Teratrend SST-TS431U 4-bay USB 3.0 Storage Tower Review

1. Introduction2. Packaging & Bundle3. Teratrend SST-TS413U Tower4. Testing Methodology & Performance5. Closing Thoughts6. View All Pages

The Teratrend SST-TS431U by Silverstone is a simple 4-bay Storage Tower which features both USB 3.0 and eSATA support.

This gives the flexibility to use whichever connection you want, and the potential to use up to four large hard drives. As the TS431U doesn't feature built-in raid options, by default they will all show up individually within the Windows environment. It is however possible to set-up a striped (Raid 0) volume or a mirrored (raid 1) via eSATA.

In terms of using the TS431U as a back-up device, it is great. It is very easy to install or remove disk drives and it is very quick to turn the device on and configure.

The design of the tower might be simple; a solid rectangular chassis, four tool-less bays and 5 LED's, but it is very well-built. That said, two of the rubber feet on our review sample fell off.

The hinged-door at the front swings smoothly, with a strong magnetic catch so it shuts positively – it also helps to reduce the noise characteristics of the drives. We were certainly impressed with the weight when we took it out of the box, reassuring they are using heavy duty materials for construction. The company added 60 mm exhaust fans keep the drives cool, and we didn't notice any build-up of heat within the enclosure.

The performance of the enclosure is excellent but it is a shame that with a device like this you are unable to set-up a Raid configuration over USB 3.0.

Overall the TS431U is a well-built storage tower with great features and it is very easy to use. It is ideal for those professionals who want to perform thorough back-ups of their documents and files regularly. It is also ideal for a home-office based system, as you don't have to use all 4-bays religiously.

The unit is available now from SCAN for £119.28 inc vat.

Pros

• Flexible storage system.
• Well built and designed.
• USB 3.0 and eSATA.
• Easy to install/remove HDD.
• Quiet but cool enclosure.

Cons

• No built in raid restricts ultimate performance.
• Rubber feet fall off easily.

Kitguru says: A very well-built product from the new Teratrend division of SilverStone.

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