What is this thing in my case? (Coolermaster HAF-X)

[raindog308]

I'm not sure what this section towards the front of my new Coolermaster HAF-X case is four. There's a 4-prong power connector going into it, and then two SATA connectors coming out, as well as some electronics.

The "I'm a manual of few words" manual doesn't say.

Sorry for the poor picture...it doesn't have a bright shiny light like that, I'm just a lousy photographer

It's not the eSATA connector from the front of the case - there's a red cable that comes out that I plugged into one of the mobo's SATA connectors.

I plugged power into it...but I'm not sure what for If I plug SATA into there, it's not going to go anywhere since it's not plugged into the mobo (?)

 

[Guest]

It is a SATA back-plane which allows for quick-swap of hard drives using the (2) front/external lower 5.25" bays. You have the standard internal 3.5" HDD mouting cage for a more permanent installation, however the SATA back-plane allows for quick-swap of standard 3.5" HDDs so you do not have to fumble around with the side panel and SATA cables each time you want to remove a hard drive for whatever reason - i.e. system image for back-up purposes or quick formatting of a spare drive. So in this case, all you have to do is remove one of the front lower external 5.25" covers, which contains an HDD cage.