The "piece de resistance" on this unit is the multifunction LCD panel. The panel provides information on the status of the drive, such as Master/Slave settings and hard drive and fan activity. It also displays the internal temperature, in either Celsius or Fahrenheit. Alternately, you can have the LCD display the HUTR, or Hard Drive Usage Time Record, which will inform you the number of days and hours the hard drive has been in operation. Two extremely handy features on the LCD are a temperature alarm and a fan failure alarm. You can set the drive to sound an audible alarm if the drive exceeds whatever temperature you have set, and the thermometer icon and an alarm icon on the LCD begins flashing. The default setting is 50 degrees Celsius. Similarly, if the fan fails, the same warnings will let you know, with the exception of the fan icon flashing as opposed to the thermometer icon. All in all, some great features to provide some preventive maintenance when drive operations begin to degrade.

The Kingwin KF-201 Mobile rack is a well-designed product with additional features that only add to its design and function. The LCD panel provides all the information you need to monitor hard drive operation. Installation is simple and DIP switches allow the master/slave settings to be adjusted without removing the drive from the rack. Not to mention the eye candy that is the front panel. The only feature I could think to add to this product would be a bottom-mounted fan for extreme cooling, especially with newer 10000 RPM IDE hard drives which are on the horizon. However, this product does everything it is designed to do, and then some, and thus receives the first MTB Seal of Approval and a perfect rating of 10 out of 10. If you have any questions regarding this review be sure to visit the Kingwin website for more information or discuss them in our forums.