StarTech.com 5.25" Tray-Less SATA Hot-Swap Hard Drive Bay (HSB100SATBK)

Pros: exactly as it says, hotswap and trayless. With windows 7, I can actually add hard drives on the fly and remove them. Installing was effortless.Cons: none so farexactly as it says, hotswap and trayless. With windows 7, I can actually add hard drives on the fly and remove them. Installing was effortless. none so far A bonus was that it suspends the internal tray with damper rubber. This keeps the vibration level down on the hard drives making them last longer.

Pros: I've had this for a few days now and have used it in anger twice, maybe three times with customer drives. I'm using this to mount drives for backup and virus checking. It does exactly what it says on the tin. It was easy to install, seems well constructed of good materials and even has a drive light that I don't see advertised or in the manual (alas, my motherboard doesn't support the required connector.Cons: None.I've had this for a few days now and have used it in anger twice, maybe three times with customer drives. I'm using this to mount drives for backup and virus checking. It does exactly what it says on the tin. It was easy to install, seems well constructed of good materials and even has a drive light that I don't see advertised or in the manual (alas, my motherboard doesn't support the required connector. None.

Pros: - Open, fanless design means I won't overheat a HD when the fan inevitably dies without my knowledge. I use a Western Digital Caviar Green HD to ensure cooler running and don't have anything except extra airspace in the bay above this rack.
- Solid once installed into case (I also added additional screws just to be sure, even though they aren't actually necessary).
- I was pleased to discover that although I CAN lock the door, I don't HAVE TO and the door will still shut securely.Cons: I had to take an egg away because of the SATA connection on the rack. There's nothing more reassuring than the familiar CLICK you hear when your SATA data cable is securely fastened into it's port. In the case of this drive there is nothing for the cable's bracket to click onto, thus the connection could come loose over time. I might be a bit harsh in my judgment considering I know I connected the cable properly and now that I can change drives without opening the case it's less likely I'll be bumping the cable loose, but Startech should know it's time to update that latch- it's the only device in my entire case that doesn't allow bracketed SATA cables to lock in.- Open, fanless design means I won't overheat a HD when the fan inevitably dies without my knowledge. I use a Western Digital Caviar Green HD to ensure cooler running and don't have anything except extra airspace in the bay above this rack.
- Solid once installed into case (I also added additional screws just to be sure, even though they aren't actually necessary).
- I was pleased to discover that although I CAN lock the door, I don't HAVE TO and the door will still shut securely. I had to take an egg away because of the SATA connection on the rack. There's nothing more reassuring than the familiar CLICK you hear when your SATA data cable is securely fastened into it's port. In the case of this drive there is nothing for the cable's bracket to click onto, thus the connection could come loose over time. I

Great idea.
1. Permits HD shut down(pop out) after work done - prolongs HD life
2. Much faster than USB without the hassle of eSATA cabling et al
Cons:
1. Had to Google to find out about enabling AHCI to allow realtime hot-swapping - system will freeze if not enabled. This should be right front and centre of info.
2. Front only opens 90 degrees - not so handy for insertions.

Pros: does exactly what it saysCons: hard drive activity light connects to mother board, no dedicated cooling fan in the bay ,but I don't consider either to be a big dealdoes exactly what it says hard drive activity light connects to mother board, no dedicated cooling fan in the bay ,but I don't consider either to be a big deal I ordered one for my system drive so I could try linux. The drives slide in and out and lock smoothly, just all around nice(nice enough that I just ordered 2 more for my data drives. No cooling fan kind of concerned me, but the bay is open enough that a decent case should cool the drive enough, besides back when I had caddy type drawers, the fans always failed on those anyway. With SATA drives prevalent today, the time for caddy's have mercifully gone away

Pros: Not much worth mentioning either way, it does what it is designed to do.Cons: Feels flimsy outside the case, but is solid once it is inside.Not much worth mentioning either way, it does what it is designed to do. Feels flimsy outside the case, but is solid once it is inside. To the review with the toolless case, I don't think this product was designed to be anything but hard mounted.

