Is there any benefit to the patch panel other than not needing to crimp the Ethernet jack on?

Great comment, just wanted to add two things:

1. Shucking HDDs like this is very common
2. The manufacturer will not warranty the drive if it is removed from the shell. If this is important to you then hang on to the shell and reassemble it to get warranty. The serial number on the HDD itself will indicate it’s supported to be in a shell so there’s no way around it.

Framework?

How’d you get the free prepaid number?