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Aluminum LCD Mobile Rack ATN-999
November 25th, 2003
Author: Tekime - tekime@fury-tech.com
Installation
First thing's first. Installing the hard drive was a snap. Just plug in the ATA cable and the Molex
power header and stick the drive in the chassis. At this point we already have a pretty snug fit, but
there are also screwholes that allow you to screw the drive into place. If you plan on leaving the
drive in place for any amount of time I would encourage you to do that.
Once the drive is installed and the cover is back on, we can install the rack itself in a 5 1/4" bay.
This is where I hit a bit of a stumbling block. The rack is just slightly larger than my other optical
drives and I had a hell of a time getting it to fit in two of the three available bays on this computer.
Now in all fairness, this case has been around for a few years, and has definitely seen it's fair share
of Dremel goodness. While it could very well be that my case has been slightly warped over time, the
fact that my CD-ROM drive fit perfectly in each bay leads me to believe that the rack is just a hair
too large. This is where the manufacturing process of these generic components starts to show it's
flaws. This isn't a major flaw by any means, but is as always something to consider.
You'll only have to install the rack itself once, so even a bit of a struggle is no big deal since
you will most likely only need to do it once. But when it comes to installing and removing the
drive chassis itself, we really don't want to fight with it. And unfortunately, I found myself, if only
marginally, getting a bit frustrated at this point. There is a bit of a trick to getting the unit
in the rack mount. After a few tries it got to be easier, but it isn't exactly as smooth as silk. You
need to tilt the unit up a bit, push it, and if you're lucky it will slide right in. If you're not lucky,
this is where you'll spend a few minutes or more jiggling the unit around to get the right positioning.
Like the size of the rack itself, this is where cheaper design processes show their weakness.
Once it's in, the unit looks great. It's still only $16 of greatness, but it really looks pretty nice. When we
power onthe PC, the LCD lights up nicely and two LEDs serve as power and access indicators. The light is nice
and bright, the letters are fairly easy to read, and you can select celsius or farenheit readings at the
flip of a switch.
Now for some basic testing and it's time to wrap up this review of the Aluminum LCD Mobile Rack ATN-999.
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