SNT SNT-SAC3051B 5x3.5" Hard drive in 3x5.25" Bay Hot Swap SAS/SATA Backplane RAID Cage

Pros: I can now have 15 drives in my chassis

Cons: Having to bend back the guides in the chassis but thats not a fault of newegg or the manufacturer

Pros: Nice fit and durable construction
Sata cables with clips
Choice of molex or sata power connections ( no adapter needed)
Aluminum construction and large fan makes for easy cooling
Power indicators
My case fan is louder than the fans, so low noise fans.

Cons: Documentation kinda sucks ( find a better translator and assume everyone is an idiot when writing them) Maybe a video?
Customized screws would be difficult to replace ( note to buyers, DO NOT LOSE THESE!!! ) I kept mine in a special space until i filled all three units i bought
The locks require the use of a small set of pliers for me to put into locking position( i have big fingers and no nails ).
Honorable mention: The power-on inset buttons are labeled but require a paper clip to turn on ( this may be by design to prevent accidental power off )

Other Thoughts: Owned three of these units for three years ( i guess they changed their name, but its the same product ). Not one failure.
I wish they would make a sata III set.
I noticed someone else explained the LED lighting, please explain further, cause i have 1 dark amber, 2 amber, 2 yellowish, rest green.
Can they handle the power requirements of the newer Sata III drives?
I would buy more of these if i needed them, dont think twice, good stuff!

Pros: I went with the SNT SAC3051B over other similar products because it has a bigger and more powerful fan, which is cool (get it, cool...). The fan has 2 settings, 2400 rpm and 3600 rpm. Since this server is in it's own room, I left the setting at 3600.

Cons: The biggest con is the poor documentation and results in losing one egg. That said, if you read the reviews here, you can learn what you need to know.

Other Thoughts: Useful tips:

1) As 12o points out (thanks bud!), there are tiny little push button power switches for each of the 5 bays. On first use you may have to press these buttons. The LED lights will come on to let you know the bay is powered up.

2) The back of the cage has three 4-pin molex power connectors and two sata power connectors. You DON'T have to connect all 5 up. I used the two sata connectors and it works fine.

Pros: 5 Drives in 3 Drive space.
Cooling Fan in the back.
3 Molux or 2 SATA power to power 5 drives
Hot swappable
Reset/Power button for individual drives
Locking mechanism for each drive

Cons: Poor construction on the locking lever.
80MM fan, not enough to cool tightly pack 3.5 SATA drives
Sata plugs are upside down, making right angle SATA cable useless.

Other Thoughts: This raid cage is good if you have lots of HD's and want to fit into a non-server case. I have 15 drives, and Having 3 of these sitting in my case is pretty impressive.

Problem I have is the locking level, it is very poorly constructed. It comes off of its hinges sometime. And if you have fat fingers, turning the little dial to lock the tray is almost impossible.

Don't use screws other than those provided. If your screw is a big longer than those provided, even if you lost some, don't use it. You'll damage the HD inside. There is no layer between your HD and that screw that is going into the cage and if too long going into your HD.

Finally, most of the right angle SATA3 (All on newegg) cables would not be usable for this raid cage. The connector is upside down.

Pros: Has all the features I wanted, works as advertised

Cons: Very little documentation. One half sheet of paper printed on both sides folded in half. Would've settled for a poorly translated Chinese manual in PDF I'd have to tread hell or high water to find.

Lots of features on this backplane are unexplained and left to you to figure out.

Other Thoughts: Went to the SNT website and it's worse than the manual. On top of it all, they have a Q&A section with only 1 Q and 1 A and the A section blames the user for not reading the manual.

I wish I were kidding or exaggerating...

Pros: Looks good, easy drive access, does what it does.

Cons: Came with special flat screws that I cant find anywhere, and I lost mine. Causing some drives to rub on the normal screws I do have.

Drive locking mechanism requires more attention than it should, but I can't think of a reason to remove the drives, unless one dies or gets upgraded.

Other Thoughts: Wish the power buttons were more accessible, but its better than my old lock and key.

Pros: Does the job and looks good. Fan doesn't seem all that noisy and keeps the drives sufficiently cool even during heavy IO. Flexible power options, between 3 Molex and 2 SATA power connectors.

Cons: Extremely poor documentation, almost nonexistent support. Locks are pretty flimsy and it seems that a drive could still be popped out with enough force even when locked. One bay on mine is faulty, still waiting for response from manufacturer.

Other Thoughts: To the reviewer complaining about one drive having a different idle LED than other drives, I emailed support and received this response:

-----
Our engineer replied:

1)This is because the new HDD you bought has different access definition. This kind of LED is for both link and access. When the power is on, the signal of this HDD is on. This kind of LED definition makes the LED color looks different. This kind of HDD is few.

2)If you want to have the HDD with all the same LED signal colors, we can only suggest he buy the same brand/model to avoid this kind of difference.
-----

This makes sense, as I'm using 3 ST31000340AS drives and 2 ST31000340NS drives. My idle LED on the AS drives is green, and is amber for the NS drives.

Pros: The bay does what it says. Holds trays for hard drives. Came with more than enough screws. The locks do not seem durable, so if real security is required then try another one with better locks. Drives fit close together, but still allow for some air flow to cool the drives. Works great in my rackmount server case and allows the case door to open and close without obstruction. Drives can be selectively turned on and off. No software or drivers to install. Works fantastic with ASUS P4P800-E motherboard. Arch Linux sees all drives including the mirrored RAID that was already set up prior to unit installation.

Cons: Terrible documentation (one small paper with writing on both sides), but fortunately not a lot is really needed (kept at 5 eggs). There are jumpers on the back that look like they're for additional indicators if you have lights on the front of the case. Mine worked right out of the box without using any of the jumpers (one is located at the 60C temp for temp selection, but I left it there).

Other Thoughts: Pay close attention to the sticker on the side of the bay to turn the power on and use RESET. At first I thought I had a DOA product. Each hard drive power is controlled by a very small button on the right side of the bay (looking at the front of the bay, just above each power symbol). You may need something about a quarter inch long and very narrow to press in (a paper clip might do it. BE VERY CAREFUL as it doesn't take much pressure.)

Power cables: There are two connectors for SATA power and three for standard four (4) pin connectors. According to the directions, you can use only the two SATA or the standard connectors or mix them. The system is working just fine with only the two SATA power connectors.

SATA cables: The SATA cables I received had metal clips that lock into place behind the unit. They just click in and don't pull off without pressing the metal clip down, so no accidental slipping off.

Pros: Good construction, fan works well with reasonable noise. Latch lock is a nice touch to prevent accidental dislodging of drives.

Cons: Extremely poor documentation. Still trying to determine what an amber LED means for one of my drives. All other drives have a green LED when idle. The drive is in perfect working order with no SMART predictive failure.

Pros: Works great and keeps the hard drives nice and cool. No problems at all so far.

Cons: Not a con for me, but the fans are loud if you have it on the high setting, but it can be adjusted to a lower speed.

Other Thoughts: I bought this bay not intending on placing it into a standard ATX mid tower case, but ended up doing just that after i found out it fit perfectly. It also makes a dull standalone look like a legit server.