Lian -Li EX-H33B Hot Swap Cages - Anyone use these? What do you think?


flambot

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My server has drive cages that hold 3 HDD's and sports a 120mm fan. They are a pain to change drives. I found these locally and wondered if anyone has any experience with this brand and or these hot swap cages.

 

http://www.ascent.co.nz/productspecification.aspx?ItemID=368255

 

They look like you just screw a handle (supplied) to the HDD to pull it out. Not sure if the HDD locks in place.

 

There is also a 4 HDD one

 

http://www.ascent.co.nz/productspecification.aspx?ItemID=420428

 

Last time I looked at hot swap cages they were a wicked price. These seem reasonable.

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Haven't used these, but as for "What do you think?" ==>  These look VERY nice.  I suspect they're typical Lian-Li quality, and from the description, the drives should be VERY easy to swap out when necessary.  They've done an excellent job with their cooling design, with a centralized 120mm fan pulling air directly across the drives.  Definitely look like a great choice for a 4-in-3 (or 3-in-3 if that's all you need) cage.

 

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Haven't used these, but as for "What do you think?" ==>  These look VERY nice.  I suspect they're typical Lian-Li quality, and from the description, the drives should be VERY easy to swap out when necessary.  They've done an excellent job with their cooling design, with a centralized 120mm fan pulling air directly across the drives.  Definitely look like a great choice for a 4-in-3 (or 3-in-3 if that's all you need) cage.

 

I think I might get one of these to see what they're like. Any idea how the cables attach to it? I'm assuming there is a back panel that the drives slide on to (similar to the bits in a HDD dock??) - and that the Mobo SATA cable plug into this board. What about the power connectors? I've never seen any sort of quick swap cages, so I have no idea. Thx

 

Update: I finally found a pic (not of this unit, but a Lian Li backplane panel. Shows the connctions quite clearly. Now I wonder if the fan hinges out of the way??

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Excellent. Now I'll have to track down some female molex to 6 pin PCI-e connector is I can plug straight into the power supply like my existing sata power cables.

Ahem... just yesterday I was kinda doing same search... and searched... and searched... and then realized that the thing simply does not exist. Because PCI-e power connector carries only GND and +12V, while SATA and MOLEX power connectors carry GND, +12V, and +5V...

 

And just as a friendly reminder: playing with wrong power connectors could be deadly to your disks

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Excellent. Now I'll have to track down some female molex to 6 pin PCI-e connector is I can plug straight into the power supply like my existing sata power cables.

Ahem... just yesterday I was kinda doing same search... and searched... and searched... and then realized that the thing simply does not exist. Because PCI-e power connector carries only GND and +12V, while SATA and MOLEX power connectors carry GND, +12V, and +5V...

 

And just as a friendly reminder: playing with wrong power connectors could be deadly to your disks

 

Bingo! Was going to comment but you beat me to it.

 

PCI-e have blank/yellow which are gnd/+12v ABSOLUTELY do not use those on your hard drives!!

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I'm just about to ring the supplier to see what cables come with the unit. Then I'll have to think about the best way to get power to them. Currently I have a cable with 4xsata connectors on it that comes straight from the power supply. I'm pretty sure all my HDD's are supplied directly from the PS with the same type of cable. My setup only uses the molex for the fans.

 

The PCI-e plug is what the plug on the end of the cable is. I have a single molex to sata (female), but I need the reverse - a molex to sata (male). Best to get on the the supplier first. Thx

 

EDIT: I'm wrong about the PCI-e plug - they all look to same unless you look real closely. The power ones have a different shape to the plastic pins.

 

Further, I have found some cables that came with my PS. They come straight from the power supply and have female molex connectors on them. They look like this molex-8.jpg

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Those are standard molex connectors.    You can use the adapters from Monoprice with those to get 2 (or 4 ... they also have a molex to 4 SATA adapter)  SATA power outputs.

