Question 1

Can you use SSD's with this?

Accepted Answer

Hello - Great question and the answer is this tray only works with devices that are the size of a 3.5" disk drive. When closed the door presses the disk onto the connectors at the back. SSD's are general much shorter than the 5 5/8" hard disk. SSD's will work if you purchase a 2.5" to 3.5" SSD adapter tray. Google 654540-001 to see the tray I use so that SSD's will work with this hot swap rack. 
~Jon

Question 2

Does the key also operate as a power switch?

Accepted Answer

No, just to lock the door so the drive cannot be stolen.  The case has been very reliable with just the need to eject the drive (like you would any flash drive) to swap.

Question 3

This looks like a passive connection, so I am asking will it work with SATA 3- GBS drives, and give us full speed/bandwidth of a SATA 6GB/second drive?
Thank you!

Accepted Answer

It should work because there is not electronics in the fixture.

Just passive connection (as you said).

I used it with 6 GB SATA, but it should not matter.

Question 4

If I have a SAS controller, will this accept SAS drives?

Accepted Answer

No, it will not... the female SATA connector (the other end to what connects to the drive) is "keyed" so a SAS drive will not physically fit.

However, If you're brave, you could try to use a drimmel tool to cut the key out of the plastic.   hey, it might work... or you might destroy it.

Question 5

What is the max size hard drive this supports?

Accepted Answer

I use mine with a 1-TB 3½? drive and it works great.  I’m not sure what you mean by max size since it only fits 3½? drives and the rack itself fits in a 5¼? bay.  If you mean capacity, I don’t think this rack limits that — it’s basically a short extension of your SATA data and power cables so the drive can be pushed on and off the connectors.

Question 6

Anybody figure out where to plug in the 2-pin female connector for the activity light? I don't have an extra HDD activity LED header on my motherboard (beyond the one for the case, that is).

Accepted Answer

I plugged the activity light into the motherboard instead of the case activity light.  The light on the tray is easier to see, and also reflects the activity of the other drives.

Question 7

How do the data and power connections get made in the back?  Are there still connectors on cables that need to be plugged in?  Can I just slide the drive in and count on the connections being made without my having to grab the connectors and plug them in?
Ken

Accepted Answer

The rack installs in a drive space, and cable connections are made to the motherboard as if it was a disk drive.

Then you simply insert a SATA-II drive into the tray and close the door.

What would normally be cable connections onto the back of the drive are fixed in place at the rear of the drive tray, so when you push the drive in by closing the door, they just mate up and you're ready to go.

You just push a drive in and close the door. If you want to swap it out, opening the door ejects the drive a little way so you can pull it out and insert another drive.

It only works with SATA-II drives, which use the small connections. If you have a drive with a bunch of large pins sticking out to attach a cable to, it can't be used with this tray, or probably an other.

Brand	StarTech.com
Model	HSB100SATBK
Color	Black

Mobile Rack Drives Support	1 x 3.5" Drives to 5.25" Bay
Mobile Rack Interface	SATA I/II
Specifications	Bus Type: SATA I (SATA 150), II (SATA /300) Maximum Data Transfer Rate: 3.0 GBytes/s

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StarTech.com HSB100SATBK 5.25in Trayless Hot Swap Mobile Rack for 3.5in Hard Drive - Internal SATA Backplane Enclosure

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Item#: N82E16817998020