I love Startech. They usually have the weirdest adapters and connectors out there for hard to find things. I once used them for a PATA to SATA converter and it work perfectly!
My main (most powerful) PC has two SATA hot swap bays, one a full-size 3.5" and one is a 2.5". They are both quite similar to what you show here and I am pretty sure even manufactured by StarTech as well, but they actually have a lock and key mechanism too! Unless you have the key, you would basically have to destroy the entire case to access it because they are extremely well built with steel not plastic, and if it is a HDD, it will likely be destroyed just getting to it. They have served me well for several years now, and I definitely recommend them!!!
I love hot-swap bays. Great for any kind of RAID setup. You get a notification that one of your array members has failed, you just pop out the old one, stick in the new, open the RAID utility and tell it that there's a free drive available for rebuilding onto (if you don't have it set to do that automatically), and all without even having to shut down the system. Now, keep in mind that unless you're using a dedicated RAID controller (which usually support hot-swap), you probably won't just be able to swap out drives without at least having to go into device manager and tell it to scan for new hardware, etc., so this might not be the kind of thing a home user would make use of.
I've been in computers for years , but I have really learned a lot of NEW things from watching your videos. I ha no idea this item even existed. I HAVE TO GET ONE !!! Thanks
Those are very handy. I have a 1 bay 2,5" version in my pc for the boot drive so i can switch between operating systems. And a 3 bay 3,5" version for my data drives.
+ExplainingComputers You can with a 34 PIN floppy adapter (tinyurl.com/jpshb7c) and another one for the motherboard USB (tinyurl.com/jh7cch3) ! You should test it with another PC!
this is totally usefull, i am using a HDD tray as well and its super convenient and easy to use! Also ths slide mechanish i suppose prevents it from opening by accident.. It looks classy
The tray is spring loaded, so when you open the upper or lower access door it will push the drive out so you can grab hold of it and remove it easily. There's also a spring on the access door that holds the drive in place when you close the door.
Hi Chris, Sitting in Tokyo Japan watching your videos is a refreshing way to travel back to Blighty in some ways, I mean hearing your turns of phrase as you talk to yourself is really very charming! Do not worry we all do it when we are tinkering with computers, how you manage to keep the Anglo Saxon out though is to be commended also. I am enjoying your videos Sir indeed, do carry on old chap! Hopefully another generation afraid to ask dumb questions is also stealthy watching your exploits and learning along the way. I have spent the last two years hoovering up old yet viable Vista era hardware from the Hard OFF shops around here in Japan a second hand chain local to the Kanto region here and making perfectly serviceable Windows 10 PCs out of all the discarded value and rotating them back out. So I have been able to follow a journey of power and speed through all the CPU and memory configurations I was never able to afford to purchase in the white heat of the PC era 2004 through 2012. The conclusion buy any modern fast SSD like the San Disk Ultra II 480GB versions and bolt it to any Dual core above or equivalent to an E8400 with 4GB of RAM and your cooking with gas if just general surfing and watching You Tube Videos in HD is your 2017 benchmark of use. I am Windows 10 insider so the OS is free of charge for the boxes I rotate out. Giving back a little value to the community here was the thought. Though the reality is Desktop PC use here is declining massively as the mobile onslaught continues anyway. Which means more and more choice hardware is being dumped in these secound hand stores here. th-cam.com/video/rfZFTEAZcvA/w-d-xo.html
Nice Chris. I'd like to ask for a favor. If not too much trouble, please set the drives up in a mirror configuration and test the "hot swap" efforts and the RAID rebuilding (preferably BIOS RAID rebuilding but if you must, Windows' RAID rebuilding will work too. I'd like to know if it'll work like a proper server's hot swaps. Nice and informative non the less.
I've got one from StarTech that has one 2.5", and one 3.5" bay. Mounts in a standard 5.25" slot. Good for pulling data off old hard drives, or cleaning them for secure disposal. Seems they've got some active electronics on this model to sense when there's activity over the SATA cable. IDE and SCSI each had a pin that was dedicated to drive activity that was high when there was power to the drive, and pulled low when there was activity, and this made it easy for an enclosure to indicate drive activity. I didn't think there was a way to do that for SATA beyond connecting directly to the controller/MB for the LED.
Pin 11 on the SATA power connector can be used as an activity indication, though not all drives support it. It is almost certainly what is being used here.
Good for backups. Better than their drive that needed a caddy. 5 years ago when I was distro hopping and not sure what I wanted OS wise this would have been ace.
Hello ExplainingComputers. Thanks for the video! You should forget about those protection sheets on each harddrive and place a piece of anti static teflon in the trays instead. You can buy A4 sheets that are adhesive on one side and cut them out with a scissor. When you are done, you can use the rest of the sheet for new mouse pads, to make your mouse slide like new again! :-)
I like the new storage system you have in your computer and hope all works out just fine for you with it. I would like to put something like that in my computer, but don't want to change things around that much. For that reason I will stay with my regular system and if I build another computer it can have 2.5" drives in it.
