INTRODUCTION

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   Storage capacity is one very large problem that haunts professionals and enthusiasts since as far back as i can recall but nowadays due to the appearance of new technologies like 1080p and even 4k things are even worse. Sure consumers can now find several 4/6TB external desktop solutions (even 8TB ones are available but in much smaller numbers) but what happens when that's simply not enough and you want to make the best out of the available desktop space? Luckily many manufacturers have released numerous 3.5" external enclosures in the recent years for all tastes featuring as many as eight 2.5/3.5" bays which end users can use with multiple RAID and/or JBOD modes. Teratrend by SilverStone released several external enclosures a couple of years ago and since we finally have access to their product lines today we're testing the flagship TS432U model.

   Teratrend Technology Inc., a division of SilverStone, was founded in 2010 as a professional storage solution provider with focus on industrial design and manufacturing of storage products and accessories. To meet increasing demands for cloud media access and security, Teratrend will release and develop cloud and small disk array system applications for consumers and small businesses. Teratrend will taking full advantage of the latest technologies to bring consumer and business users easy and reliable ways to manage data storage, simplify operation, share and sync files across different platforms through PC to smart phone and access data anytime anywhere. Teratrend aims to deliver products with diverse features and the best in customer services. With distribution centers in different areas of the globe, Teratrend products can be seen all over the world, not just for computer users but also for home entertainment use. Providing leisure with integration of advanced technologies that is functional and making them enjoyable to use.

   The TS432U is a quad bay SATA III 3.5" external desktop enclosure that features both USB 3.0 and eSATA connectivity for optimal data transfer rates. Teratrend has also equipped the TS432U with a completely tool-free slide-in design for the drives, two 60mm exhaust fans and a medium sized LCD display via which the end user can not only check the current status of the mounted drives and the device itself but also manage the desired mode (the TS432U supports RAID 0/1/3/5/10 and LARGE modes) and use the drive duplicator/clone feature without having to plug the enclosure into a PC. What really drew our attention however is the Windows software Teratrend bundles with the TS432U which allows for hassle-free management of the drives (also supports SMART monitoring) and thanks to its user friendly GUI even people without much experience should have no problem using it.

 

 

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are two different models visually in the TS43xx line (the line consists by 4 models) and at the front of the box we see both of them along with the main features of the model at hand.

 

 

On the left side of the box we see the specifications table just over two product pictures.

 

 

5 product pictures placed on the other side of the box are used to showcase its main features.

 

 

A more detailed explanation of the models features is placed at the rear in 10 languages.

 

 

The device is placed inside a plastic bag and between two rather thick foam spacers.

 

 

It may not be the richest bundle we've seen with one such device to date but still Teratrend puts everything you may need inside the box including an eSATA cable, USB 3.0 cable, power cord and a CD with the control software for the device.

 

 

THE TS432U

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Measuring 266mm in depth, 187mm in height and 130mm in width the 3.3kg heavy metal enclosure of the TS432US looks a lot like the ones used in small NAS servers.

 

 

The front door is made out of brushed aluminum.

 

 

The on/off power LED is placed at the top right next to the HDD activity LEDs (blue for occupied bay and red for access).

 

 

The door opens from right to left.

 

 

4 navigation buttons are placed right next to the LCD screen.

 

 

When we first show the tool-less slide-in design for the 4 drive bays we all liked it because it's much faster than using trays. At the same time however this means you can only use 3.5" drives with the TS432U (2.5" ones will need to be placed inside 3.5" adapters).

 

 

Pretty much everything else is placed at the rear including the power port, voltage control for the PSU (115/230v) and the two 60mm exhaust fans.

 

 

There's also the USB 3.0 host port, eSATA port, set mode button and the 3 buttons used to manually set the desired mode.

 

 

The device sits ontop 4 thick rubber feet.

 

 

With all 4 Seagate Constellation ES.3 4TB SATA III HDDs mounted the TS432U is ready for our tests.

 

 

CONTROL SOFTWARE

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The control software is divided in to two areas, basic and advance modes. The basic mode allows you to check the status of the drives (either from this screen or a SMART screen that pops up if you click on each drive and hit advanced) and configure the desired RAID mode (0/1/3/5/10/LARGE/Clone) or delete the already configured one.

