#istarusa

[computingondemand]

iStarUSA BPU-350SATA Cage Review

New Article has been published on http://computingondemand.com/istarusa-bpu-350sata-cage-review/

iStarUSA BPU-350SATA Cage Review

If you are into storage and servers, you may have thought about taking a crack at building your own.  Just having a case large enough to home a ton of hard drives isn’t enough to do the job right.  Your drives need to be accessible.  Think about it, you would have to take everything apart to replace or add a hard drive if they were just all stuffed in a case?  That’s nuts.  In the interest of convenience and usability, products like hard drive hot-swap cages are nearly a necessity.  Enter the iStarUSA BPU-350SATA hard drive cage

Hard drive hot-swap cages make things easier when building storage devices and servers.  You get accessibility, organization, and a compact enclosure in one box.  In the case of the BPU-350SATA, iStarUSA provides you with a hot-swap cage that occupies just three 5.25 inch drive bays but still allows you to install a total of five 3.5 inch SATA or SAS hard drives. The BPU-350SATA measures in at 146.0 mm x 126.0 mm x 209.5 mm and is available in Black, Blue, Red, Silver, and plain old lockable.  This hot-swap drive cage supports RAID 1/0/1+0/5 configurations.  Although it wasn’t stated as supported, we were able to configure a RAID 6 array.

Additionally, the BPU-350SATA can assist with keeping all your hard drives cool as they spin away.  The unit ships with an 80mm cooling fan in the back and is mostly constructed of lightweight aluminum with conductive dissipation grooves.  Air is drawn through the unit and over the hard drives from front to back exhausting the warmed air through your chassis.

The front bezel is plastic and can be removed with a total of eight screws.  Four on top, four on bottom.  The unit sports 5 removable drive trays; each with their own power and activity LEDs.  Each of these LEDs doubles as a power button!  If you press the button, you can cut or provide power to the HDD.  You also have an Overheat LED that also acts as a reset switch.  This LED will trigger a buzzer alarm if the temps are too high.  Lastly, there is a Fan Sensor LED that acts similarly to that of the Overheat LED.  If the fan stops, the reset button can be used to silence the buzzer alarm.

Each of the five hard drive trays are constructed of a plastic and aluminum.  The thick aluminum trays slide in with some resistance but with metal on metal contact, that is to be expected.  The lack of wiggle room here doubles as an anti-vibration mechanism.  Hard drives are installed using the bottom screw holes for either 2.5″ or 3.5″ HDDs.  The front of the tray features a quick release locking mechanism that is impressively simple.   The handle itself is metal and a strong spring is used for tension.  The design allows for quick installation and quick release with minimal effort.  The drive trays also assist with heat dissipation.

On the top and bottom, there are small groves to increase surface area.  Also note that there are four mounting points on each side for special installations and those incredibly complicated screw patterns that somehow present themselves during a build.

The sides of the BPU-350SATA are completely flat and void of grooves.  Unfortunately, because these sides are completely flat, installation can sometimes become complicated.  There are 12 screw holes on each side for all kinds of installation scenarios, but there are no deep channels for cases with 5.25″ guides.  This design is normal in the server and industrial markets, but if you find yourself looking at one of these for a home build, make sure your case doesn’t have these supports.  Otherwise, you will have to cut them out.

Around back there are the 5 HDD SATA/SAS connections, the 80mm cooling fan, 2 SATA Power connections, 2 4-pin power connections, some function jumpers, a couple of switches, and a buzzer.  The 80mm cooling fan can be easily removed for replacement.  All too often, these pre-installed fans start whining or whirring and replacing them requires complete removal.  This usually means that we end up living with the noise…  Thankfully, iStarUSA has made replacement easy.  The two switches in the back are to control fan speed and HDD LEDs.  The first set of jumpers allows you to control the temperature at which the buzzer will sound.   Selections can be made for 55, 60, and 65 degrees Celsius.  The next set of jumpers are used for systems that can collect information about the fans and temperatures, while the last set is for power detection settings.  There are also five screws for removing the rear bezel.

The overall fit and finish of the BPU-350SATA is very nice.  The hard drive trays are spectacular and the unit itself is very sturdy. The buzzer alarms and LEDs are heaven-sent as is the easily removable 80mm cooling fan.  iStarUSA has gone the extra mile here and it definitely shows.  This hot-swap cage, with industrial roots, can easily make itself at home in any environment.  The incredibly slick looks and build quality makes the BPU-350SATA hard to ignore.  With a price tag of right around $119.99 USD this isn’t the cheapest HDD hot-swap cage on the market, but I will bet you dollars to donuts it is one of the better in its price range.