What a fantastic product. I think I might purchase one of these as they are handy if you have to transfer large files from one location to another with optimum transfer speed. Also thanks to your excellent review of the Rii i8 Wireless Mini Keyboard & Touchpad last year. I got one as a Christmas present on the strength of that video and I am very pleased with it. I use it with my Raspberry Pi especially when I am using Kodi and RetroPie.
Looks nifty. I have 3.5" hot swap bays and am sick of using an external SATA to USB interface or having to connect internally. What I'd really love is a 5.25" combo 2.5"/3.5" hot swap bay with no tray.
BTW, You are now neck and neck with BigClivedotcom as my top TH-cam channels nudging Pink Floyd and Australian Pink Floyd into joint 3rd place. Marvellous stuff.
Great product for cloning a smaller SSD already inside a PC to a larger SSD before you need to take apart the PC. Might be an idea for a future video, which software do you recommend for free to CLONE the partitions of your internal SSD to a SSD in this Drive Bay so you can get it ready to replace a smaller Internal SSD. Then just swap and boot the PC to get back in business.
Handy piece of kit. Now trying to decide what is better for the single 3.5" slot in my case, a card reader or this :) But I guess an external card reader is cheap and mobile so...
Another Good Sunday Upload Chris. But Tell Me, Have You Ever Made A Video Directly Comparing A HDD VS. A SSD? Just Like You Did With The Single Board Computers Awhile Ago. SSD'S Are Getting Increasingly More Popular. And I Would Like To See Their Specs Outlined In Greater Detail......
I see little reason why StarTech decided to not line the bottom of the drive trays with an adhesive layer of plastic, or had made the drive bottoms out of plastic. If I were engineering that thing I would had made the drive bottoms slide in, clip into place (since plastic can clip in easily) and it would had circumvented the need for protective anything to prevent possible shorting due to metal-on-metal. About the supplied connector, while it's _nice_ they provided two wires, I don't understand the little extra bit hanging off. If they wanted to be good and proper about it, a locking 1x LP4 to 2x SATA power Y cable should had been sufficient. Power for the LED should had been drawn from the SATA port and not require a separate connector, since i have bits of kit at home that only have a SATA port and the board layout dictates it draws from SATA the power. Even a piddly 5-volt rail from USB can handle _both_ SATA power to the drive and a basic LED that flashes with drive activity. So the entire design of the unit, while functional, flummoxes me why they went with some of the odd design decisions they did. Boy the video is full of surprises. I didn't realize they had to power two LEDs. _Why do the bays need two LEDs?_ Seems like a blue one for status and red one for read, used cleverly to render as magenta. Pretty, but whoever made the bay could had reduced costs by using one LED always on for read only. I guess that's why the special connectors have two lanes on the SP4 connector; One for each LED. It's stupidly over-engineered, down to the lights!
Uhh~ looks really handy, actually! I know a local store near me features a similar solution for the 3,5" tray but for only one 2,5" drive. This might be interesting for my LAN party computer so I can easily switch from HDDs to SSDs soon.
I have an Asus Tinker Board on order now. But they were out of stock by the time I ordered (on the day of release). No I doubt it will be with us for next week. But hopefully soon! :)
7:15 *That is why you have these molex cables.* These molex to sata adapters have a bad reputation of causing fire. Therefore, is it possible to use this rack without such molex to sata adapter???
Yes, you can use it without the adapter (although the drive lights will not work). But there should be no fire issues using SSDs and 25" drives with the adapters -- they draw far less currently than a 3.5 inch unit, and only at 5V (not 12V).
nice bit of kit cris will work wonders for render work or os hot swap and thanks for the heads up in comments ref the asus tinker board will have to watch the video when you get to making it .
ExplainingComputers I have to agree with this comment: Molex to SATA adapters are not that stable, and yes, I've seen some gory meltdowns... Issue would be to see if you have enough SATA power connectors in your PSU as well as anything that can convert the two activity LEDs to Molex (that or your PSU has Floppy power connectors, which by the looks of it are the same as those LED power connectors)
I tend to think that its best to avoid units with PBCs (unlike this one) involved I've recently had two drives rendered clicking dead from a assumed hot dock PBC serge, likewise for USB docking stations, I refuse to use USB for anything but sticks & input devices anymore, the circuitry on these PBCs seem shoddy in most cases I'm currently using the stock docks my new Cooler Master HAF XB EVO case but I feel like I'm walking on eggshells, when I bought it I overlooked that it used a PBC in the dock unfortunately, I'm using it with caution, so far, in the first week, the only issue I've had is that it seems to require more rebooting as in many cases it takes that to detect the drive if a new hardware scan fails.
I don't think you're going to get a meltdown from not having a dedicated 3.3v line any hard drive, cause that's all you're missing from those Molex connectors. It'll get the 3.3v from the 12v rail if that voltage isn't detected from the power input. I've used Molex to SATA adapters for years and NEVER had any issues beyond not being able to find them when I need them. Now, where you CAN get a meltdown, is if you have one of those older SATA drives that had both the SATA power AND Molex power connectors, and you hooked up both. In that case, the 3.3v would be dropped by the drive from the 12v rail, butting against the 3.3v coming from the power supply and causing the onboard regulator to fail in a puff of blue smoke, or some such mishap. I've never actually had it happen, cause I'm not fool enough to try plugging in two power connectors. Otherwise, the only way you're going to get a meltdown is if you're drive is drawing an obscene amount of current (2.5" drives barely draw anything), and the adapter has a weak enough connection to cause arcing.