If at all possible, you will want to screw the drawer to the case. If your case, like mine, only has mounting rails, there is a good chance that the drawer will…

Pros: it's a solidly built item, I purchased two of them so I can easily transfer large amounts of data between a mobile DAW I use for live recording that I have in my mixer rack and my home studio DAW.. simply pop out the drive (I use a solid state drive for the OS drive in the mobile DAW to avoid any shock trauma) and take it home and pop it in my home machine. it's solid, no flimsy door or latch, it locks easily and both were easy to install...Cons: the only con would be, and it's not this devices fault even, is you need to have a motherboard that supports SATA hot swapping for that feature to work. mine doesn't but I just use it just fine otherwise, I just pop it in at the start before boot and remove it when I'm done. so if you're gonna particularly need the hot swapping aspect, check your motherboards capability first...it's a solidly built item, I purchased two of them so I can easily transfer large amounts of data between a mobile DAW I use for live recording that I have in my mixer rack and my home studio DAW.. simply pop out the drive (I use a solid state drive for the OS drive in the mobile DAW to avoid any shock trauma) and take it home and pop it in my home machine. it's solid, no flimsy door or latch, it locks easily and both were easy to install... the only con would be, and it's not this devices fault even, is you need to have a motherboard that supports SATA hot swapping for that feature to work. mine doesn't but I just use it just fine otherwise, I just pop it in at the start before boot and remove it when I'm done. so if you're gonna particularly need the hot swapping aspect, check your motherboards capability first... it comes with it's own HDD activity led and cable to attach to the motherboard..

Pros: None.Cons: I have a toolless case and this product does not fit right. 1. The enclosure is actually smaller than a 5.25 bay. I was actually able to rotate mine vertically in the bay.2. The metal siding is only attached to the center piece at the bottom and not at the top. As a result, the siding bends inward when I try to secure it in the 5.25 bay. I'll be returning mine so I can look for something with more quality and design.None. I have a toolless case and this product does not fit right.

1. The enclosure is actually smaller than a 5.25 bay. I was actually able to rotate mine vertically in the bay.

2. The metal siding is only attached to the center piece at the bottom and not at the top. As a result, the siding bends inward when I try to secure it in the 5.25 bay.

I'll be returning mine so I can look for something with more quality and design. Not sure how this will fit in a non-toolless case. I did notice that there are some screw holes on the flimsy siding.

Pros: These frames work with the 1.5 tera byte seagates,
just bigger than 750g did no exist when manual was writen.Cons: noneThese frames work with the 1.5 tera byte seagates,
just bigger than 750g did no exist when manual was writen. none 2 side mounting plates, I wish were connected (one piece), so when installed in inexpensive cases, the frame kits would be easier to install. But that is the cheap case fault not the frame kits. Li-lian cases work great with these frame kits.

The rubber shock mount linking the inner drive bay to the outer mounting plates is a bit soft and the mounting rail may not snap into place. Easy solution is to

Pros: Does what it should: solidly takes drives in and out, seems to be well made and does the task well. Straightforward installationCons: A big one: no activity LED to indicate drive access or functionality. It's on there, but it uses an arcane mechanism to hook it up, rendering it useless. See Other Thoughts.Does what it should: solidly takes drives in and out, seems to be well made and does the task well. Straightforward installation A big one: no activity LED to indicate drive access or functionality. It's on there, but it uses an arcane mechanism to hook it up, rendering it useless. See Other Thoughts. Having used the Startech SATA tray-based removable drives and the Startech IDE tray based systems in past years, I've found their products to be well designed and reliable. When I saw that I would not be shelling out $20 or so per tray for this new system, I jumped at the chance to get one. Well, live and learn. To their credit, the unit intalls well and seems well made. So far, it does exactly what it should, allowing for easy insertion and removal of drives without the need for trays. The Flaw, and it's significant, is that there is no hard drive activity light to let you know it's working and that the drive can be accessed. This is despite the fact that it's advertised to have this feature. To add to it, when you go to Startech's tech support site, the pages consistently lock up. Their technical bumbling does not end there- when I contacted tech support via their personnel department (yes, that's how I got through), they did not even know the unit had an LED light on it.

