SilverStone DS222 External Dual-Bay RAID Enclosure Review

A Closer Look

The SilverStone DS222 is easily taken apart by removing the four screws on the rear. The internal parts slide apart from the aluminum chassis and we see what the enclosure is made up of. Normally you’ll never need to take it apart yourself, but we’ll want to know what’s inside and how it is built together for a review

The front cover is made of plastic and contains a foam strip in the middle to make sure your drives stay firmly seated on the SATA connectors, even if it should be thrown a little around in your backpack or purse.

The six rods will transfer the LEDs to the front panel and we can also spot the simple slide-lock here.

The DS222 is made up of two PCBs, the main PCB that is screwed into the rear of the enclosure and a sub-board for the LEDs and buzzer. The two are connected by a simple 10-pin connector.

The LED board is as simple as it can be with its six LEDs on the front, a tiny speaker that works as the buzzer, and the switch to turn the buzzer on and off.

The main PCB is equally simple with the SATA connectors in the middle and little else.

There is a little more the rear where most is for the external connectors and switches that all are mounted directly on the PCB.

At the heart of the DS222 is a JMicron JMS 561 Super Speed USB3.0 to Dual SATA gen III Ports with RAID bridge controller. It integrated 2 independent SATA channels and a microprocessor. With proper setting, the chip can be configured as 1 to 2- ports Serial ATA III Port Multiplier or hardware striping & mirror.