@@BlackEpyon I have seen the SATA power connector on a molex to SATA adapter fail with flame and smoke, fortunately the flame went out when power was removed and it didn't damage anyting else in the process (even the SSD it was connected to was fine after I cleaned the soot off the mating connector). The big problem with adapters IMO is that they don't have any identifying markings on them so (unless you keep a very careful inventory of what you put in your machines) when one fails you have no idea who to blame. Combine this lack of accountability with the SATA connector's design that requires much tighter tolerances than older connectors and you have a recipie for trouble.
they should have just had a back plan on that caddy for power and then the data why the need for all the extra wires when it could be all done with just one power cable.
Perfect for cloning drives, but aren't exactly Hot swapable, as you either have to reboot, or maybe rescan for new hardware (have yet to try that though)...
Brilliant idea but you are costing me a small fortune sir :D. I'm learing so many new technical terms like "..twiddly whatsit thing..." which I have been unable to locate on eBay btw. (p.s. there are also dual M.2 single trays too! Fantastic)
You can't swap out a 3-1/2" disk drive for a larger capacity like you can with this dock. So yes, you are limited to 1.44MB discs, the dock allows you to put whatever size drive in that you want.
Did your i7 not come with a sticker? Usually, there is a sticker on the last page of the CPU manual along with a ridiculously long license granting you temporary use of the logo on said sticker.
What a wonderful way to wake-up on a Sunday morning, to an EC video! Chris, how hot does the mechanical hard drive get in the bay? I have run 3.5" units in a mobile rack and it's been like putting them in an Easy Bake oven, heating the drives to about 40 °C. I didn't like that so I purchased a mobile rack with a built-in fan and the drive now only gets to about 32 °C. Being smaller, does the 2.5" drive keep its cool?
I've not experienced any over heating issues, perhaps because the bay is a pretty heft metal thing, and also -- as you say -- 2.5" units tend to run cooler (certainly not over 40 here). Also, 2.5" HDDs will only go in and of the bay when needed.
Hi Chris could please put in the link in the description box, to any website you may of found for the HDD protection film, because I did not have any success in finding the protection film thanks
_LP4_ Strange isn't that? When AMP originated that connector, they called it the Mate-N-Lok. When Molex acquired AMP, it became a standard on hard drives and was brutally genericized to _Molex_ despite them making a variety of motherboard and cable interconnects. Now Koch has Molex and they call it LP4. Speaking of, wasn't there a time when this connector became _SP4_ before that represented the old connectors from FDDs made by Berg?
Molex didn't acquire AMP. AMP was bought by Tyco in 1999, Tyco then split into three seperate companies with the AMP products going to "Tyco Electronics" who then ranamed themselves to "TE connectivity" Both Molex and AMP/TYCO/TE have been cloning each others connectors for a long time though. Sadly they use different names for them which can making figuring out the equivalences a PITA.
I still have one on my main PC rig. I've actually got several kicking around in my collection. But I also have a couple vintage computers that I keep going as a hobby, so a working floppy drive is kinda essential.
Most PC towers have one or more unused 5.25 inch drive bays. Why isn't that the default way to install SSDs these days? Every comptuter should have that...
youtube for some reason is giving me your old videos. Not that I'm complaining. Now that some time has passed, is this still useful? I have an old laptop hard drive I keep in a USB 3 enclosure and I get fairly fast speeds writing to that, and about 200mb/sec when I have an SSD in it. I'm trying to think what the useage scenario is for this. You have a 2.5" drive in a camera maybe, and this makes it easy to insert into the computer? Transferring from a laptop, but then you have to unscrew it (still useful-ish) to get it out?
My usage scenario is mainly switching OS -- having different OS on different 2.5 inch drives. Also accessing drives from archive/storage. And SSDs from HDMI recorders as you say.
As I do tech support and often need to plug in customer's hard drives to get their data out, this looks like a good solution however, I would rather stick the protective film in the tray. I see that the top tray is accessible, is that so for the bottom tray?
Michel Jutras I recommend an external USB 3 multiple interface dongle. (They do SATA I,II,III, IDE (laptop) & IDE (desktop). The only thing you would be lacking at that point is SAS/SCSI, but those are mostly enterprise solutions.
Does your motherboard have support to make the SATA port hot swappable while the computer is still on? On my old computer, I had a 3.5" hard drive caddy in a 5.25" slot but it was not hot swap compatible and had to power down to swap out the drive. My current computer I have swapped the SATA port in the motherboard setting to hot-swap compatible that my trayless 3.5" hard drive bay is plugged into. I can select the eject option you normally use for a USB stick or external hard drive so I can swap my data drive without powering down now. Might I suggest to make life a bit easier you put your SSD boot drive into the bottom and the HDD into the top. Stick a piece of anti-static plastic into the bottom of that top tray over the metal. That way even if the drive does not have one of those stickers on it will sill be a little bit protected.
