StarTech.com 4-Bay Mobile Rack Backplane - Trayless Hot Swap Mobile Rack Backplane for 3.5in SAS II/SATA III - 6 Gbps HDD (HSB4SATSASBA)

I originally bought two of these to enable easy swapping of drives in a backup server. They have worked flawlessly since then, running 24/7 for over a year. The build is robust and swapping out drives is very easy. I later added one to my desktop PC because I have a 24TB drive that runs very hot, but the built in fans in this enclosure also cool the drives far more than any case fan. Since moving the drive to the enclosure I have had no problem with overheating. So, great for swapping drives but also great for cooling drives.

I was slightly nervous about using these but I had an old tower case and an old server motherboard and wanted to create my own NAS so thought I'd give these a go. The worry was that the drives would be too cramped and run hot. Iniitally I ran 2 of these with four drives (2 per enclosure with a central gap) over a period of a month and monitored the temps. The drives ran consistently between 28 & 31 C. Then I loaded the final two and ran with all 6 ever since. Over two years these have run with the drives consistently between 28 & 31. Each drive has its own temp. and it's actually the drive, not the position as I tried swapping a couple round after a year to see if it made a difference. Under periods of really heavy load for an hour or more, one or two disks rise a degree then settle back. So enclosures and fans do what they are supposed to. Although slightly fiddly to fit 6 drives in two of these it wasn't hard.

Both HDD bays work as intended but it does not fit flush with the front of my 5.25" drive bays(see picture) which every other device I have ever installed did. The internal fan is also annoyingly loud, I decided to remove this which is easy to do. If security is in mind the locking function is just an Allen bit, while great for accidental opening of the bay security is a zero. Other than those small issues of which the last one doesn't effect me I would highly recommend this drive bay over the cheaper alternatives on Amazon.

Work as it should, i used this for mostley for sas drives you will need a sas card and a lead to get the correct speed and to work the sas drives, also can be used for sata drives as well or plugged direct to the motherboard for sata only but speed is limited to sata speeds. you can only use sas Drives with a sas card.

First off, the first one I received was faulty. The power led on the top tray was intermittent. It was replaced promptly however. The replacement unit works a treat though. The drive activity led feeds are taken from the sata cable via the supplied cables. This is like all the Startech equipment I have bought, well made and works. Update My 2020, one fan has failed. Easy to replace.

Okay so i bought this for my Plex server and here's my conclusion. Pros: 1. It's metal and it looks cool and the activity lights are nice. 2. 3 SATA cables in the box yay It ends there. Cons: 1. ITS LOUD on the lowest setting this is by far the loudest thing in my server. 2. As ridiculous as it seems It doesn't fit in 2 x 5.25 bays. I have a dell precision with this in and it is too tall to fit in its dual 5.25 bays inpatient as i am i have found a way to force it into the case (i suspect it will never come out) but there is a lip added to it at both the top and bottom making it not fit if it didn't have this it would fit fine i imagine so if you don't have 3 bays free or two with something like a disc drive in the top one i cant say i recommend this too you! Unless you purely like this ones aesthetics be prepared to return it if you only have 2 slots :(

used in a dell t320 for several months now, easy extra 3 slots in place of the empty 5.25" bays

Some other reviews mentioned this doesn't fit into 2 5.25" drive bays which has not been my experience, this fit exactly in 2 bays with no issues. It can be a bit awkward to get the drives in and if you have little space behind the bays it might be a problem. The fan is a bit loud and the control switch to control it's speed (simple toggle, no granular speed control) is on the back of the unit instead of the front where depending on your case it might not be easily reachable. It doesn't have any way to connect to a motherboard or external control unit separately or automatically. I'm not sure about the qality of the electronics, that will take some time.

This unit dropped in to my old desktop chassis. Very well made.

３．５インチHDDを４台だから、てっきり５インチ４ベイを使うものと思い込んでいたら ５インチ３ベイのサイズで４台納められるラックだったんですね。DVDドライブ外さずに済みました。 トレイレスでHDDをそのままガチャコンできるのも、ネジ留めの手間いらずでお気に入りです。 付属の電源配線も２パターン（２：１か１：１か）分が付属しているので、自分のシステムに合わせて配線できるし。 いまのところ快適に使えてます。

Die Idee an sich ist gut, leider funktioniert der Einschub schlicht und ergreifend nicht. (wenn ich die Test-HDD aus dem Einschub rausnehme und direkt an Spannung / SATA anschließe, wird sie sofort gefunden - Board, Kabel, Stecker und HDD sind also safe OK). Zweiter Negativpunkt: der Minilüfter - ungeregelt, IMMER an (auch wenn keine Disk im Einschub ist) und mit extrem hochfrequentem Laufgeräusch - geht gar nicht, nervt sogar im Technikraum.

Well built and sturdy, the only downside is the extremely loud fan. For the price it is It should have been something more silent. I'll probably end u switching the fan later on myself.

Excellent product. Works as advertised. I am using it for my 15 drive Unraid server. The data connects via my SAS controller. Initially I had 15 drives stacked up in 3x 5 bay enclosures. Sketchy at best but it worked for a few years but it was heavy as hell. Now I have 4x 4 bay enclosures and I have an extra bay if I want to make it a 16 drive array. The heat of the array is better dissipated for starters and it looks a whole lot better. Its definitely more secure and a whole lot less sketchy. The largest drives connected are 10 TB.