[computingondemand]

iStarUSA S-915 Review

New Article has been published on http://computingondemand.com/istarusa-s-915-review/

iStarUSA S-915 Review

If you have read our guide to building your own NAS or our more recent Lian Li PC-Q28 Review, you may be ready to get your own personal NAS project started.  The cases featured in both of those articles were great enclosures for a NAS Solution, but didn’t really make accessing your drives easy.  iStarUSA thinks they have the perfect case for the job, the S-915.  This compact mini-ITX tower style chassis may not be an enthusiasts first choice in brand name or feature a sleek all aluminum exterior, but it does have a company with 20 years of experience in industrial computers behind it.  Is that enough to seat it atop your list for cases in your project?

iStarUSA’s S-915 is specifically designed to be used in a NAS applications.  This case measures 7.23 inches x 9.29 inches x 16.46 inches and weighs in with a hefty price-tag at around $169.00 USD.  This chassis can support up to five 5.25″ drives (or a couple of SATA/SAS backplanes), a single internal 2.5″ drive, an ATX PS2 power supply unit, and a mini-ITX motherboard.  The case sports one USB 2.0 port up front and is constructed of 0.8m SECC with an aluminum front bezel. Cooling is handled by a solitary 80mm fan on the top of the unit.

The external multi-bay NAS tower series are designed specially for storage applications. The wide variety of the tower with hard drive cages is able to easily max the hard drive capacity up to 30 bays for storing mass data. Quiet 80mm cooling fan enhances the ventilation inside. The external NAS tower chassis with solid construction is a cost-effective and flexible solution for your critical data storage.

First, the S-915 looks the part.  Up front, the brushed aluminum locking bezel neatly hides your power button, reset button, indicators, drive bays, and USB port.  The locking mechanism is strong enough to withstand a decent pull and all the locking components are made of steel.  The top and bottom of the door are vented and filtered to allow airflow to travel through the front of the case while reducing dust.  If a locking front door doesn’t do it for you, the hinges are held in place by four Phillips head screws and can be easily removed.

The top of the case features the single 80mm exhaust fan.

The side panels are held in place by industrial spring action thumbscrews and are easily removed.  For people like me, the people that always lose screws, the thumbscrews stay attached to the side panels.  The left side panel has a filtered air intake and the right side panel is featureless.  The intake on the side panel is positioned so that your PSU can draw fresh cool air.

Around back you have two expansion slots as well as the PSU and motherboard cutouts.

If you have noticed the modular design that some case makers have incorporated lately, you can attribute that primarily to the industrial case market.  It is no different with this case.  The motherboard sits on a removable tray, the 5.25″ rack is removable, and there isn’t one rivet to be found.  Everything is held in place with screws, even the brushed aluminum garnish on the front bezel.

As for the rest of interior, there really isn’t much to it.  The motherboard tray has a decent sized cutout to make connections on your backplane MUCH easier, there are four screw holes on the bottom for the internal 2.5″ HDD, and the rack up front for the 5.25″ drive bays can home just about any drive rack system.  If you are used to enthusiast cases, you will notice something very quickly… the edges of this thing are not rolled and you probably will cut yourself once or twice during install if you aren’t careful.

You will also immediately appreciate the depth and size of this case as soon as you start installing your components.  There is plenty of room to work.  Up front, the 5.25″ bay rack is free of obstacles and provides plenty of room for backplanes and single drive enclosures to optical drives.  We had no issues installing the iStarUSA BPU-350SATA provided by iStarUSA for this review or the ICYDOCK MB973SP-1B.  Unfortunately, we had to install the MB973SP-1B upside down to have the screw holes line up properly.  Having both of these installed gives this relatively small NAS enclosure a storage capacity of 9 total drives (including the 2.5″ drive for OS).  That is more available hard drive space than we could get in the Fractal Node 304.

With a complete install, things look more cramped than they are.  Having shuffled things around, it wasn’t difficult to make all the proper connections.  Having the power supply connections in place before installing it is an absolute must.  Having intake fans on both of the HDD backplanes along with the top mounted exhaust fan should provide adequate airflow through the case to keep things cool.  Keep in mind that things could get cooking if you use a high powered CPU in your rig.

After all is said and done the S-915 has proven itself to be a great NAS ready enclosure.  iStarUSA’s competence in the industrial market is evident in the build and design of the case.  The case does have its share of sharp edges, but I can’t see too many reasons you would be inside this case after your storage server has been built.

Aesthetically, the S-915 isn’t as sweet to look at as the Lian Li PC-Q28, but it isn’t ugly either.  Functionally, the S-915 is a different story.  The ability to easily install your mini-ITX motherboard and a pair of SATA/SAS backplanes means you can quickly put together a system that can rock with the best of them.  When compared to the other cases mentioned, it is like apples and oranges.  We took enthusiast cases and smooshed everything inside.  With the S-915, you get what you wanted from the start.

