SilverStone TS04B Aluminum / Plastic 2.5" Black USB 3.0 External Enclosure

Pros: Was relatively fast for the few weeks that it worked

Cons: - Cheap and low quality construction
- Can hardly call this aluminum, it is mostly plastic. Aluminum on just one side. All the housing and mounting is plastic.
- The connector is very flimsy and was not attached to the circuit board well. It broke off after a few weeks rendering the entire thing useless.

Other Thoughts: I've had some stuff from Silverstone before and frankly I expected better quality. The way the connector was attached to the PCB was just not acceptable.

Manufacturer Response:

Thank you very much for purchasing SilverStone and for the feedback. Your TS04 is likely eligible for warranty replacement so please download the "USA RMA form for end-users" in the below link and follow the instruction on it to initiate the process:

http://www.silverstonetek.com/contactus.php

For more info, you may also contact our US office directly at:

usarma@silverstonetek.com
909-465-9596

Pros: Easy to assemble. Fast with SSD.

Cons: Connector is poorly/weakly constructed and easily broken.

Other Thoughts: Do not put in your backpack with the cord connected.

Pros: Works well. Easily stood up to my usage during a deployment.

Cons: none

Other Thoughts: newegg got to me quick even considering mail for a deployed ship.

Pros: Cheap, USB 3.0, Mostly Aluminum
Work perfectly for what I need it for thou Cons is a bit disappointing.

Cons: Does not work with Intel 520 SSDs

Pros: wish is worked

Cons: has issues powering with my WD Scorpio Blue 320 gb took out of a wd passport i got this 2 upgrade my wd passport enclosure that had some issues with power 2 its not the drive cause when i drive tale it or put it internal works fine and jumpers are set right so idk going to run drive test as i await my rma

Other Thoughts: i thought is was a Aluminum case as it says for Material it lies its all Plastic no Aluminum at all

Pros: It does it's job. I've owned this enclosure for more than a year now and it hasn't failed me yet. This review is for the second one I will have bought in a year. The first one is being gifted to a friend because they don't have one. The second one will arrive soon.

Cons: Plastic case. The same enclosure in aluminum would be pretty decent. The case is light and a bit loose but as I said it has never failed me, and don't look like it will any time soon.

Other Thoughts: I like the enclosure and I'd buy another for its price range. I would even recommend it.

Pros: Bought this case to go with Crucial M4 64GB SSD (Sata III) with reading rate to 415MBps and write 95MBps, according to newegg.com web site. Easy to slide SSD into the case, and close the lid. Testing using HDTune Pro with my Lenovo W510 laptop. Internal Hitachi 320GB has read speed 73.8MBps (average). On connecting to USB 3.0 port, the combination here got read = 112.0Mbps, write 53.4MBps. On USB 2.0 port, read = 29.9MBps; did not test write. Faster than the internal 7200RPM HD, on USB 3.0 connection.

Cons: - Not sure how to open the case now. Pressing release button did not release the top. Not too big a deal since I don't plan to change the case/SSD drive.
- USB 3.0 has peak of 5Gbps. Sata III has peak of 6Bgps. Was hoping to get close to this SSD rate of 415MBps (R)/95MBps(W).

Other Thoughts: Got the Y USB cable. Just using one USB port on laptop and was able to use drive, standard A port. Not sure of the other end. It's not mini USB. It's not micro USB, either.

Pros: Very fast. First time using USB 3.0 on my new USB 3.0 enabled laptop. Easy to put together. I was underway on the ENTERPRISE in the Northern Arabian Sea and with Navy mail, I still got the order fast.

Cons: None.

Other Thoughts: Does not look very sturdy. .I don't want to drop it. I bought this replace a Hitachi portable drive that I dropped about 3 feet. The case survived and is still recognized when plugged in but the drive spins and does not read. A portable drive should be able to survive a drop from three feet when not plugged in.

Pros: Great design. Lightweight. Blue LED. Silverstone brand.

Cons: None that i can find.

Pros: Lightweight, I guess one half is aluminum but I could have sworn without holding it, that it was all plastic. 2.5 drive fits right in

Cons: I transported the enclosure in my backpack with the cable connected. The USB interface on the circuit board within the enclosure is ONLY affixed by 5 tiny beads of solder. I went to plug the cable in and the USB conector had broken off and fell into my enclosure. I took it apart and found it. I never had a problem with this happening with previous enclosures because the interface was properly affixed. It is off for RMA right now. If you should decide to buy, always remove the cable from the enclosure before moving or transporting it.

Other Thoughts: This is super cheap in construction and it was one of the first USB3 2.5 enclosures on the market. That and the fact that it was Silverstone, I figured I made a good choice. But this is a super China cheapy enclosure with Silverstone stamped on it. I get the feeling that the RMA department doesn't like having to support it. Since I'm getting a replacement, I'm not in the market but I'd look for an all metal/aluminum enclosure that is highly rated as being sturdy. (Good Luck)