SilverStone Drive Storage DS223 RAID Enclosure Review

TweakTown's Rating: 92%

The Bottom Line

SilverStone has done a great job with the DS223, giving it both performance and top notch durability, perfect for those that like that industrial look in their storage solutions.

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A few times a year, SilverStone updates its storage lineup to take advantage of new connectivity available on the market. The DS223 is an update of the DS222, a device I reviewed in early 2016.

The DS223 is the latest RAID enclosure from SilverStone that takes advantage of the 2.5" form factor along with USB-C. Unlike many type-C devices on the market, SilverStone hasn't cut any corners with this solution either, as it supports the full 10Gb/s Gen 2 spec. And this device supports RAID 0, 1, and JBOD while being tool-free and bus powered.

Compatibility includes Windows 7 through 10 and OS X 10.5+. The MSRP of the SilverStone DS223 comes in at $89.99 with a one-year warranty.

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The packaging for the DS223 shares a bit of information about the device on the front. An image is off to the right.

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The back of the box has a full specifications list along with a product diagram.

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The scope of delivery is complete with a USB-C cable, manual, and screws.

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The enclosure for the DS223 is aluminum with the front panel being held on by T5 Torx screws. At the bottom, you will find three LEDs for drive activity and power.

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The backside includes the I/O for this solution. This includes the Gen 2 C connection and RAID switches. At the top, we have a small cooling fan and power switch.

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The SATA backplane is rather simple connecting directly to the mainboard for this unit.

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The drive trays are plastic, aiding in less vibration.

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Starting off testing, I used two SanDisk Ultra II SSDs and ran the DS223 through Anvils in RAID 0. As you can see, I reached 794 MB/s read and 761 MB/s write.

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ATTO in RAID 0 produced a peak of 838 MB/s read and 866 MB/s write.

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Swapping to RAID 1, the sequential performance came in at 492 MB/s read and 343 MB/s write.

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ATTO peaked at 530 MB/s read and 492 MB/s write.

The SilverStone DS223 is a very solid enclosure thanks to its metal construction and that certainly translates over to build quality. Adding to this, SilverStone made the decision to go with plastic trays for this solution, which should aide in less noise if you choose to use mechanical drives. The USB-C connection is a godsend for small solutions such as the DS223 as it gives high performance while being able to bus power up to 5V 3A.

The performance of the DS223 was certainly up to expectations reaching the heights of Gen 2 USB 3.1 at 866 MB/s in RAID 0 and RAID 1 bringing in 492 MB/s. Either with HDD or SSDs, the DS223 has plenty of throughput available for whatever you choose.

In closing, the DS223 is a large upgrade from the previous DS222 and not only on connectivity. The DS222 complicated the RAID process with several switches and their placement. With this new DS223 solution, we have two DIP switches and a push button located on the back of the unit next to each other.

Tyler's Test System Specifications

• Motherboard: ASUS Maximus IX Hero (buy from Amazon)
• CPU: Intel Core i7 7700K (buy from Amazon) / (Read our Review)
• Memory: G.SKILL TridentZ DDR4 3200 (buy from Amazon)
• Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 Hybrid (buy from Amazon)
• OS Storage: Intel 730 480GB SSD (buy from Amazon) / (Read our Review)
• Secondary Storage: MyDigitalSSD BP5 512GB SSD (buy from Amazon)
• Case: EVGA DG-86 (buy from Amazon)
• Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA 750 P2 (buy from Amazon)
• Networking: ASUS PCE-AC88 AC3100 (buy from Amazon)
• Networking: ASUS ROG 10G Express
• Networking: ASUS Thunderbolt EX3 (buy from Amazon)
• OS: Microsoft Windows 10 (buy from Amazon)