Storpac 40

Extra storage on your desk.

As demand for storage continues, and the need to back that data up becomes ever greater, Storpac's desktop RAID system may provide a useful solution if you?re struggling to back up gigabytes of data.

It's certainly an eye-catching product, with a contoured metallic silver casing and a blue illuminated LCD display, disguising up to a terabyte of raw data capacity.

The four drive bays support Ultra ATA/100/133 hard drives, with each easily fitted into a proprietary caddy that slots into the backplane.

Internally there's a FireWire and USB bridge chip that provides two rear FireWire 800 ports and a single USB 2.0 port. Additional devices can be daisy chained to the FireWire ports and there's also a serial management port.

No drivers are needed, nor are there any software requirements, because the drive automatically appears within Windows, and can be managed through the Windows disk manager. Initially it takes a while to format the drives, at two and half hours for a terabyte at RAID 5 750GB useable capacity).

The front LCD panel provides status information on each drive and environmental data such as temperature, fan speed and power supply. Although not as noisy as ordinary PCs, it's still noticeable in use. If the fan fails it can be replaced quite easily.

The unit comes with Dantz Retrospect backup software, which is straightforward to use.

The Storpac 40?s only real disadvantage is its high price - as an alternative it may be worth considering a NAS device, although this would require more administration. However, as a solution for a single desktop PC it's attractive if you can afford it.

Contact: Lapistor 01274 610800
www.lapistor.com

Specifications:

• Dimensions 17.5x40.2x20cm
• Number of drives 4 hot swappable. Ultra ATA/100/133.
• Max capacity 1 terabyte (4x250GB drives)
• Interface USB 2.0/Firewire 800 RAID Levels Supported 0 or 5 with spare
• OS supported Apple Mac 9.x/X.x + later versions, Windows 98/Me/NT 4.0/2000/XP
• Software included Dantz Retrospect
• Warranty One year on-site

Price details:
£1,799 (ex. VAT) 480GB
£2,199 (ex. VAT) 1TB