Introduction
We would like to thank Thermaltake for supplying this (MAX-1542), not so run of the mill, drive cage/adapter for us to examine, test and otherwise have our way with. 
What are the specifications and what is included in the box? Everything you need to get the MAX-1542 installed and running.
| Model# | RC1400101A |
| HDD Interface | Four 2.5” SAS / SATA / SSD |
| HDD Thickness Height | up to 15 mm ( w/ HDD Tray Cover off ) |
| HDD Capacity | up to 1 TB (HDD x1), 4 TB (HDD x4) |
| RAID Levels* | 0, 1, 5, 10 |
| Transfer Rate | up to 6 Gbps (Max) for SAS & 3 Gbps (Max) for SATA I / II / SSD |
| Power Connector | 15-pin Serial ATA (x1) |
| OS Compatible* | Linux, Macintosh, Windows 7 / 2008 / Vista / 2003 / XP / 2000 |
| Cooling Fan | Ø 40 x 20 mm (x2) / Speed: 2500±15% RPM / Noise Level: 18.00 dBA |
| LED Indicators | Hard Drive Status Indicator for each individual 2.5” HDD Tray |
| Security Lock | Built-In for each 2.5” HDD Tray |
| Material | Aluminum & ABS Plastic |
| Dimension | 146 (W) x 175 (D) x 42 (H) mm 5.75 (W) x 6.89 (D) x 1.65 (H) inches |
| Weight | 0.79 kg / 1.74 lbs |
| Accessories / Other | 4x SATAII Cables, 2x Keys, Instruction Foldout |
A Closer Look
The drive housing is solid and well vented allowing effective active cooling of higher speed 10000+ RPM drives by the two internal 40mm fans
The drives are mounted with screws to the individual drive trays which is a little more time consuming initially but it creates a quieter experience than most snap in and frame-less solutions.
Inside the cage
From the looks of the inside of the housing the drive ports are just pass throughs which could cause a theoretical degradation in performance. This degradation would most likely never be seen in even the most demanding of situations.
Better cable (wire) management is a real plus with the MAX-1542. By using only one power lead things neaten up quite a bit allowing for better airflow and access to system components without having to worry about disconnecting SATA cabels and SATA power.
Usage
Security, accessibility, convenience, portability and looks are what Thermaltake offers the small data center or professional/home user with the MAX-1542. Of the five security and aesthetic appeal make the MAX-1542 stand apart from the competition. What we find when we delve into the security aspect is that the MAX-1542 stands alone.
With individually key locking drive cages the MAX-1542 allows the user to simply pull a drive and lock it up in a briefcase for transport when necessary or put drives in a safe (firesafe) to prevent any damage to or theft of critical information.
Looks are one thing that make the MAX-1542 stand out from the crowd. In this case you love it or don’t love it. Simple as that. The orange on black does look good when installed into a black case snuggled up next to the DVD-ROM drive
Testing/performance
According to the Thermaltake documentation this enclosure is not SATAIII compatible “up to 6 Gbps (Max) for SAS & 3 Gbps (Max) for SATA I / II / SSD” however our testing on an Intel z77 chipset showed otherwise. Having one SSD mounted in the MAX-1542 and the other directly connected to the Intel SATAIII header there was no discernible performance degradation in RAID 0 performance with speeds topping 1GBps. Furthermore the MAX-1542 was tested in a RAID 5, RAID 10 and RAID 0 setup as well and showed absolutely no performance degradation.
Temperature control was a bonus here – though when dealing with most 2.5 inch drives it is generally not an issue. Here you can look for single drive temperatures to average two to three degrees cooler than drives that offer no active cooling with extremes reaching six degrees on single drive testing. When the drives in the enclosure are set to RAID 0 we find that the combine heat output (all drives inside the case helping increase ambient) is still three degrees cooler than a single passively cooled drive when testing extreme usage. Adding things up we find that the fans add no increase in detectable noise and the cooling can help keep case temperatures lower by a degree or two.
Conclusion
The Thermaltake MAX-1542 is a great addition to any PC that needs ease of access for hot drive swaps, data portability with the security of locking your drives in the case or in a safe.
We noticed no caveats and the price is good to boot.
The Thermaltake MAX-1542 can be found at NewEgg for 63.99 and other retailers for 59.77 and higher.
