INTRODUCTION
One of the many benefits of full tower PC cases are the many 5.25" optical drive bays they have (5 or more) so if you happen to own one there's no doubt you will most probably look for ways to make use of them. Personally i always use at least two in each of my test rigs one to mount a fan controller (two 5.25" bays sometimes) and the other to either mount a DVD-ROM or a Blu-Ray drive. Lately however we've started testing several 5.25" hard drive cages inside which you can mount up to four 3.5/2.5" SATA/SAS drives by making use of just three 5.25" optical drive bays. A few weeks back we tested the BPN-DE340SS hot-swap storage bay adapter by iStarUSA which not only managed to keep the temperatures of the SATA III drive we used for testing at a minimum but surprisingly enough it also improved its read/write data transfer speeds. Well today on our primary test rig we have it's cousin the BPU-340SATA military grade hot-swap drive cage.
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.
Much like its cousin the BPU-340SATA hot-swap storage adapter can be used both with four 3.5/2.5" SATA/SAS drives but it also carries a few extra features that can be extremely useful for server environments such as individual on/off buttons for each of the drives, a reset switch for when the temperature alarm goes off, both SATA and Molex power connectors and LED activity indicators placed right next to each drive that double both as power on/off indicators and as temperature alarm indicators (you can choose the temperature threshold between 55/60/65 degrees). Unfortunately unlike the BPN-DE340SS the BPU-340SATA uses aluminum drive trays and so using it takes more time since the drives need to be mounted on them with screws prior to sliding them back in the adapter. Responsible for cooling the 4 drives is an 80mm exhaust fan that features a low/high speed control switch (like the BPN-DE340SS) however it's not removable so cleaning it is not really an easy task (unlike the BPN-DE340SS). Let's take a closer look however and see exactly what you can expect from the BPU-340SS military grade hot-swap drive cage by iStarUSA.
SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES
PACKAGING AND CONTENTS
The BPU-340SATA is packed inside a white/red colored box with a large product picture at the front along with a description and its features list.
Both the main unit and the bundle contents are placed between two thick Styrofoam spacers.
Inside the box you will find the BPU-340SATA, 4 SATA cables, several mounting screws placed in two small plastic bags and the user’s manual.
THE BPU-340SATA
The black/blue version of the BPU-340SATA arrived to our lab however much like the BPN-DE340SS iStarUSA also has versions available with black, red and silver bezel colors. Size-wise the BPU-340SATA measures 202mm in depth, 146mm in width and 126mm in height (3x5.25").
All four bays feature hard plastic and aluminum at the front.
Right next to each tray/bay iStarUSA has placed blue/red LED lights (power/temperature) that double as power on/off buttons.
We didn't like the quality of locking mechanism as much as we did with that of the BPN-DE340SS (because of the hard plastic used it just doesn't feel as sturdy).
You can mount either 2.5" or 3.5" drives in the aluminum drive trays.
The rear of the unit is black and populated with several ports and switches.
Starting from the rear top we see the LED on/off switch, temperature alarm jumpers and the IJP3 extension (can be used with special server towers that have separate front HDD LEDs).
On the rear left we see both SATA and Molex power connectors so regardless of how old your system is if you have SATA connectivity you can use the BPU-340SATA.
The fan control switch is placed at the lower rear left corner (High=3600RPM/Low=2800RPM).
The 80mm exhaust fan can spin up to 3600RPM to produce airflow of up to 37.80CFM at 41.33dBA.
Finally on the rear right we see 4 SATA ports and the temperature alarm speaker.
TEST BED
TESTING METHODOLOGY
Testing 5.25" storage bay adapters 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 Seagate Enterprise Capacity 3.5 V.3 4TB 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. The benchmarking applications we use are the AIDA64 suite (former Everest Pro), HD Tune Professional, HD Tach RW, ATTO, Sisoftware Sandra Pro and the 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 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 May 2013.
TEST RESULTS - AIDA64 / ATTO
TEST RESULTS - HD TACH RW / HD TUNE PRO
TEST RESULTS - SISOFTWARE SANDRA PRO / CRYSTAL DISK MARK
TEST RESULTS - TEMPERATURES / NOISE LEVELS
CONCLUSION
When we finished testing the BPN-DE340SS a few weeks back we were quite surprised to see that it improved on the already very fast read/write speeds of the Seagate Enterprise Capacity 3.5 V3 4TB SATA III quite a bit (perhaps due to the reduced temperatures of the drives). Well the same pretty much applies to the BPU-340SS only in a slightly smaller degree but any improvement in terms of speed is welcome, regardless of whether that's large or small. iStarUSA has packed the BPU-340SATA with quite a large number of useful features like the 4 power on/off buttons placed right next to each tray that also double as activity/temperature LEDs. These are very convenient not only because they can alert you whenever a drive goes over the temperature alarm preset you chose at the rear (50/55/60 degrees) but also because thanks to them you can be 100% certain that the drive you want to hot-swap is not powered on. The presence of both SATA and Molex power connectors means that the BPU-340SATA can be used with older power supply units as well. Much like the BPN-DE340SS the only issue we found with the BPU-340SATA was its rather high noise levels when the 80mm fan switch is set at high RPM but that's to be expected so we think that the low selection might be more ideal for most users.
With a price tag set at USD113.55 inside the USA (Purchase Directly from Amazon.com) you just can't go wrong with the BPU-340SATA Military Grade Hot-Swappable Drive Enclosure. Certainly the BPN-DE340SS retails for slightly less but it doesn't really offer the same range of features found in the BPU-340SATA (although the BPN-DE340SS is slightly easier/faster to use). Unfortunately iStarUSA doesn't have a strong presence inside the EU so their products are pretty much available mainly inside the USA something which will certainly disappoint potential buyers around the globe so i really hope they do something to resolve that soon. Because of everything mentioned in this review we are awarding the BPU-340SATA Military Grade Hot-Swappable Drive Enclosure by iStarUSA with our Platinum award and we hope that they will continue on the same successful path for many years to come.
PROS
- Build Quality
- Design
- Performance
- 2.5” And 3.5” Compatible
- Activity/Temperature Alarm LEDs
- 4 Different Color Models
- Hot-Swap Aluminum Drive Trays
- 80mm Exhaust Fan
- Temperature Alarm Selection (50/55/60 Degrees)
- Low/High Fan Speed Switch
- SATA And Molex Power Connectors
- LED On/Off Switch
- Drive Power On/Off Buttons
- SATA/SAS Compatible
- Price (For Some)
CONS
- Noise Levels (mostly at High RPM)
- EU Availability