Mediasonic ProBox HF2-SU3S2 4 Bay 3.5” SATA HDD Enclosure – USB 3.0 & eSATA Support SATA 3 6.0Gbps HDD transfer speed
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Hardware Interface | USB 3.0 |
Brand | Mediasonic |
Color | Black |
Hardware Platform | PC, Mac, Unix, Linux |
Item Weight | 4 Pounds |
About this item
- Support all brand of 3.5" SATA I / II / III hard disk drive up to 14TB per drive, and up to 4 x 14TB
- Support SATA 3 6.0Gbps hard drive transfer rate.
- Transfer rate up to 5.0Gbps via USB 3.0, Transfer rate up to 6.0Gbps via eSATA
- Support 2.5” SATA SSD / HDD (Bracket Adapter required, not included in the package, sold separately)
- Thermal Sensor Built-in, Auto and Manual mode, and ONE Button interface selection to switch USB 3.0 or eSATA
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This Item Mediasonic ProBox HF2-SU3S2 4 Bay 3.5” SATA HDD Enclosure – USB 3.0 & eSATA Support SATA 3 6.0Gbps HDD transfer speed | Recommendations | dummy | dummy | dummy | dummy | |
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Price | $89.99$89.99 | -28% $28.99$28.99 List: $39.99 | -29% $28.41$28.41 List: $39.99 | $169.99$169.99 | $19.99$19.99 | -5% $114.98$114.98 List: $120.99 |
Delivery | Get it as soon as Tuesday, Apr 2 | Get it as soon as Tuesday, Apr 2 | Get it as soon as Tuesday, Apr 2 | Get it as soon as Tuesday, Apr 2 | Get it as soon as Tuesday, Apr 2 | Get it as soon as Tuesday, Apr 2 |
Customer Ratings | ||||||
Easy to install | 4.5 | 4.6 | 4.6 | 4.7 | 4.3 | 4.5 |
Quality of material | 3.9 | 4.2 | 4.2 | 4.6 | 3.9 | 4.2 |
Storage Capacity | 4.4 | 4.2 | 4.2 | 4.5 | — | 4.5 |
Tech Support | 3.3 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 3.7 | — | 3.2 |
Easy to use | 4.2 | — | — | 4.5 | 4.3 | 4.2 |
Sold By | Mediasonic_Store | Amazon.com | BlueFrog | TERRAMASTER | Amazon.com | KART IT |
From the manufacturer
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Smart Fan Function
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4 x Hard Disk Drive
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Power Sync & S.M.A.R.T
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USB 3.0 & eSATA Interface
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Additional Features
Supporting Operating System
- Windows 7 / 8 / 8.1 / 10 (32 / 64 bit) (GPT partition)
- Mac OS 10.3 or later
- This Unit does NOT support Linux
One Button Interface Selection
- User can choose either USB 3.0 or eSATA interface to connect this enclosure to the computer. The selection button in the front panel.
Important Note:
- 4Kn Native Drive is Not supported
- Power Disable Feature hard drive is not supported. For example, WD Enterprise HDD, HGST HDD.
- Motherboards eSATA port Must support Port Multiplier in order for your computer to recognize multiple hard drive if the unit is connected to eSATA port.
- You can use Only One interface at a time. (Either USB 3.0 or eSATA)
Product Information Update:
- 2019 August: HF2-SU3S2 now support 16TB Hard Drive for 2019 purchased
- There is Newer Version Please Search ASIN: B09WPPJHSS
HF2-SU3S2 | HF2-SU3S3 (NEW Version) | HF7-SU31CH | HFR7-SU31CD | HUR5-SU31C | |
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Customer Reviews |
4.1 out of 5 stars
3,938
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4.1 out of 5 stars
3,938
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4.1 out of 5 stars
3,938
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3.5 out of 5 stars
35
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4.1 out of 5 stars
3,938
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Interface | USB 3.0 & eSATA | USB 3.0 & eSATA | USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type C | USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type C | USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type C |
Hardware Raid | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ||
Smart Fan | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
USAP | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ||
Power Sync & S.M.A.R.T | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
USB Hub Feature | ✓ | ✓ | |||
Power Delivery 3.0 | ✓ | ||||
4K HDMI Extender Output | ✓ | ||||
SD Card Slot | ✓ |
What's in the box
Videos
Videos for this product
0:08
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Customer Review: Decent box with some glitches
Jeff Hoogmoed
Videos for this product
1:10
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Customer Review: mac os jbod with fan mod 3 drives 1 4tb 2 5tb
JD
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Product information
Product Dimensions | 8.5 x 5 x 6.5 inches |
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Item Weight | 4 pounds |
ASIN | B003X26VV4 |
Item model number | HF2-SU3S2 |
Customer Reviews |
4.1 out of 5 stars |
Is Discontinued By Manufacturer | No |
Date First Available | July 25, 2010 |
Manufacturer | Mediasonic |
Warranty & Support
Feedback
Product guides and documents
Product Description
Mediasonic HF2-SU3S2 ProBox is a 4 Bay Enclosure for 3.5" SATA I / II / III hard disk drive. It supports 4 HDD of different brand and capacity of hard drive. Note: Motherboard's SATA port MUST support Port Multiplier in order for your computer to recognize multiple hard drive if the unit is connected via eSATA.
