INTRODUCTION

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   Taking part in online game beta tests while also performing hardware reviews at the same time is not only incredibly tiresome (especially if you are participating in 3 closed betas) but also takes an amazing amount of time (even more if you really enjoy the games you're testing) and so because of that lately I’ve been focusing on peripheral devices (such as gaming mice, keyboards, speakers and headsets) which i can use while testing these games in order to save every bit of time that i possibly can (i do need some sleep after all). However exceptions are always welcome and so today we will be taking a look at a storage product the Runner 2420-B3, the latest dual bay external 2.5" SSD/HDD RAID enclosure by RAIDON.

 

   RAIDON Technology Inc. founded in year 2000, also a brand name “RAIDON” has established to be known for quality and reliable Professional Storage Solutions. RAIDON products has been distributed in high standard of manufacturing quality with unique product designs, providing reliable data storage products exceeding expectations for the image of RAIDON brand. Initial target of RAIDON was devote to professional storage for SME, and gradually RAIDON has foreseen the demands of SOHO, further began design large storage capacity devices with consideration of mobility to convenient each individuals to carry or interchange large data from various purposes, also allowing users may agilely perform data classification with multiple drives. By keeping data protection as a basic concept, device quality and data security leads in parallel from RAIDON R&D team development directions, and it is the core value of RAIDON brand ensuring the security exists for customer information. RAIDON continuously reveals dedication throughout years designing and developing storage solutions to facilities, SME, SOHO and consumers for keeping the existence of their precious data assets. While upholding our dedication and together with the ability to development for bringing the most practical and complete solutions to various demands, RAIDON expects becoming a second to none of professional small-scale data storage solution provider who can truly consolidate reputation to each of the distributors.

 

   There aren't really that many external dual 2.5" HDD enclosures in the market currently so when i first heard about the Runner R2420-B3 from my friends over at RAIDON i was a bit surprised but also glad since you can use both SSDs and HDDs with 2.5" enclosures (something which is not possible with most 3.5" enclosures). However that's not really all and so the R2420-B3 features a very comfortable easy ejection system (the same we saw with the ih2420-2s-s2) and also offers JBOD/RAID0/1 modes for maximum performance and/or maximum data safety. So at least at first glance the Runner R2420-B3 really looks like a very impressive dual 2.5" HDD external enclosure but is that really so? Well there's really no simple answer for that so better read on to find out.

 

 

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Runner R2420-B3 gets shipped inside a rather small box with a large product picture at the front.

 

 

The main features of the unit are showcased with 3 pictures at the left side.

 

 

The different modes (JBOD/RAID0/1) are explained at the right side of the box with the help of three little images.

 

 

A picture of the unit’s rear along with its specifications written in 8 languages is present at the rear.

 

 

The device is safely placed inside a formed piece of foam and the rest of the bundle is placed right next to it.

 

 

The box contains the Runner R2420-B3 external HDD enclosure, USB 3.0 cable, AC power adapter with power tip (depending on which country you are), user’s manual and a product catalog.

 

 

THE RUNNER R2420-B3 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The runner R2420-B3 is made almost entirely by aluminum and measures 174mm in length, 105mm in width and 33.5mmm in height while weighing a total of 0.49kg.

 

 

Much like the ih2420-2s-s2 i tested not too long ago the R2420-B3 has two small 2.5" bay covers at the front.

 

 

The activity LEDs are placed behind the two holes found on the left side of each of the covers.

 

 

Both covers get released just by pressing them and then pulling them outwards as seen above.

 

 

RAIDON has placed their logo at the front top of the unit.

 

 

At the rear of the R2420-B3 we see the two RAID mode switches, power on/off LED, USB 3.0 host port, DC power plug and the on/off switch.

 

 

The device sits on top of 4 small rubber feet.

 

 

Now once you mount both drives into the device (you just need to push them inwards) in order to take them out you first need to extend the front cover all the way to the right and then push it all the way inwards until the drive jumps out.

