Vantec EZ Swap 4 3.5" Aluminum Removable Trayless SATA Hard Drive Rack With LCD and Fan - Model MRK-401ST-BK

Pros: Drives stay MUCH cooler than with the Thermaltake unit it replaced.
I noticed that my drives were very hot to the touch after backing them up with the Thermaltake drive rack (a brand which I am absolutely devoted to). No fan on the Thermaltake unit or I would have used that. The fan is a great idea.
This units pops hard drives out much cooler than before.
The graphics are nice, but much more importantly they are informative.
For the price I paid, am happy to give its predecessor to a family member.

I drop 3 degrees from low to high speed on the fans when I do 30 minute drive backups. Even the higher temp is better than before.

Cons: Non At All!

Pros: This is a very promising product for me to edit large uncompressed HD video projects. For that use, swapping multiple industry grade hard drives with a reasonable care in storage and handling seems a far cheaper and simpler alternative than keeping them all online in a Thunderbolt RAID, with better performance.

Cons: I am puzzled by the manufacturer stated 2TB capacity limit in this day and age. Yes 2TB is still a lot, but I wonder if this is a hard limit or just they did not get to test with 4TB yet, or the limit only applies to a subset of OSes. I wish there was any data on this, from the manufacturer or other users. I would feel better about the device.

Pros: Hot-swappable (just remember to configure your mobo to have ACHI and/or RAID).
LCD informative.
Adjustable fan speed.

Cons: The built-in fan is somewhat noisey although the speed is adjustable. Lowest settings is very reasonably quiet.

Pros: Hot swappable, great idea

Cons: Molex power plug with no adapter? I haven't had a computer with Molex power plugs in years. To use the product I'd have to spend another $9 for an adapter, plus shipping and tax.

Other Thoughts: My new PC didn't have a bay that fit the Vantec case. The Vantec case is OK on length and width but not height. It just would not fit. If I had gotten it to fit, the front bezel opening was smaller than the door on the Vantec unit.

Manufacturer Response:

Dear Customer,
We value your input about our product and will strive hard to provide our customer with good quality products. If you have questions about our products, or anything that are not functioning the way it is advertised, please feel free to write to us for assistance at support@vantecusa.com. We will try our best to support and answer your questions. Thank you for looking into our products.
Best Regards, Vantec

Pros: None. Unit was DOA

Cons: Unit was DOA. Had water damage on PC board. The unit looked like it had been repackaged. Gave it 1 Egg because you would not let me give it none.

Manufacturer Response:

Dear Valued Customer,
We apologize for the inconvenience this may have caused you. We do provide a one year warranty from the date of purchase on your product, so feel free to get that exchanged for a brand new unit. We do not repackage any of our products.
Please contact support@vantecusa.com
Best Regards, Vantec

Pros: Works as advertised.
Works as instructed.
Works well and works hard.
The display is informative and helpful.

NOTE: As with other backplanes and other hotswap cages, the BIOS and OS must be set to use ACHI or RAID configurations to take advantage of the hotswap options.

Cons: The fan is a tad noisy.

Pros: Looks great with the HUD, protects the hard drive, and has a controllable fan!

Cons: With two of these in my case, the weight bumped up quite a bit. Also, the display on one of them became dimmed about 3 months after installing it. The other one is still as bright as when I first got it. Not really a big deal, but a bit bothersome to me sometimes.

Other Thoughts: These are great hard drive enclosures as far as aesthetics go. They're definitely not the most cost effective, but if you've got money to spare and care about looks, get these.

Pros: Installed this to swap back up drives in my server. Recognized the drive right off with no problems.

Cons: None

Other Thoughts: Bought a popular competing product that I could never get to recognize the drive, that will hit the garbage can now.

Pros: I have no rational reason why I have not used these before. That they are extremely handy is an understatement. cheap enough and beats external USB hands down. Makes drive and file copy and setup an easy matter I now have 2 units, have had no problem with fit in several cases nor drive fit either, operation had been flawless, multiple partition opps and OS writes have shown no problems. With QC from China lately being what it is your mileage may vary, but so far so good.

Cons: Not overly excited about the sophomoric LCD graphics on the front but it's acceptable given the Hi and Lo fan buttons

Pros: It fit right into my Thermaltake case using the plastic clips that came with the case. The physical alignement with the case front was perfect. It worked right away. The fan is inaudible on the low setting. Got a good SATA connection.

I was very impressed with the quality construction and the secure way that a hard drive slides in and locks.

Cons: You can hear the fan on the high setting, but you can slow it down with the button on the front if that bothers you. I did have to rummage around for an old fashioned 4-pin power connector, since this unit does not use the typical SATA power connector.

Other Thoughts: I will have to watch for other products from this manufacturer.