Customer reviews
Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.
To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.
Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonCustomers say
Customers like the ease of setup and speed of the hard drive enclosure. For example, they mention it's plug-and-play, and the content loads quickly from the unit. That said, some complain about connectivity issues and opinions are mixed on performance, quality, value, noise, and appearance.
AI-generated from the text of customer reviews
Customers find the setup of the hard drive enclosure reasonably easy. They mention that the box is self-contained, plug-and-play, and requires no drivers. They also say that installing the drives was painless, and the configuration is very simple. Customers also say the transfers are relatively painless.
"...The box is self-contained and plug-and-play; it requires no drivers and adds little or no extra load to the host PC...." Read more
"...Setup was very easy - after mounting the pull fixtures to the drives, I slid them in, turned in on...." Read more
"...Product arrived two days after ordered. Install was simple. I don't have an ESATA port so I used USB as planned...." Read more
"...appreciated Amazon Prime 2-day free shipping, and the very simple setup and configuration, I am giving this product a 5 star review without..." Read more
Customers are mixed about the value of the hard drive enclosure. Some mention that it's great for the money, and an inexpensive way to increase storage capacity. However, others say that it is not a commercial grade product, and is shoddy and useless for their needs.
"...WHAT IT IS NOT: You do get what you pay for. This is a very economical / cost-effective unit (for a multi-interface RAID unit)...." Read more
"...be a small company focused on providing quality products at a reasonable price point with good customer service...." Read more
"...I cast scorn upon those who would loose such an ill created, shoddy product upon the unsuspecting...." Read more
"...All in all, a good purchase for the price.-P" Read more
Customers like the speed of the hard drive enclosure. They mention that the USB3 is fast, the data uplink seems to be fast, and the content loads quickly from the unit. Copying is blazing fast, with no erratic speeds. The throughput has been very good, and there's no reason to believe that will change.
"...I like the multiple speed options for the cooling fan, three set speeds and an auto speed setting...." Read more
"...It's compact and easy to carry around.* USB3 is fast - I haven't actually used USB3, but it is backwards compatible with USB2..." Read more
"...USB 3.0 and e-SATA work great. Was getting excellent speeds (over 100MB/s, limited by my motherboard)-..." Read more
"...Might be a slight performance loss, but certainly merits further testing...." Read more
Customers are mixed about the performance of the hard drive enclosure. Some mention that it performs well, while others say that it doesn't work properly with their laptop. The USB 3.0 interface is unreliable and can be flaky. Some customers also report failures to recognize the drives within the box.
"...is why I purchased the ProBox device in the first place and it worked beautifully and exactly the way I expected when I set it up the way I did...." Read more
"...I have also found the manual "high" fan setting works pretty well and is still pretty quiet -- not really noticeable if sitting under the desk...." Read more
"...My advice to you, stay away from this product because the USB 3.0 is flaky at best and there are tons of people complaining about it here and on..." Read more
"I bought this unit because it did hardware RAID5, had USB3, eSata, supported 4 drives, and was little...." Read more
Customers are mixed about the quality of the hard drive enclosure. Some mention that it's reasonably well constructed, dependable, and easy to install and operate. However, others say that it has failed and their entire Storage Spaces file system will crash. Some customers also mention that the connectors are poor and the product is not a substitute for backups.
"...eSATA connections -- the Mediasonic box became absolutely solid and reliable, working predictably in harmony with the PC to which it is connected...." Read more
"...Pros:- Looks very nice and has a nice form factor-..." Read more
"...This is not RAID - I assume anyone reading or buying this device knows that already but it is an important aspect...." Read more
"...Decent looks and seemingly decent build qualityCONS- As others have stated, the lights are fairly bright-..." Read more
Customers are mixed about the noise of the hard drive enclosure. Some mention that it operates quietly, while others say that the fan is fairly noisy. The drives are loud, and the fan still puts off a light hum at low RPM. Some customers find the lights annoying and frustrating.
