Mobile racks and trays systems

> Andreas M. said the following on 5/2/2008 5:40 PM:
>> Am 30.04.2008 00:48 ken k wrote
>>
>>> I have been thinking about using a mobile rack and tray system to swap
>>> out hard drives which store data, such as my music and video DVD
>>
>> You may also want to check out these:
>>
>> 1)
>> http://www.raidsonic.de/en/pages/products/mobile-racks.php?we_objectID=4686
>> and
>> 2)
>> http://www.raidsonic.de/en/pages/products/external_cases.php?we_objectID=4589
>> or
>> 3)
>> http://www.raidsonic.de/en/pages/products/external_cases.php?we_objectID=4255 I
>> have (1) and (3) in use and am very satisfied. They are compatible to
>> each other, meaning, that you can swap the disks between the internal
>> swap-frame and the external enclosure. Build quality is high. The
>> external is aluminium without fan at all, the internal has a small fan,
>> which I, surprisingley do not really hear (in my pretty silent case).


> I have recently seen Icy Dock on sale. It is apparently made or
> distributed by the same company. Do you have any experience with the Icy
> Dock brand with relation to reliability and durability?
>
> Thanks
> Ken K


Ken:
I believe the mobile rack (removable HDD device) Andreas mentions is the Icy
Dock model available here in the U.S.

When we were experimenting with a variety of makes & models of mobile racks
designed for SATA HDDs a few years ago we did use a couple of Icy Dock
models - the MR123 SK-1. It's all-aluminum with a small (about 38mm) fan in
the rear. It was well-built (as Andreas has mentioned) and performed quite
well as I recall, however, the Icy Dock was equipped with the usual keylock
affair and we were particularly seeking a mobile rack device preferably
*without* a keylock mechanism (because of our work we're more-or-less
constantly inserting/removing the HDD trays to & from the rack) we
eventually settled on the Athena MR-125 (all-plastic) model which has a
sizeable 80mm fan bottom-mounted on the rack. The Athena has a simple
push-button lever device that makes it very simple for inserting/removing
the tray as well as activating/deactivating the HDD from the system.

We eventually sold the two Icy Dock models to one of our customers and AFAIK
he was quite satisfied with the device which I believe is still in use
today.

If I'm not mistaken, haven't I responded to one of your queries in this or
another newsgroup re mobile racks?
Anna

Anna said the following on 5/3/2008 9:09 AM:
>> Andreas M. said the following on 5/2/2008 5:40 PM:
>>> Am 30.04.2008 00:48 ken k wrote
>>>
>>>> I have been thinking about using a mobile rack and tray system to swap
>>>> out hard drives which store data, such as my music and video DVD
>>> You may also want to check out these:
>>>
>>> 1)
>>> http://www.raidsonic.de/en/pages/products/mobile-racks.php?we_objectID=4686
>>> and
>>> 2)
>>> http://www.raidsonic.de/en/pages/products/external_cases.php?we_objectID=4589
>>> or
>>> 3)
>>> http://www.raidsonic.de/en/pages/products/external_cases.php?we_objectID=4255 I
>>> have (1) and (3) in use and am very satisfied. They are compatible to
>>> each other, meaning, that you can swap the disks between the internal
>>> swap-frame and the external enclosure. Build quality is high. The
>>> external is aluminium without fan at all, the internal has a small fan,
>>> which I, surprisingley do not really hear (in my pretty silent case).
>
>
>> I have recently seen Icy Dock on sale. It is apparently made or
>> distributed by the same company. Do you have any experience with the Icy
>> Dock brand with relation to reliability and durability?
>>
>> Thanks
>> Ken K
>
>
> Ken:
> I believe the mobile rack (removable HDD device) Andreas mentions is the Icy
> Dock model available here in the U.S.
>
> When we were experimenting with a variety of makes & models of mobile racks
> designed for SATA HDDs a few years ago we did use a couple of Icy Dock
> models - the MR123 SK-1. It's all-aluminum with a small (about 38mm) fan in
> the rear. It was well-built (as Andreas has mentioned) and performed quite
> well as I recall, however, the Icy Dock was equipped with the usual keylock
> affair and we were particularly seeking a mobile rack device preferably
> *without* a keylock mechanism (because of our work we're more-or-less
> constantly inserting/removing the HDD trays to & from the rack) we
> eventually settled on the Athena MR-125 (all-plastic) model which has a
> sizeable 80mm fan bottom-mounted on the rack. The Athena has a simple
> push-button lever device that makes it very simple for inserting/removing
> the tray as well as activating/deactivating the HDD from the system.
>
> We eventually sold the two Icy Dock models to one of our customers and AFAIK
> he was quite satisfied with the device which I believe is still in use
> today.
>
> If I'm not mistaken, haven't I responded to one of your queries in this or
> another newsgroup re mobile racks?
> Anna
>
>
Yes, you have. I posted either here or pc-hardware, did not receive a
response initially, posted in the other group, and then received
responses in both places.

WRT the lock, a friend has just tied a key onto the handle of each of
his Kingwin trays so that they are handy. I think I will purchase teh
Athena. The price is difficult to beat and I can use the "extra racks
in other computers to allow for easy transfer of large files.

Thanks again and apologies about the double post,
KK