StarTech.com 4-Bay Mobile Rack Backplane - Trayless Hot Swap Mobile Rack Backplane for 3.5in SAS II/SATA III - 6 Gbps HDD (HSB4SATSASBA)

I needed a 4 Disk back plane that didn't use port multiplication for my RAID 10 setup on my server system and this worked perfectly. It is intended to fit inside of the actual PC chassis, but for what I was doing that was not possible. I needed it to be able to connect to 4 WD Red 3TB drives for RAID 10 with hotswap, but needed it to be separate from the actual server computer. I was able to build a custom case for this, and wired up a power supply to go in the bottom of the case to run the enclosure. The enclosure sits in the top of the case, and has 4 SATA plugs coming from my Intel RS2PI008 RAID Card via a Mini SAS to SATA breakout cable. Once I finished with all of the building, I plugged it all up to the server and set up the RAID without a hitch. I like the fact that this backplane has individual LEDs for each drive to monitor activity and will tell you when one of the drives in not functioning. Each drive slot is trayless, and is easy to insert and remove the disks from. All you have to do it open the door on the front for the slot you want to insert the disk in, and slide the disk in partially. Then close the door and the spring in the hinge will do the rest for you, pushing the disk all the way in and making the connection on the PCB. To remove the disk, just open the door, and the disk will partially pop out of the slot allowing you to grab hold of it to install a new one. Each slot has a lock on it, so you can lock the doors to prevent someone from opening the doors and disconnecting the disks. This is nice if the unit is in a place where others are able to access it, just don't lose the keys (It comes with 2). If you are installing it inside of a chassis, there are slots on each side for installing screws to hold the backplane in position. It requires 2 SATA Power connectors from you PSU, and it is recommended to use each from a different rail, especially if you are using the same rails for powering other things. This way you won't over load the rails. There are 2 switches on the back, one for turning on and off the LEDs, and one for setting the fan to either off, low or high. There is also a cut out where you can see 4 pin spots on the PCB that are not filled in. I took the whole thing apart to try and figure out what they are for, and as far as I can tell, they are for a temp sensor. I looked around on the net and there are a few models similar to this one that have a temp sensor installed from the factory. I guess if you wanted to, and you are good at soldering, you could install your own if you have a thermocouple, but without an LCD readout it would be kinda pointless. Overall this is a nice backplane, that is built really well and is ready for the long haul. I forgot to mention, that the 4 drive slots are able to accept either SATA or SAS drives, but the ports on the back are only SATA unfortunately, but it isn't hard to find a SAS to SATA cable adapter or even a SATA to eSATA adapter if needed. The fan that installed in it is a standard 3 pin 80mm fan, and it is really quite as it is with it set to low. If the fan ever fails, or you just want to install a higher grade one, it isn't hard. There are 4 screws on the housing for the fan that need to be removed to gain access to the fan, but the other 12 screws around the outside of the back plate have to be removed to gain access to the PCB so you can unplug the fan. I can't remember right off the top of my head, but I think the plug for the fan is a non-standard 3 pin plug, so you may want to have a de-pinning kit ready so you can swap the plugs out. The PCB for the backplane is not readily available online, I did some searching for it to see, as really for what I wanted to do that was the only part of this I really needed, but I was unable to find one. As long as the temps stay relatively low, and the input voltages don't spike ( I have it connected to a APC 1500 Pro UPS so there shouldn't be any fluctuations in voltage) and blow the circuit it should be fine and not need replacement. If it does, I guess I will have to contact StarTech and see if they can point me in the right direction to procure a replacement. Since this is going to be used for my server to maintain all of my media and backups it will be on 24/7 so I will put time on it quickly and I will post back later on to let you guys know how it holds up. I predict there will not be any issues, but I have been wrong before, just ask my Wife.

I have used two of these backplanes in several different configurations of servers and home computers since 2015. While most of my experience did not involved anything extremely complex, I have not had any known problems. I used these devices along with Western Digital drives and Stablebit DrivePool to manage multiple drives as a single logical unit of JBOD.

Slip the drive in and close and latch the door. Opening the door removes power from the drive, and when you open it wider partially ejects the drive for easy removal. The model I bought has two sata drive power connectors and four sata data connectors on the back for easy connection internal Motherboard connectors or SAS fanout cable. Mostly metal construction and built in fan draws cooling air across the drive(s) to dissipate heat. No more precariously balanced hard drives tugging on cables. I'd recommend this for easy servicing on you storage or NAS build.

Loved this on initial install, and this had so much promise that I almost bought another. Easy to set up/load with hard drives and get it up and going. However, around 60 days after purchase, the plastic ejector on the backplane broke on the bottom bay making very difficult to remove the 4th drive and I question if it will continue to work at all. I tried to figure out if I could return it, but it does not look like it is possible.

As the description mentions, this 4-drive bay fits in 3 standard tower slots. It comes with mounting screws, but not enough to fill all the screw holes. It also comes with 4 sata cables. Drives snap in and lock with security key. Overall I am very satisfied as this was exactly what I was looking for.

I've been running this drive enclosure in a home environment, on a FreeBSD ZFS NAS, with four Seagate Ironwolf 4TB drives for about 20 months, 24/7. I've experienced no reliability issues with the drive enclosure or the hard drives. It's nice to not have to deal with drive sleds - just slide the drive in the cage, and close the door. In operation, I don't find the LED status lights to be too bright, they're just about right.As some reviewers have mentioned, the 80mm fan is louder than it needs to be. Thankfully, it is replaceable with a low-profile 80mm fan of your choosing. I installed a Cooler Master fan that subjectively moves as much air as the original fan, but without the fatiguing drone. I ran the fan power to an unused fan header on the motherboard, which meant cutting a small cutout in the fan shroud through which to pass the fan's wires. Not a big deal. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005C31GIA/If StarTech had increased the price by $5 and installed a quality fan, I'd have given it 5 stars.

THis Backplane is great for DIY RAID or NAS.

This is a very well made Drive bay. I have put it in an old server Tower and I'm making my own NAS array. Solid metal Construction and fit into the tower seamlessly. I am not sure what others are talking about with loud fan noise, but this one seems very quiet. I can mostly just hear the drives spinning.