Home > Consumer Reviews > 3.5" Dual SATA to USB 2.0 + eSATA External Enclosure w/ RAID - Silver Color

I purchased this product on a different site but came across it here. This enclosure is the best one I have ever had (and I came across quite a sum) and probably the only one that people will ever need.

I installed 2 Western Digital 1TB drives and connected the enclosure via USB. My XP machine recognized it immediately and setup was easy via the manual.

Setting up the RAID modes was so easy. Just change the jumper settings and turn the enclosure on while holding the button on the bridge board. The only thing that confused me at first were the different RAID settings. There are RAID 0, RAID 1, JBOD, SAFE33 and SAFE50. The manual explains the last 2 RAID modes (that I've never come across) but I was still a bit uncertain. So I called the manufacturer and spoke w/ tech support (I think his name was Simon), who explained SAFE33 and SAFE50 to me. Maybe it was just me at the time, but since he explained it to me, I understand the manuals definition of those modes perfectly.

Lastly, and this is the biggest kicker, Simon informed me that this enclosure is able switch RAID setting via hardware and software. I couldn't believe my ears... Simon told me where I could download the software (from Silicon Images site) and even e-mailed me an instruction manual for the software. Its a big manual but its really not needed as the program detects the drive immediately and is easy enough to navigate and understand. The only thing you need to do is place 3 jumpers on the bridge board inside the enclosure and then the enclosure RAID settings can be set via the software, called SteelVine.

This gets 5 awesome stars.

This is a great external enclosure. I've got over 50 hard drives running in over 10 different enclosures and this is once of the best ones I've ever used. The different raid modes are extremely easy to use with just a switch of the jumper settings.

I've been using it for about a week with two 1 TB drives and the heat is very tolerable. It has a small fan with isn't too noisy as far as heat fans go.

Note: Whenever you make any kind of change to the hardware configuration, there is a small reset button that needs to be pressed on the circuit board. I actually needed to call in to tech support to find out but at least the guy (Simon) was very helpful.

This is without a doubt a fantastic hard drive enclosure. It was easy to assemble using two WD Black 640 GB Hard Drives. I had everything together and up and running in just about 15 minutes.

Features worth noting:

1. Esata connectivity allows for blazing fast data transfers. Just make sure you have an Esata connection on your MB, or get a card such as Cables Unlimited 1 Port e-SATA Controller. Esta is MUCH faster than USB 2.0 (which the enclosure also supports).

2. Has a built in RAID controller which allows you to either use a RAID 1, RAID 3, or the Safe 33 and Safe 50 configurations for a variety of back up needs.

3. Safe 33 and Safe 50 configurations allow for part of the hard drive to be used as a RAID 1 configuration (data redundancy) and another portion to be used as a larger, non-redundant partition. In other words, two 500gb hard drives can be configured with the safe 50 configuration to allow for 250gb of redundant storage (RAID 1 MIRRORING) and 750gb of bulk non-mirrored storage. This is fantastic if you have some important data that needs to be redundant, and other less important data that does not require redundancy.

4. Solidly built enclosure that perfectly matches my Antec P182 Stainless Steel computer case.

For the money I cannot imagine a better enclosure. Aside from having network connectivity, I can't think of anything else that would improve it. Highly recommended.