Thermaltake Max 5 Quad Storage Rack Review - More HDDs for your case

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After our recent review of the Max 5 Duet, I thought it wise to come right back with another storage solution from the same line-up in Thermaltake's closet. The solution we are looking over today is the Max 5 Quad, the largest of the Max 5 line-up.

The Max 5 Quad is a 5.25" bay device that allows the use of four 2.5" SATA drives in one hot swap capable enclosure. Expanding upon the Duet, the Quad uses locking drive trays, rather than the tool-less installation of the smaller Duet model. Compatibility extends to all generation of SATA drives. The Max 5 Quad carries a MSRP of $39.99, with a one-year warranty.

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Within the scope of delivery, we find screws for mounting drives and the enclosure, in addition to a host of SATA cables for connecting to your PC.

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The drive trays for the Max 5 Quad carry a pure plastic design, but have enough structure behind them to maintain durability.

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The front of the Quad houses the drive trays up top, with activity indicators for each drive below.

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The back of the unit houses four SATA ports to the left, with a cooling fan in the center. To the right, a molex power connection is present to feed all drives.

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Here, we have installed our drives in the trays in preparation for testing.

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Above, we have results from testing our SSD using a direct connection to the SATA III ports of our Z77 motherboard. The drive achieves 512 MB/s read, with 461 MB/s write.

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We found no performance loss after putting our drives in the Max 5 Quad. Here, we have 516 MB/s read, and 462 MB/s write.

The Max 5 Quad from Thermaltake is one of those devices that comes along, and aides in building a clean, well-kept machine. Build quality of the unit was quite good; the drive trays slide and lock with ease, and installing the device into your bay requires only a few screws, and it's ready to go. Though, I did have some issues with my rack mount chassis that uses a rail system; the pins from the rails were too long, and protruded inside the Max 5, blocking the trays from sliding in.

The Max 5 Quad carries on and offers a solution to double the capacity of the Max 5 Duet we looked at previously, and with the pass-through design, we lost no performance in our testing. Additionally, the internal cooling fan allows adequate airflow to ensure your drives stay within operating specifications.

The Thermaltake Max 5 Quad carries a MSRP of $39.99, with market availability slim at this point. Of course, market pricing and availability may differ at certain times, so we invite you to check current pricing below. The Max 5 Quad carries a one-year warranty.

PRICING: You can find the Thermaltake Max 5 Quad for sale below. The prices listed are valid at the time of writing, but can change at any time. Click the link to see the very latest pricing for the best deal.

United Kingdom: The Thermaltake Max 5 Quad retails for 41.99 pounds at Amazon UK.

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