The 5X3 Cage review - Norco, SuperMicro, iStarUSA and Icy Dock


Whaler_99

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28 minutes ago, Rick Sanchez said:

What dock is this? Does anyone know? - It's to fit in a Antec 1200.

 

 

It's the Norco SS-500 hard drive cage...https://www.newegg.com/norco-ss-500-hot-swap-rack-module/p/N82E16816133030

 

**Mind you, I would never buy anything from Norco. Their customer service has gone from awful to non-existent. If you have issues with these, good luck ever getting in contact with them (they don't have an answering machine setup, they don't answer the phone, and they don't respond to emails). I ordered a part from their online store and they never delivered the item that was said to be in-stock. PayPal reimbursed me because they couldn't even get in contact with Norco. I'm about 98% sure they've actually gone out of business.

 

****If you want decent hard drive cages, go with Supermicro CSE-M35T-1B's. If those are too expensive get either the iStarUSA BPU-350SATA (BPU-350HD) or BPN-DE350SS (BPN-DE350HD). The iStarUSA cages are a little less solid than the Supermicro ones but they seem to have an active customer service and they come in trayless varieties.

Edited by ramblinreck47
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It's the Norco SS-500 hard drive cage...https://www.newegg.com/norco-ss-500-hot-swap-rack-module/p/N82E16816133030
 
**Mind you, I would never buy anything from Norco. Their customer service has gone from awful to non-existent. If you have issues with these, good luck ever getting in contact with them (they don't have an answering machine setup, they don't answer the phone, and they don't respond to emails). I ordered a part from their online store and they never delivered the item that was said to be in-stock. PayPal reimbursed me because they couldn't even get in contact with Norco. I'm about 98% sure they've actually gone out of business.
 
****If you want decent hard drive cages, go with Supermicro CSE-M35T-1B's. If those are too expensive get either the iStarUSA BPU-350SATA (BPU-350HD) or BPN-DE350SS (BPN-DE350HD). The iStarUSA cages are a little less solid than the Supermicro ones but they seem to have an active customer service and they come in trayless varieties.
I am not happy with the temps in my Norco ss-500, really considering selling the four of them and buying these instead

Current temps during heavy usage almost reach 50 and its winter over here...

Sent from my SM-A520F using Tapatalk

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hello

 

I have purchased 2 Supermicro CSE-M35T1 3x5 drive cages. Do I need to plug in both Molex power connectors in each cage, or should just one work? Unfortunately I don't have enough Molex connectors on my power supply. Is it safe to use one molex and one sata power cable with sata->molex adapter (link to adapter) per cage? 

Edited by gulo
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17 hours ago, gulo said:

Hello

 

I have purchased 2 Supermicro CSE-M35T1 3x5 drive cages. Do I need to plug in both Molex power connectors in each cage, or should just one work? Unfortunately I don't have enough Molex connectors on my power supply. Is it safe to use one molex and one sata power cable with sata->molex adapter (link to adapter) per cage? 

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

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  • 3 weeks later...

Has anyone ever had issues with a slot going bad in the Norco drive cages?  Two different slots in two different cages are, potentially, giving me issues.  One is causing the drive to disappear and the other is give sporadic CRC errors.  I'm going to look into if it's the cables or the slot.  But I was curious to know if anyone ever had a slot go bad on them?

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2 hours ago, jbuszkie said:

Has anyone ever had issues with a slot going bad in the Norco drive cages?  Two different slots in two different cages are, potentially, giving me issues.  One is causing the drive to disappear and the other is give sporadic CRC errors.  I'm going to look into if it's the cables or the slot.  But I was curious to know if anyone ever had a slot go bad on them?

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.

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Has anyone tried the Silverstone Sst-FS305? How is the airflow and temps. Istarusa, norco, doesn't really exist in the eu.. 

 

It looks exactly like the istarusa one from the back. 

Does anyone have temperature data on the BPN-DE350HD. 

Edited by kakmoster
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15 minutes ago, kakmoster said:

Has anyone tried the Silverstone Sst-FS305? How is the airflow and temps. Istarusa, norco, doesn't really exist in the eu.. 

 

It looks exactly like the istarusa one from the back. 

Does anyone have temperature data on the BPN-DE350HD. 

