Review on 💡 Enhanced Hard Drive Power Switch Module for 2.5 inch / 3.5 inch SATA HDD/SSD: Ultimate 4-Way Controller with TVS Protection by Sean Young

anyway from the same area. I'm adding this to the review because you might think like me and have reservations. I used a 6-port SATA power switch that fits into a 5 1/4 bay in a homemade server. Unfortunately, I reconfigured and upgraded some physical servers and had to use that last bay for something else. I had seen them before a few years ago when I was checking, so I revisited them. In my case, I have an external mid-tower ATX case with no motherboard, just hard drives. It only has 3 outer 5 1/4 bays which I used up. In this case, I have 12 hard drives, but I don't need all of them when doing server maintenance, and those hard drive sizes can be expensive. So I wanted something that would allow me to disable the SATA power supply to these drives without having to open the case each time. These blocks were the answer (bought 3 of these). They easily mount to the rear PCI/PCIe brackets of any chassis (with or without motherboard). These are full height mounts (most people fit them) but if you are looking for a half height mount (aka low profile mount) they are not compatible with it and will not come with it. Things to consider before buying: 1) Remember, if you have a smaller case with a large motherboard, make sure you have free slots on the back to install them. 2) Make sure you have SATA power supply connections from your PSU AND that they can reach the card wherever you put it3) [this is not a recommendation but I did it] I took one power supply cable and did it with three Cards connected (the SATA peripheral cable to use the SATA power connector). For the other three I used extension cords to connect them to another peripheral cord from the power supply. In the end I used 2 peripheral cables from the PSU and 3 extension cables and put all three cards side by side. -static bag. Instructions aren't included, but if you need them for easy connections, buying them might not be your biggest concern. The cables running from the card to the hard drives are quite long - around 18 inches. I had to include an extra strap to keep the ride clean so the fans could move enough air through the case - that's not an issue or a concern, and the extra length will come in handy for longer runs. The cables also appear to be of good quality, but bend easily enough to be routed around the case. The buttons feel solid and taut and are responsive to touch/push to toggle on/off. One reviewer warned that the SATA power connector could break easily - I felt the same way, and thanks to this review I was cautious when connecting SATA. power supply and use cable ties to secure the cables so they do not drag on the SATA power connectors. You need two SATA power connections from the power supply per card, which in turn control up to 4 HDD/SDD devices. I haven't tried this with fans, but I don't see why it wouldn't work with fans as well, even though it would be an overkill/expensive fan controller. To reduce the load on the two SATA power inputs, I used a SATA cable and a MOLEX extension cable for the power supply cable. This prevented the power cable from applying force to the SATA power connectors on the card. The units also have TVS - a surge protector to protect attached electronics, something like my other 6 port SATA power supply (from another well known brand) didn't seem to have. Conclusion: good quality card, cable, well packaged and works as expected. I would buy them again.