Question 1

How is power provided to this device? Is some external power source required?

Accepted Answer

Power is supplied via two 5v SATA power connectors on the rear of the unit. Ensure that your computer's power supply has two 5v SATA power connectors free to power the drives. If you only have 4-pin Molex available, you can use an adapter to get two SATA connectors out of one 4-pin. Please note that this isn't really intended as an external enclosure, this is supposed to slide into three 5.25" bays in the front of your computer chassis.

Question 2

Why are these limited to 4TB drives? I'm building a media server with 8 - 10TB drives and want to use this enclosure x 2.

Accepted Answer

I have an 8 TB drive in one of these and it works fine. I don't think there is any size limit for the bay itself. Drive size limitations are more decided by motherboard and controller. Get it and go for it!

Question 3

Does anyone know if these work with 6TB drives?  The description says up to 3TB but since it would pass through the SATA connections I don't see why the drive size would make a difference.

Accepted Answer

I'm using this cage with an HGST 6TB drive with no problems

Question 4

How do I put SSD drives into it?  The connector on an SSD is in the wrong place with a standard adapter for SSD to 3.5 inch.

Accepted Answer

You need a drive adapter like the ICY DOCK EZConvert MB882SP-1S-2B to make it a 3.5" drive form factor.

Question 5

Can the fan be removed and replaced? I have one in my computer currently but it's very loud even when the fan is on the low setting. I wanted to replace it with a Noctua NF-R8. I currently have a Fractal Designs XL R2 case running the stock fans and a Noctua NH-D14 CPU cooler. When I don't have the iStar cage running it is almost silent. I'm looking to keep that silence but still be able to use the iStar. Thanks in advance!

Accepted Answer

Hello Eric

Sounds like you have a bad fan. I just got the iStarUSA about two weeks ago. Mine is relatively quiet and hardly notice it.
I did buy a spare 80mm silent fan to replace the one in case it was loud from factory. It is being setup as a home server so it appears to work great so far as planed.
Fans do go bad but are normally replaceable, this is were MFG skimp on items to keep cost down.
The iStarUSA looks to be a great design and product.

Just get a good 80mm with ball bearing and silent and you should be good to go for many more years.

Rich

Questions & Answers