You do not have to have a motherboard with hot swap compatibility to use the bay, but you can only hot swap the drives if your motherboard supports this.
I have an Asus ROG GL552VW and would like to replace the optical drive with a caddy or something to put a standard 2.5'' HDD in, however all I've been able to find so far is a type of caddy where you would need to take the whole assembly out every time you swap the drive. Is there a variant of this type of device for laptops or do I just have to keep a screwdriver handy?
Hello Christopher would you be willing to do an unboxing and to show us a little more about the new board called ASUS TinkerBoard i think it would be very interesting. Cheers :)
Yes, I will be doing this -- I have one on order; but it was out of stock when I ordered (on the day of release) But as soon as it arrives, it will appear on the channel! :)
This is a really interesting point -- SATA was initially specified at 10 connects! But a lot of pro video hardware now uses an SSD or 2.5" HDD that plugs in via its own SATA connector as the storage media (eg equipment from Atomos). I use such hardware, and often swap the SSD many times a day, and it has always worried me. Certainly the SATA connectors get looser over time. But I've not had one fail yet -- and my oldest recorder has probably done a good 300+ insert/remove cycles.
Another great video Chris. You might remember me from before when I was called UKz Gamer HD. But yes, another great video. Can you can get these but 3.5 to 2.5 conversion?
Greetings Nathan. :) I am not aware of any conversion versions -- you have to choose either slots fo 2.5" drives (that go in a 3.5 bay), or for 3.5" drives (that go in a 5.25" bay).
I love Startech. They usually have the weirdest adapters and connectors out there for hard to find things. I once used them for a PATA to SATA converter and it work perfectly!
My main (most powerful) PC has two SATA hot swap bays, one a full-size 3.5" and one is a 2.5". They are both quite similar to what you show here and I am pretty sure even manufactured by StarTech as well, but they actually have a lock and key mechanism too! Unless you have the key, you would basically have to destroy the entire case to access it because they are extremely well built with steel not plastic, and if it is a HDD, it will likely be destroyed just getting to it. They have served me well for several years now, and I definitely recommend them!!!
You have added to my normative vocabulary. "Twiddleling Whatsit". Absolutely Marvelous
What amazes me is that no matter how many times I look at your video list ,I always find videos I have not seen before.
Spooky! :)
So we've basically come full circle back to removable disks.
It looks almost too convenient to switch the operating system - I like it!
I love hot-swap bays. Great for any kind of RAID setup. You get a notification that one of your array members has failed, you just pop out the old one, stick in the new, open the RAID utility and tell it that there's a free drive available for rebuilding onto (if you don't have it set to do that automatically), and all without even having to shut down the system.
Now, keep in mind that unless you're using a dedicated RAID controller (which usually support hot-swap), you probably won't just be able to swap out drives without at least having to go into device manager and tell it to scan for new hardware, etc., so this might not be the kind of thing a home user would make use of.
I've been in computers for years , but I have really learned a lot of NEW things from watching your videos. I ha no idea this item even existed. I HAVE TO GET ONE !!! Thanks
Those are very handy.
I have a 1 bay 2,5" version in my pc for the boot drive so i can switch between operating systems.
And a 3 bay 3,5" version for my data drives.
I think those protectors are a must for a drive with a pcb on the bottom. Without it the danger of shorting out on the rack looks very real.
"Oh I see they are like a thing" you can always tell when some one has worked in IT too long.
:)
6:30 Christopher totally gets the concept of RTFM :)
:-( Poor floppy drive, replaced after years of loyal service...
I feel bad for him..
I know what you mean. But nowhere to connect it to on a motherboard these days . . . :(
So sad but only 1.44 mb
You can use it for your Speccy with the beta interface....
+ExplainingComputers You can with a 34 PIN floppy adapter (tinyurl.com/jpshb7c) and another one for the motherboard USB (tinyurl.com/jh7cch3) ! You should test it with another PC!
yea *hugs*
You can say the floppy drive is retired.
tempted to get one..thinking about making future builds with 2.5 inch drives again and this tray helps to save space in the drive bays
I can see where that would come in handy. I just bought a startech SD to 3.0usb that works superb.
this is totally usefull, i am using a HDD tray as well and its super convenient and easy to use!
Also ths slide mechanish i suppose prevents it from opening by accident.. It looks classy
The tray is spring loaded, so when you open the upper or lower access door it will push the drive out so you can grab hold of it and remove it easily. There's also a spring on the access door that holds the drive in place when you close the door.
What a fastastic way to replace the old floppy drive slots. Going to get many of these!
