Question 1

what is the hard drive size limit?

Accepted Answer

Tony,
Data-wise, Rosewill says up to 6 TB, but that may be arbitrary because so far there aren't any single 3.5" SATA drives that big. If someone figures out how to get more data capacity than that in standard 3.5" SATA drives, then presumably those too will work in this enclosure - IF - the initial spin-up current drawn isn't too high. As HDs get more capacity, they may or may not, depending upon the engineering, draw more current at start-up than what the power adapter for this enclosure can supply (only 2 amps), in which case a large HD may not always successfully spin up. In that case a larger power adapter could be tried, but I don't know how many amps the enclosure's internal circuitry can handle. You would have to ask Rosewill. I know a 1 TB HD works fine, but I don't have larger ones to test. I have come across one comment from an owner who said his large HD would not start, but I don't know the cause for sure, or whether he tried a larger power adapter.

In terms of physical fit, all standard 3.5 inch SATA I/II hard drives should have the same exterior L-W-H dimensions and 4 mounting screw locations. Those screw holes in the HD bracket of his Rosewill enclosure are the standard 2 on each side, but only one on each side is a short slot, allowing position adjustment; the other is a small round hole, so if the round holes are used then the position of the HD is fixed and cannot be adjusted at all. That's OK if your HD does not jam against the components behind the front panel, but if it does then just put screws in the 2 slotted holes, or, use something like a small rotary Dremel tool to ream the 2 round holes into short slots just 2 mm more toward the rear.

Question 2

Is the cradle the enclosure sits on something that slides on and off?  Or, is it physically attached?  It looks like plastic.

Accepted Answer

Yes, it's an optional plastic cradle with rubber non-skid feet. The drive enclosure just slips down inside and it fits quite snug and sturdy.

Question 3

Does this have the power saving/spin down feature some enclosures have?
For example, will it power down (fan + drive) when it's removed from the PC or the PC is asleep or off?

Accepted Answer

I use mine with the power button...when I need it I turn it on...when I am done I turn it off...the switch in the back allows me this as I do not like plug and play. I do not know if you have it turned on and your computer set to "sleep/hibernate" if it will do same... well as a computer repair tech and home software specialist I never set up either of those "modes" unless the environment that the computer is in needs this feature then I recommend only through a corporate structure and settings. For how I use it I love it...matter of fact I am using it rigth now and  have had this unit for years.

Question 4

How large of hard drive supported?

Accepted Answer

I am using this with a 2 Tbyte drive but the specification tab on the Newegg site says that this enclosure supports up to 6Tbyte drives. It is a very nice enclosure.

Question 5

How many hard drives are you able to install in this unit ? The description says up to 10 slots ??

Accepted Answer

I do not know what they mean by ten (10) slots - I assume they men you can get up to ten external drives.. You can only put ONE HDD in this case. I have been using this exact drive for one year & have had zero problems. I think it is one of my better purchases . I have 4 computers & each has at least one external drive.
Again, ONLY one HDD, at a time, per receptacle.
George

Question 6

What size and type hard drives can I put into the enclosure, if at all. How do I connect the hard drives I want to put in, one at a time :-), to the unit?

Accepted Answer

I used a WesternDigital HD  1TB size Sata 3 & USB 3.  I am impressed with USB 3 It does make a difference. The external enclosure is only for sata, not IDE.  I am very pleased with this item. George

PS  I actually do not know the largest size you may use. I figure 1-3 TB drives would work
You can only place ONE HD inside this enclosure.  for multiple HD's you could connect each drive via USB  BUT you still need one enclosure per HD.
I am using WIN 8.1 This drive is also being used on a WIN 7 computer

Question 7

I bought 4 of these units... and put Seagate Desktop 3 tb hard drives in each one.  In each case, when I went to device manager to format the drives.... each drive showed 2 partions; first partion was 2048 gb and the second was 700 (and some change) gb.  This was on a high horsepower custom built system with an Intel i7 processor.

I thought it might be something with the motherboard, or the processor.... so I plugged them into my other desktop with a AMD 6 core processor and a different mb.... and same thing... could not get  1 large 3 tb(or close to it) storage drive in a single partition.

So... it's either the Seagate - which their tech support refused to help me because it was in an enclosure.... or the Rosewill enclosure.

