The face of the Vantec EZ-Swap MRK200-ST-BK is easily what sets it apart from the other removable racks on the market. Doesn't it look sweet? We will get into the LCD and its functions in a moment, but as you can see there is a 4 cm LCD, three blue control buttons and a lock hiding lever.

Behind the enclosure arm (when the unit is turned on) are two blue bars that look very sweet. The lock has two positions, locked and unlocked. In locked mode, the HDD is given power and is accessible to the system. In unlocked mode the HDD does not receive power, the LCD still functions and displays temperature and other information however.

There are no adjustable switches inside the MRK200-ST-BK*C caddy. As you can see the Serial ATA back plane sports a single Serial ATA/power connector which is physically compatible with every Serial ATA HDD on the market. Just slide in a SATA hard drive and secure it via the mounting holes at the bottom of the caddy with a few screws. Near the top left hand corner of the PCB, is a thermistor (light blue) which keeps track of the temperature. It can be a very useful feature if high speed drives like a Western Digital Raptor are installed.

At the back of the Vantec EZ-Swap MRK200-ST-BK removable hard drive rack we find a 40mm fan, a Serial ATA connector, Molex connector and HDD access LED indicator header (to connect to the chassis). Should the 40mm fan become clogged up with dust, it is easily replaced with another that supports RPM monitoring.

Status LCD Panel

The LCD screen set into the EZ-Swap caddy shines a bright blue when it receives power. It displays the temperature inside the caddy and by default uses Celsius as its value. If you are more familiar with Fahrenheit, it can be changed to that scale.

If the HDD inside the Vantec EZ-Swap MRK200-ST-BK is being accessed, the disk activity icon will move. There is also a Master/Slave indicator although it is a bit puzzling as to why it is there since there are no Master/Slave options for Serial ATA drives. The fan also indicates when it is operating, and to the left of that is a thermometer although it's hard to make out in the picture.

Should there be a issue that requires immediate attention, the Vantec EZ-Swap MRK200-ST-BK will beep loudly until one of the three buttons are pressed. The LCD is also capable of showing the type of error, be it temperature related or a fan failure. If it's the fan, there will be a little smoke icon next to the fan, if the temperature is too high, the thermometer icon will blow its top.

By default, the maximum internal temperature of the Vantec EZ-Swap MRK200-ST-BK is set to 50 degrees Celsius. that can adjusted between 20-80C in 0.5C intervals. Scrolling through the numbers is quick since the speed will accelerate after pressing the button for a few seconds.

Vantec has improved the viewing angle of the LCD greatly with the EZ-Swap MRK200-ST-BK however it can still be difficult to see if you are on the side.