Hi Chris, Sitting in Tokyo Japan watching your videos is a refreshing way to travel back to Blighty in some ways, I mean hearing your turns of phrase as you talk to yourself is really very charming! Do not worry we all do it when we are tinkering with computers, how you manage to keep the Anglo Saxon out though is to be commended also. I am enjoying your videos Sir indeed, do carry on old chap! Hopefully another generation afraid to ask dumb questions is also stealthy watching your exploits and learning along the way. I have spent the last two years hoovering up old yet viable Vista era hardware from the Hard OFF shops around here in Japan a second hand chain local to the Kanto region here and making perfectly serviceable Windows 10 PCs out of all the discarded value and rotating them back out. So I have been able to follow a journey of power and speed through all the CPU and memory configurations I was never able to afford to purchase in the white heat of the PC era 2004 through 2012. The conclusion buy any modern fast SSD like the San Disk Ultra II 480GB versions and bolt it to any Dual core above or equivalent to an E8400 with 4GB of RAM and your cooking with gas if just general surfing and watching You Tube Videos in HD is your 2017 benchmark of use. I am Windows 10 insider so the OS is free of charge for the boxes I rotate out. Giving back a little value to the community here was the thought. Though the reality is Desktop PC use here is declining massively as the mobile onslaught continues anyway. Which means more and more choice hardware is being dumped in these secound hand stores here. th-cam.com/video/rfZFTEAZcvA/w-d-xo.html
Nice Chris. I'd like to ask for a favor. If not too much trouble, please set the drives up in a mirror configuration and test the "hot swap" efforts and the RAID rebuilding (preferably BIOS RAID rebuilding but if you must, Windows' RAID rebuilding will work too. I'd like to know if it'll work like a proper server's hot swaps. Nice and informative non the less.
Very nice piece of kit! Seems a must have for anyone in video.
Excellent computer upgrade Chris, well done.
I've got one from StarTech that has one 2.5", and one 3.5" bay. Mounts in a standard 5.25" slot. Good for pulling data off old hard drives, or cleaning them for secure disposal.
Seems they've got some active electronics on this model to sense when there's activity over the SATA cable. IDE and SCSI each had a pin that was dedicated to drive activity that was high when there was power to the drive, and pulled low when there was activity, and this made it easy for an enclosure to indicate drive activity. I didn't think there was a way to do that for SATA beyond connecting directly to the controller/MB for the LED.
Pin 11 on the SATA power connector can be used as an activity indication, though not all drives support it. It is almost certainly what is being used here.
Oh man, my OCD for clever well designed functional things just went into overdrive, I want one REAL bad right now 🙃
Good for backups. Better than their drive that needed a caddy. 5 years ago when I was distro hopping and not sure what I wanted OS wise this would have been ace.
Cool device. It's like a super-duper ZIP drive!
Hello ExplainingComputers. Thanks for the video! You should forget about those protection sheets on each harddrive and place a piece of anti static teflon in the trays instead. You can buy A4 sheets that are adhesive on one side and cut them out with a scissor. When you are done, you can use the rest of the sheet for new mouse pads, to make your mouse slide like new again! :-)
You could also clean the grime off the bottom of your mouse :P
I like the new storage system you have in your computer and hope all works out just fine for you with it. I would like to put something like that in my computer, but don't want to change things around that much. For that reason I will stay with my regular system and if I build another computer it can have 2.5" drives in it.
Just fitted a 3.5'' drive removable caddy to my PC finding it really useful.
I bought a 2.5'' to 3.5'' converter from Startech too so I can access both sizes of hard drive.
Why are your videos always so therapeutic?
Can't help but to feel a bit sorry for the floppy, but nice with such a handy upgrade!
What a fantastic product. I think I might purchase one of these as they are handy if you have to transfer large files from one location to another with optimum transfer speed.
Also thanks to your excellent review of the Rii i8 Wireless Mini Keyboard & Touchpad last year. I got one as a Christmas present on the strength of that video and I am very pleased with it. I use it with my Raspberry Pi especially when I am using Kodi and RetroPie.
Excellent -- I'm glad the Rii worked out for you. I find mine a very useful piece of kit.
That is a fantastic device! Very functional and looks really nice!
Looks nifty. I have 3.5" hot swap bays and am sick of using an external SATA to USB interface or having to connect internally.
What I'd really love is a 5.25" combo 2.5"/3.5" hot swap bay with no tray.
ICY dock now do one, model MB795SP-B
BTW, You are now neck and neck with BigClivedotcom as my top TH-cam channels nudging Pink Floyd and Australian Pink Floyd into joint 3rd place.
Marvellous stuff.
Great to hear! :) Thanks for watching.
Wow that's a slick design.
Even though it looks good I went with a Kingwin bay that came with locks. Can never be too careful.
Great product for cloning a smaller SSD already inside a PC to a larger SSD before you need to take apart the PC. Might be an idea for a future video, which software do you recommend for free to CLONE the partitions of your internal SSD to a SSD in this Drive Bay so you can get it ready to replace a smaller Internal SSD. Then just swap and boot the PC to get back in business.
Ura! That's fantastic Sir.
With one of these I actually could close my PC permanently 😊
Handy piece of kit. Now trying to decide what is better for the single 3.5" slot in my case, a card reader or this :) But I guess an external card reader is cheap and mobile so...
