SNT SNT-SAC2131B 3x3.5" Hard drive in 2x5.25" Bay Hot Swap SAS/SATA Backplane RAID cage

Pros: The unit seems well made the trays are simple and function well - ability to turn off drives is a plus.

Cons: The drive doors are somewhat thin - the 80mm fan will last about as long as any other sleeve 80mm fan [not long at all] - will be replacing soon will have to splice the non standard fan cord to the new fan.

Other Thoughts: For the price its more than worth the price and does what I want.

Pros: None, considering they may be short lived

Cons: Contacted this company by phone to obtain warranty information. I was told by a representative that ONLY the engineering mechanisms are covered under their 1 year warranty. After asking the representative to elaborate on the warranty details, I was told only the board was covered. I asked what if the bay doors or hard rive activation buttons stop working due to defect, and was told it would not be covered. Beware of this company, for they "WILL NOT TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR DEFECTS OTHER THAN THE CIRCUIT BOARD."

Other Thoughts: I always fully research a product before buying. This company has VERY limited warranty coverage on this device, if something fails other than the circuit board after the Newegg warrany expires, then you are just out of luck.....BEWARE!

Pros: Cheap
Individual activity/power lights for each drive
High/Low fan speed adjustment
55/60/65 Celsius adjustments for the temperature alarms
Hard drives idle between 38-41 Celsius

Cons: The locking mechanism is on the ejection button. To lock these, I have to hold the drive latch down and twist the lock.

Other Thoughts: You don't need to plug all the power cords in on the back. Instructions indicate you just need to plug two of the four in. I used two molexes power connectors and it runs fine.

I don't hear the fan from this enclosure, but my PC is already fairly loud, so I can't comment how quiet it really is. Not sure how efficient the fan in the back is when the drive latches or any of the rest of the front of this device isn't mesh so it can breathe.

Pros: It was cheap, shipping was fast as always.

Cons: It was cheap, possibly poorly packaged at the manufacturer, possibly horrible quality. I didn't open it to find out. I'm going to RMA it. There were parts rattling around inside the shrink-wrap, inside the manufacturer's box (which was inside Newegg's box). Please see "Other thoughts".

If I tipped it I heard numerous things moving (large and small, not just screws) and saw at least a few screws drop down through the fan on the back of the device, up against the shrink-wrap. Apparently the screw bag was opened somehow (if there is one).

It felt and sounded like there were larger parts rolling around, also, making me wonder if the screws and/or other parts broke even more parts off. I find it hard to believe UPS would shake it so much a screw bag would rip open, leading me to doubt the quality of this company's products in general. I seriously hope it isn't supposed to sound like this.

Other Thoughts: I'm giving this three eggs while I think it should be one. I'm giving this device itself the benefit of the doubt; it may work. I believe the machine should be secure when packaged by the manufacturer/distributor. The manufacturer's package seemed normal: molded foam in a box, yet somehow screws were roaming free inside the device--inside the device!

Newegg didn't package this properly. There was some compressed, wrinkled paper, then a one inch gap (on two sides), then the box for the device. There was foam inside the device's box and then the shrink-wrapped device. Even still, I think the device's packaging should secure the screws enough to survive shipping.

Pros: Good price

Cons: None so far

Other Thoughts: Bought this cage to turn 2 x 5.25" bays in my mid tower into 3 x 3.5" HDD slots. Brought me up to a total of 6 HDD bays for this server. Looked at several other brands, saw some so-so comments about the IcyDocks, and the ThermalTake equivalent to this looked like the exact same hardware, just a different brand name and a larger price tag. So I figured I'd give this one a try. So far, no problems. Fit into my case nicely, no issues there. Popped in my WD green 2 TB drives, plugged everything in, and I was off to the races.

Pros: Very nice-- I had no clearance issues getting it into my case, the trays are engineered well, etc.

Cons: The buttons to turn the drives on/off seem unnecessary to me-- maybe to others that makes sense, but not me.