Sadly, I'm a bit disappointed in this product for one big reason: no hard drive activity light to let you know the drive is active and being accessed.

Pros: Works great with a Maxtor 500gb, 7200rpm, SATA 3.0.
Absolutely zero heating issues running in a system overclocked 110%.
No issues with the SATA connector.
Mechanisms are solid and secure, no need to lock it. If your files are that important, I'd recommend getting a safe.
It also mounts flush and works fine with my case's front window.Cons: Only supports 750GB drives? Why?Works great with a Maxtor 500gb, 7200rpm, SATA 3.0.
Absolutely zero heating issues running in a system overclocked 110%.
No issues with the SATA connector.
Mechanisms are solid and secure, no need to lock it. If your files are that important, I'd recommend getting a safe.
It also mounts flush and works fine with my case's front window. Only supports 750GB drives? Why? Was going to get two more for 1TB drives, but unfortunately it doesn't support that.

Pros: It works, and it was cheaper than it is now when I bought it. Easy install, like all 5.25 products.Cons: The drives run hot, but this is because I have a power-supply-on-top type case, with bad airflow right behind the drive bays. A more modern power-supply-on-bottom case would fix it right up.It works, and it was cheaper than it is now when I bought it. Easy install, like all 5.25 products. The drives run hot, but this is because I have a power-supply-on-top type case, with bad airflow right behind the drive bays. A more modern power-supply-on-bottom case would fix it right up. Kingwin makes something similar, that's enclosed and has a fan and is cheaper to boot, but lookng at it, I don't see how it could cool the drives much better, in fact it almost looks like it would heat them up more.

Pros: Awesome of swapping SATA drives. If you want to setup a home network server with removable drives, this is what you wantCons: If you enclosure has the sliding type of 5.25" bays, you are going to need some DIY skills to make it sturdy. It will be flimsy otherwise. If you have the screw-in type bays, then you are all good.Awesome of swapping SATA drives. If you want to setup a home network server with removable drives, this is what you want If you enclosure has the sliding type of 5.25" bays, you are going to need some DIY skills to make it sturdy. It will be flimsy otherwise. If you have the screw-in type bays, then you are all good.

Pros: Keeps drive cool, it's quite.Cons: Drive doesn't always spin up when this enclosure is turned on. A couple of times I had to turn off the enclosure, open and close it, then power back up in order for the drive to spin up.Keeps drive cool, it's quite. Drive doesn't always spin up when this enclosure is turned on. A couple of times I had to turn off the enclosure, open and close it, then power back up in order for the drive to spin up. Using a Seagate 320GB ES drive. I'm not sure if it's the drive or the enclosure, but I'm not liking the problem mentioned in the 'Con' section. I leave this unit on most of the time, so not a big deal. My concern is that the problem is due to the drive not staying firmly connected and hence the need to open/close the drive bay. Just speculation on the cause of the problem; we'll see.

Pros: Key is optional. Latch on door provides enough security against accidental removal. Lack of drive carrier probably improves cooling. Simple, well made, no problems.Cons: noneKey is optional. Latch on door provides enough security against accidental removal. Lack of drive carrier probably improves cooling. Simple, well made, no problems. none

Pros: This is a well built, well thougt of product! the hard drives slips in easy. when you open the door completely, it ejects the drive for you.Cons: NoneThis is a well built, well thougt of product! the hard drives slips in easy. when you open the door completely, it ejects the drive for you. None

Pros: works greatCons: Had to glue the SATA connector on , it keep sliding off.works great Had to glue the SATA connector on , it keep sliding off.