ORICO5.25 Trayless Hot Swap Mobile Rack CD-ROM 3.5 inch Internal SATA Hard Drive SSD Adapter-1106SS

Had a little trouble getting the hard drive to line up and the door closed. On both. But I gave 5 starts because I have a suspicion that's it's my inexperience using these type of things and possible the case this is installed in.

I think this is a good example of the Unix Philosophy being applied to hardware and not just software. So far - for me - it's been a champ with Windows 7 SP1, Windows Server 2008 R2, anything Linux 3.4+, and FreeBSD 10.2. Can't say for anything else since I haven't used it with anything else (yet?).✔ No-frills, no nonsense: Install it and off you go.✔ The metal chassis' construction is both open (providing decent ventilation) and solid (don't expect it to warp easily or lacerate your fingers).✔ Has a power button.✔ Bonus points for the power button's actuator being recessed enough to help prevent accidental presses (but not too much as to be annoying).✔ Individual LED indicators for both I/O activity and power.✔ The bay door and its locking mechanism are simple and effective. However...✘ The bay door's latch is flimsier than it should be.*It's worth mentioning that you should check your motherboard's firmware configuration for the port the bay is connected to. For example, my motherboard allows for individual SATA ports to be toggled as hot-swappable (even the external eSATA ones at the rear); information that any operating system kernel present can make use of (if supported).*The bay door latch should not prematurely break as long as you stick to the following:- To unlock and open the bay, place your index finger behind the locking tab and gently pull it back; The door will follow.- To close and lock the bay, pull the locking tab outward with your index finger as you push the door inward with your thumb; Once the door is closed, slide your finger out from under the locking tab.- Drive installation:1. Push your drive into the bay with your index finger until it's fully inserted. Note that the bay door will partially close as you do this.2. Place your index finger behind the locking tab on the door and gently pull back on it.3. While continuing to pull on the locking tab, use your thumb to fully close the bay door.4. Slide your index finger out from under the locking tab before removing your thumb from the door.- Drive removal:1. Place your index finger behind the locking tab and gently pull it back until the door is fully unlatched.2. Place your index and middle fingers on the inside of the door close to the middle, and gently push the door open the rest of the way.3. Grab and remove your drive.4. (Optional) Tuck your drive into bed while whispering sweet nothings to it.

When I tested this with a 3.5 inch mechanical hard drive it would only insert part way, then it would lock. The door could not be pushed all the way closed and it would lock while only partway in the caddy.Upon further examination I discovered that it has a very narrow roller that moves against the rear of the hard drive to release the hard drive from the connector and push it out of the caddy.This works fine if the rear of your hard drive is smooth and flat from top to bottom. But... what if it has ridges or indentations?The roller is very narrow. So when pushing the hard drive into the caddy, if you have a hard drive with any indentations, then the roller can get caught, locking the roller into a valley in the rear of the hard drive, preventing full insertion of the hard drive into the caddy.I have uploaded a photo of two identical 3.5 inch mechanical hard drives. Please look closely at the TOP hard drive. Do you see the valleys, indentations present on the top half of the drive? What happens is the roller falls into the indentation, then gets stuck there preventing the hard drive from inserting fully.The FIX is shown in the lower hard drive. You see that I have placed white TAPE over the indentations to make the back of the hard drive SMOOTH. After applying the tape, the roller will no longer drop into the indentation and get stuck. The roller moves smoothly over the back of the drive for insertion and removal.Applying tape to the rear of the hard drive SOLVES the insertion/removal problem.Now, I can fully insert the hard drive and remove, as well.Insertion goes fairly smoothly. Removal happens with a JERK as it separates the electrical connector. A more expensive caddy with gears might solve this JERKING motion, but this one, being pretty basic does have an annoying jerk as the connectors separate. This JERK is nothing that affects the functionality of the device, it's just kind of annoying and something you must accept.Overall, if you know how to fix this flaw when using certain hard drives, this is a servicable caddy.I don't know the long-term durability but my tests determine that it should work and is functional for the purpose of easily inserting and removing a hard drive in you desktop computer.I mostly give this a Recommend, but with caution.

I purchased this hot swap rack to mount my 1T HDD in my workstation. First, the screw holes did not line up perfectly with the internal screws. Second, once the drive was inserted it couldn’t be removed from outside of the PC, so the hot swap clone performed. Third, the connection to SATA cable didn’t work. I know that to be the case because I ended up mounting the HDD directly to the internal rack and using the same SATA cable, which worked. There are better HDD swap caddies out there. Don’t buy this one.

Initially purchased 2 as a testperformance is as expected, especially nice is drive activity light without motherboard light header.what stopped me from buying more was the LED intensity, with only 2 of these it looks like a police car is driving thru my office at night. With a need for 6 more, the lights would be insufferable.