CONCLUSION

   Although the BPU-124DE-SS and the BPN-2535DE-SA are almost identical when it comes to their SATA connectivity thanks to its active cooling (or at least that's what we think) the first managed to surpass the second in most tests if only by very small margins. Of course such performance differences don't matter much but what we really wanted to see was if the BPU-124DE-SS performed at least on par with the BPN-2535DE-SA and since it actually does even better we got that out of the way. What matters most however is that you can mount up to four 2.5" drives inside the BPU-124DE-SS without having to worry about temperatures thanks to the two 40mm cooling fans. True they can be somewhat loud at max RPM especially when you are testing their noise levels but during normal use i really doubt they can be annoying (or even be heard at all).

   With a price tag currently set at USD79.95 inside the USA (Amazon.com) the BPU-124DE-SS 1x5.25" to 4x2.5" SAS/SATA 6Gb/s Hot-Swap cage may not be really expensive but much like most products by iStarUSA it's not widely available anywhere else and that's perhaps the only drawback we could find. Of course you can always import it from the USA but that's not something many people will choose to do so once again i find myself hoping that iStarUSA will resolve that issue sooner rather than later. In any case that doesn't change that the BPU-124DE-SS is a very unique and useful product especially for professionals and that's why it gets our Golden Award.

PROS

- Build Quality
- Single 5.25" To Quad 2.5”
- SATA & SAS Compatible
- Locks
- Activity LEDs
- Hot-Swap Trays
- LED On/Off Switch
- Temperatures (Active Cooling)
- Price (For Some) 

CONS

- EU Availability
- Noise Levels