Another Good Sunday Upload Chris. But Tell Me, Have You Ever Made A Video Directly Comparing A HDD VS. A SSD? Just Like You Did With The Single Board Computers Awhile Ago. SSD'S Are Getting Increasingly More Popular. And I Would Like To See Their Specs Outlined In Greater Detail......
I see little reason why StarTech decided to not line the bottom of the drive trays with an adhesive layer of plastic, or had made the drive bottoms out of plastic. If I were engineering that thing I would had made the drive bottoms slide in, clip into place (since plastic can clip in easily) and it would had circumvented the need for protective anything to prevent possible shorting due to metal-on-metal.
About the supplied connector, while it's _nice_ they provided two wires, I don't understand the little extra bit hanging off. If they wanted to be good and proper about it, a locking 1x LP4 to 2x SATA power Y cable should had been sufficient. Power for the LED should had been drawn from the SATA port and not require a separate connector, since i have bits of kit at home that only have a SATA port and the board layout dictates it draws from SATA the power.
Even a piddly 5-volt rail from USB can handle _both_ SATA power to the drive and a basic LED that flashes with drive activity. So the entire design of the unit, while functional, flummoxes me why they went with some of the odd design decisions they did.
Boy the video is full of surprises. I didn't realize they had to power two LEDs. _Why do the bays need two LEDs?_ Seems like a blue one for status and red one for read, used cleverly to render as magenta. Pretty, but whoever made the bay could had reduced costs by using one LED always on for read only. I guess that's why the special connectors have two lanes on the SP4 connector; One for each LED. It's stupidly over-engineered, down to the lights!
I agree with all that you say! :)
Uhh~ looks really handy, actually!
I know a local store near me features a similar solution for the 3,5" tray but for only one 2,5" drive.
This might be interesting for my LAN party computer so I can easily switch from HDDs to SSDs soon.
Always a pleasure to watch your videos
Waiting for an Unbox video on Asus Tinker Board. Hoping next video will be on it.
I have an Asus Tinker Board on order now. But they were out of stock by the time I ordered (on the day of release). No I doubt it will be with us for next week. But hopefully soon! :)
Tell them who you are maybe they will speed up your request.
MFG's need to just start auto sending you products :-)
amazing news, can't wait for your review! :D
Please talk about how to safely remove those drives while Windows is running.
I don't use MOLEX to SATA cable, because it burned in my computer few years ago.
The Secondary Hard Drive You Installed On Your HDD Caddy Works As A Storage Drive
7:15 *That is why you have these molex cables.*
These molex to sata adapters have a bad reputation of causing fire.
Therefore, is it possible to use this rack without such molex to sata adapter???
Yes, you can use it without the adapter (although the drive lights will not work). But there should be no fire issues using SSDs and 25" drives with the adapters -- they draw far less currently than a 3.5 inch unit, and only at 5V (not 12V).
> "they draw far less currently than a 3.5 inch unit, and only at 5V (not 12V)."
Good point !!!
+1
Thank you Chris for the video.
Excellent tech. I need a 5.25" floppy drive, for a while.
Why does it have so many power connectors? There could be only one SATA power connector for both disks and LEDs.
Yes... it's a lame design! I was wondering what those 2 black cables inside were for, until i saw this review! :\
nice bit of kit cris will work wonders for render work or os hot swap and thanks for the heads up in comments ref the asus tinker board will have to watch the video when you get to making it .
Thanks for the video and the recommendation.
Rich
Dont use the sata y splitters, they are known to cause problems, killing hard drives and sometimes even melting, even if it includes the activity led
Very interesting, I will look into this . . .
ExplainingComputers I have to agree with this comment: Molex to SATA adapters are not that stable, and yes, I've seen some gory meltdowns... Issue would be to see if you have enough SATA power connectors in your PSU as well as anything that can convert the two activity LEDs to Molex (that or your PSU has Floppy power connectors, which by the looks of it are the same as those LED power connectors)
I tend to think that its best to avoid units with PBCs (unlike this one) involved I've recently had two drives rendered clicking dead from a assumed hot dock PBC serge, likewise for USB docking stations, I refuse to use USB for anything but sticks & input devices anymore, the circuitry on these PBCs seem shoddy in most cases I'm currently using the stock docks my new Cooler Master HAF XB EVO case but I feel like I'm walking on eggshells, when I bought it I overlooked that it used a PBC in the dock unfortunately, I'm using it with caution, so far, in the first week, the only issue I've had is that it seems to require more rebooting as in many cases it takes that to detect the drive if a new hardware scan fails.
I don't think you're going to get a meltdown from not having a dedicated 3.3v line any hard drive, cause that's all you're missing from those Molex connectors. It'll get the 3.3v from the 12v rail if that voltage isn't detected from the power input. I've used Molex to SATA adapters for years and NEVER had any issues beyond not being able to find them when I need them.
