New
#311
The plastic drive tray is (er...was) a stock tool free HDD tray used in the HDD cages of several Corsair cases. It is designed to hold a 3.5" HDD without having to screw it directly into a cage. One can insert and remove the drive and cage just by squeezing the two handles together and pushing or pulling the tray/HDD in or out of the cage. Besides not needing tools, it makes it possible to turn the HDDs 90° to take up less length in a case and still be able to get each drive in and out without tools or having to remove the cage and to hide the wiring off to one side of the case. The HDD mounts in the tray by flexing the sides of the tray so the little lugs will register in the front and rear side mounting holes of the HDD. A hole that aligns with the center mounting hole of a HDD is provided on each side of the tray for an optional screw to provide a bit more rigidity to reduce possible vibration.
The tray also has four mounting holes on the bottom of the tray for mounting a 2.5" drive so holes in the side for mounting 2.5" drives aren't needed. The gizmo I installed is designed to allow 2.5" drives to be installed in 3.5" trays and still have the connectors align in the same place as the connectors of a 3.5" drive, something that would be a must in a NAS, swap bays, etc. that uses a backplane for HDDs to plug themselves into. The stock Corsair tray has the 2.5" mounting holes offset to accomplish the same thing but it leave the tray unsupported from side to side. That's why I got the gizmo; to support the tray when a 2.5" drive is installed since it uses the mounting lugs normally used with 3.5" HDDs. The problem was a 2.5" gets installed in the gizmo by the side screw holes instead of the bottom ones necessitating me adding previously unneeded holes in the side of the tray.
Clear as mud?
I looked at the Lian Li HDD cage you linked. That is a clever arrangement to maximize the number of drives in the amount of space it takes up but it wouldn't work for me. I have only four 5.25" bays and all four are in use (and I wouldn't mind having a fifth one). Also, to get at any one drive, the cage has to be removed from the case and and at least partially dismantled. That's why I like the trays ans cages I have in the 650D. I can get at any drive without having to remove anything else (other than the cables going to that drive).