Kathy Ireland Furniture: Addonics AENRHDSA35-R SATA Mobile Rack Review

I bought this as a backup system for my RAID O array.I figured backup to a SATA drive in my PC would run faster than using a desktop USB disk.I can plug in a relatively inexpensive SATA drive and swap it out from time to time, allowing me to store my backups away from my PC location.

This is a decent piece of hardware. It has a sturdy aluminum case and a locking tray that a 3.5" SATA drive screws into.The chassis is placed into an available 5.25" drive bay, much the same as installing a DVD writer.The tray with drive then slides into this chassis.When a key lock is turned to "Lock" the tray is prevented from being pulled out and power to the drive is enabled.A green LED indicates power "On" status.When the key is turned to "Unlock" power is removed from the drive and the tray can be slid out of the chassis or left in place.A wire harness with cryptic hookup instructions is provided to activate the chassis drive activity LED if desired.The SATA connectors are hotplug capable but I've not tried this feature out.

The installation is simple and the appearance is clean.The fit and finish of all the parts is very good.Tray-to-chassis interface mating is consistent.I especially like the heavy all-aluminum tray and chassis for its heatsinking capabilty. The tray bezel is equipped with a decently quiet fan for drive cooling, but I found enough air was sucked through the drive bay of my PC to render this fan unnecessary.Using an extended SATA and power cable the entire assembly could easily be set outside a PC too; the tray fan would be useful for that situation.

One drawback is that the key cannot be removed when the drive is locked. If your PC has a hinged cover over its front drive bays the key will probably keep it from closing completely.Extra trays can be purchased if two or more drives are frequently swapped, but I found I had to buy those direct from Addonics because Amazon didn't offer them at the time.

Overall I'm pleased with the quality of build and durability.This is a good hardware solution for how to make a hard drive removable.

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Product Description:

The Addonics Mobile Rack II is a removable drive kit designed specially to turn an Serial ATA hard drive into a hot swap removable hard drive. Constructed with Aluminum all around for use in harsh and rough handling environment, the tough aluminum enclosure also provides sturdy hard drive protection and efficient heat dissipation for the high RPM Serial ATA hard drive.

Main Features
Manufacturer: Addonics Technologies
Manufacturer Part Number: AENRHDSA35-R
Manufacturer Website Address: www.addonics.com
Product Type: Storage Enclosure
Case Style: Removable Drive Case
Bays: 1 x 3.5"Front Accessible
Drive Support: 1
Drive Type: 1 x Serial ATA/150
Interfaces/Ports: 1 x Serial ATA
Color: Black
Form Factor: Internal
Dimensions: 1.65" Height x 5.75" Width x 7.48" Depth
Weight: 1 lb
Standard Warranty: 1 Year(s)

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