Now, where you CAN get a meltdown, is if you have one of those older SATA drives that had both the SATA power AND Molex power connectors, and you hooked up both. In that case, the 3.3v would be dropped by the drive from the 12v rail, butting against the 3.3v coming from the power supply and causing the onboard regulator to fail in a puff of blue smoke, or some such mishap. I've never actually had it happen, cause I'm not fool enough to try plugging in two power connectors. Otherwise, the only way you're going to get a meltdown is if you're drive is drawing an obscene amount of current (2.5" drives barely draw anything), and the adapter has a weak enough connection to cause arcing.
@@BlackEpyon I have seen the SATA power connector on a molex to SATA adapter fail with flame and smoke, fortunately the flame went out when power was removed and it didn't damage anyting else in the process (even the SSD it was connected to was fine after I cleaned the soot off the mating connector).
The big problem with adapters IMO is that they don't have any identifying markings on them so (unless you keep a very careful inventory of what you put in your machines) when one fails you have no idea who to blame.
Combine this lack of accountability with the SATA connector's design that requires much tighter tolerances than older connectors and you have a recipie for trouble.
they should have just had a back plan on that caddy for power and then the data why the need for all the extra wires when it could be all done with just one power cable.
Perfect for cloning drives, but aren't exactly Hot swapable, as you either have to reboot, or maybe rescan for new hardware (have yet to try that though)...
That is an ingenious device!!
Great video Professor, thanks for sharing!
Brilliant idea but you are costing me a small fortune sir :D. I'm learing so many new technical terms like "..twiddly whatsit thing..." which I have been unable to locate on eBay btw.
(p.s. there are also dual M.2 single trays too! Fantastic)
So the 2.5" SSD is the new floppy.
With unlimited data capacity rather than 1.44MB at a time, you can install Terabytes at a time LOL.
1.44MB were unlimited in 1984 just like TB today :D
You can't swap out a 3-1/2" disk drive for a larger capacity like you can with this dock. So yes, you are limited to 1.44MB discs, the dock allows you to put whatever size drive in that you want.
Unlimited would imply drives of infinite capacity. Right now you are limited to 4TB (and you must have deep pockets to afford these).
SteelSkin667 In a couple years a 4TB drive will be less than $100. I remember when 1TB drives came out they were $1,000 now they're getting cheap.
Thats actually pretty cool!
take off the lower panel and you have a cheese grater
Best comment of the day! :)
Have two of these but I have to make custom power cables for them because NOTHING uses those obsolete 4 pin molex cables any more.
Yes... the molex are a let down :\ anyway... you could use it without the led...
Did your i7 not come with a sticker? Usually, there is a sticker on the last page of the CPU manual along with a ridiculously long license granting you temporary use of the logo on said sticker.
My i7 was a tray model, and hence does not come with anything -- no box, no manual, no cooler -- and no sticker! :(
What a wonderful way to wake-up on a Sunday morning, to an EC video! Chris, how hot does the mechanical hard drive get in the bay? I have run 3.5" units in a mobile rack and it's been like putting them in an Easy Bake oven, heating the drives to about 40 °C. I didn't like that so I purchased a mobile rack with a built-in fan and the drive now only gets to about 32 °C. Being smaller, does the 2.5" drive keep its cool?
I've not experienced any over heating issues, perhaps because the bay is a pretty heft metal thing, and also -- as you say -- 2.5" units tend to run cooler (certainly not over 40 here). Also, 2.5" HDDs will only go in and of the bay when needed.
Hi Chris could please put in the link in the description box, to any website you may of found for the HDD protection film, because I did not have any success in finding the protection film thanks
Never had any Good luck with "StarTech" I use "Icy Dock" stuff all the time, They are real good
You've changed every component inside your Render Box but the case. If I were you, I'd buy a new case as well, and let the old PC go to a museum :)
Ah, but the case fits in a particular position under my desk. It is also very, very solid metal -- and I happen to like it. But I take your point! :)
_LP4_
Strange isn't that? When AMP originated that connector, they called it the Mate-N-Lok. When Molex acquired AMP, it became a standard on hard drives and was brutally genericized to _Molex_ despite them making a variety of motherboard and cable interconnects. Now Koch has Molex and they call it LP4.
Speaking of, wasn't there a time when this connector became _SP4_ before that represented the old connectors from FDDs made by Berg?
Molex didn't acquire AMP.
AMP was bought by Tyco in 1999, Tyco then split into three seperate companies with the AMP products going to "Tyco Electronics" who then ranamed themselves to "TE connectivity"
Both Molex and AMP/TYCO/TE have been cloning each others connectors for a long time though. Sadly they use different names for them which can making figuring out the equivalences a PITA.
You do know you could buy a computer case that dose that. But 2 (2.5 inch) SSD or HDD. It by Asus I think.
Looking good in that CM case :)
that is a very cool piece of tech
i love your video's!
they are just amazing
i bought the windows 10 driving chip after whatching
keep it up dude!
Floppy is gonna make a comeback. Mark my words
I still have one on my main PC rig. I've actually got several kicking around in my collection. But I also have a couple vintage computers that I keep going as a hobby, so a working floppy drive is kinda essential.
The floppy drive has left the building!
