Vantec EZ Swap F4 MRK-425ST-BK 4 Bay 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s SSD/HDD Removable Rack, SATA III ready (Supports 9.5 & 12.5mm height SSD/HDD)

Pros: Secure mounting for 4 2.5" drives.

Cons: FAN!!!
Was fine for a week then it started screaming at me... I ended up just cutting the wires for the fan to shut it up.
Activity LED doesnt blink, however the drive indicators do work.

Other Thoughts: Running 4 Samsung 840 Pro SSD's so I dont need the cooling anyways.

Pros: -Nice looking
-Easily fits into 5 1/4 bay
-Holds four 2.5" drives
-Latch-slider trays
-LED drive lights
-Pure SATA III Connection

Cons: -Noisy 40mm fan
-Thin, cheap plastic
-Not hot swappable

Other Thoughts: Overall this is a nice looking and well designed rack. As with the other reviews you will find the same consistent comments about it being made with cheap, thin plastic... and unfortunately at some point, as the 40mm fan noise gets louder, you'll need to disconnect the fan. If you are using SSDs then heat generation is not an issue, so disconnecting the fan will have zero impact. If you are using 2.5" SATAs then you may have to live with the noise, or figure out a way to replace the 40mm fan with a higher quality one.

Pros: Works Like a charm. This coupled with my HAF case makes a beast of a storage unit! I should have gotten server motherboard!

Cons: Can't think of any ...

Other Thoughts: Build: Kingston HyperX Blu 4GB:: AMD A6-5400K Trinity 3.6GHz (3.8GHz Turbo) Socket FM2:: SAMSUNG 840 Series MZ-7TD120KW 2.5" 120GB:: COOLER MASTER HAF XB RC-902XB-KKN1

Pros: It's true that the Vantec isn't super high tech. Or aesthetically pleasing for that matter. It's not particularly well built or made of nice materials.

I love it.

First, it's basically a straight SATA passthrough. There's no overhead or bandwidth limitations, because it's just passing the SATA through unmolested.`

Second, it works off of one molex power. I hated this at first, but when you really think about it PSUs SATA power strands aren't really made with SSDs in mind. I find this to be its main convienience... but that might just be me.

It's a product that makes my life easier and keeps cable management in check for my applications.

Cons: The fan. The fan is awful. Just.... terrible. That's why I snipped the power leads to it. No fuss, no muss - problem solved. I'm just using it for SSDs, but you might want to reconsider if you're rocking some hot HDDs.

The trays aren't that awesome. They're plastic and break easily. Be careful.

Other Thoughts: If you're running a few SSDs, this might not be for you. If you're running eight, it's awesome. Two 8087 SAS breakout cables running to a pair of these would work well and only cost you two molex power.

If you can help it, running direct from disks to controller is the way to go. The Vantec helps facilitate that.

Pros: Easy to use and install.

Cons: Plastic shell is less than ideal... But for the price what can one expect.

Other Thoughts: Again, inexpensive and overall a good product.

Pros: The price is very attractive. It's easy to install and use. Comes with everything you need.

Cons: Few gripes, nothing major.

Power connector is 4 Pin Molex, no idea why. But it does come with an adapter.

Not hot swapable per say. You can unmount drives in Windows/Linux and remove them, but the enclosure doesn't do the work. Keep that in mind.

The LEDs, they're...dated. My case has white and blue LEDs, as does most these days. Vantec decided with classic Green and Red. Really takes away from a clean look.

Other Thoughts: I see a lot of people complain about the quality or how cheap the trays are. Here is my take, you can tell they're plastic, go easy on them this isn't enterprise grade.

Overall I'm pleased. This is the price range these should be. I'm tired of seeing HDD enclosures @ $100+. It's just plastic people!

Pros: holds four 2.5" drives

Cons: NOISY fan! and it got noisier after a month or so. Fan runs constantly even if you have no drives in trays. 1 of four trays really does not like to be removed or replaced back into the enclosure. Cheap and flimsy all plastic drive trays that really do not remove and re-install easily.

Other Thoughts: If I can disconnect the fan and still power the drives I will be OK with using this. Not Happy, just OK.

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: This is junk. It works, but it is so flimsy one worries every time you insert a drive. It's cheap so its not worth RMAing.
Only pro is that it has 4 2.5" slots.

Cons: It's cheap so its not worth RMAing.

Other Thoughts: I ordered this instead http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817998185 and while more expensive, it is a work of art, really well made, takes a 2.5" and 3.5" drive AND has a 3.0 USB header that works perfectly with the Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UP5 TH motherboard and Fractal Design Define R4 case.

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: Initially, I wanted a multi drive adapter, that I could stick in my 5.25" bay, so that I could remove my hard drive bay. Not really using it for its hot swap feature. This thing was inexpensive and effective.

Cons: The installation was pretty painless. There was one "snag" though. The screw holes in the sides of this thing are rather shallow. The supplied screws are standard. Now I didnt check the top holes, but I assume the following applies; The front two holes do not accept screws due to the removable tray. Since the holes are shallow and they empty into the tray chamber, you have the option of using front screws or losing the bottom two drive trays.

Other Thoughts: The cons are quite minor as the back screw holes work just fine. I have toolless drive bays in my coolmaster sniper, and the metal pins on the toolless locks are quite small. This allowed me to at least secure one entire side of the unit, along with the back screw on the other side, I feel its being held pretty decently.

I give the designers 4 of 5 eggs, but the overall product is a success so far.

Pros: 4 2.5 in drives in a 5 1/4" drive bay. That is enough for, say a 3-disk raid 5 with a hotspare. Hotswap works great; drawers slide in and out without drag and lock properly (if they do not, did you put the case screws in the wrong holes?). Fan is quiet enough (I cannot hear it above my cisco layer 2 managed switch, so I might be biased). Works rather fine with my Areca 1210 card.

Cons: When you put the rack in your case, make sure to have at least one drive mounted to one of the trays; you really want to make sure you find out which screw holes on the *front* might interfere with the drives. Or get short 9or shorten them) screws for the front. I bought a case (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811322065) that mounts the drives without screws by having a clamp on its left side with two pins: when you tighten the clamp the pins slide into the screw holes of whatever you shove in. Thing is those pins are a bit too long. The rear ones are fine but the front ones would stab into the space occupied by a drive. My workaround was to cover the hole with a piece of cardboard so the pin cannot slide in. Since this case has tabs under each drive bay, the rear pins suffices to hold the rack.

I did not use the screws that came in the kit to attach rack to the case, so I cannot say is they would work. Well, they would because if you feel scared about cutting screws, make a spacer so they do not go in as much.

Other Thoughts: I do wish it came with little labels to number each drive bay. And, I am yet to test if I can flash the led for a specific drive (to, say, identify a failed one).