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