Sans Digital 5-Bay USB 3.0 / eSATA Hardware RAID5 Tower Storage Enclosure w/ 6G PCIe 2.0 HBA Card TR5UT+B (Black) $204AR + Free Shipping

Thanks!

great combo deal, just what i was looking for!

looks like no mac os x support... fyi

I have a similar case 4bay case. Jbod with windows 8 storage spaces. Getting average write at 35 mb/s.

Anything to improve speeds with storage spaces? Using esata with included card. Its much faster without storage spaces. My device was $180 TR4UM+

I got the smaller version, 4 bay JBOD/eSata only for about $80 with an eSata card (HP 1222 card, this deal includes HP 622 card). Great speed. Much better than using 4 eSATA enclosure. Speed is very good.
I got iViewUS 4 bay hardware RAID/eSata/USB 3.0 (support RAID 5) for about $110 with a USB 3.0 card (same card in this deal). Write speed is about 80mb to 100mb via eSATA. Didn't test USB 3.0. I always think eSata > Firewire > USB.
I am all set for 16TB external storage. Pair with the Fujitsu MX server deal at $140.

What's the difference between this and an NAS as far as functionality is concerned?

Quote from blaze1984 : What's the difference between this and an NAS as far as functionality is concerned?

This device cannot act as a stand-alone NAS/server. You must plug it into a desktop/server to access the device.

Quote from namike : This device cannot act as a stand-alone NAS/server. You must plug it into a desktop/server to access the device.

Just plug into router or Nas at fraction of the cost?

Quote from daledemp : Just plug into router or Nas at fraction of the cost?

That's a good idea but you may not be using full potential of this storage. I don't think any router has eSata and very few new ones (expensive ones) have USB 3.0

It basically does same thing what Synology DX510/513 does. Why would someone buy Synology expansion unit over this.

Can any Synology NAS user give me some benefits of using one over another?

Quote from mansoor : It basically does same thing what Synology DX510/513 does. Why would someone buy Synology expansion unit over this. Can any Synology NAS user give me some benefits of using one over another?

Recent Synology DS412+ owner here. With this tower as someone else in the post mentioned you will need to plug it into a computer to manage it somewhat decently well. It is just simply not able to act as an expansion unit like the synology units you mentioned. (Synology probably has a proprietary connection protocol that allows for better speeds etc. with their expansion unit) Personally after doing my research, I went with a Synology unit not because it's the most powerful NAS out there(there are plenty of other more "powerful" ones) but because of the ease of use. Lets face it....you don't want to spend the bulk of your time managing your NAS....it should simply just work...and be easy to do what you want to do. Thats why synology units are always priced higher than what you can build off the shelf...the software makes it worth it.

Doesn't work with OSX?

I figured you could just plug in via eSata and it would recognize the drives.

Right?

Quote from ocelittle : Doesn't work with OSX? I figured you could just plug in via eSata and it would recognize the drives. Right?

I would expect that is the case, or via USB too, both open standards that work on OSX just fine.