When I found out about the eSATA function I immediately bought a couple Cavalry 750 eSATAs. This was in the fall of 06, I think. They made so much noise I took them back and ordered a couple more. Got the same model (don't remember what the model number was) and they were as noisy. Between the small high speed fan and the banging of the hard drive, it was impossible to sit in a room and watch TV.
Anyhow, I ended up buying and returning eight of them. One did work for a while, but I ended up taking that one back too. And started buying the Seagate FAPs which don't have fans and are almost silent. Satisfied me and I vowed I would never buy a Cavalry again.
The came the 21s. They simply won't work with the FAPs. I got my first 21-700 in January of this year and tried to get the FAPs to work and they just wouldn't. Have no idea why. I had purchased a Cavalry 750 just in case I couldn't get the FAP working. New model Cav and quite silent. Bought a few more just in case some of my 20-700s failed and the PP sent me 21s to replace them.
I recently purchased a Cavalry 2TB in a RAID enclosure. Had no idea what a RAID enclosure was or meant. Fortunately the one I got wasn't in the RAID1 configuration and was in the "Big" mode allowing me to have the full 2TBs of storage. It has a large fan, but is quieter than most TiVos were. So I went back to the website where I bought the original 2TB and it stated clearly that the 2TBs were now being sold in the RAID1 configuration.
Since the day I received the 2TB unit I was emailing and calling Cavalry to make sure I would get the full 2TBs of storage. Turns out they were shipping them in the "Big" mode until the middle of July and I got one of them. I loaded the original unit up with movies and shows until I had it a little over half full according to the DVR's capacity meter. At that time I had about 260 hours on it and I knew it was gonna give me the whole 2TBs.
I told the folks at Cavalry that I was gonna buy another one and asked them how hard it would be to change from RAID1 to "Big" (Cavalry's term, not mine). They told me to email the order number to them and they would set it up in the "Big" mode. It will arrive tomorrow. Can't ask for better customer service than that.
So, from the fall of 06 to now, Cavalry has followed the same path as the 20s did. From junk to a well functioning device. And the customer service of Cavalry puts D*'s to shame.
Rich
