SATA Hot-Plug Hard Drive Bays

[Dïscfärm]

As per the recent discussions about swapping SATA hard drives in systems: There are finally a few more choices these days for individual hot-plug (hot-swap, removeable, etc.) drive bays -- Lian-Li, Promise, and others.

The Vantec models are all-metal, which is better for cooling.

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewprodu...-105&ATT=Accessories+Hard+Dri&CMP=OTC-17exta6



However, if you need to pack 4-each or even 5-each 3.5-inch SATA hard drives into 3 contiguous 5.25-inch drive bays, easily the best deal is still the Supermicro CSE-34T and CSE-35T-1 mobile drive racks.

 

[ddrueding]

I've used the SuperMicro 5-drive enclosures in many servers with great success. The P-ATA version of the Vantec worked well, the (40mm non-replaceable) fan didn't fail for 3 years. Not bad, really.

 

[iGary]

Lian-Li has a hot-swap drive bay that also has an integrated ATA133-to-SATA bridge chip in the drive bay.

In essence, you install your parallel ATA hard drive into a hot-swap drive bay that utilises a SATA channel.

 

[Bozo]

Kingston also makes various drive bays. Some are pricey though.

Bozo :mrgrn:

 

[Bookmage]

awww, what? no links for the lazy

the lian-li one could be useful in a number of ways...

now i just got to find some more multi-drive cages like the supermicro...
these things are so much more convenient than the old stuff.

its great

 

[Computer Generated Baby]

awww, what? no links for the lazy

http://www.lian-li.com/product.php?action=viewPD&prdid=1119

the lian-li one could be useful in a number of ways...

That particular Lian-Li is useful only because it allows you to use your "old" parallel ATA drives with newfangled SATA channels. Otherwise, the Lian-Li hot-plug drive bays aren't quite as good mechanically as what Vantec offers and I believe they cost more.

now i just got to find some more multi-drive cages like the supermicro... these things are so much more convenient than the old stuff.

There are other SATA multi-drive cages (internal drive racks), but they cost more than the generally-bulletproof Supermicro models.

Kingston also makes various drive bays. Some are pricey though.

More like ALL are pricey -- too pricey, in fact.

Unless something changed recently, Kingston hard drive accessory hardware was all significantly overpriced. (Cables, terminators, the Data Silo line, etc.)

 

[Mercutio]

I finally got around to installing a couple of the Supermicro 5-in-3 SATA drive enclosures in one of my fileservers. I'm thrilled simply because having that density of drives (10 7k250s) on one of my machines means I can actually decommission two of my other servers.

 

[mubs]

Which controller(s) are you using for that many drives??

 

[Mercutio]

3ware 8506-8. The "extra" two drives are essentially hot spares for the array (750GB RAID5) but right now I've got them plugged into the onboard ports.