Whaler_99

It's possible the slot itself went bad, but not likely. If you haven't tried replacing cables or ports on the controller first, I'd try that. I've been using in excess of 8 5x3 and 3 3x2 cages and have never had a slot itself go bad. Both those issues sound like a cable or controller issue.

Yes, you need both plugged in. That adapter should be fine.

Almost all the 5 bay units have 80mm fans. A few have 90mm. You cannot fit a 120mm fan in a 5 bay hot swap along with all the connections needed. From various testing and real world use they almost all perform fine. I have even added LNA's to some to slow them down and make them a bit quieter. I occasional get temp warning on a drive in summer during a parity check or 45-49 C but that typically clears up pretty quick.

In another review I did I also commented on the trayless ones seeming to be a bit flimsy one the drive is installed (not very secure) and using a thinner 3.5" would cause issues especially depending on the orientation of the cage. Conclusion, although a pain, almost any of the cages that require you to screw the drives into the tray are going to give you a better, more consistent experience, especially if you are removing and inserting drives a lot for some reason. Just a more secure design overall.

I'm not specifically sure, as it doesn't explicitly state one way or the other, but I assume it does. Most of these 3x5 units, the backplane is pretty dumb and just passing through signals, so will support SATA I/II/III just fine. I know a couple models state support for I and II and but not III specifically, so maybe there you might have an issue.

Those cages will work fine and are a great alternative, but having had unraid for years now, needing to swap drives in and out, the "hot swap" cages are so worth the money. They make it so much easier! And in reality, they are not really hot-swap per say. You still need to shut down the server to swap/move/change a drive, etc.

Good thing I didn't pay for it then...

Hey guys, just got my hands on what I think is a BR10i card. These are some of the numbers on it: SAS3082e-R L3-25116-01h And looks like the IBM FRU is 44E8690 Been doing some reading on this thread, looks pretty straight forward. Just two questions, what is the lastest firmware for this card in IT mode and does it support the large drives? Thanks,

Good point, something to keep an eye on when putting everything together. Guess I have been lucky till now.

Only in the US... curse you Newegg.com!

I did review a couple of trayless models. Work fine although the drives fit in a little loosely. And if you have a thinner than normal 3.5" drive, like some Seagate drives, you need to pay attention when slotting them in as the alignment may be off. Overall, I still prefer the trays where I have to screw the drives in. Everything is just much more secure.

Why o why US only?!?! <sniff> At a hundred bucks that is an amazing price on an amazing case.

I've tried the Norco rack mount units before and hated them. Too big, ugly and just not my cup of tea. I looked at the Antec 1200, but leaning more towards the Cooler Master Trooper. It is a larger case, deeper and roomier and less expensive. Has all the fans I would need so I think that will be the one. The C-clamp idea is good. When I had to bend all my CM 590 tabs down the metal in that case was thicker (all cases were made heavier and thicker metal years ago) and I had was a small hammer at the time. I'll manage somehow. This is the one I'm going to give a shot. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119297&cm_re=coolermaster_trooper-_-11-119-297-_-Product p.s. I usually miss out on sales so I don't even look for them anymore. The Antec 1200 is actually larger - the Trooper only has 9 x 5.25 versus the Antec's 12 x 5.25. Plus the "cages" already in the Trooper may not allow you to add 5x3 cages. Not sure. The Antec 1200 is a lot roomier inside as well. Probably one of the best cases for unRaid builds. I love mine. The only issue is no casters for it and it weighs a ton with everything installed.