I put the Seagate hard drive in a different model Rosewill enclosure and still.... 2 partitions.  Is it the hard drive make?

Accepted Answer

Under Windows operating systems there is a 2 TB limit for partitions caused by 32-bit operating systems. 32 bits simply isn't enough address space to exceed 2 TB. However, 64-bit operating systems can handle this easily. So, what happens is we encounter two different ways to define partitions on hard drives, one is "MBR" and the other id "GPT."

MBR is used when you are limited by 32-bit compatibility, so the maximum size of an unformatted partition is 2048 GB ... which will be about 1.8 TB of actual, usable formatted space after formatting. What appears to have happened with your drives is that the MBR was selected as your boot record option, so it will take the first 2048 GB by default for the first partition, then use the remaining space for the next partition.

This is a "good thing" if you want the drive to be recognized under Windows XP or Windows 7 32-bit (or any 32-bit version of your operating system).

What you need to do is re-initialize the drive and select GPT for your partition option and reformat. Then you can select all available space for a single, monolithic partition on your hard drive.

Do NOTE: 32-bit operating systems will not be able to access a GPT partition. Only 64-bit operating systems.

The best thing to do is use the diskpart utility under Windows (with the command prompt) and "clean" the drive. Then you will go to administrative tools and use the disk manager utility to re-initialize the drive, then you will want to make a new partition and format it ... make sure you use the GPT option and not the MBR option when making your new partition.

If you don't know how to use diskpart and select the correct drive (and then clean it and re-initialize and then make a new partition), use these terms for a google search and read CAREFULLY how to do it. If you "clean" the wrong drive, you will erase it beyond all normal recovery efforts. All data lost, your system drive will no longer have your operating system, etc.

Question 8

Do I need anything else - wires, cables, power supply, etc. - to install a WD BLACK SERIES WD4003FZEX and plug it into my iMac?

Accepted Answer

I don't know that exact model HDD: WD4003FZEX, but so long as it is a standard 3.5" HDD, this external enclosure comes with everything you need to install the HDD into the enclosure.  For connecting to your system, you must have an available USB port, a USB 3 gives the best speed, but this will also work on USB 2 ports (I use it on both types under Win7, WinXP and various linux distros).  Should be plug and play for any modern system.  It also has an eSATA cable that can be connected to any eSATA II or eSATA III port.  With modern systems this should be plug and play.  I can't speak for Mac systems, but it _SHOULD_ plug and play.  Occasionally it works more reliably on my Win & linux systems if I connect this external enclosure first and then boot the system up.  Honestly, I use USB 3 ports almost exclusively because they give the least trouble; I've not had one problem with them.  Final thought: with some creativity and parts scavanged from around the household, I also installed 2.5" SSDs and HDDs in this enclosure, temporarily, to conduct some transfers.  It's pretty easy with a hand drill, some aluminum strips (cut from a beer can) and some spare mounting screws, although a 3.5"to 2.5"conversion bracket for a PC HDD drive bay should also work, if you gave one.

Question 9

Can this support a 10tb drive? if  not, do you have one that does? Thanks

Accepted Answer

I'm using a WD 6GB drive with no problems. I would think that the size of the drive is not an issue, as it uses an external power supply, and the circuit's simply convert SATA3 to USB3.0.

Question 10

Have been using this for over a year no problem. It has been connected to PC via esata. Now I have router that can have a usb drive hooked to it. I have connected the Rosewell enclosure to the router via usb 3.0. Router does not see the connection. Question: can this unit utilize the esata connection and usb connection at the same time?

Accepted Answer

In my opinion, the answer is no.  Whenever a hard drive is connected to a device (Computer, router, etc),the device takes exclusive access to the drive.  In other words, I don't thing you can share a physical hard drive between 2 devices.  Its not like a fileshare that can be shared with many connected devices.  To test the theory, disconnect the Esata connection and try to connect the hard drive to the router with the USB connection.  If that works, then  you have your answer.  Please note, most USB connected hard drives are required to be formated as FAT or FAT32.

As an alternative solution, if you should be able to connect the hard drive to your router and then create a fileshare from your router.  The fileshare can then be used by your computer, router and any other device that is connected to your network.

Questions & Answers