 

 

As you can see initially i wanted to test the R2420-B3 with two Kingston HyperX drives but since the device uses a SATA II controller it made little sense to do so.

 

 

So in the end i stumbled on two HGST 7K750 2.5" HDDs i had stored (and almost forgotten) in a cabinet and decided to use those instead.

 

 

 

TESTING METHODOLOGY

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   Complicating things is not really our way so once again our testing procedure is almost the same as the one we use with 3.5" external docking stations. However since we are talking about an SATA II compatible dual bay 2.5" external enclosure this time over we will be using the already mentioned HGST 7K750 SATA III hard disk drives. Our standard selection of benchmark suites is used here as well for both JBOD and RAID 0 testing including the famous HD Tach RW (Long Bench 32mb Zones), HD Tune Pro (read/write -when possible- speeds), Sisoftware Sandra Pro (Read/Write - also when possible- speeds), AIDA64 (Linear Read/Random Read), Crystal Disk Mark x64 (100MB/1000MB read/write speeds) and finally the quite outdated yet highly reliable ATTO 2.46 (Max Read/Max Write speeds). Every test was repeated for a total of 6 times and after that the average (not peak) numbers were recorded into our charts. For comparison purposes we used the only dual 2.5" HDD RAID enclosure in our hands (and one of the very few in the market) which is no other than the G-RAID Mini 1TB by G-Technology.  As always every test was performed in a fresh installation of Microsoft Windows 7 Service Pack 1 with every update installed up to August 27th 2012.

 

 

TEST RESULTS - AIDA 64 / ATTO

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TEST RESULTS - HD TACH RW / HD TUNE PRO

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TEST RESULTS - SISOFTWARE SANDRA PRO / CRYSTAL DISK MARK X64

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CONCLUSION

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   RAIDON has released quite a few enclosures both external and internal tailored for 2.5" HDDs and SSDs lately mostly aimed at professional and enterprise users and not so much for enthusiasts and gamers. The bad thing with that is that they place performance second something which i can't say i really like since for good or bad my job makes me want to have the fastest hardware available at any given time. However at the same time they place data integrity/safety above all else and that's actually what matters most for professionals and enterprise users so prior to "judging" a product we need to know its target audience. It goes without saying that RAIDON is well aware that there's room for improvement regarding the R2420-B3 and so they plan to release a SATA III variant which should have no problem maxing out the bandwidth of USB 3.0 by reaching speeds up to 450-500MB/s, the when however is not exactly known. Still even in SATA II the results are not bad and let's not forget that this enclosure makes it extremely easy to swap HDDs/SSDs and at the same time offers RAID0 mode which is more than enough for regular 2.5" HDDs and RAID1 mode which offers extreme data protection.

 

   With a current price tag set at around USD95 inside the USA and 90Euros inside the EU the RAIDON Runner R2420-B3 Easy Ejection 2.5" SSD/HDD RAID Enclosure could be the perfect choice for people who work with 2.5" drives and cherish ease of use and data safety far more than raw performance. True it's not a perfect device especially since even the almost 2 year old G-RAID Mini by G-Technology managed to come really close and sometimes even surpass it (the SATA III version however should correct that) but the Runner R2420-B3 is a lot easier to use thanks to its trayless design and easy ejection system, supports USB 3.0 which let’s face it is more standard now than eSATA and ontop of that you can use whatever HDDs or SSDs you want with it. Still performance is an issue and that's why although the entire concept is very good the Runner R2420-B3 Easy Ejection 2.5" SSD/HDD RAID Enclosure walks away just with our Golden award, at least until the SATA III version finds its way to our test bench.

 

PROS

- Build Quality
- JBOD/RAID0/RAID1 Modes
- Trayless Design
- Easy Ejection System
- USB 3.0
- Energy Saving Mode
- Price (For Some) 

 

 

CONS

- SATA II Compatible (Performance)