Rosewill RX25-AT-SC-BLK Aluminum & plastic 2.5" Black USB2.0 & eSATA External Enclosure

Pros: none

Cons: esata does not work

will not even work on usb with just one usb cable, need to connect two usb cables

does not come with a dc power supply

Pros: Simple, simple, and simple

Cons: None

Pros: I don't know how many of these I bought in the past but it's at least a few. They work great and I got this one with a promo code so......

Cons: ??????????????

Other Thoughts: Good old Rosewill comes through again. Small money, big money performance!

Pros: Everything I needed and nothing I didn't. Repurposed an old hard drive. Included cable was great. Nice little blue light.

Cons: None to mention.

Pros: *works well
*lights that indicate power/ HDD activity
*sleek, metal, sturdy

Cons: None

Other Thoughts: Bought this for a friend, he really enjoys it.

The included cable has two USB plugs, but you only have to use the main one as long as you're not using cheap USB ports that don't supply enough power.

Pros: 1. Very fast.
2. No power cube needed when using eSATA interface. (Uses 2 USB port from host to provide power.)
3. Included mounting hardware and bracket fits 2.5" drives perfectly.
4. Includes both USB cable (dual port: power & power/signal) and eSATA cable.

Cons: None

Other Thoughts: High quality enclosure/robust construction. Very fast: Using eSATA interface with SATA II HD in this enclosure, transfer of a 15 GB file from laptop was 4.5X faster than same setup using the USB 2.0 interface. (This comparison test is very repeatable.)

Pros: I have several of these RX25-AT-SC cases and am satisfied. Ignore the "320GB" spec. I have a new inexpensive 500GB WD Caviar Blue in there and it works fine. Other people have even larger cap drives.

Cons: eSATA cable fix: Hold the eSATA cable (that came with my Rosewill RX25-AT-SC external case) in one hand. You will notice that the top and the bottom of the connector is metal, and that on both the top and bottom, there is a little lip/tab out on the end that sticks up. I suppose that little lip/tab is suppose to snap inside the eSATA connector on the HP Pavilion dv7-1464nr laptop, and hold the cable in, or help center the connector on the internal pins. Take a small screw driver and bend that little lip up some more. I'm suspecting that the cable is not made quite to eSATA design specs and is not making contact with either the contacts on the cable, or the contacts on the laptop. Maybe the connector in the laptop is not to specs, who knows. Anyway, my cable now has the little lips/tabs maybe 1-2mm (~1/64") off the plastic part of the connector. Plug in the modified cable and plug in USB power. I now have cheap eSATA cable joy.

Other Thoughts: Hey, I didn't even expect an eSATA cable to come with it. Just wish I had tested the cable with another known good one before I wasted 6 hours debugging the problem. Consider having an extra quality eSATA cable around for the day this one flakes out. Would give 5 stars if the cable had worked out of the box. There you go . .

Pros: Good looking, sturdy, comes with both cables.

Cons: Doesn't fit 9mm drives. eSATA connector doesn't accept DC power.

Other Thoughts: The enclosure is working for me very well. I fitted it with an SSD and it works as fast as an internal drive over eSATA.
I tried to install an older OCZ Vertex in it, but the little extra thickness of the drive made it impossible. A little disappointing, since I had to change my plans, but it eventually worked out.
The only somewhat bad thing about it is the fact that you have to use the USB cable for power when using eSATA for data. My laptop has DC power on the eSATA connector, but the enclosure connector doesn't pass it to the drive.

Pros: eSata, cables included, aluminum case stays cool.

Cons: Fingerprint magnet (expected, though).

Other Thoughts: Some complain about quality (missing screws, not aligned screw holes), but mine is very good. Speed is great on eSata with 500GB 7200rpm Samsung HDD (did not measure, but faster than USB for sure). Costs more than buying an external HDD, but you can't find one with eSATA out there.

Pros: -Very fast with eSata (decent with usb)
-Looks AMAZING
-Re-purposes old HDD from laptop

Cons: -No AC adapter
-Had to format HDD before use (you don't have to format it all, but you can only access what you format. Eg., I could format 120GB of a 640GB HDD, but the 420GB would be invisible)

Other Thoughts: This is a great drive, and I had no problems in regards to screws or size, using 3 different cases. It is backwards compatible with SATA II drives, and is great. The two USB ports to power it, though, aren't the greatest. There is LITERALLY 1 inch of cable connecting one USB port to another, meaning that even if they are right around the corner, it will not work. I just use an external usb power source from AC.