"...found the manual "high" fan setting works pretty well and is still pretty quiet -- not really noticeable if sitting under the desk...." Read more
"...In, out, in, out every few seconds. Pretty frustrating and I began to think that I had a bad controller on the box...." Read more
"...On low it's pretty silent. The included product sheet comes with instructions for adjusting the fan screws to reduce noise...." Read more
"...In lowest RPM, the fan still puts off a light hum, and is quite loud maxed out (but I have 4 drives in this thing, I want to keep them cool!)-..." Read more
Customers are mixed about the appearance of the hard drive enclosure. Some mention that it looks good, is well designed, and easy to install. They also appreciate the pretty blue lights on the drive. However, other customers say that it's of a positively terrible design, inelegant, and cumbersome. They mention that in spite of some quirky design choices, overall this appears to be shoddy and under-performing.
"...Pros:- Looks very nice and has a nice form factor-..." Read more
"...- Nice size, about half the size of a shoe box- Decent looks and seemingly decent build qualityCONS-..." Read more
"How disappointing & appalling that, at this point in time, a product as shoddy & under-performing as this one would find it's way onto the Amazon..." Read more
"...I also love the pretty blue lights on the drive, although they might be too bright if you have this placed in a bedroom or movie room...." Read more
Customers are dissatisfied with the connectivity of the hard drive enclosure. They mention that it keeps connecting and then disconnecting. Some customers also say that the ESATA connector on the box doesn't make reliable connections. In large transfers, the ProBox would lose connection to the computer. Some say that this was due to a defective drive. Overall, customers are not happy with the product's connectivity.
"...However, ever since I got it, I had USB 3.0 issues with intermittent disconnects...." Read more
"...- Based on the issues I had, if you buy this and it keeps connecting and then disconnecting, it may be worth trying each drive individually...." Read more
"...eSATA: The Unit does not see an eSATA connection at all...." Read more
"...I've recently had a few issues with a harddrive dropping off occasionally. I'm not sure yet whether thats the box or the drive itself...." Read more
Reviews with images
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I installed 3TB HDDs into 2 of the 4 drive bays; they just snap in with the supplied handles that are screwed to the front-most mounting hole locations on the drive. The handle is used to sort of lock the drives in place and is used to leverage them out upon removal. I plugged the USB cable into my USB 3.0 hub, plugged in the power supply and turned on the device. Linux recognized the new drives immediately.
I created a Volume Group from those two drives using the Linux LVM facilities and allocated a single large logical volume which gives me about 5.7TB of free space for backups. After a bit of testing, I have now been creating my backups directly onto this device for 8 days now with no problems.
I like the multiple speed options for the cooling fan, three set speeds and an auto speed setting. The room in which I keep all of my computers and their many ancillary devices can get quite warm until I turn on the A/C. I set the fan on auto speed control and it pretty much stays on high all the time right now.
Both eSATA and USB 3 cables were supplied with the device, as well as a brick power supply that plugs into the right rear of the enclosure as you look at it from the front. If I needed to stack a bunch of these next to each other on a shelf that might be a problem, but it does not create an issue for me at this time as I only have one of these enclosures - and I suspect that will be all I need for some time to come. This side-mounted power connector is the only reason I did not [originally] give this device a 5-star rating - for the potential issues it might cause with side-by-side arrangements. I would have given it a 4.9 if I could have.
Overall an excellent product that does exactly what I need.
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Update May, 10, 2014
It pays to have good backups. Last evening, while trying to open a web site, I started getting errors with Firefox. The reason is that the 1.5TB hard drive containing my home directory had started failing and Linux, as it is designed to do, remounted the home directory filesystem as read-only to prevent any further potential data corruption. Linux would not even recognize the hard drive and, when testing it later, it would not even initialize and the heads kept seeking as it tried to perform its startup routines.
Fortunately I had a spare drive. Without going into the gory details, I installed the replacement hard drive, created a Physical Volume, and then a Volume Group encompassing the entire hard drive. I then created a mew home Logical Volume, formatted it as EXT4 and mounted it on /home.
At that point I mounted the ProBox on /media and simply copied the backed up files back into my /home directory. I then did the same for the other two filesystems that had been on the original drive.
