SSD Hot swap bay

[Burner27]

I was contemplating buying one of these:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817986003

Just wondering if anyone had any experience with something similar to this? Any down sides? Would it be better to just have the SSD connected directly via a SATA cable?

Thanks for your opinions.

 

[groberts101]

Don't see why they would be a problem for most sata2 based SSD's.

Only issue I could possibly see is when trying to use sata3 SSD's or maybe even the larger/fastest sata2 SSD's might see some slight bottleneck?

IOW,.. should be fine for all but the fastest SSD's out there, I would guess.

 

[LokutusofBorg]

Are you wanting to actually hot swap your drives? Or have easy access to at least cold-swap them? I have one of these Norco units in my media server and it works great. Those hot swap bays are just pass-through circuitry on the SATA connector.

If you're not actually looking to swap your drives often, and you're just looking for a nice way to mount your SSD in your case then there are 2.5 to 3.5 adapters that are much cheaper.

 

[Burner27]

Thanks for the input. Not really looking to swap but I thought it would look neater in my machine to have such a setup. Pity they don't make a sata III version. Although I can't see how much of a difference it would make since these units just act as an extension of whatever ports they're hooked to on your motherboard, no?

 

[reynoldsjrmy]

Hi Burner,

I use one of these - it is Sata 3 (6GBs) compatible. Excellent build quality - I'm very pleased.

http://www.icydock.com/goods.php?id=114

Regds, JR

 

[code65536]

Pity they don't make a sata III version. Although I can't see how much of a difference it would make since these units just act as an extension of whatever ports they're hooked to on your motherboard, no?

Correct.

I got one of these when Micro Center had them on sale. As mentioned before, it's just a pass-through, so what really matters is your mobo/controller's spec. There are a couple of lines that "spy" on the SATA traffic to drive an indicator light, but it's extremely simple.

As for swapping, I had considered getting a traditional unit that had locking doors, drive trays/sleds, etc. But this actually turned out to be much more useful because it supported both 3.5" and 2.5" drives and swapping in and out was trivially easy: all the convenience of a dock without the mess of cables and power bricks. This thing turned out to be really handy during a HDD failure/recovery crisis that I had a month ago.

I also have a server case that has this sort of thing built-in. Again, same deal, it's just a pass-through; the computer doesn't even know that the backplane exists.

 

[Burner27]

The only thing making me a bit leary about the hot swap device I linked in my first post is the quality of the internal mechanism and the connector internally.

Lokutus: Is this what you are suggesting instead: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811990004

 

[sequoia464]

Hi Burner,

I use one of these - it is Sata 3 (6GBs) compatible. Excellent build quality - I'm very pleased.

http://www.icydock.com/goods.php?id=114

Regds, JR

Same here - nice unit.

 

[groberts101]

Although I can't see how much of a difference it would make since these units just act as an extension of whatever ports they're hooked to on your motherboard, no?

Should really add some salt to others advice in the respect that these things are just a simple pass through device and couldn't possibly have issues.

If you do some additional research.. you will see all sorts of issues with folks having detection/dropped drive/raid issues when attaching sata3 SSD's to sata2 backplanes/hotswap bays. For very fast sata3 SSD's it would be like adding too long of a cable in many situations and can lead to signaling issues. In fact.. try running a SF-2281 controlled drive that is capable of fully saturating the sata channel and see what happens(many others already learned the hard way. Heck.. even a weaker sata3 cable can cause similar issues for some.. so it's not far fetched to imagine what problems a cheaper setup like that original choice could have.

Point above was intended to forewarn you of the potential pitfalls relating the faster SSD's running off hotswap/backplanes. If you are thinking of upgrading to faster SSD's down the road and could possibly want that bay to be usefull and not add issue?.. maybe spend the money now and go sata3.

If you don't want to spend the cash for higher quality sata3 stuff right now?.. just do what was already rec'd above and go with a simple multiple 2.5 inch drive mounting bay to run direct cabling to the SSD. Then revisit the option later on(there will surely be more available and prices will be even lower due to sata3 SSD market saturation) and toss the cheap one you got earlier into another system.

Faster tech just needs better supporting hardware and cabling(this sure ain't HDD speed anymore, right?). Sure, some may get lucky with the cheap stuff.. but it's really just cheap insurance and often the best bang for the buck in the long run to spend more for quality up front.:thumbsup:

 

[Burner27]

Should really add some salt to others advice in the respect that these things are just a simple pass through device and couldn't possibly have issues.

If you do some additional research.. you will see all sorts of issues with folks having detection/dropped drive/raid issues when attaching sata3 SSD's to sata2 backplanes/hotswap bays. For very fast sata3 SSD's it would be like adding too long of a cable in many situations and can lead to signaling issues. In fact.. try running a SF-2281 controlled drive that is capable of fully saturating the sata channel and see what happens(many others already learned the hard way. Heck.. even a weaker sata3 cable can cause similar issues for some.. so it's not far fetched to imagine what problems a cheaper setup like that original choice could have.

Point above was intended to forewarn you of the potential pitfalls relating the faster SSD's running off hotswap/backplanes. If you are thinking of upgrading to faster SSD's down the road and could possibly want that bay to be usefull and not add issue?.. maybe spend the money now and go sata3.

If you don't want to spend the cash for higher quality sata3 stuff right now?.. just do what was already rec'd above and go with a simple multiple 2.5 inch drive mounting bay to run direct cabling to the SSD. Then revisit the option later on(there will surely be more available and prices will be even lower due to sata3 SSD market saturation) and toss the cheap one you got earlier into another system.

Faster tech just needs better supporting hardware and cabling(this sure ain't HDD speed anymore, right?). Sure, some may get lucky with the cheap stuff.. but it's really just cheap insurance and often the best bang for the buck in the long run to spend more for quality up front.:thumbsup:

Yeah, I have to agree with you on this point. I ordered a 2.5" to 3.5" dual drive bay "bracket" for my drives. I appreciate everyone's input on this.