Lian-Li launches the all new EX-10, EX-20, EX-30 & EX-50 External HDD rack mount kits

We’re used to seeing aluminum cases from Lian Li, but now that it has announced its latest aluminum carvings they are not for housing entire PCs, but only our harddrives. Lian Li has launched four different external harddrive racks of the EX series that supports up to five 3.5″ harddrives for creating your own hotswap RAID arrays. The cases can be connected to a computer using either USB2.0 or e-SATA, where the latter will provide better transfer rates. Prices and availability was not announced.

Press release after the break;

Lian-Li launches the all new EX-10, EX-20, EX-30 & EX-50 External HDD rack mount kits

3 April 2009, Keelung, Taiwan – Lian-Li Industrial Co. Ltd has launched EX-10 (1xHDD), EX-20 (2x HDD’s), EX-30 (3xHDD’s) and EX-50 (5xHDD’s) external HDD rack to support your storage needs in an all aluminum frame and housing. The HDD rack has a front loading door, with individual handles on a bracket for each HDD, as well as a back panel PCB with a RAID controller from Silicon Image. The Sil5744 chipset offers hot plug and play capability with many of the RAID settings required today.

Lian Li EX-10

The SATA HDD configuration is in a Hot Swap Plug & Play backplate with an integrated RAID controller chip. To keep the device cool there is an appropriately sized fan for your unit with a washable nylon filter keeping dust and debris out.

EX-20: RAID Mode

BIG / JBOD / RAID-0(FAST)

RAID-1(SAFE, SAFE 33, SAFE 50)

EX-30 and EX-50: RAID Mode

BIG / JBOD+ (DISK 2 & DISK3)RAID-0(FAST) /

JBOD+ (DISK 2 & DISK3)RAID-1(SAFE)

The devices connect via USB 2.0 (480Mb/s) or e-SATA (3 Gbps, auto-negotiates to 1.5 Gbps) directly to your PC. You should make sure your PC complies with the minimum requirements:

Lian Li EX-50

System requirement

PC / Windows Systems:

Intel Pentium III 500 MHz equivalent or faster

Windows XP, 2003 Server or Windows Vista with latest Service Packs

64MB RAM minimum

250MB of free disk space

E-SATA & USB Connection

Macintosh Systems:

PowerMac G5, MacBook Pro or Mac Pro

MaxOS X 10.4.8 (or later)

E-SATA & USB Connection

Advantages of Hot Swap RAID array

These devices automatically rebuild HDD storage when a new one is added to the array when set up in safe mode. The best part is that no software is required and everything is automated from the moment you plug in the HDD’s and turn on the device to your desired setting.

Mounting HDD’s is very convenient, with each handle mounted using screws, which act as guiding wheels as the hot swap HDD device is inserted securely while minimizing the noises from HDD chatter

The cage on all units is lockable and complements Lian Li style with the hair-line brushed anodized aluminum in a black finish, combined with finely filed edges, and hand crafted tooling to prevent jagged edges, lending both safety and elegance to these neat external HDD cluster racks.

For more details on features for the External Drives please go to the Lian-Li website:

Lian Li External Storage

About Lian Li

Lian Li Industrial Co. Ltd is an Aluminum Chassis and Chassis peripheral manufacturer and provider of industrial wholesale as well as OEM & ODM services for the PC industry as required. With over 20 years of service excellence, ISO 9001 certification and a team of professional staff willing to do the utmost to deliver durable, superior quality products, all backed by a *2 year guarantee; your satisfaction is guaranteed.(*conditions apply)