Using the USB3 connection, it took only about 55 minutes to restore the very large amount of data I have in my /home directory and the other two filesystems. We are talking a total of about 300GB of data.
For you Linux geeks, this is why I put the OS on one hard drive and my home directory and other non-OS filesystems on a different hard drive. Makes recovery so much easier.
So this is why I purchased the ProBox device in the first place and it worked beautifully and exactly the way I expected when I set it up the way I did. In the past, I have had to restore individual files from the ProBox, but this is the first major disaster I have had since I purchased it.
As a result of my recovery experience I have upgraded my rating of this product to 5 stars, although I still have very minor concern about the side-mounted power connector causing problems with side-by-side installations in tight quarters.
WHAT IT IS: This is a simple and cost-effective external device. It functions well in either USB or eSATA mode. The box is self-contained and plug-and-play; it requires no drivers and adds little or no extra load to the host PC. I have never had a PC or Mac (with appropriate configuration) fail to recognize the box and "talk" to it as expected. In any RAID configuration, it appears and behaves just like any external hard drive. As JBOD, it shows up as multiple separate external devices. Within the limits of what it is and how it works with the connected computer (discussed more below), it just works and has always been extremely reliable. But you should think through what you are getting at this very economical price point (economical for a RAID box, that is).
The device detects the power state of its connection to your computer; it will turn off automatically when you power down your computer and will power back up when you turn the computer back on. This is a FEATURE and is the intended operation. You do NOT have to turn it off and on manually. For many this is a great convenience. It is also a good thing for power and heat saving (as well as hard drive life span and reducing noise when the computer is not on). But it can also be a negative depending on your use case (more on this below).
In either SATA or JBOD or using eSATA or USB, I have never had a lick of trouble; the box just works. Lights on the box correctly indicate drive use and will tell you when a drive has failed. Power down and replace the failed drive; when you power back up in RAID mode the box will proceed to rebuild the array with no further action from you. (In JBOD mode, the new drive shows up in your operating system -- though of course you may need to go into disk manager to partition and format it before Windows can use it.)
In terms of value for money, the performance is great for this price.
WHAT IT IS NOT: You do get what you pay for. This is a very economical / cost-effective unit (for a multi-interface RAID unit).
The device talks via eSATA OR USB. Most home-user class computers will not let you use both interfaces at the same time. For example: If you connect both at the same time, a Windows PC will only recognize the device on the eSATA connection (since the SATA bus is usually initialized before USB).
Though the device does accept SATA III hard drives and works internally at 6Gb/sec speeds, it can only sustain those speeds to your computer when configured as JBOD. When configured for RAID it can only support 3 Gb/sec speeds (equivalent of SATA II, closer to USB 2 than 3 speed). That makes it great for backup and fine for accessing files one at a time (even playing music), but maybe not really solid for video streaming or disk-intensive gaming applications.
The ventilation system is less than spectacular and needs to be kept clean or else lint buildup will make airflow a drive-killing problem over time. When closed up properly, the automatic fan settings on this box will make the drives inside tend to run hot (using HD Sentinel to monitor individual drive SMART temp reporting). That said, I have run these units for years on end without encountering unexpected / premature drive failure. I have also found the manual "high" fan setting works pretty well and is still pretty quiet -- not really noticeable if sitting under the desk. The unit will also run just fine with the front door down (open), which will cool everything down and keep it at more "normal" HD operating temps. The box front can be opened and closed without disturbing the drives inside while the unit is running (just be careful not to jiggle or move the box itself or drives inside while running). All box functions work just fine when the front is not closed, if you want increased cooling. (Just don't forget you left the box open when you are working around it or go to move it!)
This box will NOT magically transform all the vagaries of PC external connectivity into the reliability of permanently connected internal drives. It is NOT a high-end NAS or internal RAID system powered by an expensive and high-capacity controller. All bets are off if you move the unit and/or accidentally jar or disconnect the cable when the unit is running -- or if your computer's power saving settings turn off the connection to this unit. I have found the system works consistently as designed as a solid SATA II drive when connected via eSATA or USB (assuming the cable isn't accidentally jolted loose).
