CENMATE 4 Bay Hard Drive Enclosure with Cooling Fan for 2.5/3.5" SATA HDD/SSD With USB A/C 3.0＋eSATA Cable, 3.5 Hard Drive Reader Supports 80TB Capacity(NO RAID/NAS)

Original review is below - now that the initial issue is sorted, time for a proper review.This 4-Bay no-RAID CENMATE unit _does_ work well. My drives fitted straight in there (Seagate IronWolf) with none of the supplied just-in-case screws needed. They were already formatted and loaded with data - and this just worked - no initialisation, no re-copying or whatever. Maybe my system is different to other disappointed reviewers: the disks are XFS formatted and worked previously in an UnRaid server, and then in an ancient ICYBOX enclosure hooked up to a Raspberry Pi running Open Media Vault - as they are in this CENMATE box.Anyway, it's shovelling data round like a boss, so I'm happy and would buy another.------- earlier review from the day of purchase------This works, and seems to work well... but I had to use my own power supply. I thought maybe the supplied unit would work with a UK 'shaver adapter', but it doesn't.Amazon doesn't seem to let me get in touch with the vendor; I could send the whole lot back, but now it's here and in use...Update:Aha! The vendor saw this and made contact. All sorted amicably. Thanks :)

They say one thing on paper..... But please, here are the instructions now.1) make sure usb is connected to something2) power off3) set dip switches to normal mode4) HOLD reset button BEFORE you flick the ON switch (10 second hold)5) now you can set dips to whatever RAID and repeat steps 1 to 4Is that so hard to document?

I used this for two external Hard drives I had that I could never get to work properly WD 1 Tb & 2Tb. I removed them from their original casing and placed then easily into two of the drawers on this 4 bay HD enclosure. I also had an old tower computer from 2002. I used it quite often for photos etc - it was never connected to the internet. The computer stopped working and I was worried I lose all my doc and photos. I removed the hard drives and placed them into the other two drawers. I connected this to my laptop. It easily opens up and I now can access everything that was on my old computer and I have masses of storage - it is simple to use. It makes a slight noise when on - I assume a fan or something which I'd expect. I have got rid of my tower computer which gives me a lot more space! It is neat and portable and great for me to archive all old scanned photos etc . Hopefully it continues to impress me - so far so good.

Have not managed to get it working even though the discs fitted in very nicely. Issues from previous reviews about fitting 3.5" seem to have been resolved. Lots of lashing lights but drives not recognised. Awaiting reply from support. Will revise view depending on their reply.

I had a Western Digital NAS drive that was no longer supported. Removed the drives from the NAS and re-formatted them. Slid them to the Cenmate 4, and it was then simply plug and play. One thing to note, it is essentially a USB drive, so it needs to be 'ejected' to close it down correctly, before the computer is turned off. It is currently working a treat, and shows up as 1,2,3 or 4 separate internal hard drives in Windows explorer.

I purchased this 4-bay HDD enclosure hoping for a reliable solution to house my hard drives, but while it gets the job done, there are notable drawbacks that prevent me from giving it a higher rating.One major issue is the airflow. The enclosure relies on a small 40mm fan, which struggles to keep the drives cool, especially when all four bays are in use. During heavier workloads, the temperature inside climbs to around 50°C, which is concerning for the longevity of the drives. A larger or more efficient fan would have made a significant difference.The fan itself is another problem. It’s quite loud and produces an annoying whistling sound, which is particularly disruptive at night or in a quiet environment. This makes the enclosure less suitable for home offices or bedrooms.Additionally, the build quality leaves much to be desired. The plastics used feel cheap and flimsy, giving the impression that the enclosure might not withstand long-term use. For a product priced over £100, I expected sturdier materials and better craftsmanship.While the enclosure functions as intended and holds four drives, the combination of poor airflow, noisy operation, and subpar build quality makes it hard to justify the high price. It’s a decent option if you’re in a pinch, but there are better alternatives out there for the cost.

At first when I've tried to fit HDDs, I've almost broke the plastic container, so looked closely what's wrong. There is one plastic pin which I had to cut on all plastic drawers (manual doesn't mention about it), otherwise drive wouldn't fit straight (it seems they expect some hole in the drive at the bottom which is not there). After that 20TB Seagate IronWolf could fit and they worked fine on Ubuntu. Then I've tried to fit 12TB Seagate Barracuda, removing pin was not enough, these HDDs doesn't have middle screw holes, so blue part couldn't fit in, but somehow I was able to take off the blue part from both sides, which is challenging without breaking it, then it worked as well (it still fit without blue parts). Another con is that it will force re-connects all the other drives once you connect the new one, and mess up the mounting point. So I guess you should only connect the new one, when you unmount all the existing one. In overall, what would you expect for this price. It basically suits its purpose and it works, nothing more.

I use this to clone my drive C: every two days and it works a treat.