Home > Consumer Reviews > Cavalry Storage CAUI Series 250 GB USB External Hard Drive CAUI37250

I wanted something to use with Apple's Time Machine, a program designed to continuously back up your entire hard drive. The only familiar name in this price range was Seagate, but after reading some Amazon customer reviews for their 250 GB model, you'd have to be a masochist to spend money on it. For that matter, even the pricier "darlings" in this size--Western Digital, Omega, Maxtor, LaCie, SimpleDrive--rarely could muster up a 4-star let alone 5-star rating. (No wonder our government and its agencies have so much trouble with intelligence.) So I did the only sensible thing--ordered a lesser known model that had no customer ratings.

In doing so, I passed up several other Cavalry models with identical capacity and priced within one-nine dollars of this one. This model, from the CAUI series, appears to be heavier than the others, probably because it does employ a fan, one moreover that you can hear (if you listen for it). But my iMac saw it instantly, which is more than I can say for some drives I've tried (two Western Digitals made striking first impressions, then went AWOL), and the drive and computer hit it off right away. Amazon has a 30-day return period, so it's still in its audition stage. At this point, I can attest that it's responsive and is built like a bri--well, let's say it's plenty solid. And since I don't plan to move it around, I'm counting on it to behave. (Should it suddenly fail after the trial period, I don't do enough fishing to require a boat anchor but it could probably be fashioned into one of those gravity-principle dash mounts for my GPS unit.)

Recommendations: This size is adequate to back up my entire hard-drive and then some, provided I delegate another place for the space-hungry audio files. For this purpose your best bet is an iPod Classic 160 GB or Toshiba's sturdy and dependable "plug 'n play" hard drive with its "background" back-up program--"Shadow"--that targets certain folders and is almost as brainless to set up as Time Machine. If you have more money to spend and want to dump everything into one place, pick up either a 1TB hard drive or the new Airport wi-fi that comes with 1TB storage space (enough to back up your own computer and any others on the network). But before getting carried away, best to consider that 80% of computer users don't back up their work and that it's doubtful any of the remaining 20% have "The Great American Novel" stored as a manuscript on their machines. (As for all those family and pet photos, when's the last time you viewed them?)

[Update: I've had it operating continuously for a month now. No problems, no heat, no sliding across my desk even though I've got it in vertical position. Solid device and, considering I haven't found anything of equal capacity at a lower price, a solid value.]

[Update: We're in the 3rd month now, and it's a solid and dependable, "invisible" back-up artist. No compatibility issues with Mac running OSX5(Leopard). I'm not surprised that the national distributor appears to offer minimal support, but it's reassuring to know they're liberal about refunds and exchanges.]

As of the time of this review, the editorial information from Amazon about this product is incorrect. This product does not offer an eSATA interface and the package does not include an eSATA cable or bracket. Some other Cavalry products do have these features. I ordered this hard drive specifically to use with an eSATA interface and am returning it since reading the box and checking the manufacturer website. It may be a fine hard drive as long as you only need a USB (slower) connection.

The hard drive works perfectly on my PC with Windows XP as of so far. You just plug it in and it's good to know. Data transfers are fast enough for my purposes (storing back-up copies of music, videos, and other personal files). On top of that, the device does not make too much sound while running. The device does heat up a bit if you leave it on for too long, but that's not much of a problem as long as you don't have the hard drive turned on 24/7. Overall, a fine piece of work.

I run Windows XP Home, and all I had to do was plug it into a USB port, and it was quickly found. No formatting or anything. Just plug it into your computer and it performs like a big thumb drive. Writes quickly and runs quietly. Doesn't get too hot, either. Perfect for storing anything. I use it for storing videos and music files. If you have Windows 98, ME or 2K, you must install drivers for the device. It comes with the disk. Nice inexpensive alternative to get more storage space if you don't have the money to buy a new computer or pay someone to install a harddrive and copy over all of your data. Small and slender-about the size of a paperpack book (slightly longer). This one is nice because it has a power switch.

I found this product very easy to set up, there were no programs to install, simply plug and play. It is small enough to remain in the background of your computer set up and is incredibly user friendly. The only bad quality is that it tends to heat up if left on for long periods of time. But the drive itself is so quick to loading and so easy to plug in to your computer that the need to leave it on for long periods are not needed. All in all this is a fantastic product for anyone needing a dependable external hard drive but don't have the hundreds of dollars to shell out for the other brands.