Review on 💾 Mediasonic ProBox HF2-SU3S2: 4 Bay SATA HDD Enclosure w/ USB 3.0 & eSATA Support - High-Speed SATA 3 6.0Gbps Transfer by Kyle Gresham

Mediasonic releases them in several different models. They have a NON raid version and a 4 bay raid version. The only difference is that the hardware version of Raid allows you to create an array with the box itself. The non-raid version doesn't have the hardware to do this, but if you're connected to a Windows or MAC you can use the software to create an in-case RAID array. I only mentioned this for completeness as I am not interested in raid. When my Western Digital Black 2TB 7200RPM SATA III drive was on a Windows computer, I divided it into two partitions, each partition is 1TB each, the actual size is about 950GB. . Installing the drive into the case was fairly easy, just screw the handle to the front of the drive, open the bay doors, luckily we didn't need HAL to do this for us. Remove pressure plate, insert drive, replace pressure plate, close compartment doors. Plug in the USB cable or eSATA cable, plug in the power and you're good to go. However, I would like to mention that if you want to use eSATA, please understand that most onboard eSATA connectors do not support port multiplier. If you fill the case completely with 4 drives to see 4 separate drives loaded into your operating system you need a port multiplier feature which is not common on motherboards so you have to buy an eSATA card to have it in your Operating system to deploy machine that supports it. However, if you're using a USB connection, you don't have to worry about that. I have a floppy drive enclosure connected to a router via USB. This case has a SYNC button and an INTERFACE button. The case selects USB by default, but if you want eSATA you'll need to hold down the SYNC button to make your choice. In addition, the case has integrated sleep functions. You can select the desired mode by pressing and holding the "Interface" button. If the interface indicator is blue, it means the case will turn off after 15 seconds when you turn off the computer. And when you turn the computer back on, the case doesn't turn on. If you want the case to be perfectly synced with your computer, press and hold the INTERFACE button until the indicator glows orange. Because I use this with my router, my files always need to be available to every computer on the network. To make sure the case stayed on no matter what, I had to hold down the INTERFACE button until I turned the light off completely each time, which meant everything was clear. So it stays on until I press the power button to turn it off or the power goes out. Another feature of this case is the intelligent fan function. There are three levels of fan modes that you can set manually or set to intelligent auto mode. Fan speed 1 is very loud, like a freight train, but ensures maximum airflow. Fan level 2 is significantly quieter, but noticeable. And fan level 3 is silent. I set the fan to "Auto" and it never exceeds the fan speed above 3. So let's talk about the file transfer speed. I have a Netgear N600 WND4500-V3 router. I did a little research on Readyshare and found out that there is a speed limit bug in the router software that limits the speed you get when transferring files. In other words, don't expect 5Gbps on USB 3.0 because it isn't. You also lose part of the transmission path between the drive itself and the enclosure before it's sent to the router and ultimately to your computer on your gigabit network. For the speed benchmark, when I connect my Cannon A2300 camera to my laptop via USB 3.0, my file transfer speed is 10 megabytes per second. When I read from my new drive case and copy a 4.1GB file to my laptop, I get 13.8 megabytes per second. However, when I transfer the same 4.1GB file to my encapsulated drive, I get about 14.5 megabytes per second. Usually, read speed exceeds write speed in most cases, at least that is what happens with SSD drives and other flash drives. But with that 7200rpm mechanical drive and 64MB cache, it seems like it does more writing than reading. I have to think it has something to do with the 64MB cache buffer, but I could be wrong. I also like the nice blue lights on the disc, although they might be too bright if you put them in a bedroom or cinema room. router configuration. The build quality of the box is pretty solid too, it weighs a lot more than I thought it would. Without a doubt, most of the weight comes from the power supply and the metal body of the case. There's very little plastic in this thing, which is good. If you know how to set it up, this should work for you. Page 5 of 5 UPDATE: December 2nd, 2017 As I own this device and have been using it for a year I wanted to let you know how it works. I am still using the same hard drive in my case and am not adding any new drives. This device works stably all year round and I have had no problems with it. I can access my files anytime, no problem. Since then we've had a few power outages and all we have to do is press the power button to turn it back on and wait for the drive(s) to spin up. I never covered the blue LEDs, which seems to bother most people. . Again, the box is in my computer room, not my bedroom, so I don't care. I've noticed a slight build up of dust around the fan's outer case, I haven't cleaned the box with compressed air yet but probably should do so soon. I use an air filter in my computer room which hopefully will reduce the amount of dust that collects in my electronics. Some have also talked about replacing their internal fan with a quieter one. You can do this, just note that the box uses a 2-pin fan connector, which isn't standard. So you will most likely need a 2 to 3 pin fan adapter to use a 3rd party fan. I can still highly recommend this case and give it a solid 5 out of 5 stars! UPDATE: December 1st, 2018 Another year of using this case has passed. I have to say, apart from the speed limitations of my setup, I was very happy with this device. The most important aspect of something like this is reliability, because you want your files not only to be safe, but also to be accessible at all times. I am happy to report that after 2 years of use this box has proven to be very reliable and I have had no problems with it. I really like these Western Digital Black drives, they seem reliable for this purpose too. . I blew out the rear fan last year, only had to do it once. And it's probably time for me to clean the fan again since it's been another year, I'll take care of that eventually lol. Oh and that's something else, I've only proven once a year with a little room air filtration and maintenance that the fan has been running perfectly for 2 years. Also, none of the indicators on the box failed. but what i can see. Sometimes these cheap LEDs fail quickly. I haven't had any issues with this box so honestly at $99 so far and 2 years of service with more to come I think it's a great deal. Recently someone asked me about RAID. As I said earlier in this review, you cannot setup hardware RAID with this box. If you really need RAID, your best bet is to get the RAID version of this box. =1543555136&sr=8-2&keywords=mediasonic+probox+raid