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INTRODUCTION

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

bpn 2535de saa

   One of the things I’ve noticed over the years is that as time goes by consumer products get closer and closer to enterprise grade products both in terms of performance and reliability in an effort to cater the needs of professionals and enthusiasts alike. Certainly pure enterprise grade products will never have something to fear from high end consumer products since in the end we are talking about two entirely different markets with massively different price ranges but the gap between them is simply not what it was a decade ago. That combined with the continuous price drops on electronics in general are more than enough even for casual users to turn towards solutions that up until recently were primarily aimed towards professionals and enterprise users. Amongst such products are internal hot-swap drive cages and since 2.5" drives gain ground over their larger 3.5" brothers today we will be taking a look at the BPN-2535DE-SA 3.5" to 2x2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Hot-Swap Cage by iStarUSA.

 

   iStarUSA Group has over 20 years of experience in the industrial computers industry. We specialize in OEM/ODM projects and manufacture of industrial power supply, rackmount chassis, enclosed cabinets and racks, data storage, and custom power solutions. Our intrinsic value is driven by one steadfast belief: "To always provide our customers with the best products and superior customer service." This credo has made iStarUSA Group a major contender in the IPC power supply industry. We cover a multitude of vertical markets. Our products are widely used in industrial computing, servers, multimedia production, DVR/Surveillance, and telecommunication industries. In the past eighteen years, iStarUSA Group has provided unsurpassed OEM/ODM products and services with exceptional design flexibility, rapid prototyping, and cost-effective solutions. The ISO 9001 certification ensures our product quality and customer commitment. iStarUSA Group bases its strength on our experience, technology, and strong partnerships. For many years, we have worked closely with major computer component manufacturers and system integrators to ensure our products are highly compatible and extremely stable. We continuously adopt new industrial standards to improve our designs. Our ability to customize products according to customers' specifications has won us a prominent and solid industry reputation. Our experienced design team and project engineers complete OEM projects within deadline and product specs. Being on the cutting edge of technology is a key to the success of iStarUSA Group and that of our customers. We believe an innovative technology leader must be able to incorporate the latest advances into all products to ensure customer satisfaction.

 

   Just like external docking stations internal hot-swap drive cages provide a very convenient way for people to use many drives without having to open the tower each time they wish to do so. Of course although we happen to use both docking stations and hot-swap cages with our test rigs unlike the first they also keep the drive(s) inside protected and in many different occasions thanks to their design and materials also provide better cooling (two obvious advantages). The downside of course is that internal drive cages take up either 1.44" or 5.25" drive bays something which many people may not want to do (especially now that 1.44" bays are no longer available so you always have to use 5.25" ones) but in the end it's a small price considering the advantages. In any case let’s move on and take a closer look at the BPN-2535DE-SA Hot-Swap Cage to see what it has to offer.

 


 

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The device gets shipped inside a small box with a large product image at the front and its main features right beneath it in several small boxes.

 

 

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Moving at the bottom we see the features of the unit explained in depth.

 

 

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At the rear of the box we see both family members (2bay/4bay models) along with the features of the one in the box.

 

 

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Inside the box you will find the BPN-2535DE-SA, two keys, 4 screws and the user's manual.

 


 

THE BPN-2535DE-SA

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The device is almost entirely made by brushed aluminum and measures 144mm in length, 101.7mm in width and 25.8mm in height.

 

 

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Both drive bay doors are perforated at the front allowing hot air to leave the interior.

 

 

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Each bay door has its own lock and HDD activity LED.

 

 

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The cage installs the same way as a normal 1.44" drive.

 

 

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I was surprised to see that at the rear the device has a single SATA power connector and two SATA data connectors (one for each drive) along with an on/off switch for the 2nd drive.

 

 

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We thought it would be nice to place the BPN-2535DE-SA right next to a 3.5" HDD to showcase its size.

 

 

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Once you pull out the drive door the HDD inside ejects without any effort.

 


 

 

TEST BED

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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TESTING METHODOLOGY

 

     Testing hot-swap cages is not really needed since they just act as a bridge between your SATA or SAS controller it doesn't however harm to be 100% thorough. So in this kind of reviews we use a HGST Travelstar 5k1500 1.5TB SATA III HDD with our typical benchmarking suites in an effort to bring you the most accurate results across the board. Now the only reason why we say effort is because real-world usage is not always on par with what results one gets by running several benchmarks on a drive and that's mainly because there are many variables at work from ambient temperatures to hardware configurations and even firmware versions.

 

   Once again the benchmarking applications we use are the AIDA64 suite (former Everest Pro), HD Tune Professional, HD Tach RW, ATTO, Sisoftware Sandra Pro, PCMark 7 and the well-known Crystal Disk Mark 64bit. These benchmarking tools are the best in what they do and as you will also see later on their results more or less agree. Each test is performed a total of 6 times and then the average is recorded into the charts. Temperatures are recorded using Hard Disk Sentinel and after 45 minutes of continuous testing in a 23 degrees Celsius temperature controlled room. Finally with actively cooled solutions we also use an ExTech HD600 dBA meter next to each drive cage (5-10cm away) in order to accurately record their noise levels, although it's very possible that the fans in your system will mask noise coming from the cage. The operating system as usual is a fresh installation of Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate Service Pack 1 with every update installed up until the 22nd of November 2013.

 


 

TEST RESULTS - AIDA64 / ATTO

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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TEST RESULTS - HD TACH RW / HD TUNE PRO

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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TEST RESULTS - SISOFTWARE SANDRA PRO / CRYSTAL DISK MARK

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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TEST RESULTS - PCMARK 7 / TEMPERATURES

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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CONCLUSION

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

bpn 2535de sab

   Internal drive cages are supposed to transfer the signal from your SATA/SAS cable to the drive inside so performance doesn't differ much something which is quite obvious just by checking our results (the results of previous similar reviews will do too). However there's one thing that changes quite a bit when using such devices and that's the temperatures of the drives inside. Now the BPN-2535DE-SA may not have an active cooling solution for the drives inside due to its small size but even so thanks to the aluminum enclosure it did reduce the temperatures of the drive by 3 full degrees Celsius. Strangely enough this had no effect on the performance of the drive (3.5" HDDs usually run better when cooler) but still a lower temperature will prolong its life so paired with the hot-swap feature, the extra protection (compared to external docking stations) and the ease of use the BPN-2535DE-SA will make a fine addition to any system.

 

   The BPN-2535DE-SA 3.5" to 2x2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Hot-Swap Cage by iStarUSA currently retails for just USD30.10 inside the USA (Amazon.com) but unfortunately much like most products by iStarUSA we were unable to locate it inside the EU (at least not on any of the known stores). With such a low price tag I’m really having a very hard time thinking of any good reason why people wouldn't want one in their towers and i just can't find any. Bottom line not only does the BPN-2535DE-SA offer more protection for the drives inside (compared to an external docking station) but it also keeps them safer (locks) and cooler which is why it gets our Golden Award.

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PROS

- Build Quality
- Single 3.5" To Dual 2.5”
- Locks
- Activity LEDs
- Hot-Swap Bays
- Secondary Drive Power On/Off Switch
- Temperatures
- Price (For Some)
 

 

 

CONS

- EU Availability