Most PC towers have one or more unused 5.25 inch drive bays. Why isn't that the default way to install SSDs these days? Every comptuter should have that...
youtube for some reason is giving me your old videos. Not that I'm complaining. Now that some time has passed, is this still useful? I have an old laptop hard drive I keep in a USB 3 enclosure and I get fairly fast speeds writing to that, and about 200mb/sec when I have an SSD in it.
I'm trying to think what the useage scenario is for this. You have a 2.5" drive in a camera maybe, and this makes it easy to insert into the computer?
Transferring from a laptop, but then you have to unscrew it (still useful-ish) to get it out?
My usage scenario is mainly switching OS -- having different OS on different 2.5 inch drives. Also accessing drives from archive/storage. And SSDs from HDMI recorders as you say.
As I do tech support and often need to plug in customer's hard drives to get their data out, this looks like a good solution however, I would rather stick the protective film in the tray. I see that the top tray is accessible, is that so for the bottom tray?
Michel Jutras I recommend an external USB 3 multiple interface dongle. (They do SATA I,II,III, IDE (laptop) & IDE (desktop). The only thing you would be lacking at that point is SAS/SCSI, but those are mostly enterprise solutions.
Nice video, (as usual). Perhaps for a future item you could review external 3.5" multi-drive enclosures?? please :-)
Very nice - thank you.
do you have an amazon link or something .. great product... really enjoy ur vids. thanks
Does your motherboard have support to make the SATA port hot swappable while the computer is still on?
On my old computer, I had a 3.5" hard drive caddy in a 5.25" slot but it was not hot swap compatible and had to power down to swap out the drive. My current computer I have swapped the SATA port in the motherboard setting to hot-swap compatible that my trayless 3.5" hard drive bay is plugged into. I can select the eject option you normally use for a USB stick or external hard drive so I can swap my data drive without powering down now.
Might I suggest to make life a bit easier you put your SSD boot drive into the bottom and the HDD into the top. Stick a piece of anti-static plastic into the bottom of that top tray over the metal. That way even if the drive does not have one of those stickers on it will sill be a little bit protected.
You do not have to have a motherboard with hot swap compatibility to use the bay, but you can only hot swap the drives if your motherboard supports this.
Why not install the protective film on the bay itself?
I have an Asus ROG GL552VW and would like to replace the optical drive with a caddy or something to put a standard 2.5'' HDD in, however all I've been able to find so far is a type of caddy where you would need to take the whole assembly out every time you swap the drive. Is there a variant of this type of device for laptops or do I just have to keep a screwdriver handy?
One can never have too many "screw kits".
Thank you!
Wish they had white too.
Right!
I want something similar but I have a 3.5" external enclosure on the pc case. It only has one SATA connector though
I would love to change my laptops DVD drive for such rack
Wy not a sticker on the bottom of the tray of the rack? To protect the hdd or sdd drives.
Yes, I must admit, I did think that! :)
Hi Chris, is there any chance you could put out a black mug with your logo as I collect black mugs and steins?
As far as I am aware (and I will check up), TeeSpring (who make the TH-cam merch) only print onto white mugs. :(
@@ExplainingComputers Thanks and if not I will order the normal :)
is a mobile core 2 duo still worth using because that is what I'm using right now
Hello Christopher would you be willing to do an unboxing and to show us a little more about the new board called ASUS TinkerBoard i think it would be very interesting.
Cheers :)
Yes, I will be doing this -- I have one on order; but it was out of stock when I ordered (on the day of release) But as soon as it arrives, it will appear on the channel! :)
ExplainingComputers very excited to see it, love your videos learn alot from them that's why i wanna say a big thank you for that Chris cheers :)
Could you show the door operation again ?
Yes, I think I did not include it enough times! :)
Just ribbing you
Marvelous
The HDD disk connectors are specified to allow 50 !!!!! connects.
So don't switch too often.
This is a really interesting point -- SATA was initially specified at 10 connects! But a lot of pro video hardware now uses an SSD or 2.5" HDD that plugs in via its own SATA connector as the storage media (eg equipment from Atomos). I use such hardware, and often swap the SSD many times a day, and it has always worried me. Certainly the SATA connectors get looser over time. But I've not had one fail yet -- and my oldest recorder has probably done a good 300+ insert/remove cycles.
I use the same 2-drive bay to hold my boot SSDs.
Excellent! :)
Another great video Chris. You might remember me from before when I was called UKz Gamer HD.
But yes, another great video. Can you can get these but 3.5 to 2.5 conversion?
Greetings Nathan. :) I am not aware of any conversion versions -- you have to choose either slots fo 2.5" drives (that go in a 3.5 bay), or for 3.5" drives (that go in a 5.25" bay).
Thanks for your reply :)
I would like to know, if you heard about the new Asus Tinker Board. Could you make a review and a comparison with the Raspberry Pi 3?
I've ordered an Asus Tinker Board, though it was out of stock. It will feature on the channel as soon as it arrives! :)
ExplainingComputers Cool! Btw, keep up your nice work, i really like your channel 👌👍
Your human impersonation is getting rather good.