SilverStone FS304B Drive Storage

I've used SilverStone products in some fashion for almost a decade. My first PC case was the ML08, I used their optical drive to get into physical media and personal preservation, I used their custom sleeves PSU cables to carry over their SFX-L PSU into a standard ITX, then M-ATX, and now full-size ATX rack chassis. I've loved the ingenuity of the people at SilverStone to find or see a need and be able to fill it with a quality product, while also providing great pist-sale customer care with customer support reps being knowledgeable and helpful in most any of their product range. I felt more than comfortable adding a 4-drive hot-swap from SilverStone to my new rack chassis, and I definitely don't regret it at all!
 The negatives I've come across in the two weeks of having, installing, and using the FS304B all stem from from a single problem: the fan. This drive cage includes an 80mm cooling fan at the rear, and it’s connected and controlled via a 3-pin power connector (not the standard 4-pin PWM header) that allows for the rear-facing switch of Low and High speed to be effective. I actively hate this choice. The fan is fine, even the 3-pin nature is acceptable, but the issue I take is with the choice to have to two speeds, Low and High, to be 2800 and 3000 RPM respectively. That’s only a 7% difference and both are noise as heck because, again, it’s an 80mm fan! Luckily, the fan’s cable plugs in under a user-removeable back cover and can be tucked back into the fascia so it can’t run at all (which is what I’ve done for noise reasons) as the fan runs constantly on either selected setting. The fan IS replaceable, so you could find a quieter 3-pin fan, or even potentially use a 4-pin PWM fan and connect it to a splitter to have motherboard control over it instead of that stupid switch. Either way, this is a massive issue for me and I’m glad there are at least ways to forcibly mitigate it, but I shouldn’t have to for the over $100 price of the FS304B.
 The positives, however MUCH outweigh the (albeit major) negative, with the FS304B. Importantly, EIO lists the FS304B, which according to SilverStone is the non-12G version, which I’ll get to shortly. The FS304B has got 4 toolless, trayless hotswap slots, each with a metal-and-plastic front door design that can be locked individually with the included pair of keys. The drives slide in easily and the door clicks them into place nicely, leaving the cage (when fully loaded) feeling properly hefty and dense, and the doors close with a satisfying click of the latch. The cage includes 4 screws to mount it into your PC’s 5.25” bay area (with the drives mounted horizontally for this 4-bay model) and I had issues choosing where to screw mine in to mount it. I ended up getting the center 2 holes on both sides of the FS304B to line up, rather than farther-away corners like I usually prefer. Even so, it’s sturdy and not coming loose, but I feel it’s worth mentioning mounting points.
 The FS304B is weird with SilverStone, as it’s got a sibling, model number FS304B-12G, which as the name suggests supports the use of SAS 12-Gigabit drives, with appropriate SAS controller card and SAS cables (same header as SATA III). Comparing specs on their product pages side-by-side, the major differences are few, but important:
 1) the SATA/SAS headers on the rear of the cage are blue on the -12G model
 2) the -12G model is 1mm deeper and taller than the non-12G model
 3) the fan speed selector on the -12G model is preset for 3000 and 2400 RPM, rather than the non-12G’s 3000 and 2800 RPM
The last difference may not exist anymore, as the page on SilverStone’s site states the FS304B supports SAS 12Gigabit drives with the proper cables and controller card, but SilverStone’s original product data sheet (FS304 Product Sheet (fs304-edm-en.pdf) is the file name on the company’s product page) states it supports SAS drives, but NOT 12-Gigabit performance. This may be why the product was revised, and a specific name was assigned to the -12G model, but the current page ON SilverStone’s own website quotes 12-Gigabit performance capabilities, and I lack the drives to be able to verify those claims.
 Overall, this is a stellar piece of computing kit to add if you need outward-accessible drive storage or hotswap functionality and have the three 5.25” to spare. Price is tricky, because EIO has this at (what I believe to be) normal market price, around $115 USD, while basically all other e-tailers I searched in late 2025 were either out of stock or closer to $150 before tax and shipping. EIO thankfully had them in-stock at the time I ordered, so my shipping time was reasonable (I paid for USPS ground advantage and it got sent via FedEx for some reason, but it was trackable regardless, so I guess that one’s a wash?) and while it may be a years-older model, the SilverStone FS304B is still a great addition to my PC, and may be for you too as long as you understand the trade-offs and differences compare...