Removable HD Trays?

[Davej]

About 15 years ago I bought some removable drive trays but before I
could even use them there was some sort of minor change to the IDE
interface and they wouldn't work. Are these trays good and reliable
now with 3.5 inch SATA I,II,III ? I would like to set up my desktop so
that I have several pristine disks that can be used securely for work-
related stuff and other disks that are used for gaming and may not be
entirely trustworthy (wrt rootkit malware, etc).

Any specific recommendations? I've looked at these...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817993031

Thanks.

 

[Man-wai Chang]

interface and they wouldn't work. Are these trays good and reliable

now with 3.5 inch SATA I,II,III ? I would like to set up my desktop so

There are external hard disk docks that support both USB and eSATA.

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[Nobody > (Revisited)]

I use a doo-dad like this:

http://www.amazon.com/Antec-EASYSAT...BT8O/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1303489107&sr=8-1


Of course, it does not have a disk tray, but I'm not sure if that's a
plus or a minus for you.

Also, I've never tried swapping out the OS partition with this
device--just data drives.

It works fine, I use the EasySATA for that , as well as cloning backup
drives, vacuuming stuff off older drives, etc. Depending on your BIOS,
you may just have to hit the "boot menu" hot-key on startup to do so.
Worst case is you may have actually change the SATA port boot order in
BIOS, no big thing.

Best use of a "bare" 5.24" drive bay that I've found yet, as well as
providing a front-panel ESATA port ...

--
"Shit this is it, all the pieces do fit.
We're like that crazy old man jumping
out of the alleyway with a baseball bat,
saying, "Remember me motherfucker?"
Jim “Dandy” Mangrum

 

[Charlie Hoffpauir]

About 15 years ago I bought some removable drive trays but before I
could even use them there was some sort of minor change to the IDE
interface and they wouldn't work. Are these trays good and reliable
now with 3.5 inch SATA I,II,III ? I would like to set up my desktop so
that I have several pristine disks that can be used securely for work-
related stuff and other disks that are used for gaming and may not be
entirely trustworthy (wrt rootkit malware, etc).

Any specific recommendations? I've looked at these...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817993031

Thanks.

well, you don't really need trays. I use a device like this

http://www.monoprice.com/products/search.asp?keyword=eSATA+docking+station&x=0&y=0

Just pop in a drive, set it as the boot drive in BIOS, and you're
done.

 

[Mike Easter]

Those *are* convenient if you don't have a free bay in a desktop PC.
But the internal racks which receive slide-in trays have the advantage of
providing cooling air flow for the hard drive. That air flow is sometimes
provided by fans built into the rack or tray, sometimes by the case and
power supply fans. The docking stations rely on convection for cooling.

My old IDE rack/trays didn't have fans and the plastic rack/tray didn't
seem to have much 'ventilation' slits in the design. I'm sure other
designs were cooler/ better ventilated.

The description of (one of) the eSATA/USB dock at the link used the
words 'cool' and 'exhaust' as if it had some kind of fan. It has its own PS.

"This extremely cool (patented design) and remarkably efficient hard
drive enclosure,... Compact docking station design maximizes heat
dissipation and exhaust."
http://www.monoprice.com/products/p...=1031502&p_id=5330&seq=1&format=2#description
or http://bit.ly/dEaqFb

It doesn't look like it would have a fan, but would depend upon the
openness for simple 'airy' heat dissipation. I'm sorta puzzled by the
use of the word 'exhaust'.

 

[Davej]

well, you don't really need trays. I use a device like this

http://www.monoprice.com/products/search.asp?keyword=eSATA+docking+st....

Just pop in a drive, set it as the boot drive in BIOS, and you're
done.

I'm guessing this is an external version of a "trayless" unit such as
this one... ?

http://kingwin.com/products/cate/mobile/racks/kf_1000_bk.asp

 

[Flasherly]

My old IDE rack/trays didn't have fans and the plastic rack/tray didn't
seem to have much 'ventilation' slits in the design. I'm sure other
designs were cooler/ better ventilated.

The description of (one of) the eSATA/USB dock at the link used the
words 'cool' and 'exhaust' as if it had some kind of fan. It has its own PS.

"This extremely cool (patented design) and remarkably efficient hard
drive enclosure,... Compact docking station design maximizes heat
dissipation and exhaust."http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=103&cp_id=10315&cs...
orhttp://bit.ly/dEaqFb

It doesn't look like it would have a fan, but would depend upon the
openness for simple 'airy' heat dissipation. I'm sorta puzzled by the
use of the word 'exhaust'.

Exhaust = convection air dissipation. Sounds like a great idea, but
with my Rosewills from Newegg, on essentially the same touted design,
the Seagate 200M 7200 I put in the other day got hotter than hell.
Some > 1T Samsung EcoGreens I use for storage do better at 5400rpm,
close to the heat my 100watt stereo amps operate at, but it wouldn't
bother me to have a fan near where the dock is located for long-term
or unattended operation.

Someone posted a tech sheet on HD failure characteristics. Heat is
not the primary culprit. Perhaps it's just that one tends to get
used to efficient case designs with modern multi-colored LED lights
flashing from larger fans at the front plane running through way-cool
looking drive arrays. . .

 

[Charlie Hoffpauir]

I'm guessing this is an external version of a "trayless" unit such as
this one... ?

http://kingwin.com/products/cate/mobile/racks/kf_1000_bk.asp

No, not nearly as many parts.

I've run several drives in this little box, and in general they run
the same temperature (as indicated by HD Sentinel 3.50) as they do
when mounted in their racks in my Antec case. Cooling is just by
natural convestion and radiation, there's no fan of any sort on the
unit I have. Extra cooling could be provided if one has a drive that
runs unusually hot by simply placing a small fan directed to the
drive.

FWIW, all my drives except external FreeAgent Pro drives run about 35
to 45 C when used continuously (like cloning an entire drive). The FAP
drives run about 10 C hotter, probably due to the pretty well enclosed
case. So far, the hotter FAP drives have not shown any shorter
life.... in fact, I have 4 and they all still are operating after as
much as 4 years.