StarTech HSB430SATBK 4 Drive 3.5in Trayless Hot Swap SATA Mobile Rack Backplane

Pros: - The tray-less design works well

Cons: - Eventually failed

Other Thoughts: One of the two fans became noisy after about 11 months. The bearings were beginning to bind. After 18 months, the unit completely failed.

Pros: No trays. Similar Pros as other comments.

Cons: I've owned these for 18 months now. My fans made noise for a couple minutes after power-on after six months. About a month ago the fans started making noise all the time. These substandard fans are labeled "HUI TONG" (China). They are 2 conductor with about 6" leads and a very small white plug typical of removable drive frames/trays. It took me almost 4 hours to remove and dissassemble the HSB430SATBK, splice the old plugs onto the new fans' leads, add 3/16" shrink wrap to the wires, then solder and shrink the wrap over the solder, and put the HSB430SATBK back into the workstation. Not to mention the cost of the new fans (~ $17 including delivery).

Other Thoughts: Before purchasing the HSB430SATBK, you might want to ask if they still have HUI TONG fans. You can see this label on the fans when you look at the rear panel of the HSB430SATBK. Also - the new fans have straight blades and are louder running than the curved blades on the old fans. When installing fans, the airflow in typically towards the manufacturer's label on the part that does not spin. You can also test the fan's air flow direction with a 9v battery (just be sure red wire is to the positive post on the battery).

Pros: hard drive activity lights, trayless design, fits four 3.5" hard drives in three 5.25" bays.

Cons: I bought two of these. One had a loud fan and the other didn't. No power button for each bay to spin down the hard drive prior to removal.

Other Thoughts: I have bought three different models of back planes and I think this one is the best of the three.

Pros: I wanted to give an update after having this running for a few months. I finally had a fan die after 8 months of being up and running. Considering i have three of these in my file server and of 6 fans only having 1 die after 8 months of being up is not that bad. All and all still a solid product

Cons: No new ones other then what I said in my earlier review

Pros: No drive caddies & 4 drives in 3 1/2 height 5 1/4 slots. The specs say 1TB but I have 4 1.5TB Seagate 7200.11 drives in mine. Did I say no drive caddies???!!!

Cons: Plastic doors? I haven't had any trouble with mine.

Other Thoughts: My fans are still working silently & my drives hot swap just fine in FC6. The chipset & driver you use have to support hot swap. It's true that there isn't any special backplane in this unit but it has been working flawlessly for nightly backups for over a year. Don't forget to consider your case's 5 1/4 drive mounting situation. You may have to remove things to free up a clear 3 bays for this unit to slide in. FYI it's about 7 5/8" deep plus room for the connector that stick straight out the back.

Pros: It works

Cons: you need to be careful when moving the pc around. I have had to reseat the drives anytime the case has been picked up.

Other Thoughts: Absolutely get right angle sata cables to connect to the backplane. I had interference problems with power supply cables until I replaced the OEM cables

Pros: This is an absolute must for anyone running a file server. I have two of these in my Windows Home Server and am looking to add a third to complete the set. Holds drives nice and secure and runs a fan for cooling a pair of drives. Status lights show when drives are power and when data is being actively read from them.

Cons: Not integrating the power for the drives and lights into the rack itself made wiring a little messy. My PSU only had 6 Molex so I'm running each rack off of a pair of molex splitters. Makes a ball of wires about the size of my fist in the bottom of my case. Other then that a solid product.

Other Thoughts: I haven't had any fan issues like other reviewers mentioned but if a little fan that needs to be replaced is the worst thing for this rack then I'll take it. The wiring can be a pain but its not too bad if you are a little patient with how the cables are going to lay and where your tying them off in your case. This would be a welcome addition to any file server as it makes drive upgrade and replacement so much easier.

Pros: Affordable, Trayless, Cooling fans.

Cons: each port ties up a molex connector.

Other Thoughts: Could have been designed better by building in the connections for the front display activity lights and using sata power connectors instead of 4 molex's.

Pros: The mechanics for the adding/removing the drives works well. Feels solid on this
Good Price
Has been reliable so far, no problems with dodgy bootup because of failed connectors etc, have had this before with removable drive bay setups.

Cons: Fans are cheap and failed within in a week.
The unit gets very noisy when they fail, definitly replace the fans, and it should be a good unit

Pros: convenience, price

Cons: After less than 4 months, both fans in the first unit i purchased have failed. As indicated by other users, they start sounding like a struggling blender. I was able to visually see the fan rotating off axis, as if a bearing has become dislodged. So far no response from startech support. I will replace the fans this time, but next time, the entire unit will be scrapped.

Other Thoughts: good idea, poor execution