Mediasonic Smart Drive Black 2.5" SATA USB2.0 Hard Drive Enclosure

Comment:
The quality of this drive enclosure is very surprising for the price point. It is constructed of extruded aluminum which aids in heat dissipation and importantly, protects against crush damage (2.5" HDDs are very vulnerable to crush damage - most laptops now feature a re-enforced area around the drive - i.e. Dell's "strike zone").Another positive is the method of holding the end cap on - most 2.5" HDD enclosures have tiny little screws that seat into plastic. They either fall out or the threads eventually get stripped. This units' machine screws seat into channels in the aluminum housing for a solid attachment.The included cable is mini USB on one end, two standard USB on the other (the second connector is for additional power depending on the USB port/computer you have connected to). There is also a 5V DC jack for additional power if required - the drive does not come with a 5V power supply - should not be needed unless your PC has some sort of unexceptionably weak USB power supply!Mounting the 2.5 SATA drive is easy and includes two screws to hold the drive to the PCB and a little square of foam to stop the drive from rattling on the opposite end of the housing - nice touch.Connecting to my PCs running Win7 x64 was painless - the drive was up and ready to go in ~15 seconds. Transfer rates were very good with a Seagate 7200 rpm drive (27Mb/sec avg). And a very nice feature is the HDD will spin down after it sat idle for a period of time (~15 mins - have not timed it yet).Finally - a very nice carrying case is included. It's similar to the ones you get with a PDA/smartphone. Again, unexpected at this price point. This review was modfied by poster u 06-23-10 04:35 PM This review was modfied by poster @ 06-23-10 04:23 PM

Comment:
Well I picked up this case since I've upgraded the HDD in my PS3 to a 500GB and decided to stick the old drive into an enclosure.I did however notice that it does have a 5V DC plug on the back which had me concerned as to whether it would require external power, This enclosure does NOT come with an adapter and does work just fine with the USB cord included.

Comment:
I upgraded the HD in my Macbook so I figured I'd put my old 80 gig drive in an external case as a backup drive. I chose this drive for the price mainly but I am very impressed with it for 18 bucks. I just plugged in the drive and it worked, no problems. It looks very nice and sleek. Seems to be made from lightweight aluminum but I'm not sure, it feels reasonably tough. It has a jack for a 5 volt adapter if the USB will not run it but so far it works without it. A good deal for the price.