Just got a new cage to add to the farm, so of course, here is the review. IcyDock ToughArmor - MB996SP-6SB Full Metal 6 Bay 2.5" SATA HDD & SSD Cage Initial Thoughts: - Really good packaging - Very well built, solid feeling cage, all metal - All metal drive cages, again very solid - Drive blank filler included on each tray - Clearly labeled bags with sperated screws - Well labeled read indicating SATA ports and corresponding drive bays - Included two SATA to Molex power converters - Basic instruction manual - Very nice release mechanism on trays. - 40mm fan with a Hi, Low and off setting Inside: - Obviously very tight, not much room for airflow, but can see where holes have been cut to allow for it Installation: - Very easy to slid in and scre to case - Mounting holes lines up perfectly - Enough space that connecting all six SATA and two power cables wasn't an issue - Some issues with tolerances on the screws. Some drives mounted to the cages still had some movement. LED: - Front green power LED and orangish activity LED Overall thoughts. Initially looking at this unit I was impressed. Top quality and VERY solid. The drive cages as well were very solid and a nice blanking panel on the end of each one in case you don't install a drive in one or more, won't waste air flow. Really like the inclusion of the SATA to Molex power connectors. Nice touch. The unit is very well labeled to map out which connectors on the rear correspond to which trays on the front. Now, the down side. I am not sure if it was the tolerances on the length of the included screws or the threading ont he drives themselves, but a few of them were a little loose on the tray, even when I had the screws in as tight as I felt was safe. Now, dealing with 7 and 9.5 mm drives doesn't leave much room for error, so not sure who to blame on the one. Once plugged in though, everything was solid. I was worried about that 40mm fan being a little turbine. But upon powering up the unit and set at high, I could hardly hear over the other case fans and 3x5 cage fans I have in the case. Was impressed. I set mine to medium. With some basic monitoring on the drives, temps are normal, but have not run any parity checks to really stress them. Not withstand the screw issue, I am duly inpressed by this unit. The ability to fit 6 drives into a single 5.25" slot is nice and the layout in the rear makes for nice management. That with a overall rock solid build and a decent fan leaves me with a great impression of the unit. With the availability of 2TB 9.5mm drives, you could really cram a lot of storage in one of these in that mITX build. Along with a perfect housing for SSD drives. Images (link to full gallery )

Just working on the newly arrived SM unit and a pleasant surprise. The drive trays all come with pre-installed filler panels, so those trays without a drive installed won't have air pulled through them, aka, dust. Very nice addition.

Just ordered another SM 5x3, man, those things never die, and two of these: http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817994147&cm_re=hot_swap-_-17-994-147-_-Product To use a bunch of laptop drives I have. I will do up a review of them.

My thoughts, a little much for what they are. In reality that is 3 of their standard 5x3 cages, in a custom enclosure, with a PSU and some multiplexers. I looked around, not many places selling it, but one place had it for $845. What?? Think of it, you could get an Antec 900, 3 of the 3x5 cages, your PSU and a SuperMicro 8 port card and probably still be ahead by a few. Yes, a bit more room, but still, if you have some mITX build currently and you need 15x more drives, maybe you should look at a bigger case anyways. For what it is, just way to much money. And as mentioned, parity check speeds would be horrible on this. And wonder about streaming two or three HD movies from one eSATA port? Don't think it have the bandwidth for that either.

Not that is totally unfair, we Canucks get shafted.

If you read the original review, I do indicate that the fan should be pretty easy to swap, 92mm fan. 4 pin connector. Just verify on yours that it is still a 92mm fan. My review unit is a few years old and they may have changed this, but should be fairly easy to swap for something quieter of the same size. Just make sure you use something with good static pressure values, as it needs to pull that air through the cage filled with drives.

Those ones you linked are either knock off or an oem version of the iStar ones we get here in North America. You can read a review of my 3x2 cage of theirs here - http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=24258.0 Overall, iStar make good quality products. Both them and Icy are great options. I would look for pics of the back of the units, find which one works better for your build, and maybe aesthetics from the front. Go with that choice.

If you have switched drives and SATA cables, probably pretty safe with the fact that it is a bad port...

Yes, they do almost look identical, especially the rear. My only concern, as you pointed out, limited air intake in the front. At $104 on Ebay they aren't even that much of a deal either...

You can also check one of my other review posts here - http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=24258.0 I had a chance to test out a trayless unit. My only issue with it, as detailed in the review, is making sure the power/sata connecters line up properly when sliding the drive in, esp if you have a "thinner" then normal 3.5" drive. This is where a drive tray helps, making sure the fit is always proper. Just pay attention though and you shouldn't have any issues.

Anyone have any interest in me reviewing the two new 5x3 cages from ICY DOCK? I may be able to get some samples. MB975SP-B - tray less MB155SP-B - new design of their popular tray one Whaler

Interesting - the SATABAY5BK look almost exactly like the iStar - I wonder if they are OEM'ing them? Also, the SBAY5BK is a lot like another iStar model.