Thermaltake BlacX ST0005U External Hard Drive SATA Enclosure Docking Station 2.5” & 3.5” USB 2.0 & eSATA

Pros: Easy to insert and swap drives. Looks neat.

Cons: I bought this to access an extra sata drive I had laying around. With esata it would recognize the drive and allow me to access the data on it. The problem is after 10-15 minutes after I leave my PC, the drive will disappear in windows. I then have to turn off the drive and turn it on again. I later tried the usb connection and windows says the drive needs to be formatted. No thanks, I have data on there.

BTW, I enabled AHCI before installing windows, so that's not the problem I'm having

Other Thoughts: I ended getting a rosewill external usb/sata enclosure to access the drive and have no complaints. I did not have to reformat the drive and it doesn't disappear like the this one.

Pros: Works well, solid device, very fast transfer speeds, both USB and eSATA. If you can get eSATA to work correctly, you should definitely use that because it's noticeably faster than USB. Docking station is very effective compared to an external enclosure if you never plan on moving it around like a portable drive.

Cons: This isn't a con on the product, just didn't have enough space in other thoughts.

This was definitely a learning curve for me. I assumed that eSATA worked the same way as USB in the sense that you plug it in, the OS recognizes it, and you're good to go. It's a LOT more complicated than that. Firstly, your motherboard must be able to support hot swapping (AHCI), which mine doesn't. I still used it anyway, and of course the OS didn't recognize it automatically. I went to Device Manager to detect new hardware. That worked, but if I tried to access the drive for any length of time, it lost its connection and I got write errors all over the place. So bad idea.

I had another mobo that had AHCI, and since my OS was loaded BEFORE I changed to AHCI mode, I had to reinstall the OS (I couldn't find a good way around it). I plugged the eSATA cable in and voila, my OS recognized new hardware and installed it automatically! (continued in other thoughts)

Other Thoughts: I didn't get the "Safely Remove Hardware" icon though. The OS thinks I installed new hardware inside the case so it's not going to allow me to unplug it like a thumb drive. I did research on this also, and from what I understand, in order for hot swapping to truly work on eSATA, your mobo must have eSATA ports. Mine doesn't, so I'm using the standard SATA port. Not having the "Safely Remove Hardware" icon made me uneasy but I was able to get around this and remove the drive safely before unplugging by going to Device Manager, right clicking on the drive, and selecting "Uninstall". Worked like a charm. I have no write errors anymore, no disconnects, and the super fast transfer speeds was well worth the trouble, since using eSATA was the main reason I purchased this product in the first place.

Pros: Wish I knew. Only used it once.

Cons: I contacted customer support for replacement. They are not covering the cost of shipping. By the time you ship it, and waste your time, mind as well purchase a new one.. And if you do purchase new, don't buy this brand. It's horrible.

Other Thoughts: Their customers need to learn how to speak English.

Pros: design is neat, had potential to be a lifesaver in my line of work.

Cons: I've now had for a while. It is very very slow when it works as e-sata directly to my motherboard, sata2. Again, sometimes it chooses simply to stand idle instead of recognize my drive. If it reads, it stalls for long periods of time. Same drives are lightning fast plugged internally.

Other Thoughts: It's quicker to shut down, plug in drive internally in a free space, or swap a drive not used frequently and transfer files or do your business there. MUCH FASTER THIS WAY, even though you have to "go the long way". and Thermaltake,,,no, don't bother replacing. waste of my time. just want consumers to have accurate description of what you ship them.

Manufacturer Response:

Hi Simstim,
We at Thermaltake apologize for the inconvenience this may have caused you. Try update the driver/firmware of SATA controller. If still cannot fix this tranfer speed issue. Please contact ttsupport@thermaltakeusa.com for RMA instructions.
Best Regards,
Thermaltake USA Customer Service
1-800-988-1088 M-F 9:00AM ~ 5:30PM (P.S.T)

Pros: Like the connection options. USB and ESATA

Cons: Only worked one time. Now it powers up but will not recognize any drives.

Other Thoughts: Buy a different product from someone else.

Manufacturer Response:

Dear customer,
We at Thermaltake apologize for the inconvenience this may have caused you. Please contact ttsupport@thermaltakeusa.com for RMA instructions.
Best Regards,
Thermaltake USA Customer Service
1-800-988-1088 M-F 9:00AM ~ 5:30PM (P.S.T)

Pros: Easy to use. No drivers.

Cons: eSata controller died after 4 months. When you try to contact manufacturer you must do it via e-mail. What kind of support is that?

Other Thoughts: This is probably this last item i've purchased from this company.

Manufacturer Response:

Hi Asmir777,

Our customer support phone number is listed right above the Support Email request form.

Here is the link to that page as well as the information that is on it: http://thermaltakeusa.com/Support_tsupport.aspx

"By Phone:
Thermaltake Customer Service
Monday – Friday 09:00AM – 05:30PM PST (Exclude holidays)
(800) 988-1088 *Option 1

By E-mail:
Please click on this link Support Request Form"

Pros: It worked. I used this to access and transfer data from old harddrives I had lying around the house.

Cons: eSATA didn't work consistently. I can't tell if this is the devices fault or my computers fault though.

Other Thoughts: I would have liked the eSata to work but using the USB was fine, just a bit slower.

Pros: Easy to swap drives in and out. Makes working with multiple loose drives really easy. It just works.

Cons: The power button the rear is broken. I haven't used it very heavily in my opinion, maybe powering it on once a month or so and occasionally swapping drives. I would guess it has fewer than 200 or so power cycles. The button itself moves around and sometimes gets stuck. It still works but it is a little annoying to work with.

Other Thoughts: It works great and would have been 4/5 if the power button had held up. I purchased this in Dec of 2010 and it has been extremely useful. Just wish the quality had been a touch better.

Pros: can be used on both 3.5 and 2.5 drives, eSata, USB2. Perfect cable length for both of my machines. Decent speeds for a USB2 device. Power button, good size activity/power light

Cons: None so far. I would say it is not as efficient as my older Firewire enclosure but pretty close to the same performance for the kind of data I am moving. I haven't connected eSata since my current setup doesn't have eSata ports. I imagine I won't have any issues.

Other Thoughts: I love these devices and this is my second one. I have one on a Linux Server through SMB. I moved many of my drives to XFS and this allows me to use many of my older FAT/NTFS drives on the fly. I use to have a spare long cable and use to unplug and open my case to connect these drives. Never again. I had one issue with one drive not working on the Linux machine but this same drive worked no problems on my Win7 machine. I'd would honestly still be pulling my hair out of my head if this device was never designed. Thanks Thermaltake. I was going to go for a USB3 model but the data throughput is sufficient for my current needs. If you are still doing what I use to do, stop now and get one or more of these devices. You won't regret it.

Pros: works great.

Cons: none

Other Thoughts: the box that new egg shipped it in was slightly crushed when delivered.. Not new eggs fault. whatever happened to UPS's "handle with care" slogan... guess they forgot. Was worried, considering it was an electronics purchase, but worked fine, right out of the box!