Page 2: Installation, Testing, Conclusion
Installation:
After removing the eight flat head screws that I hate so much, you have access to the internals of the unit. You are given four philips type screws for the hard drive mount, why couldn't they just use philips for everything?
The serial ATA connection is standard for data and power. The unit is hot swappable (as all serial ATA drives are since it was built into the standard).
You need to flip the unit to the bottom of screw in the drive. This is pretty bad if you aren't careful. The drive is heavy and without at least one screw supporting it, the serial ATA connector is being bent by the weight of the drive. Make sure you hold the drive up while you're screwing it in. I like when the screws are done on the sides of the drive instead.
Pay no attention to this drive that I installed in the unit since it didn't work. You'll want to watch the video supplement that goes with this review below for the full action. Once the drive is secured, you put the two sides back on. In my case, one of the screw holes wasn't threaded properly and the screw kept falling out. I guess 7/8 screws aren't bad, right?
The unit does look nice and pairs well with a black computer setup. Black components are my favorite and this enclosure fits nicely on my desk. Looks can be a bit deceiving, though.
Testing:
The full video supplement for this review is included. I will highlight my findings here as well. The enclosure does not work with my two Maxtor drives I tried even though they are perfectly fine in every other serial ATA system. I use them to test RAID enclosures and also for internal drive testing. The enclosure works fine with a Western Digital drive. I really have no idea why it doesn't work with the Maxtor drives, but it seems that the enclosure isn't giving the drives enough power since they don't spin up. You can hear them trying to, but they just don't. The fact that they don't work is completely unacceptable to me. Any serial ATA drive should work. You shouldn't have to find a drive that works with the enclosure. I'm very unhappy with this situation.
The enclosure performance with a drive that works is pretty good. It was basically doing sustained 30MB/s reads and write which is what I would expect from a USB2 enclosure.
Conclusion:
The only saving grace for this unit is that the price is very cheap. I've seen this particular enclosure go for around $30 which is a great price for a serial ATA to USB2 enclosure. Unfortunately, I don't recommend this one since the problems I encountered outweigh the price benefit. It is the old saying, "you get what you paid for." That's certainly true in this case.
I'd like to thank Chris from Eagle Tech for proving this unit for review. I would love to try something else from Eagle Tech to see if this was just a one off thing and hopefully give them some better press in the future.
After removing the eight flat head screws that I hate so much, you have access to the internals of the unit. You are given four philips type screws for the hard drive mount, why couldn't they just use philips for everything?
The serial ATA connection is standard for data and power. The unit is hot swappable (as all serial ATA drives are since it was built into the standard).
You need to flip the unit to the bottom of screw in the drive. This is pretty bad if you aren't careful. The drive is heavy and without at least one screw supporting it, the serial ATA connector is being bent by the weight of the drive. Make sure you hold the drive up while you're screwing it in. I like when the screws are done on the sides of the drive instead.
Pay no attention to this drive that I installed in the unit since it didn't work. You'll want to watch the video supplement that goes with this review below for the full action. Once the drive is secured, you put the two sides back on. In my case, one of the screw holes wasn't threaded properly and the screw kept falling out. I guess 7/8 screws aren't bad, right?
The unit does look nice and pairs well with a black computer setup. Black components are my favorite and this enclosure fits nicely on my desk. Looks can be a bit deceiving, though.
Testing:
The full video supplement for this review is included. I will highlight my findings here as well. The enclosure does not work with my two Maxtor drives I tried even though they are perfectly fine in every other serial ATA system. I use them to test RAID enclosures and also for internal drive testing. The enclosure works fine with a Western Digital drive. I really have no idea why it doesn't work with the Maxtor drives, but it seems that the enclosure isn't giving the drives enough power since they don't spin up. You can hear them trying to, but they just don't. The fact that they don't work is completely unacceptable to me. Any serial ATA drive should work. You shouldn't have to find a drive that works with the enclosure. I'm very unhappy with this situation.
The enclosure performance with a drive that works is pretty good. It was basically doing sustained 30MB/s reads and write which is what I would expect from a USB2 enclosure.
Conclusion:
The only saving grace for this unit is that the price is very cheap. I've seen this particular enclosure go for around $30 which is a great price for a serial ATA to USB2 enclosure. Unfortunately, I don't recommend this one since the problems I encountered outweigh the price benefit. It is the old saying, "you get what you paid for." That's certainly true in this case.
I'd like to thank Chris from Eagle Tech for proving this unit for review. I would love to try something else from Eagle Tech to see if this was just a one off thing and hopefully give them some better press in the future.