Other Thoughts: The cage could be a little less expensive, but I just bought a second one as I prefer my drives like this versus internal mounting in servers...

Pros: 3 drives in a 2 drive space

Cons: Poor cooling. Tried these in several different computers - all of the hard drives installed in these racks had cooling problems. Not recommended!

Pros: Fan does keep 2 HDD coo at 40 degrees Celsius. LEDs are useful and don't seem too bright to be annoying. Pushbuttons on front of cage are nice but they have issues. No issues fitting in my case. No need to bend case mounts out of way due to intendations in cage that fit my case well. No issues with cage relative to power supply or motherboard. Nice to see SATA and 4-pin HDD power connectors. Nice SATA cables supplied; they had a click-tab on each end.

Cons: Fan is loud; louder than my case fans and power supply fan. Manufacturing tolerances are "slack"; expect alignment issues when inserting HDD racks. Fan speed switch is located on far side of rack when installed; makes it hard to change it without removing cage. Pushbuttons on front of cage seem "flaky" at first touch...took some getting use to.

Other Thoughts: Have not looked into replacing fan with cooler model. Has pin headers for thermal related stuff...need to check them out. I would not try installing this cage in any case smaller thana standard ATX size. I checked my case measurements and those of this product before purchase. Even though I give it 3 stars I would buy again.

Pros: Excellent concept and design overall. Let's me put 3 SATA drives in 2 unused 5.25" slots. Also allows hot-swapping if your SATA card allows it. I like the fact that you can turn each individual drive on or off (i.e. on-site, off-line storage for backups). Quality was not too bad, considering the price. Wish it came with extra trays! Not that they are hard to swap, tho.

Cons: Figuring out that you have to turn the enclosure on, and then each drive on individually. Not really a con (actually, a bonus for me!). Directions were somewhat lacking. Fan is quiet until you pull a drive, causing the fan to be almost noisy (definitely noticeable going from 3 drive in to 2 drives in). But this is to be expected - it is a puller fan, expecting to keep 3 drives cool.

Other Thoughts: Wish I would have gotten the 3-bay to 5-bay version. Also nice to be able to have 6TB total of fast, removable storage.

Pros: Just got this today and really interested to do a thorough evaluation. Time will tell if it holds up.

I hooked the device up with some disks in it and it did not smoke or destroy the disks as some customers here have complained the Icy Dock cages do.

80mm fan on the back gives decent airflow and can be switched between two speeds. The fan is monitored and a buzzer alarm sounds when it's not turning. (If only the cheap video cards that I bought from Newegg had fan alarms!) There is also an alleged temperature alarm but I have not tested this. Red/Green LEDs for fan and temperature show the monitoring status. The Reset button silences the alarm buzzer.

Jumper settings present three options for temperature alarm threshold, 55 - 60 - 65 degrees.

Another 8 pin header provides temperature and fan status if you have some device that can make use of these signals.

Included SATA cables feature locking clips. I seem to have some extra screws in the bag which is nice.

Cons: Price. I bought the SAC2131B despite the lack of reviews after examining the photos on this website and determining that it was likely the same product as the Athena Power device with a similar model number. This one is 10 cheaper but I estimate this device costs less than 20 to manufacture (I have experience contracting manufacture of alu extrusions and circuit boards) so I think it's a rip.

The trays are aluminium extrusions of dubious quality with polycarbonate latches. There are machining imperfections, but they work. The trays are connector-less, when you insert the tray the disk's connector mates directly with a connector on the backplane. So, be gentle and remember that you don't want to be swapping these often.

Three mechanical push on - push off switches control power to the drives. They are not exactly feather light but I would prefer some kind of protection against accidentally pushing them.

Other Thoughts: Really wish that someone made a higher quality drive cage. I was afraid to try the Icy Dock after some of the smoky reviews on those products. This one may be the best there is without forking over huge $$$ for big name OEM quality (which is still made in China.)