In today's mobile environment, everything that users can do to move data easily and effectively is a welcome tool.

Newer Technology has come up with a novel solution for users looking for large capacity data on-the-go with the Guardian MAXimus Mini.

The intent of the MAXimus Mini is to provide the best of both worlds, large capacity and 'on the go' portability. Lets take a closer look at the performance of this great device.

INTRODUCTION
The concept of the MAXimus Mini is rather simple, data security and portability in one small easy to move package.

First, data security. This enclosure has RAID 1 functionality which is essentially a carbon copy of the users' data that is spread over two hard drives, be it SSD or HDD. In the event of a drive failure, the enclosure will automatically copy over the data upon insertion of a new drive. This type of functionality gives the user some peace of mind that their data is protected if there is an issue with a HDD or SSD.

RAID 1 does provide ultimate data security, but at a cost of capacity. There is a carbon copy of all data, so the capacity of the useable volume is only going to be the total space of one disk, provided that the disks are of matching capacity. The user also loses the ability of the performance scaling that is can be accomplished with multiple drives. Utilizing two devices can create double the performance in some configurations.

Our next stop is at RAID 0 which allows the user to use both volumes with data striped across them. This results in double the speed of one drive, and the doubling of capacity as well. The user does sacrifice data redundancy in this scenario.

There are drawbacks to each type of usage, but also benefits. The great thing about this device is that the user is allowed to configure it in either RAID o for ultimate performance, or RAID 1 for maximum data protection.

Features:

• "Quad Interface" FireWire 800/400, USB 2.0, and eSATA for flexible connectivity
• Pre-set for MAXProtect RAID 1 mode...selectable MAXPerform RAID 0 mode via front panel menu
• Supports bus powering via any interface*
• Data transfer speeds up to 300MB/s
• Daisy chain multiple FireWire 800 devices
• Drive speeds of up to 7200RPM or Solid State
• Perfect for A/V, Digital Photography, Professional Music, Graphics, General Data, and Time Machine ready.
• Solutions includes all connecting cables needed for the device
• Lightweight (1.24 lbs with SSDs) and ultra compact 5.2"(D) x 3.5"(W) x 2.1"(H) for portable use
• Brushed aluminum, impact resistant, heat dissipating, super quiet fanless enclosure

• FireWire 800: up to 800Mbps (100MB/s)
• USB 2.0: up to 480Mbps (60MB/s)
• eSATA: up to 3.0GB/s (300MB/s)

The unit comes with an eSATA cable, FireWire 800/400 cable, USB 2.0 cable, and a power adapter.

This enclosure is very small, and one of the great things about it in usage is that it can be bus-powered. In simple terms, this means that it can be powered without a plug in. When using FireWire 800 the power for this very small enclosure is provided by the FireWire. If the user chooses to use the faster eSATA port for data transfer, they can still use the FireWire for power which is really a neat function.

The enclosure is brushed aluminum and extremely sturdy. The exterior is all metal, and very strongly built, but surprisingly light as well. The front of the device reveals the two buttons used for controlling the menus and configurable parameters of the device.

The rear of the device reveals the Quad Interface. This is essentially four different connections that can be utilized for data transfer. There is USB 2.0, eSATA, and 2 FireWire 800/400 connections. For eSATA if there is not another power source there is the included adapter.

INSTALLING DEVICES
This enclosure can be purchased bare, or configured with existing HDDs or SSDs of varying capacities.

In either case, swapping out and installing drives is a breeze. The removal of two screws from the rear panel of the device exposes the drives, which are contained in two drive trays. These trays slide out easily, allowing the user to swap out devices.

TESTING RAID 1 PERFORMANCE
RAID 1 provides the greatest data security, as the user has a copy of all the data contained on the device. The speed will be limited to the speed of the drive that is installed. All tests were conducted with the ESATA connection, as it is the fastest of the data connections.

ATTO
With ATTO testing we can see the device topping out around 110 MB/s, which is the expected performance of the HDD. These are pretty encouraging results for a RAID 1 array.

CRYSTAL DISK MARK
The Crystal Disk Mark results show the speed of the device with several different loadings. Again these results are within expected guidelines.

HDTACH

TESTING RAID 0 PERFORMANCE
With RAID 0 the speed of the devices will increase, as data being striped over the drives will allow for some performance scaling. RAID 0 is going to be much faster for users who need fast performance in a small package.

ATTO
The key consideration here is the performance scaling. With some RAID solutions, adding another device does not always yield twice the performance. Users can sometimes experience gains of 70-80 percent as some of the performance is lost in the scaling, or by underpowered RAID processors.

That surely isn't a problem with this device, as we can witness here it is getting 217 MB/s, which is 99% scaling…it doesn't get better than that!

CRYSTAL DISK MARK
Crystal Disk mark also reveals some excellent scaling with sequential access.

HDTACH

CONCLUSION
One of the greatest things about this device is the impressive functionality that it packs into such a small package. The image below shows the device in comparison to a Logitech G5 mouse.

Portability is becoming key as more and more users are flocking to portable devices. A glaring issue with these types of devices is that they typically do not pack much storage "Punch". They simply lack the large capacity that is sometimes needed.

Users with large files especially can appreciate this type of device. Most people today still do intensive tasks such as picture, audio, and video editing on their PC. Then this creates the issue of getting that content to the other devices that the user owns. This device is perfect for this type of application.

Another area that this type of device will do exceedingly well is in the enterprise/business sector.

The ability to use this device without external power is an important feature, and one that simply cannot be overlooked. Offering this type of capacity with plug and play capability is a great prospect for the end user.

The device without any drives retails for $115 with the software bundle. There are several configurations that the unit can be purchased with, with both HDDs and SSDs of varying capacities.

This bundle includes Prosoft Engineering Data Backup 3, NovaStor NovaBACKUP, Intech SpeedTools Utilities, and Carbon Copy Cloner.

This is a great bundle with value of over $200, if bought separately. As they say "Hardware gets the customer, Software keeps the customer."

Apparently Newer Technology took this to heart, and they threw in an impressive amount of software. Pairing this software with a great device makes this a win-win for anyone who chooses to purchase the Guardian MAXimus Mini!