Pros: Adds an external 3.5" bay. Has a lock for preventing accidental removal. Easy to insert or remove a drive.

Cons: Some people complained of the install. I didn't think it was a major issue, though I would have to do a bit of work to move the dock into another 5.25" bay.

Other Thoughts: Make sure that you set the connected SATA port in BIOS to detect as an eSATA/external if you want to have it usable as a hot-swap bay.

Pros: When it works it works great. The first one I purchased work very well

Cons: The second one is hard to insert a drive into it. I have to manually pull out the little arm with the white knob out after I remove a drive . If I do not do this, I cannot re insert a drive.

Other Thoughts: It is a hassle but lesson learned.

Manufacturer Response:

Dear Valued Customer,
Thank you very much for purchasing this unit.
We strive to provide the most reliable and highest quality products to our customers.

We are sorry to hear that, please contact our support team to assist you with troubleshoot and/or warranty options.

Phone: 1- 800-575-9885
Monday - Friday 8AM - 5PM PST

Email: rma@rosewill.com
Email2: techsupport@rosewill.com


We look forward to hearing from you.

Thanks,
Rosewill Customer Care

Pros: The trayless design is very well done overall, minus the 'looseness' of the mechanism arm. Drive fits snugly in the unit.

Cons: Look at the product images very carefully.

You must use the included power cable if you want the front LEDs to work, which I don't completely understand... there isn't a trace from the power connector to the LED interface on the unit itself. This seems like an afterthought.

If you have SATA cables with clips, pass on this one. You must use clipless cables (like the included one) in order to get a snug connection. If you have cables with clips, the connector can slip off for literally no reason.

Front sticker says SATA 3Gb/s on it. Seems like the move to SATAIII was an afterthought, I hope the internal wiring can support it...

Other Thoughts: I'd rather not have to worry about my RAID controller connectors with clips coming undone whenever the machine is bumped. I would seek a refund on the three I bought, but I would sleep better knowing three of these are no longer in circulation. Rosewill, please look into these shortcomings.

Manufacturer Response:

Dear Valued Customer,
Thank you very much for purchasing this unit.
We strive to provide the most reliable and highest quality products to our customers.

Thanks for the feedback; we will pass it along to our QA and Design teams for further investigations. In the event that you are having troubles, please do not hesitate to contact our support team at the number below.

Phone: 1- 800-575-9885
Email: rma@rosewill.com
Email2: techsupport@rosewill.com

We look forward to hearing from you.

Thanks,
Rosewill Customer Care

Pros: Seems to work as designed and advertised. Love the floating mount design that lowers noise/vibration

Cons: none yet

Pros: Having a hot swappable drive bay is very convenient for making backups of the HDD in my system.

A few computer cases come with hot swappable drive bays, but I needed a case which fit a water cooler and had to buy this separately. It fit easily in an open 5.25 inch slot in the case.

One feature I really like is that I don't need to mount the 3.5 HDD in a tray or mount any brackets to the HDD in order to use the hot swappable tray. You simply slide the HDD in/out.

Cons: The drive bay feels a bit flimsy, but I've already swapped the HDD several times and not had any problems with it.

Hopefully this will last me for many years to come.

Other Thoughts: Makes turning any computer case with an external 5.25 drive bay into a hot swappable drive bay for a 3.5 inch HDD. Very helpful for making backups.

Pros: Cheap but does what it states.

Cons: Not sure yet, had very little time with it. Seems pretty weak, front lever might break if not careful, cheap. I use it just to swap out drives for different things, not hot swap. Would rather have a little stronger unit, but it is what it is.

Other Thoughts: I wouldn't change drives out a lot, weak unit.

Pros: Looks good but who needs a key lock?

Cons: No switch to turn off the HD. Must remove it to stop it.

Pros: Still works!

Cons: Can't edit old review to add/correct a few little things.

Other Thoughts: This rack, and the similar StarTech (see 7/27 review), have "zero force" contacts on the drive connectors, which I forgot to mention. This is perhaps a mixed blessing, since that MAY bypass the by-design staggered contacts that help make hotplugging safe in a normal SATA connector. OTOH, they've worked fine for me so far...

The Kingwin KF-1000-BK is another tray which looks exactly the same as the Rosewill, with the power adapter and the little circuit board to provide a drive activity LED.

The StarTech does lack a couple of little springs inside the channels, so it might not work so well if mounted vertically, since it relies on gravity alone to keep the drive lined up. Kingwin has these, from the pictures.

The Syba has a similar looking but NOT identical rear molding; in addition, it not only lacks those hold-down springs, the frame isn't milled to accept them (as the StarTech is). So this, and the others in the 7/27 review that are similar to it, may not be as similar to these three "Thermaltake clones" as it appeared at first.

Pros: Fits easily in my "you need a screwdriver to mount that" style case. Solid looking compliant mounts work as intended. Drives slide in pretty smoothly, door closes with reasonable pressure (hey, the spring is *supposed* to hold the drive snugly); opening the door disengages the drive easily, pulls out as easily as it went in. Drive activity indicator works in conjunction with the molex to sata adapter cable, though needing to use that adapter is a slight drawback.

Cons: Not a good choice for at least some toolless cases because of compliant mounts. Some drives or systems could have issues with the floating pin required for the activity LED, but the fix is simple - just omit the supplied power adapter and attach a normal sata power (or use an ordinary molex to sata). Relies on SATA standard pin stagger for hotplugging, no separate power switching.

Other Thoughts: There are a whole slew of similar racks at similar prices, with some variation in the details. This does appear to be identical to the Thermaltake model. If you don't want the LEDs, the Startech (1) seems to be exactly the same without the adapter and LED board. Ditto the Syba (2), and it _may_ have a sturdier rear bar - it seems thicker, anyway, but structure and materials could play a larger role. The Five Star (3), a no-name (4) and "White" (5) all seem the same as the Syba, but with a black plastic back piece; the "White" is named for the color of the front bezel and door. And last (on this list- I'm getting tired of counting clones) is from Shenzhen Carpo (6) which appears to have drive power switching and a power LED (activity???), all in a more integrated arrangement than the Rosewill's add-on cable. It's hard to be sure as the manufacturer's web site isn't for English readers.

ABOUT THE ACTIVITY LED: this uses a SATA-standard feature that's rarely used, at least on desktop drives, and as we know what Windows hasn't been using for at least a decade (in a way that makes failure visible) hasn't been well-tested... There's one pin on the power connector which is normally pulled low. IF it is floated, then the drive is supposed to not power up until the controller signals it; also, the drive pulls this pin low to signal activity. This could fail in various ways if the drive doesn't handle this correctly or if the controller doesn't probe the drive (IDE mode? AHCI bug?). Luckily, with this adapter you can just omit the supplied molex-sata cable and the normal sata power cable will ground the pin, you just won't get the activity LED.

(1) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817998020
(2) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817998041
(3) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA5H61PS7810
(4) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA2V511N3747
(5) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA49A1KT4576
(6) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA2PY1E81818

Pros: none

Cons: If you have a tooless case do not purchase. You cannot use. This is a waste of money.

Other Thoughts: I have purchased many Rosewill items. Never again.

Manufacturer Response:

Dear Valued Customer,
Thank you very much for purchasing this unit.
We strive to provide the most reliable and highest quality products to our customers.

Please contact our support team to assist you with warranty options.

Phone: 1- 800-575-9885
Email: rma@rosewill.com
Email2: techsupport@rosewill.com

We look forward to hearing from you.

Thanks,
Rosewill Customer Care