Almost all the 5x3 trayless seem to be more or less the exact same, so I would assume it fine and terms of mechanics. The one thing I don't like about the Silverstone that some of the others have is that the front of the trays have no airflow. Looking at some iStar and others, they have different patterns on the front to allow airflow in. So, temps in this might get a bit higher.

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1 hour ago, Whaler_99 said:

Almost all the 5x3 trayless seem to be more or less the exact same, so I would assume it fine and terms of mechanics. The one thing I don't like about the Silverstone that some of the others have is that the front of the trays have no airflow. Looking at some iStar and others, they have different patterns on the front to allow airflow in. So, temps in this might get a bit higher.

Hm yes I didn't think about that.. Anything that's not norco, Supermicro or istarusa that has good airflow?.. I have a few 8TB Seagate Ironwolfs and bot they get hot.. 

 

I want to be able to have 20 drives in my Antec 1200, or maybe 18 with 3x2 cages. 

 

How about the Icy Dock MB975SP-B (bad reviews)... 

 

This is hard. Maybe a cage with trays is the way to go. I guess molex is almost mandatory if you want shucked drives with the 3.3 V pin.. 

 

MB155SB-B looks like it have pretty good airflow, also with a 92 mm fan. 

I guess molex to sata would work. 

Edited by kakmoster
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  • 2 weeks later...

I can do a quick review of the MB15SB-B (the FatCage). It has much better airflow than the one in OP, more ventilation and bigger fan.

 

I "couldn't" handle Seagate Ironwolf drives. Temps where at +45C at idle. For these drives the Icy Dock Vortex (4in3) is a better choice, ~38C at idle and 45C parity checking. 

 

However, when I run my 5 old 4TB WD Red drives, the temperature is stable at ~33C idle and 39-42C while parity checking. This is with fan at max, thinking about swapping it or running it at a lower speed because it's loud! Edit: at lower speed it's much more quiet.

 

Trays are pretty great according to me. Sturdy.

 

My ambient temperature is around 22C. 

Edited by kakmoster
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  • 2 weeks later...
On 3/22/2020 at 11:22 AM, kakmoster said:

I can do a quick review of the MB15SB-B (the FatCage). It has much better airflow than the one in OP, more ventilation and bigger fan.

 

I "couldn't" handle Seagate Ironwolf drives. Temps where at +45C at idle. For these drives the Icy Dock Vortex (4in3) is a better choice, ~38C at idle and 45C parity checking. 

 

However, when I run my 5 old 4TB WD Red drives, the temperature is stable at ~33C idle and 39-42C while parity checking. This is with fan at max, thinking about swapping it or running it at a lower speed because it's loud! Edit: at lower speed it's much more quiet.

 

Trays are pretty great according to me. Sturdy.

 

My ambient temperature is around 22C. 

 

So, MB15SB-B is one worth purchasing?

- Do you have a link?

 

 

Thanks!

Edited by Rick Sanchez
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  • 1 year later...

Im thinking about getting a few HDD cages but as this thread hasnt been active since early last year I thought I would try here first..

 

Looking for either 4 x 3 1/2 or 5 x 3 1/2 but want something that is going to have good HDD cooling thats not going to break the bank.

I was looking at the black vortex but saw that it only has bottom mounting points to screw into the case which isnt ideal if your going to have 3 of them fully loaded with drives.... the sag due to being bottom mounted only doesnt appeal.

 

So anyone have any ideas or suggestions?

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Do you have a link to the product page? I know most of the 3x5 cages I've used a very sturdy and just a couple of screws to secure them in had been fine in many cases. That also depends as well on the quality of the case itself and the frame. 

Any of the original 4 docks reviewed are all still great candidates and you can usually find them on a variety of secondary markets at a good price.

 

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9 hours ago, ChatNoir said:

I think @JWMutant was talking about this : https://www.icydock.com/goods.php?id=175

 

 

 

Wow, that one looks scary, lol. But I would say if that bottom piece is mounted with 2 screws on each side, should be more than secure enough. Esp if you have a decent case to bear the load.

 

3 minutes ago, JWMutant said:

Has anyone else had any temp issues with the 5 drive icy dock.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

I've used two of the older models of their 5x3 and never had a temp issue. Of course it is highly dependent on ambient temperature.

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