpm, 250GB Seagate Barracuda ES hard drives and was coupled to Caldigit’s PCI-E FASTA-4e card (sold separately or as a bundle with the S2VR Duo), which uses a Silicon Image SiI 3124 controller. When I configured the SVR2 Duo in Performance mode (RAID 0), the 500GB unit’s total formatted capacity was 465GB. But keep in mind that you’ll halve its capacity in Protected mode (RAID 1). With the unit configured for high performance, HD Tach v3 reported 107.8MBps average read speeds, 2% CPU utilization, and a burst rate of about 129MBps. I also tested the S2VR Duo without the FASTA-4e card using the SiI 3132-based e-SATA port integrated into an Asus A8N32-SLI motherboard, and it managed a 101.9MBps average read speed, 2% CPU utilization, and a burst rate of about 120MBps. With a price tag over $500, the S2VR Duo won’t have mass market appeal, but for users who need a large-capacity, high-performance, external storage device, the S2VR Duo would be a fine choice. by Marco Chiappetta  User Reviews Be the first to write a review of this product Want more information about a topic you found of interest while reading this article? Type a word or phrase that identifies the topic and click "Search" to find relevant articles from within our editorial database. Enter A Subject (key words or a phrase): ALL Words (‘digital’ AND ‘photography’) ANY Words (‘digital’ OR ‘photography’) Exact Match ('digital photography'- all words MUST appear together) Home      Copyright & Legal Information      Privacy Policy      Site Map      Contact Us Copyright © 2010 Sandhills Publishing Company U.S.A. All rights reserved.