Kingwin KF-201DF LCD Mobile Rack Review

Imagine being able to easily move a hard drive from one PC. The mobile rack
lets a user easily and simply pull a hard drive from its cradle and move it
to another. The Kingwin KF-201DF adds much more. There are dip switches that
allow for an easy change from slave to master and back again. An LCD screen
displays fan, temperature and hours of usage. Kingwin gave the mobile rack a
high tech facelift and we couldn’t wait to get our hands on it and when we did…it
failed.

The Kingwin KF-201DF, supplied by ExtremeAlterations, is no stranger to the
tech site review circuit. The PC enthusiast isn’t satisfied with simple and
they are attracted to gizmos like moths to a flame. The KF-201DF is very much
a “gizmo” with all the bells and whistles.

Features

Specifications

The KF-201-DF is a very well made unit. The unit is all aluminum with the exception
of the front bezel and rear cap pieces.

A hard drive rack using aluminum will have the advantage of providing a more
durable surface and stronger material to turn mounting screws into. All plastic
units are not inferior and it usually comes down to a matter of buyer preference.
The bezel is all plastic.

The door latch is two position. The first “click” reveals the key
lock for power on/off.

The second “click” will disengage the hard drive bay from the cradle.

The latch mechanism will deter casual thieves but could easily be snapped by
using more force. This act would most likely damage the unit beyond repair.

The rack has a spring loaded drive bay door that maintains the aesthetics of
the front of a PC rather than a gaping hole.

The door in closed then open position shot from behind the bezel.

The cradle is lightweight with aluminum side rails and plastic end caps.

The rear of the cradle has an IDE connection, 4-pin molex power connection
and an ADDA fan for cooling. Airflow is from the front of the unit exhausted
to the interior of the PC case.

The hard drive container has a clip to lock the top cover in place which slides
back to open.

Inside the hard drive container is the molex power cable, IDE cable and three
2-pin jumper wires which plug into where the hard drive jumpers would normally
go.

These connections are to remote the jumper settings to the rear of the unit
which are controlled by dip switches. The dip switches are located on the right
side of the hard drive container.

The dip switches allow a user to change the hard drive from master to slave
or vice versa without having to physically pull the drive from the container
bay. This comes in handy if the hard drive is being moved from one PC where
it may be set as MASTER to another PC where it is a SLAVE. The correct dip switch
configuration depends on hard drive make.

Installation is simple. Remove the jumper pins from the hard drive and follow
the supplied instructions for proper connection of the jumper wires.

The hard drive fits snug into the container but this is planned as a hard drive
“flopping” around inside a container would not be good.

Mobile racks do not impede operational speed. They function as if the hard
drive where directly connected to the motherboard. ATTO scores are well within
the range for a Maxtor ATA100 single drive.

Frustrations and problems.

The Kingwin KF-201-DF failed in Short-Media labs which was very hard to believe
considering the amount of times this product has previously been reviewed with
flying colors. The first unit sent was D.O.A and there was no combination of
settings that would allow for it to work.

The second unit did function but not to expectations. In all tests a clean
60 GB drive with 5 partitions was used. The KF-201DF would not allow a KT400A
motherboard to boot with the unit powered on. It was set to both master and
slave and installed on IDE 1, 2 and Raid. The boot drive was installed on IDE
1 and then on a Raid Header. If the unit was powered up after the initial boot
sequence while WindowsXP was loading then the drive would be detected.

On a Gigabyte dual processor motherboard the KF-201DF would allow the motherboard
to boot but the unit was unstable and the drives prone to freezing.

The hard drive temperature readout was an astonishing 31.6 degrees Celsius
after only a minute of operation.

Another glitch found was the alarm setting. The KF-201DF allows the user to
program a minimum temperature setting where the alarm will activate. It indeed
worked and a very loud siren emanated from the unit and is simply shut off by
pressing one of the buttons.

The problem is that the minimum temperature setting cannot be changed once
the alarm has gone off. It is unknown as to the exact reason but it is probably
one of two explanations. Either the unit has to cool off to drop below the temperature
alarm setting or the power has to be disconnected and sufficient time must pass
in order for any powered memory to clear.

In either case it was annoying.

Since the temperature sensor is in the path of the fan and not actually inside
the hard drive a 31.6 degree Celsius temperature was a bit hard to believe especially
after only a few moments of operation.

Conclusions

This is a first for Short-Media. The KF-201DF failed to live up to operational
expectations. The first review sample was D.O.A. which can be forgiven. There
are some units that are bad in every batch. It was just our turn. The RMA sample
just plain failed to operate correctly or dependably for us.

The Kingwin KF-201DF is a good idea and many other review websites have given
it high marks. It is a geek’s dream with the LCD fan, temperature, hour usage
and alarm. The alarm is very audible and a bypass setting would be a benefit.

The disappointment came in operational stability. Given the fact that two samples
exhibited problems we cannot recommend the Kingwin KF-201DF. Sometimes simple
is best and an alternative is the Lian Li RH321 Mobile Rack previously
reviewed. The less expensive RH321 may have less frills but it worked flawlessly
right out of the box and is still functioning three months later.