Promise SmartStor DS4600 review

Promise is best known for producing high-end RAID systems for large corporations. In fact, some of its products cost in excess of £10,000. However, the SmartStor DS4600 is an attempt to cater for individual users in smaller businesses, such as photographers, video editors and other creative professionals.

Housed inside the stylish box is a four-bay RAID storage system. In the UK, Promise primarily sells the DS4600 through the Apple Store, where it comes pre-configured with four 1TB drives for £699 or four 2TB drives for £1,049.

The SmartStor is a fast, reliable RAID drive designed for creative professionals

Round the back of the unit you’ll find no less than four separate interfaces for connecting the unit to your Mac – USB 2.0, FireWire 400, FireWire 800 and eSATA. However, the DS4600 is specifically designed for use with individual computers, and doesn’t have an Ethernet interface that would allow you to share it with others on an office network.

Our first impression wasn’t entirely favourable, as the chassis is constructed out of lightweight plastic and the plastic holders for the internal drive units were particularly flimsy. We also had problems installing the SmartNAVI software supplied on CD, and had to locate the latest update on the Promise website before we were able to install it properly.

Fortunately, things picked up after that. Once installed, the SmartNAVI software works well and includes a single-click option that will automatically configure the unit for you, as well as manual configuration for more experienced users. The DS4600 supports RAID 0, 1, 5 and 1+0 modes, and works with Apple’s Time Machine as well as providing its own SmartSync backup feature. It also includes a number of additional options, such as the ability to monitor the unit’s internal temperature and send you a warning email if any faults develop.