You can use this box and it will be reliable attached to an always-on computer -- but first you need to expect to spend configuration time and might encounter some frustrations along the way. To get reliable, always-on connectivity with no unexpected disconnects, you are going to need to spend some time checking your computer BIOS and several settings in the operating system. Power saving settings that shut down your hard drives (SATA) or dormant devices (USB) will work just fine with internal and some external devices, but I hope it is obvious that they will cause this box to turn itself off. When the connection gets powered down, the device will see that as your PC turning off and in response it will turn itself off (which is exactly what it is supposed to do, as mentioned above). Since the device is driverless, there is no software to keep it alive or magically reconnect it when/if you return and want to use it. When that happens, the only recourse is to power down your PC, then restart. It took me several tries to find and disable the various PC and operating system power-saving features; once I did that -- ensuring the PC / operating system did not time out / turn off its USB or eSATA connections -- the Mediasonic box became absolutely solid and reliable, working predictably in harmony with the PC to which it is connected. Once everything was configured, it became another always-there drive that just.plain.works.
As noted, this device does not come with external monitoring/control software. Out of the box, you need to look at the lights on the front to affirm it is configured and operating properly. There is no software pop-up or alert on your computer desktop if your RAID array is degraded -- you have to actually look at the box. If you forget to look at the box, you might not notice a drive has failed until it's too late to rebuild the RAID array. On the flip side, those lights on the box do correctly indicate hard drive activity inside the box and do indicate if a drive has failed (or, once you replace the failed drive, when a RAID array is rebuilding). The lights are accurate but do not give you much of an indication as to progress of built-in functions; you're not going to get much of a clue as to how much longer that RAID rebuild is going to take.
However and FWIW. I have found this device does correctly pass all needed information through for most disk diagnostic applications. HD Sentinel works well and accurately to report the status of every constituent disk drive (even when configured in RAID mode so that Windows thinks its just one big drive). I have also found by trial and error that several software distributions that come with other external RAID systems will also correctly read and report status of these boxes -- thought they still won't let you remotely configure or adjust what the RAID controller is doing. (For example, the software that comes with Sans Digital units will read and report on these Mediasonic boxes when configured as RAID units.) Your mileage may vary.
Overall, this box is everything I had hoped and I have found it completely reliable. A bargain at a $150 price tag.
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But that said, this box is replacing that other one (and is the exact same) and I will hope that it will last as long as my other older boxes that are still going strong so far.
These boxes are simple to use, with only one annoyance of needing a small handle to be installed on the drives. The fans are very silent and aside the situation that requires me to get a replacement, have been very solid and working very well for a lot of year.
In time I will most probably need to replace them for a more modern setup as the old boxes are supposedly limited to 4TB drives (while the newer ones are able to use much larger drives) and will switch to USB 3.0 (or better) and leave the eSATA in the past so to prevent the headaches I've had due to that.
I almost went with the 8-bay boxes, but reviews have been alarming in reference to the number of issues that people have had compared to the 4-bay ones, so I'll have to see when the time comes.
But for now, these boxes have been great, have been through constant use (24/7) and I've enjoyed them greatly, and for a price range that left all competition far behind.
I'm not sure if it's the same for PC OS's such as Windows or Linux, but it should be.
It feels like a really sturdy unit, and really cuts down on the amount of cables needed. One thing, the included cable is a USB3 mini plug to USB3 mini plug.. in order to plug into older computers with a standard USB 1or2 input you'll need an adapter or an appropriate cable. It may look like a charging cable but it's not.. you'll need a high capacity cable with close to the same thickness as the supplied one..
Está caja es una buena compra si lo que deseas es usar varios discos duros con una sola conexión USB, en mi caso particular la compré para reutilizar unos HDD que tenía guardados sin usar y solo para respaldar.
Cumple su propósito y nada más, tiene una característica de ahorro de energía que apaga la caja cuando no se usa y que puede ser de ayuda o no depende tu gusto y el uso, por ejemplo si lo conectas a una PC se apaga unos minutos después que la computadora pero, en el caso de las laptop se apaga después de cierto tiempo aunque estés copiando archivos, lo que no es para nada bueno, esto solo sucede con laptops y no hay forma de evitarlo ya que no cuenta con un software o algo que te deje configurar la caja, en general funciona muy bien es rápida y cumple, pero no esperes hacer RAID o usarlo como equipo de almacenamiento en red.
Sitting on a wooden desk out of sunlight and well away from any heating source at idle WD 8TB Red NAS drives are cooking at over 60 Deg C.
Very poor airflow design inside the chassis leads to the 80mm fan running like the radiator fan on a car on a hot day
Other than that, great transfer speeds even in RAID 1, easily achieves 150Mb/Sec for write when transferring large files. Then it gets hot and bothered after a couple of minutes and fan kicks in and never stops until powered down.