 

Wait until you get the cage, however, before deciding what you need.  The picture on Newegg looks like it uses molex power connections ... NOT SATA connectors.

 

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Those are standard molex connectors.    You can use the adapters from Monoprice with those to get 2 (or 4 ... they also have a molex to 4 SATA adapter)  SATA power outputs.

 

Wait until you get the cage, however, before deciding what you need.  The picture on Newegg looks like it uses molex power connections ... NOT SATA connectors.

 

Will do. Just waiting to hear back from the supplier concerning all my questions.

 

Seems my WD red 6Tb drive was faulty as they are sending a new one. Fingers crossed.

 

 

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...

I think it's a good bit simpler to just use a molex to SATA adapter  8)

http://www.monoprice.com/Product?c_id=102&cp_id=10226&cs_id=1022604&p_id=8796&seq=1&format=2

Sure... but not in my particular case. I was in a hurry and did not think and research enough, so I put an el cheapo PSU from Frys into my experimental server. The PSU turned out to be +12V-multirail, and, adding insult to injury, not powerful enough to power 10 HDDS from one rail. 8 HDDs - yes, 10 - no. And the second +12V rail goes, it seems, solely into PCIe power connectors. So, for this particular case, the PCIe-to-SATA power adapter is what is needed, just to power few more HDDs.

 

Yeah, I know, I know - don't skip on PSU... but this is temporary server put together for tests only, so considering how much I've already spend on hardware  :'( I did not want a mediocre PSU and did not want to pay retail on high quality PSU... so I bought the cheapest. And, you know, so far it works. Except for not being able to start all 10 HDDs, but that's really not needed for planned tests - when I'm trying 4+4TB parity, I simply disconnect 4x2TB parity pool, and vice versa.

 

Anyway, I'm keeping an eye on quality PSU deals, still don't want to pay full price.

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These Lian units don't come with SATA cables (pity) - only the cable to power the fan. I was told they are 215mm deep from their face.

 

I am looking at a 4xpack of coloured Lian SATA cables (0.85m long), which have locking connectors (something my current ones don't have). They are only 3Gb/p cables. Do I need 6 Gb/s cables??

 

I think only one drive I have does 6Gb/s and the Mobo is old so that is doubtful.

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Thx guys for the imput. I'm in New Zealand, so all those off-shore sites, while great, are out of the question - too long to receive. Locally, most things are overnight, or two days. Anything off-shore is at least two weeks or more. Most SATA cables here are at least $5.00+NZ for the basic type. The Lian ones at $20NZ which includes free shipping and a 4 year warranty is a good deal.

 

Rule of thumb - In New Zealand, we're robbed blind!

 

Why not get 5in3s?

 

Not quite sure what this ref means. Is this a similar hot-swap type thingee that holds more drives??

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Yes. 5in3 holds 5 drives in the space of 3.

 

Can't help you with finding locally, but here is an example of a good one.

 

Supermicro 5in3

 

Thx. Those are nice. Couldn't find any listed locally. I'm in the process of reducing server to 8 drives. So 3x 3x5 - gives me one extra slot. Good for a preclear. I like the idea of only 3 HDD's in a unit as the drives should run cooler.

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... I like the idea of only 3 HDD's in a unit as the drives should run cooler.

 

Agree.  I don't have any 3-in-3's, but I do have both 4-in-3's and 5-in-3's, and the drives in the 4-in-3's definitely run cooler than those in the 5-in-3's => clearly there's better airflow in those, as they have more space between the drives.  [Not the only factor, since the size and speed of the integrated fans also matter, but in at least one case they have the same fans in both units ... both 120mm units at the same rpm]

 

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Didn't mean to imply my 5-in-3's didn't adequately cool the drives ... they do just fine (both the SuperMicro and the IcyDock units).    But the 4-in-3's do a BETTER job ... keeping temps 1-3 degrees lower than the 5-in-3's.    It's a simple matter of airflow ... and they have more of it  :)

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