Pros: I like these and have used them quite a bit. I often opt for a 4 drive x 3 slot trayless bay instead, but on some cases when I just want 1 or 2 drives, I use these and they've worked well.

Cons: none

Pros: Looks and operates well

Cons: Does not fit in Cooler Master tool-less case. Be warned!

Pros: This is identical to the Rosewill C525 without the LED or cabling to provide the drive activity indication. May avoid some issues inherent in the configuration that enables that indicator with some hardware/software.

Like the Rosewill, this has a sliding "zero force" SATA connector (on the drive side only, of course). Unlike the Rosewill it does include a SATA data cable to connect to your motherboard or controller if you need it.

Cons: There's one omission, compared to the Rosewill which may cause a problem in some applications. I hadn't noticed them in the pictures, but the Rosewill, like the Thermaltake it closely resembles, has a pair of little spring arms mounted towards the back of the drive guides. This provides a little push to keep the drive seated on the lower rail, and hence lined up with the connector. It may not matter if the rack is mounted horizontally, but if it's on end, thw StarTech will have nothing to keep the drive seated. I haven't tested it, but I suspect that will make it rather fussy about how you insert the drive if the rack is mounted vertically.

Other Thoughts: Has, of course, the same issues as the C525 with some (?) tool-less cases due to the flexible shock mount that floats the inner part of the rack. In a case that doesn't have any trouble with this, the mounts are a definite plus and seem pretty effective.

Pros: Needed a front-side SATA connector for testing customer's drives. Love this thing! It's perfectly machined for a standard 5.25" bay, has rubber grommets to dampen vibration and installed easily.

No electronics to fail, just a straight through power/data connector.

3.5" drives slide in and out easily. Not sure what everyone is saying about drives not popping out easily.

Cons: My ONLY small gripe is that the key doesn't stay in the lock. No biggie. I just lock it in case my toddler yanks on it.

Not really sure how to hook the LED up since my MB only has one connector and I don't want to splice it or take my main HD off the main indicator.

Other Thoughts: This is NOT a hot swap bay. No electronics, just a straight through power/data connector. You CAN hot swap but you have to turn the drive on in Drive Management if you don't want to reboot.

Pros: This bay has vibration damping between the drive and the brackets that mount it to the case. It's also got an ejector bar with a roller that ejects your drive as you open the door. The plastic feels a little cheap.

Cons: If you try to remove the drive with the tray locked, the door will pop out suddenly when you do unlock it, which could damage the drive. Make sure you always push the door fully closed if you attempt to open it while it's locked.

Also, the keys are not unique and will work on all examples of this bay.

Pros: I've purchased a dozen or more of these over the years and since the BIOSes have implemented hot-swap SATA controllers, they've become an integral part of my system builds.

Cons: The flimsy frame doesn't always fit properly in many cases. If the outer frame were rigid and encased the entire rack, then it could be easily installation in cases that use rails or tool-less frames.

Pros: It lets a user hot swap hard drives. Arm in the back of the device pushes the drive out making it easy to grab hard drive when removing it.

Cons: I actually have two of these purchased at different dates. This one works flawlessly so far but my older one gives me a little trouble. Occasionally when I insert a drive, no power gets to the drive. I have to press on the back of the rack to get it connect to the hard drive power connectors.

Other Thoughts: Even tho my older unit gives me little trouble, I would purchase another one of these without hesitation.

Pros: Works out of the box as a hotswap

Cons: Broke down after 2 years light use, Activity light NEVER worked

Other Thoughts: When I first got this, it worked fine as a hot swap but the hard drive activity light never worked, something which is nice to have when you're hot swapping or checking to see what's going on with disc access outside of software observation. Turns out the only way the activity light works is if you have an ancient motherboard with a 2 prong plug section specifically for disc activity. I.e.: It's a nonfunctional joke. Startech has no solution, they know it's a write off of poor Chinese production. I thought this was how hotswaps were until I got the Kingwin trayless and lo and behold it included the necessary cable adapter so the activity light powers from the SATA power cable. I.e.: Startech is cheap and badly designed, and Kingwin does a better job. So again, why are you looking at this product?

Pros: lets up swap out hard drives for backups daily
works great with a cheapie pcix1 sata adapter we bought on here as well just pop one disk out pop next in

Cons: none so far ;)

Other Thoughts: if you want two different disks to be recognized the same drive letter in server 2003 while hotswapping you have to clone one to another using a hard drive cloning software

Pros: Inexpensive, functional, easy to install. Works very smoothly. Great for home use or likely most small office setups. The SATA connector mates with the drive with very little resistance, and because of this eject lever doesn't have to apply much force.

Cons: Very lightweight materials: the front is plastic, of a similar weight to most case front panels, the mounting points are extremely thin metal. There is a bit of flex if force is applied to the front of the bay (e.g., when seating a new drive). The mechanism is completely functional, but the latch is quite small, and it takes very little effort to undo it. I would hesitate to move a machine with drives installed in this bay (although it would likely be fine with the bay locked). The lock is handy for avoiding accidental removal, but I wouldn't count on it for security purposes.

Other Thoughts: This bay is exactly what it's supposed to be: functional and inexpensive. Clearly designed for light use, which is what I expected when I purchased it.

No cooling fan; I'm happy with this, as it is going to be used once or twice a month for a periodic backup and for misc. other tasks, and I have good forced-air cooling around the bay. Your use case may vary.

The LED is on a twisted cable similar to most chassis LEDs, and has no electrical connection with the drive itself. It could be connected to a motherboard header, HBA, etc.

The SATA backplane port is a straight pass-through, with no PCB at all. Hot swap works great in my setup (i.e., the bay handles the staging of the connection pins with no trouble) on a motherboard and OS that support it.

The key will not sit in the lock for storage.