This case has seven 5 ¼” bays and one of them is used by the ESA module, so in fact we have six 5 ¼” bays. Looking the front of this case you would get the impression that this case has a total of 11 5 ¼” bays. However, the hard disk drive cage isn’t installed inside the 5 ¼” bays as it happens on other cases we reviewed recently like Cooler Master Cosmos S. The reviewed case, instead, use a separated and independent cage that can be removed from the case (it uses thumbscrews, so no tool is needed) in order to facilitate the installation of hard disk drives but you can’t change its location as it happens on cases where the hard disk drive cage is installed inside 5 ¼” bays.
The main hard disk drive cage is installed perpendicular to the case and supports five hard disk drives. Armor+ ESA has two more hard disk drive modules on its bottom, allowing the direct installation of up to seven hard disk drives. The case come also with an adaptor for transforming any 5 ¼” bay into a 3 ½” one, so if you need you can install up to eight hard disk drives – if you don’t need the adaptor for installing a floppy disk drive, of course.
click to enlarge
Figure 16: Main hard disk drive cages.
click to enlarge
Figure 17: Bottom hard disk drive modules.
click to enlarge
Figure 18: Main hard disk drive cage removed from the case.
Each hard disk drive bay is a small drawer, so you simply need to open it by pressing its latch located on the right-hand side and pulling its front cover towards you. Then you will need to install the hard disk drive inside the drawer and fasten the hard disk drive to the drawer using two installation mechanisms that come with the case. So this case uses a 100% screwless mechanism to hold the disk drives. Unfortunately there is no mechanism to prevent noise is used (several cases use rubber rings or similar devices to lower the noise level produced by the hard disk drives).
click to enlarge
Figure 19: Drawer where the hard disk drive should be installed.
click to enlarge
Figure 20: Fastening the hard disk drive with a screwless mechanism.
click to enlarge
Figure 21: Hard disk drive correctly installed in the drawer.
