Question 1

?/does each bay have its owen power switch

Accepted Answer

No there is a single switch for power to the whole unit on the back, as well as the the 2 switch up from one to control the LED and one to control the fan...one of the best additions to my set up ever

Question 2

Comparatively, how loud is this enclosure?  I'm switching to a MacBook Pro as my main computer, and I was looking forward to not having much ambient sound after 5 years on a desktop with four fans.

Accepted Answer

I's say that depends a lot on what you put in it.  I have two HDs and a flash drive in it.  The fan is manually selectable, so if you run it with no fan, it is only as loud as the drives you put in it.  The fan on low makes a moderate amount of noise, and on high it's loud.  For what it's worth, I have never had the fan on and (so far, knock on wood) the drives are fine.  The case is pretty well ventilated.  Hope that helps.

Question 3

Does it power down when not in use? Meaning if I have it connected to my media streamer android box, do I have to turn this off separately? Or do the HDs power up only when called upon?

Accepted Answer

The HDs seem to power down only when I turn off the attached computer. The fan and LED light will remain on until you switch the unit off. You can also switch them (light and fan) off separately from the front panel.

Question 4

Would this device be good for a 24/7 operation? I'm thinking about replacing my server and just using something like this for storage.

Accepted Answer

I have had my until for over 5 months now and it is up and running 24 by 7 with no issues.  I use this unit to house all of my movies, music, photos, TV episodes etc, with view though Plex.  The Plex media server runs 24 X 7, and as I already stated, has been doing it flawlessly for the past 5 months.

Question 5

There is no picture of the back . Is there a power switch on the back ? (For the case)

Accepted Answer

Yes, the power switch is on the upper right side of back. On my W8 machine the Icy Dock shuts off automatically when the PC shuts down and then boots up automatically when the PC boots up, so you don't have to use turn off switch at all after initial install. I use this device to swap backup drives.

Question 6

I need this for connecting 4x 4TB WD drives to a Macbook Pro for storage; don't need RAID; just photo backups....does it show individual drives?

Accepted Answer

This unit does not have a built-in RAID controller. It is by default JBOD, individual drives. If a RAID is needed then the user would need a raid controller in the computer.

Question 7

I am looking for something to backup my wife's Iphoto and Itunes on a 2011 27" IMac.  I tried a NAS system with no luck.  I just want something simple and straight forward and easy to setup.    I have 2  3 terabyte drives that where in the NAS.  With this do the job?

Thanks 
Barry

Accepted Answer

This isn't a stand alone NAS. You will also need a RAID controller for your computer that supports eSATA or you can use the onboard USB 3.0 but I'm not sure if the USB 3.0 will combine all the drives together. I would think they would not.

With family photos always follow the rule of 3. One on site back up. Two offsite back ups. My parents have lost important old family vacation photos and photos of our dog (now dead). Don't let it happen to you!!!

RAID will only keep data protected against hardware failure. It will NOT protect you from a virus or a malicious program going around deleting your files. I can't stress enough how important it is to keep these files on a non network connected usb drive in multiple locations.

Question 8

Are these stackable (if I get more than one), or would that block necessary ventilation?

Accepted Answer

Yes, they are stackable, the ventilation is mainly achieved by the BIG fan that is in FRONT w/Blue Light.  The Top does have holes and so does the bottom, when stacking units, (I have 3), the top/bottom do not really touch as the bottom is recessed in approx 1/4#.  I have had no issues with overheating, etc, they work just perfect.

Question 9

?will this suport wd red 2 tb to 8 tb or outher large drives what will it suport

Accepted Answer

I have two (2) Western Digital Red 6 tb drives plus one (1) Seagate 6 tb drive.   At one point i had four drives in it with no problem.

Unit works great.  Easy to put drives in and take them out.

Fans are quiet.

Question 10

Can you switch off the LEDs while the unit is on?

Accepted Answer

You may turn of the LEDs for the fan, which will reduce the bulk of the light, however the small LEDs for the drives may not be turned off but will only flash if data is being read or written to them.  Brent

Questions & Answers