Installation:
Installing drives into the
Thecus N3200 3-Bay SOHO network storage system could not be much easier. The first step is to remove the front cover to gain access to the three drive bays. All you do is push up on the cover and slide it off. Reverse the process when re-installing it, and simply slide it down until it pops securely into place.
The image above shows the inside of the drive bays where SATA data and power connections can be seen on a blue PCB just in front of the exhaust fan. The unit ships with the tool-less drive rails installed, and you simply need to loosen thumbscrews to get them out.
The next image shows the drives to be used, as well as the basic assembly of the drives to the rails. You simply press two tabs on the rails into the screw holes on the side of the drive as shown. Three Maxtor MaxLine III 250GB, 16MB cache, 3 Gbps SATA drives were used in the review, and could be another entry into Thecus' list of compatible drives, as everything worked perfectly.
The drives then slide into the drive bay and are secured with the thumbscrews found on each rail. The whole process was extremely easy, and required no tools.
Once installed, the drives are fairly close to each other, but gaps between each drive and between the drives and the walls of the enclosure should allow enough room for the fan to draw cool air across them.
