Re: Kingwin KF-83 or KF-91


"Anna" <myname@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:%23VCjl2nPGHA.3272@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

<crazyjxx@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I am planning on getting some carrages for my computer and am wondering
if anyone has used the Kingwin KF-83 and the Kingwin KF-91. I plan to
get one or the other and wonder if anone thinks that one is better than
the other, or anyone has any problems with either of them. Thanks
alot.


"Timothy Daniels" <TDaniels@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:0J-dnYfRjNnTNJrZRVn-rg@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
And... Kingwin calls these "mobile racks", a.k.a. "drive caddies"
and "removeable drive trays":
http://www.kingwin.com/pdut_Cat.asp?CateID=47

It appears that these differ in the number of cooling fans and the
"anti-shock absorber" in the KF-83. I have a Kingwin mobile rack
for one of my parallel ATA hard drives, and it's well-made and works
as advertized. The single fan is built into the bottom of the tray,
and not at the front of the tray, but it works well to keep the hard
drive cool. I would say that the choice for you depends on how well
the case fan draws air into the tray since the tiny fans at the front of
the tray are really puny and just one would probably produce more
noise than cooling. As for the shock absorber, I'd say it's a gimmick
unless you're a klutz enough to toss hard drives onto the desk.

*TimDaniels*


crazyjxx:
As you know, those particular mobile racks are designed for SATA hard drives. We've no experience with the KF-83 but have worked with the KF-91. Over the past year or so as we've moved more & more to SATA drives, we've been looking over a variety of these mobile racks. The KF-91 is (virtually) an all-aluminum model and seems to be well-constructed. The small fan is at the rear of the rack.

There's one major problem with the KF-91 (don't know if it applies to the KF-83) and that is the rack's power connector is *only* the 4-pin Molex connector. In our view it's important, even crucial, that a 15-pin SATA power connector be available. In order for the SATA HD to be "hot-pluggable", specifications call for it to be powered through the 15-pin connector. Now I have to say that we've experimented with "hot-plugging" SATA HDs while powered through the Molex plug and we've not experienced any problems either affecting the drive or involving loss of data. But again, our understanding is that one of the requirements in the SATA specification for the device to be hot-pluggable is that it be powered via its 15-pin SATA power connector.

We've found another problem with this rack (at least it's a problem for us) - it's a very tight fit to insert a HD in the removable tray (caddy). You really have to force the drive into the tray. And, of course, once you do, it's equally difficult to remove the drive from the tray. We had four KF-91s and they all exhibited this tight fit. This may not be very important to you but it is to us because in our work we're frequently installing & removing drives in & out of their trays. For many users this would not be terribly significant since they infrequently insert & remove their drives in and from the removable tray.

And there's another negative for us which may not be important to you or most other users. We want to get away from the ubiquitous keylock that's found on virtually every mobile rack. Again, in our work, we're frequently inserting (connecting) & removing (disconnecting) the removable drive from the computer and we simply find it a pain to use the keylock. So we've been looking for a model that doesn't need this feature but has an easy, effective, and "tooless" feature to make these connects & disconnects.

The one we've been working with is the Athena MR-125 (comes in beige & black) - sells for $24.99 (incl. shipping) at Newegg - see http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817123301

It's an all-plastic model with an 80 mm (very large) fan at the bottom of the rack. It has a simple ON-OFF button (we leave it always in the ON position) and a lever that's simply released by a push button so that a slight outward tug on the open lever causes the tray containing the HD to be disconnected from the machine. A simple push of the lever inward and the tray is reinserted and the connection made. Notice there's no keylock mechanism and that's what we've been looking for. This mobile rack does contain both the Molex power connector as well as the 15-pin SATA power connector.

We've been working with a number of these racks for the past six months or so and so far they've worked flawlessly. Their all-plastic construction is not of particular concern for us. Over the years we've worked with a variety of plastic mobile racks designed for PATA drives and we've experienced few problems with them that could be traced to their plastic construction. Heat-related problems have been virtually non-existent in our experience whether one uses aluminum or plastic racks.
Anna

Not sure on those cases, but the Kingwin cases I have (KF-32)
have two "problems" -- the first, they use a sleeve bearing in the
fans which die (ball bearing fans last much longer usually). It also
has the "key" operated lock/power switch. The stupid key is
spring loaded and pops out -- put a hanger on the side of the
case so you can keep track of it (it has to be off to remove the
drive but "on" to use the drive so you can't just leave it in one
position).

mikey

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