Let's have a look at a few quick HD Tach runs;
we're not interested in benchmarking the device but rather seeing if it impacts the hard drive in any manner. With a 300GB Maxtor DiamondMax 10 Serial ATA hard drive in the Vantec EZ-Swap MRK200-ST-BK, these are the results from HD Tach. Keep an eye on the differences in Sequential Read Speed.
Maxtor
DiamondMax 10 hooked up directly to the motherboard
Maxtor DiamondMax 10 installed into EZ-Swap MRK200-ST-BK
Maxtor DiamondMax 10 hooked up directly to the motherboard
Maxtor DiamondMax 10 installed into EZ-Swap MRK200-ST-BK
As we can see from HDTach, the Vantec EZ-Swap MRK200-ST-BK does not affect performance one bit. CPU utilization and burst speeds were virtually identical at 15.6 ms/15.9 ms and 137.7 MB/s and 136.3MB/s. That's all we really need to see.
|
experts tip: powered up but hard drive inaccessible? |
|
with many removable hard drive racks a little led lets the
operator know when the hard drive is powered up and ready to be accessed.
the situation is slightly different with the vantec ez-swap because
the lcd receives power once the caddy is inserted into the bay. yet,
just because lcd is illuminated doesn't mean the HDD is accessible in
WindowsXP (or the operating system). To ensure that the HDD is up and
running, the lock must be engaged. This little step is easily
forgotten when using the Vantec EZ-Swap, and it can lead to
frustrating moments. So make a habit of engaging the lock when the
hard drive caddy is put into the bay, every time.
|
| Comments and Feedback? Suggest a Tweak. |
Removable Hard Drive Rack Style
Anyone who has ever had to move a large amount of data around a few different computer systems can definitely appreciate the usefulness of removable hard drive racks. Unfortunately for hardware enthusiasts, most of the units on the market are lacking in terms of cosmetic appeal, and work with IDE devices only.
The Vantec EZ-Swap MRK200-ST-BK is a nice looking removable SATA rack that sports a few interesting features that give it some added eye-candy appeal. The caddy has simple temperature monitoring, "enhanced hard drive cooling" and sensor alarms.
The construction of the Vantec
EZ-Swap MRK200-ST-BK and caddy is based on extruded aluminum frame parts, and
should hold up well in the long run. There is a buffer between the Serial
ATA controller and HDD, but the Vantec EZ-Swap MRK200-ST-BK does not
disrupt performance one bit. This is what we want to see from a simple device like this. It wouldn't be very useful of the removable hard drive rack limited HDD access times, or caused some instability in data transfer now would it?
With a retail price of $56 CDN ($45 US), the Vantec EZ-Swap MRK200-ST-BK is slightly more expensive than the average hard drive removable rack, but the extra money definitely get you a nice looking SATA device, circa 2005. ;-)
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