April 7, 201511 yr I saw the drop with mine but it appears to be drive specific/5x3 specific. I have multiple SM 5x3 cages and only really saw it on one of them. Also it only appeared with my WD EARS (I think it was the EARS anyway) that I saw a drop in performance. But with Seagate and newer WD drives I've not had a problem even with the same 5x3. So YMMV.
April 28, 201511 yr Author I ended up buying the Lian-Li Hot Swap Cage as listed in the first post of this thread. Unfortunately, the supplier couldn't supply 3xunits, so I had to put in a 4xHDD one. Here are my thoughts. The 3xHDD cage has the SATA ports on the outside of the unit on the correct side for easy connection from the open side of the server case. (see pic) It has a single molex plug for power and and nifty multi-way plug for the fan. I noticed an immediate drop in the HDD temps once installed - even though I had the HDD's in a TT cage. This unit did not have any SATA cables. The unit is supplied with 3xhandles that screw to each drive for easy removal. There is a grey plastic knob on each side of the tray to lock the drive into place. These knobs slide down. (See pic). Overall, I thought this was a great step up from what I had. They are much quieter the the Thermaltake units I replaced. http://s159.photobucket.com/user/Grooving_Kiwi/media/Lian-Li%20How%20Swap%20Cage/HSCage-3HDD.jpg.html?sort=3&o=1[/ http://s159.photobucket.com/user/Grooving_Kiwi/media/Lian-Li%20How%20Swap%20Cage/HSCage-3HDD-2.jpg.html?sort=3&o=0 I cannot get as excited about the 4xHDD version. It is deeper by about 25mm. The SATA ports are located behind the fan - which is screwed into position. The SATA cables need to be low profile ones to fit (although in this case they came with the unit). This unit takes 2xmolex connectors for drive power. Downside is all the cables come out of the unit on the inside of the case opening, making them very difficult to work with. Overall, I couldn't recommend this unit. The 3xHDD one is better value and easier to work with.
April 29, 201511 yr This unit takes 2xmolex connectors for drive power. Most of these types of units come with 2 power connectors - and you only need to connect one. The second one is for a second power supply for use in servers that have two power supplies for redundancy. As long as one of the power supplies is working, the cage will get power.
April 30, 201511 yr Author This unit takes 2xmolex connectors for drive power. Most of these types of units come with 2 power connectors - and you only need to connect one. The second one is for a second power supply for use in servers that have two power supplies for redundancy. As long as one of the power supplies is working, the cage will get power. Interesting. Would never have picked that. I just assumed they both had to be connected. There was no documentation with the unit. I did like the fan connector that could be connected either small 2pin?(maybe 3pin), and either male or female molex. Quite a tricky little plug. The 3HDD unit is definitely the better of the two. I tried really hard locally to get another one, but they are "End of Line" so had to go with what they could supply.
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