Supermicro CSE-M35T-1B Mobile Rack (Black)

It's not often I get to say nice rack and not be slapped. This Supermicro 5-bay rack is a solid piece of hardware. The unit comes with all the cables and hardware you will need to get it up and running easily.The 5 trays have plastic cup-like dishes in them to add support in case you aren't filling all the bays. The rails on each side are metal and fit snug against the drive leaving solid contact.The unit takes up three bays in your case but you need to be aware of your case and its rails system. I used a coolermaster case which had individual tabs in each 5 1/4" bay. With the tabs in place, you cannot slide the rack into the case. I knew this going into the purchase so I simply used some pliers to bend the tabs flat. it took about ten minutes and wasn't a big deal. Once I did that, the rack fit into the case perfect. It's heavy, so if you have a unstable case or a cat that likes to jump up onto your computer, you might want to mount this lower to the floor.You also need to be aware of the rack's depth. It comes with a 92mm (Sanyo) fan enclosure on the back and it can stick out into the case a decent amount depending on your case, so measure first before buying this rack.On to the fan. The fan is subjectively loud compared to what I'm used to in my other computers. I can hear the fan from downstairs. However, the fan does a good job at keeping all five of my Samsung EcoGreen F2 HD154UI 1.5TB drives at roughly 25-27 degrees Celsius. I do plan on trying another fan to reduce the noise a bit because I plan on eventually having three of these racks in my case for a total of 15 drives. The rack also has a loud alarm that will siren if the fan dies or if your drives pass the threshold of a designated temperature which is adjustable via jumpers on the back of the rack backplane.So far I've build a NAS with the 5 drives in a software-based RAID 5 using OpenFiler. The rack has no bearing on performance so there isn't much to say about that. The drives hot swap very easily and the activity lights work fine without the included activity light cable connected to the motherboard.I rated this rack a 4 out of 5 stars for one simple feature that I think could be improved on. The drive carrier bays slide the drive right into the SATA and power ports each time you insert or remove the drive bay. There are other products out there that use a method that won't put stress on the actual sata and power on the back of the drive. This would add complexity and cost but I think it's a valuable feature that Supermicro could enhance. I've had no issues with damaged drives, but I wouldn't want to swap them in and out frequently...then of course that's not really what it's meant for anyway. I would recommend this to a friend and a random Amazon stranger.

I've built three NAS boxes (unRaid) and have used these in every one -- 10 of these racks so far. They're exactly what you want for NAS use. They're very well built and full-featured. Features I like are: individual drive activity lights, temperature and disconnected-fan alarms (both enabled/disabled by jumpers) and well-made and attractive drive trays.Installation can be a bit of a chore, as mentioned in another review. In order to fit 5 drives in a space normally reserved for 3, they had to leave out grooves for the drive rails in most existing cases' 5-1/4 drive bays. You have to bend them out of the way in order to slide in this 5-in-3 drive rack. The best way I've found is to use a deep-throat C-clamp (6" will do). A couple of twists of the clamp's screw and a rail will lay flat. Done.The fan is a bit noisy, but it does move a lot of air. The plastic fan housing unsnaps from the rack very easily allowing you to change the fan, if you wish, without any problem. I typically replace it (in the housing) with an Antec TriCool 92mm fan, then snap the housing back onto the rack. If you leave off the fan, or plug it into a separate speed controller, you need to change a jumper to turn off the disconnected-fan alarm - all jumpers are detailed in the instructions. The fan housing is pretty deep -- 1-3/4 inches -- so it will be a tight fit in cases that aren't very deep or have long graphics cards. The rack's connector/circuit board blocks the rear of the rack so there won't be much flow-through of air if you only have your case fans pulling air -- you *will* need a fan of some kind on the rack.Power is provided by a pair of 4-pin Molex connectors (mounted on the rack). As expected, you'll need a separate SATA cable (included) for each of the 5 drive slots.I've never had a failure in any of my 9 racks. I don't switch out drives often, but each time I slide one in, the connection feels smooth and secure. I don't expect to have any problems in the future with any of them. This rack is a quality product and is an excellent way to increase the quantity of drives in your system.By the way, you'll probably need a SATA expansion card, too. I highly recommend the Supermicro 8-port SAS/SATA card:  AOC-SASLP-MV8 with CDR & Bracket . The card needs a couple of special SAS-to-SATA breakout cables (not included)  3WARE Cable, 1 Unit Of .5 Meter Multi-lane Internal (SFF-8087) Serial Ata Breakout  but it's worth the extra expense in order to get 8 full-speed SATA ports out of a 4-lane PCI-E slot.