Home > Consumer Reviews > Acomdata 3.5-Inch USB/Firewire A External Enclosure

I searched the main electronic stores looking for an enclosure that had these same specs (fire wire, USB, power on/off switch, 100% metal casing) for a price under $50. None existed for that price and with those options in the brick and mortars.

This enclosure is connected to my laptop. I leave my laptop and this enclosure on for time periods spanning anywhere from 2 days to one week without restarting. This unit NEVER gets hot.

The power switch in the back of the unit is very convenient. The design of the unit is very sleek and sexy. The metal casing cools the hard drive making the temperature luke warm to the touch. In addition, the price of $42 is a bargain. This enclosure is highly recommended.

Was looking for a quiet, firewire HD enclosure. Acomdata's product looked like it fit the bill.

Pros - solid case (quiet without a fan), easy to set up, had it up and running in minutes.

Cons - would work for several days, then just stop. Initially, wouldn't work after reboots. Subsequently, it seemed more random. I wasn't able to find a good pattern.

Acomdata's web site states that they give free tech support for as long as you own the product, and promise an email response in 3 days. Wasn't sure how they could manage such an inclusive policy, but I soon found out. Tech support is entirely an illusion. 4 emails (over about 3 weeks, to tech support and customer service) all went unanswered. Never received a solution to problem, and I'm now looking for a more reliable solution to external storage.

Aluminum alloy is a way if you want to avoid a fan for cooling your hard-drive. This is a well design and very sleeks looking case. I have seen LaCie and other external hard drive manufactures using Acomdata's case. Firewire and USB 2.0 are more compatible for older laptop like mine, which only use firewire and the slow USB 1.1.

Yes there is an On/Off switch, which some external are too cheap to put on. There is plastic grill in the front to let air through. Very easy setup with big screws.

One issue that I have noticed since using this case is the sound insulation. I got a noisy Seagate Hard-drive and the slim aluminum case has no sound insulation, which is quiet loud at time. My old Western Digital plastic case had a quieter hard-drive. So sound level is not all about the fan, it also include hard-drive mechanics.

Overall it a good buy.

I was very nervous about getting an enclosure for my hard drive, but there was about 50 gigs of music and video that I had to transfer to my new PC. Review after review, I read about other cases heating up, and people losing their data.

I was planning on getting the CompUsa equivalent of this, but I saw this on the shelf next to it and took the chance, and I'm glad I did.

Set up was a breeze, and the unit has a vent in the front to help dissapate whatever heat is generated. The case is ALL aluminum except for the front grille. Just connect your hard drive, plug it in the wall and your PC, and you're off. This case has been on for about 2 1/2 hours straight, and is barely (and I mean BARELY) warm to the touch. I also like the fact that this enclosure has its own power switch, so I can just turn it off if I'm not using it.

All in all, it was 50 bucks well spent.

Pro's Nice, sturdy enclosure; aluminum sides should help dissipate heat. Rubber feet have a good grip to the table. Electrically, the enclosure works fine, but the blue power light is too bright. I attempted to measure heat dissipation from my hard drive by checking it with the enclosure on and off, but temperatures were just "nice and warm" instead of hot, so think the drive I finally used didn't run particularly hot. It's tricky to connect the drive (see below) so didn't install the second drive again just to check temperature. If I needed another enclosure, I would buy this one again.


Con's
It's tricky to connect the drive data connector to the connector on the enclosure's PC board. There is inadequate space to initially put the drive in line with the enclosure connector, so the drive must be inserted at an angle, the pins lined up, then the drive rotated. You can't see the pins during this process, and unlike ribbon cable connectors the enclosure connector is noticeably shorter than the drive connector so it is easy to have the pins and holes not line up. I found the best approach is to place the connectors near to each other, very carefully checking the pin alignment, try to partially mate the connectors, start to rotate the drive into place, and move the drive back and forth in line with the connector axis. When I was lucky, I could feel the connectors move slightly towards each other indicating the pins were going into the holes. After the hard drive was in place, I used moderate force to partially seat the pins, then applied power, connected the USB cable and verified the computer recognized the drive. If so, I turned off the drive and applied considerably more force to seat the connectors. I repeated the procedure a number of times using two different drives, and twice the process went smoothly. The remainder of the time it took a number of attempts. It is possible for the drive to appear be connected (drive installed, but mounting bolts not used), but actually not properly connected, leading to odd-ball results or no operation.

Increasing the length of the assembly about ¼ inch would allow the drive to be in line with the enclosure before connecting the data connector, which should simplify the process.

Also, I had tolerance build-up, so it was necessary to completely seat the drive before the mounting holes line up adequately for the machine screws to be used. Longer slots would be beneficial. I thought of enlarging the slots, but won't do so until the warranty period is over if I install another drive.

Cautions:
The part number is not listed on the unit, only on the bottom of the box. Jot it down before you toss the box.

After installing the drive assembly, be careful to not tilt it forward before installing the rear cover. The assembly will slide out, dropping to the table or worse.

Jim