KINGWIN TL-202U3-BK 2.5" Black USB 3.0 Tool-Less External Enclosure

Pros: Inexpensive.
Good for travel.

Cons: The usb 3.0 cable doesn't play well with usb 2.0 ports.
Cable is very short and thick.
Gets a bit warm so does a laptop.

Other Thoughts: I've noticed if you plug it all they way into a 2.0 port it will loose connection, but if you pull it about 2mm it will make contact. You have to be careful while it's transferring so as not to bump it in a 2.0 port. Works well in a 3.0 port but it still has occasional random disconnects and I'm not sure why.

Pros: Excellent design, love it. Just swing it open, drop the drive in, close it and plug it in.

Cons: I purchased two of these from Newegg and one of them was dead on arrival, the other one works perfect. I could have given this a high rating if one of the two enclosures wasn't D.O.A.

Pros: Pretty fast, cheap

Cons: Connector sheared off the board on about the fifth attachment

Other Thoughts: Like many others here, the connector broke after two months of light use. It was decently fast to backup files when it worked (I had a slow drive in it, but still copied at 60-70MB/s), but the connector just came right off when I went to backup my laptop today.

Pros: Cheap, works out of the box

Cons: The power connection was not robust when it was stressed. Now, the item is rather cheap, so I got what I paid for. I mistakenly ordered the same item again, so we'll see how this second one does. The reality is that I tend to stress most of my systems a moderate amount, but I'm nowhere near as bad as kids are. So, hopefully they can improve the robustness of their power connection in the future.

Pros: Nice design, not poorly built (other then the connector, see below). Easy to open/close and easy to install any 2.5 inch laptop HDD.

Cons: Transfer speeds didn't seem all the much faster on USB 3.0 compared to 2.0, about only a steady 10 MB/s faster, and I was using a 7200 RPM WD Scorpio Black. That was of course before the connector fell off. Owned it for about a week and the connector came right off, didn't even look like it was soldiered on.

Other Thoughts: If it wasn't for the flimsy connector this could of been a great cheap enclosure despite the slow USB 3.0 speed. Probably not worth RMA'ing, avoid this unless you can buy it from a local store, that way you can return it if need be.

Pros: Can slip any 2.5 HD in without tools and go.
Works like a charm (until...)

Cons: Not a robust connector - will break after extended use.

Other Thoughts: I purchased this unit from a Newegg competitor and absolutely loved it because it was cheap, toolless, and worked as advertised, that is, until the rear connector broke rendering it completely useless. And that was after about 4 months of usage. I would bring it into work every day, so it was unplugged and replugged twice daily. Over the last month I noticed that the drive would suddenly disappear from windows more and more. I discovered that this was because the rear connector housing was so flimsy that every day it became more detached from the circuit board to which it was soldered, until finally no connection could be made. This is not a defect they can fix unless the manufacturer spends more money to properly engineer the rear connector. Too bad, everything else about it rocks.

Pros: Well designed tool-less enclosure. HDD insertion and removal is plug and play. Top is held firmly in place by two tabs, pressing on the tabs allows for easy opening.

Cons: USB 3.0 Type A plug on cable is prone to flaky operation if any of the extra five flexible contacts are bent in the wrong direction. Problem not limited to this device. See other thoughts below.

Other Thoughts: If the device isn't detected or you get a popup stating that the device can operate faster, and you have it inserted into a USB 3.0 port, then more than likely it's an issue with the plug as indicated in Cons above. Use a small jeweler's screwdriver to press the contact(s) back in the right direction if ever this happens.

Pros: Uses Asmedia ASM 1051 chip (at least the one that I got from Newegg).

I'm still finding the case design makes it really easy to swap out drives in this enclosure: Just press the sides, and flip the cover open, then slide the drive in/out.

Cons: Really wish that Kingwin would make this with a sturdier, maybe aluminum case.

Other Thoughts: Also wish that Kingwin, or other manufacturers would start using the newer Asmedia 1053 chipset.

Pros: - Copied 18GB using Teracopy 75MB/sec
- Tested w/Teracopy (Read): 105 MB/sec

Tool-less!

Drive activity light (red) not too bright.

Cons: Case is cheap plastic.

Other Thoughts: This is one of the few USB 3.0 enclosures that have worked well with my Toshiba laptop's USB 3.0 port, copying large files without the connection dropping, and including going through a USB 3.0 hub.

In my case, that (the interface speed and reliability) was mainly what I was looking for, rather than aesthetics, and this enclosure really seems to do the job, and it's really inexpensive!

Pros: -Clever tool-less case design

Cons: -Poor quality control

The micro usb connector was poorly soldered on the board. The edges that hold it in place on the pcb were barely holding on, the connector eventually just shredded the usb traces right off the pcb. Dead.

Other Thoughts: Might want to go with a more reliable brand.