MAIWO 4 Bay Hard Drive Enclosure with USB-C & 10 Gbps Speed - 4 Bay DAS Design for 3.5” SATA HDDs with 2 Cooling Fans, USB3.1 4 Bay HDD Enclosure Daisy Chain Expansion, DAS(NO RAID)

This enclosure replaces an Akitio Thunder3 Quad enclosure that was not working with my mac. This Maiwo enclosure works with Windows and macOS. No additional drivers needed.

This device is an absolute bargain. It features four hard drive bays and is an ideal enclosure for backup drives. The exterior is made of aluminum, while the interior is plastic. However, it’s not suitable for everyone. I’m using it with a 2024 Mac mini Pro. When connected to the Thunderbolt 5 ports on the back, it doesn’t function. It works perfectly with the USB ports on the front of the machine. I couldn’t get the HDMI port to work, but since I don’t need it, I’m not using it. CAUTION: all the pieces are slightly rough around the edges, and some of the edges are razor-sharp. You could easily get cut.

This case is extremely poor quality - the drives are packed in too tight and the fans are tiny and underpowered. My drives immediately ran 10-15c hotter in this than the prior enclosure.

rigtid god

First off, the external drives system is very easy to set up and to get started. Comes with all tools needed except readable instructions unless you happen to have a microscope. That or a telephoto eyes! The instructions were useless they were made so small... 1 star dinged for that.Next, in the description it was stated you could use 'software raid' with this enclosure which was what I was interested in because I wanted to get away from the hardware raid that often becomes glitchy with the OS unless the drivers are updated regularly. Well... 1 star ding for no software raid support. Tried every which way possible other than basic disk type structures (single drives only, no spanned / stripped or anything of the sort in raid configuration)The fans are relatively quiet, though I wish there was a dust cover or an easy way to attach one to the front to keep dust out. Being the case is aluminum, magnetic won't stick and there are no screw slots. Still, a plus star here.When installing the drives, it was fairly easy. Loosely tighten the screws so the drives still slide then screw the tray in place. Nowslide the drive into place and hold it firmly in place to the sata port while you tighten down the screws. Repeat for the second drive on that tray if one is there. +1 star for ease.Lastly, the ease of using the window management window to format through... +1. Again, if only spandisk would work here or. Basic software raid like they claim.3 star total. I wish I could give more. It really is deserving of it. It is very sell made and solid! Well thought out and great construction. Even with the issues I am happy with it.

Case is solid aluminum which is great however Drive trays and SATA interface are plastic resulting in bad fit. HDMI output also not working. Instruction sheet unreadable. Power supply not working.

Extremely easy to setup. It also acts as a Usb c extension AND connects an additional monitor. Highly Recommend!

The chassis is solid aluminum.You can toggle each drive on and off by the switch on the back and you can daisy chain multiple enclosures.Biggest complaint is that the drives aren't hot swappable. So you have to undo 6 screws on the bottom and 5 screws to undo the drive holders (2 drives on each holder) and then the 4 screws holding in each drive.So in my case I had to put in 2 drives. I used 8 Screws for the drives, 5 screws for the 2 bay holder. and 6 screws to fasten the enclosure to the chassis.Now if I wanted to add another drive I have to do the same in reverse. But for the other drive bay.But hopefully the drives that are in there won't need to be moved around.