 

 

Through the advanced area you can setup various events, create RAID configurations or delete existing ones, upgrade the firmware of the device (although our sample came wearing the one released in May 2013 there’s no newer since then) and you can finally setup the standby timer for the drives (by default it’s set at 5 minutes of inactivity).

 

 

Creating and deleting RAID configurations is very fast via this software and that’s one of the things we liked about the TS432U.

 

 

TEST BED

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TESTING METHODOLOGY

 

   Complicating things is not really our way so once again our testing procedure will be almost identical to the one we use with external docking stations. However since we are talking about an dual bay 3.5" external enclosure this time over we will be using one or more (depends on the mode) Seagate Constellation ES.3 4TB SATA III hard disk drives since mechanical drives are obviously what people will use more with such devices (besides in quad+ enclosures these should pretty much max out the performance of the onboard controller). Our standard selection of benchmark suites is used here as well for both single and RAID 0 testing including the famous HD Tach RW (Long Bench 32mb Zones), HD Tune Pro (read/write -when possible- speeds), Sisoftware Sandra Pro (Read/Write -also when possible- speeds), AIDA64 (Linear Read/Random Read), Crystal Disk Mark x64 (100MB/1000MB read/write speeds) and finally the quite outdated yet highly reliable ATTO 2.47 (Max Read/Max Write speeds).

   Temps as usual were recorded using the latest version of Hard Disk Sentinel along with the sensors provided by AIDA64. Every test was repeated for a total of 6 times and after that the average (not peak) performance numbers were recorded into our graphs. As always every test was performed in a fresh installation of Microsoft Windows 7 Service Pack 1 with every update installed up to September 5th 2015.

* RAID 1 in this review was limited in using two HDDs and not all four so keep that in mind when going through our charts.

 

 

TEST RESULTS - AIDA64 / ATTO

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TEST RESULTS - HD TACH RW / HD TUNE PRO

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TEST RESULTS - SISOFTWARE SANDRA PRO / CRYSTAL DISK MARK X64

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TEST RESULTS – TEMPERATURES

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CONCLUSION

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   SilverStone became popular mainly because of their great quality and innovative PC cases so naturally not many people know that they are also in the business of manufacturing external HDD enclosures (via Teratrend Technologies). Unfortunately it seems that since its release roughly 3 years ago the TS43xx line hasn’t received any firmware updates (at least not after May 2013) so that could explain some slight issues we had with its control software (crashing and having to run it again). Still its performance along with the ability to use up to 4 HDDs in RAID 0/1/3/5/10 and LARGE mode are two very impressive things while the Cloning function is something we haven’t seen in such a product, at least to date (cloning is usually available in docking stations). The control software makes things even better since it allows the end user to configure the drives with one of the above modes in just seconds and if for any reason you don’t have access to a PC the LCD screen at the front with its 4 navigation buttons is also very easy to use. The slide-in tool-free design of the 4 bays is what we call a double edged sword so although it’s very easy to use (much easier than using drive trays) at the same time it makes It impossible to use 2.5” drives (at least not without adapters). Last but not least the two 60mm exhaust fans may not be inaudible but they are certainly a lot quieter compared to other similar solutions we’ve used in the past.

   The SilverStone Teratrend TS432U 4 Bay 3.5” HDD Tower Enclosure currently retails for USD196 inside the USA (Amazon.com) and for 210Euros inside the EU (Amazon.de) a price which is actually not bad if you take into account that there are many quad bay HDD enclosures out there with less features and higher price tags. We do feel that performance could be slightly better but it’s still very good and since the TS432U is the most complete 4 bay enclosure we’ve seen in the market to date it gets our Platinum Award.

PROS

- Build Quality
- Very Good Performance
- 4x3.5" Drive Bays
- USB 3.0 & eSATA Connectivity
- LARGE & RAID 0/1/3/5/10 Modes
- Cloning Function
- Tool-Free Bays
- Dual 60mm Exhaust Fans
- Control Software
- LCD Screen With Navigation Buttons
- Low-RPM Fans

 

CONS

- Slight Issues with the Control Software
- No JBOD Mode