Storage is something that most of use are always in need of. I know I’ve got a rather large collection of hard drives for backups, and backups of my backups, along with Raid style NAS boxes as well. It seems we can never have enough storage. 2.5” drives are becoming very popular lately as they are finally increasing in size and catching up to their 3.5” counterpart in terms of capacity. If you look at pricing, for example a 3.5” 250GB HDD costs about $45, while a 2.5” 250GB HDD costs about $55, so the prices have dropped quite a bit, making them a good choice for your storage needs as an alternate to the 3.5” drive, especially if space is an issue.
Today for review I’ve got a hard drive rack from Thermaltake, the Max4. This rack fits into a 3.5” bay and can hold two 2.5” hard drives for quite a bit of storage capacity in a small space. The Max4 also features hot swap, it’s easy to use and install and it’s well made. Using 2.5” drives instead of 3.5” drives makes the system quieter usually and on average uses less power, so there are those features to consider as well. Read on to learn more….
Specifications/Features:
Features:
-Supports dual 2.5” SATA hard drive.
-Fully supports hot-swap and hot-plug.
-Tool-free for easy HDD installation.
-Fits in standard 3.5” drive bay.
-Up to 3Gbps transfer speeds.
Specs:
Enclosure Interface: SATA to SATA
Transfer Rate: 3.0 Gbps
HDD Compatible: SATA I / SATA II
HDD Capacity: 2.5″ SATA HDD
OS Compatible: Windows Vista / XP / 2003 / 2000 / NT / 98 / 95 Mac 10.3 and later
Material: Stainless & Plastic
Power: 4-pin Molex Power Connector
Dimension: 133 (L) x 101 (W) x 24 (H) mm / 5.24 (L) x 3.98 (W) x 0.94 (H) in
Accessory: SATA & Power Management Cable
Weight: 276 g
Special Features:
-Fully supports hot-swap and hot-plug
-Tool-free for easy HDD installation
Unboxing:
The Thermaltake Max4 2.5” HDD Rack comes in an attractive box with pictures and information on it.
Inside you’ll find the Max4 packed well with the user manual right on the top when you open it. Included with the Max4 are two Molex to SATA power adapters. These adapter have a special power connection on them that connects to the back of the Max4 to power the LEDs. There’s also two SATA cables and installation screws included as well.
The Max4 itself is nicely made, it features a stainless steel chassis for the hard drives, metal for the rack and a plastic front bezel. There’s not much fancy looking about it, subtle yet stylish is how I might describe it. There are two chrome buttons on the front that are used to eject the hard drives from the dock. You’ll notice there are no locks on this rack to secure the drives in place from accidental ejection or even theft. Not sure how I feel about the lack of locks here..
On the back is where you’ll find the SATA data and power connections along with the special power connection that goes with the included Molex to SATA adapters.
All of the housing is metal, here’s a few views for you:
The two front arms open to access the drive bays and insert or remove your 2.5” hard drives. On the back of them are springs that help push the drive into the SATA connection.
Inside of the Max4 enclosure is an arm that pushes the drive out when you eject it making it easy to remove.
Installation, Performance, Comparison:
Installation is very easy, just like installing any other 3.5” bay device. You can install the hard drives before or after you install it into your case.
Here’s a few views of the hard drives installed in the rack before I installed it in my system. I used two Seagate 160gb 2.5” drives with the Max4.
Once installed in the system, it looks fairly subtle, until you power the system on then the bright blue LEDs light up.
Here’s a look from the inside of my case, it’s a bit messy:
You do have to use the Molex to SATA adapters that come with the Max4 if you want the LEDs on the front to work. The adapters have a small connector on them that hooks into the back of the Max4. You don’t have to use them though of course, you just won’t have the LEDs to indicate power.
I tested it with the drives in the Max4 and just hooked up normally in my system, I found no difference at all in the access speeds of the drives. So it does not interfere with the function of the drives you’ve got in it.
The rack itself is nicely made, I’m a bit surprised that they used stainless steel inside of the rack, it’s a bit expensive, but it does look good and it will last a long time.
Overall the Max4 2.5” HDD rack is a good looking and proper functioning product, it does exactly what it’s supposed to do, let you use and swap 2.5” drives with your system.
I’m still a bit on the fence about the lack of locks on the Max4. In one way without them, life is easier, but with them your drives would be more secure. So it really depends on the situation you’ll be using this product in as to whether or not having locks would be needed or not.
Conclusion:
The Thermaltake Max4 2.5” SATA Hard Drive rack is one of those products where it’s very hard to really find something wrong with it. It’s easy to use and install, and it works exactly as it should. It’s a basic product in both looks and function really, but what more do you need in something like this?
Sure I could say that it’s rather plain looking, but that doesn’t have anything to do with how it functions, and personally I like the plain look.
Pros:
+Easy to install and use
+Very well made
+Hot swap 2.5” drives easily
Cons:
-Kind of plain looking
-Does not lock
Overall: 5 out of 5
Performance: 5 out of 5
Aesthetic: 5 out of 5
Build Quality: 5 out of 5
I would like to thank Thermaltake for the opportunity to review the Max4 2.5” SATA HDD Rack and for their support of Bona Fide Reviews.
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