Unfortunately, when you consider the price tag of this case, at $169.99 USD, things start to get a little hairy for me.  This case and a couple of drive cages, as configured in this review, can run you nearly $369.97 when sourced from Newegg and that makes this a tough pill to swallow.  Especially when compared to the sub $100.00 enthusiast options we have already looked at.  However, having a true NAS chassis may be worth its weight in gold to some of us.  Bottom line, if you have the money to burn and you want to build your own NAS, this case is the one for you.  If you are trying to save a few and want to get an incredibly sexy case, stick with the PC-Q28.

[computingondemand]

iStarUSA Railway Series Backplane - BPU-124DE-SS Review

New Article has been published on http://computingondemand.com/istarusa-railway-series-backplane-bpu-124de-ss-review/

iStarUSA Railway Series Backplane - BPU-124DE-SS Review

Having more than one hard drive in your PC not that uncommon for one reason or another.  Sometimes, having access to those drives is just as important as having them.  The days of locking your drives behind your case’s side panel are gone, and products like SATA cages / backplane make accessing your drives easy.  For me, having a number of 2.5″ SSDs with varying operating systems fulfills my needs for testing, working, and playing.  Instead of selecting which drive I want to run through the BIOS, I simply pop that drive in my SATA backplane and I am off and running.  Recently our Vantec EZ Swap F4 MRK-425ST-BK 4 Bay HDD rack has decided that its 40mm fan would sound like a bicycle with a baseball card running through the spokes.  Can iStarUSA’s BPU-124DE-SS unseat our current hardware? Let’s find out.

iStarUSA’s BPU-124DE-SS is a 5.25″ bay device capable of housing four 2.5″ hard drives comfortably.  The all aluminum enclosure features two 40mm cooling fans, LEDs for power and HDD activity, a key lock to keep those pesky fingers from removing your drives, a single SATA power connection, and a cool red racing stripe!  The unit measures 146mm x 41.9mm x 180.1mm and you can feel the difference that the all aluminum construction makes when holding it.  The BPU-124DE-SS can support 2.5″ hard drives with a thickness of 7mm to 15mm.  The unit supports SATA I/II/II and SAS I/II.

In the box? Some instructions, screws, keys, and the unit.  No SATA cables or SATA power connection extensions.  No fluff… just business.

The front of the unit is home to the four removable drive trays and each drive tray has a release and locking mechanism.  The LEDs on the drive trays will blink red quickly if you are suffering from overheating and blink red slowly for a fan failure.  Power on is Blue and accessing is Purple.

Around back, you find the two 40mm (3500 RPM) cooling fans, the SATA power connector, four SATA/SAS connections, and a switch to disable the HDD LEDs.  If you plan on flipping the switch to disable the LEDs, keep in mind it doesn’t disable them completely.  It will just keep them from blinking during activity.  The back is painted a LOUD red color to match the go faster stripe on the top.

Bottom…

Installing hard drives is a breeze.  The each of the drive trays have standard mounting holes drilled for all 2.5″ hard drives.  SSDs and HDDs of varying heights fit without issue.  Other than the stubborn feel of aluminum on aluminum, the drive trays insert cleanly and latch with ease.   Every time I pull a drive or insert a drive I get that chalkboard feeling. The aluminum hinge is fixed to a plastic housing unit with some simple catches to keep things in place.

Unfortunately, the key lock turns to plastic to lock… more like a deterrent than a lock, but hey… locks were only meant to keep honest people out.  They can be bypassed with some effort, but will render the plastic locking retention mechanism useless afterwards.

During installation, it was realized that this is not as easy as you would expect… depending on your chassis.  Cases like the Lian Li PC-6 have supports for 5.25″ drives to hold them in place during installation.  These interfere with the height of the BPU-124DE-SS and require you to modify your chassis if installation is a must.  If your case doesn’t have these, you are good to go.

As far as performance goes, benchmarking indicated that there is no hit to performance by using the drive cage.  These results are expected as this unit only acts as a pass-through, intelligence is handled by your motherboard or RAID cards.

Putting it all together, the BPU-124DE-SS is a good-looking and sturdy unit.  The drive trays are well made and the all aluminum construction compliments any chassis.  The BPU-124DE-SS can provide you with quick access to a number of drives easily.  Due to the size (height) installation certain cases could be an issue.  I don’t consider this a design flaw of the unit, just the way things go sometimes (check your case first).  With a price tag of between $62.00 and $70.00, it isn’t the cheapest option out there, but factoring in craftsmanship and materials makes it an easier pill to swallow.  Bottom line, this is a well made cage with great looks and quality materials.  Two fans will help to keep your drives “as cool as the other side of the pillow”.