Thecus N2050 External RAID Encolsure Evaluation

The market for external drives is a busy one. It seems like everyone has at least one and they all are about the same in terms of performance. Granted some are better quality than others but they all pretty much fall into the same level of speed, size, etc. So what happens to those of us that want faster, or larger, or heaven forbid fault tolerance? Well it is a pretty easy answer; you grab an external box that has RAID 1 support. Thecus has a box like this; the N2050UD, it has dual connectivity (e-SATA and USB 2.0), Dual-drive support and can run in either RAID 0 or 1 without the need for complicated setup. Can this RAID enabled box give you the speed, redundancy and ease of use it shows on paper? Click on to find out.

Product: Thecus N2050UD 
Author: Sean Kalinich
Reviewed on: September 15th 2008
Product cost: $129.99 (at Newegg.com)
Manufacturer: Thecus
Spelling and Grammatical editor: Planetx64 Staff

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Packaging and Accessories:
Well the box that the N2050UD arrived in would not win any awards. Although this does not make a single bit of difference as to how it performs, the box looked like one of those “as seen on TV” products and had me laughing for a few minutes.
But ignoring the box and getting inside we find the goodies.
Thecus has included a PCI e-SATA card with the N2050UD this is powered by a Silicone Image SATA chip and has a single e-SATA port as well as a single internal SATA port. Thecus recommends using this over any e-SATA brackets that simply plug into a standard SATA port on you mainboard. Also amongst the goodies is a USB 2.0 Cable (interestingly enough it is an A to A Male to Female) and an e-SATA cable.

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Construction:
The N2050UD has a very flimsy feel when you first pick it up, its outer shell is completely plastic and lends to this. The controls are simplistic, but this is not a bad thing, the back contains all of the needed inputs as well as a small fan to keep your drives cool.
By removing two screws on the back the top of the N2050UD slides off to reveal the inner workings.
Here sites a metal cage that holds the two drives, to install the drives you have to remove the cage and then mount the drives and replace the cage. Once installed the N2050UD has the weight and sturdy feel it lacked while empty.

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Setup:
Ok now here things get complicated, to get your RAID setup you have to install two drives (they should not have any file system on them) flip the N2050UD over to the back. Move the switch at the bottom just left of the e-SATA port to the type of RAID you want (RAID 0 or 1), plug the N2050UD in and press the power button. After all of that you just have to push the INIT button with a paperclip or similar and you are on your way to external RAID goodness. You will still need to partition and format the drive in your OS of choice but other than that you can be up and running in about 5 minutes.
On the opposite end, shutting down is a little less straight forward. You have to push and hold the Confirm Button and then press Power Button. The Confirm Button is the long thin unmarked button on the front.

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Performance:
Test System
Asus G2S X1 17" Notebook

The N2050 is not going to win any speed records. It does have redundancy, which to many users, should be the more important item.  I decided to keep this in mind and did all of my testing with the N2050 setup as RAID1. I used two Western Digital 160GB SATA II drives.
For testing I ran Sisoft Sandra 2009 and Everest 4.6 to cover my synthetic testing. For real World I ran AutoGK with my output going directly to the Thecus N2050 and I also did stock file transfers of a group of files totaling 13.25 GB. Tests were run using e-SATA and USB.

Interesting numbers here as it would seem that USB is faster than e-SATA.
Again this is not meant as a high-performance external solution but as a low-cost redundant backup solution. We also see good performance considering the RAID1 setup.

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Value:
With a price tag of $129.99 the N2050UD is not exactly dirt cheap but it is less than most others on the market  and in most cases much easier to use. The fact that it does ship with an add-in e-SATA card also helps offset the price. Considering the fact that you can get 250GB SATA drives for around $70 this makes the N2050UD look even more attractive.  Thecus offers a one year limited warranty on the N2050UD.

{mospagebreak title=Conclusion}
Conclusion:
My thoughts on the Thecus N2050 are pretty straight forward. It is a great device if you are looking for a low cost redundant backup solution for your notebook or desktop. With the ability to use both e-SATA and USB 2.0 you have a good deal of flexibility to throw around. The included e-SATA card adds value to an already well priced device. If you are looking for fast drive performance you might want to look elsewhere but if you are looking for data redundancy for personal files, pictures home video etc. The Thecus should be on your list.