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Issue link: https://digital.macdirectory.com/i/839
REVIEW | PRODUCTIVITY
108 MacDirectory
Cables, cables and more cables. My desk is
swamped with cables. USB cables,
FireWire cables, power cables, speakers,
microphones, mouse, laser and ink-jet
printers and backup connections. I know
that they are all essential to what I am
doing but it does get rather cluttered.
I just added a new set of cables and
power supply – for a Newer Technology
Guardian MAXimus Hardware RAID-1
(Mirror) storage unit and backup. Here's
some product details: 1.0TB MAXimus
eMAX RAID-1 [Mirrored] (1.0TB HDs X 2)
FireWire 800/400+USB2 "EcoGreen"
storage solution. Oxford 924 SATA chipset,
Dual Drive 5400RPM, 64MB Data Buffer
and a two-year warranty. It provides "live
activity" backup/data redundancy of your
critical data with Plug and Play simplicity
on any Mac or PC.
This was the easiest setup I have done in a
long time. For the Mac OS X set-up, no
driver is required and no software
installation is required. It works great with
Time Machine and you simply designate
the Newer Technology Guardian as your
backup unit.
Plug the AC power cord into your nearest
power source (UPS or wall outlet) and
connect that to the DC transformer. Plug
the DC power cord into the power port on
the rear of the Guardian. Connect the
FireWire 400, 800 or USB 2.0 cable to the
appropriate interface that your computer
supports – to the drive and the computer.
Turn on the unit and you are done. I chose
the FireWire connection as I wasn't using
that one on my MacBook computer.
The Guardian MAXimus is silent in its
operation. There is a tiny LED power
indicator glowing in the front of the case
to let me know the power is on. The
instructions say that the LED is green but
we will disagree on that one. There are
two LEDs (HDD1 and HDD2) that will
illuminate when hard drive #1 and #2 are
being written to. If the drive is not being
written to, the LEDs do not illuminate.
Should one of the hard drives fail, one of
the two middle LEDs will turn red,
indicating which drive has failed. There is
an additional LED to the right that is the
Rebuild indicator. If a drive fails, and the
GuardianMAXimus is rebuilding, the LED
will illuminate Green. If the rebuild fails, it
will illuminate red. If the LED illuminates
red, you need to contact the support
department for further assistance.
I was amazed at the ease of setup and
operation. I am not a computer guru and
if something requires more than a "point
and click," then I am usually in trouble.
The package came with power cable,
transformer, USB cable and FireWire
cables. The instructions were easy to
follow and anyone could set this system
up in less than 10 minutes and have a
secure RAID system operating and
protecting their valuable files. The
GuardianMAXimus can be operated with
Windows or Mac OS and the setup is
virtually the same for all systems. The
cables are top quality and the unit is built
like a tank but good looking.
Not only do you get all the necessary
cables (ever go to the computer store and
purchase a printer or other device and
find out – after you get home – that you
need to purchase a USB cable) but you
also get the preloaded Newer Technology
software bundle with lots of freeware and
shareware applications. I would have
preferred a longer FireWire cable but I also
am familiar with the cable limitations for
that use. The USB cable is longer and I
could have gone that way if needed. I am
already using both USB ports plus two "8
port" powered USB hubs so the FireWire
output was best.
To contact Newer Technology support,
visit