Recommend a hot-swap removable hard drive tray?

consolibyte · May 23, 2011

I'm looking for a hot-swap hard drive caddy, something like this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817371028

Although ideally, the hard drive would be in an actual tray instead of me just having to throw the entire hard drive in my backpack and ride home with it...

Does anyone know of such a thing?

gsaldivar · May 23, 2011

I'd avoid putting daily wear and tear directly on the SATA interface.

Instead, consider using a portable eSATA or USB drive, or any kind of enclosure that you can put the drive into "permanently" that allows you to connect or dock the drive without actually using the drive's native interface.

DesiPower · May 23, 2011

They will be hardware specific, something like this.

Or you can just buy a carry case...

consolibyte · May 23, 2011

Right, that's what I'm looking for. This is what I'm looking at now which I think will fit the bill:

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/p...02&lid=1342490

DesiPower · May 23, 2011

consolibyte said:
Right, that's what I'm looking for. This is what I'm looking at now which I think will fit the bill:

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/p...02&lid=1342490

broken link...

consolibyte · May 23, 2011

Stupid forum. Try this:

Dell link

DesiPower · May 23, 2011

consolibyte said:
Stupid forum. Try this:

Dell link

nope, still broken.. what's the product's name?

gsaldivar · May 23, 2011

nmhttp://search.dell.com/searchcom_re...ch&redpe=d1a9f032-9a6f-9736-c624-d4ca267bcd6d

DesiPower · May 23, 2011

yap, took me to "StarTech.com 5.25-Inch Rugged SATA Hard Drive Mobile Rack Drawer", will it fit on any desktop? if it does, that's really kool!!

also, buy it from amazon, save tax! :biggrin:

gsaldivar · May 23, 2011

DesiPower said:
yap, took me to "StarTech.com 5.25-Inch Rugged SATA Hard Drive Mobile Rack Drawer", will it fit on any desktop? if it does, that's really kool!!

I posted, but then deleted that link, when I saw that this drawer uses the drive's native interface as I mentioned above.

JackMDS · May 23, 2011

You get one of this.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817993029

If you want to use it with more than one drive you can buy more trays.

Each drive is protected in its own tray, and can be put in and out when needed.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817994078

consolibyte · May 23, 2011

JackMDS said:
You get one of this.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817993029

If you want to use it with more than one drive you can buy more trays.

Each drive is protected in its own tray, and can be put in and out when needed.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817994078

The only thing with these is the reviews are sometimes pretty sketchy- lots of people with problems or broken ones.

corkyg · May 23, 2011

In order to use mobile trays, the host machine must have the rack installed. Then you can move the tray from rack to rack. The trays are not "stand alone." The new Vantec EZ Swap 4 is a trayless SATA rach. No tray needed - just shove in the bare drive.

To use more drives, you don't need to buy trays.

The LCD display is great - and fan speed is easily controlled.

gsaldivar · May 23, 2011

corkyg said:
No tray needed - just shove in the bare drive.

Right.

But these devices are meant to be used in a server environment, where the drive is NOT going to be swapped out frequently.

If the OP wants to swap the drive on a daily basis, this is a bad way to go. The onboard SATA connector on the drive's circuit board is not intended to handle lots of plugging & unplugging. If that connector is damaged, the hard drive's entire circuit board must be replaced.

For daily hot swapping, you will want to get a USB/eSATA drive that is intended for portable use. Or, get a tray/caddy system that does NOT use the hard drive's onboard connector as the docking contact between the caddy and the hard drive...

consolibyte · May 24, 2011

corkyg said:
In order to use mobile trays, the host machine must have the rack installed. Then you can move the tray from rack to rack. The trays are not "stand alone." The new Vantec EZ Swap 4 is a trayless SATA rach. No tray needed - just shove in the bare drive.

To use more drives, you don't need to buy trays.

The LCD display is great - and fan speed is easily controlled.

Right, this ^^^ is a great example of what I *do not* want. I *want* a tray design, as the drives will get swapped regularly, and carried around (brought home with people for off-site backups).

dawp · May 24, 2011

CRU dataport

http://www.cru-dataport.com/products/DataPort.php

http://computers.shop.ebay.com/i.ht...es_Storage_Internal&hash=item56428c7c7b&vil=1

JackMDS · May 24, 2011

consolibyte said:
The only thing with these is the reviews are sometimes pretty sketchy- lots of people with problems or broken ones.

Yeah the reasonable priced are made of plastic and if One is a "clumsy and the do not care" type of Guy they can be broken.

However, AFAIC if One does not suffer from Parkinson, then in a way it is probably more a personal attention/control issue rather than technology related.

I always install Mobil tray on each desktop (sometimes two for copy processes).

In most of them I use the type that Corkyg mentioned.

However, when using drives that are carried around between locations, the type that I linked to is more reasonable cause the whole tray can be taken on the road and provide protection to the HD.

P.S. Knowing how to read the review on NewEgg is an Art by itself. In many cases it is an indication of the the personality of the user rather than than the value of the hardware.

corkyg · May 24, 2011

In order to use the tray, the host computer has to have a rack installed to receive it. You would therefore need a rack at home and a rack at work, and move to and fro via the tray.

With all of that, an external eSATA or USB 3 would make more sense.

consolibyte · May 24, 2011

corkyg said:
In order to use the tray, the host computer has to have a rack installed to receive it. You would therefore need a rack at home and a rack at work, and move to and fro via the tray.

With all of that, an external eSATA or USB 3 would make more sense.

I don't want to use it at home. I just want to carry it home as an off-site backup.

mfenn · May 24, 2011

JackMDS said:
P.S. Knowing how to read the review on NewEgg is an Art by itself. In many cases it is an indication of the the personality of the user rather than than the value of the hardware.

Glad to hear I'm not the only person who psycho-analyzes Newegg reviewers.

mikedaniels · Jan 2, 2021

As hot-swap trays provide users with a rack or an enclosure for devices. It provides them with an appearance to show that the input/output controller remains there, despite the components being removed or replaced with another one.
You can get drive trays or hard drive caddy that support SAS, SATA, SCSI, and other hard drives. They can range between heights of 5 mm to 15 mm. Users can maximize the performance of their hard drives using single-, double-, or quad-bay backplanes.
I am having a look at IBM2.5inch SAS Long Hard Drive Tray For DS800, any ideas if anyone has used it before, imo it could be fine as its an IBM product. Anymore options for hard drive caddy and hdd sled, let me know, it might help in future.

mikeford · Jan 3, 2021

Hot swap is meant for rarely used, routinely pulling a drive is asking for connector trouble.

Recommend a hot-swap removable hard drive tray?

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