ARCTIC 2.5" HDD Enclosure Portable External Storage, Supports USB 3.0, Stainless Steel - Silver

Pros: The overall quality of this case is very good, and the Arctic 2.5" HDD Enclosure has no compatibility issues running when connected to a USB 2.0 or 3.0 port on an Intel Core i7 based Dell OptiPlex 7010 Mini Tower running under 64-Bit Windows 7 Professional, or an Apple 13" MacBook Pro with a Retina Display with a Dual Core Intel i5 under Apple OS X Mountain Lion. The performance and throughput when connected to a USB 3.0 is solid and consistent when running with either system. Our primary reason for purchasing this case was to serve as a basic OS X based Journaled File System backup device for our MacBook running Apple's Time Machine.

Packaging & Appearance:
Both the top and bottom plates are a very good quality stainless steel with a simple black bezel of plastic along the edges. A small blue LED is on the back edge near the USB 3.0 connector, and its ambient light, although visible, is not overly bright or distracting when the drive is accessed and running in a dark room. The overall size and slim appearance matches very well with the MacBook Pro, and would compliment almost any other system case.

Cons: None

Other Thoughts: Overall:
Although purchasing this case with a bare OEM hard disk drive did cost a bit more when compared to a pre-built branded external USB 3.0 hard disk unit, the overall quality and value of the Arctic 2.5" USB 3.0 HDD Enclosure with the drive we selected is very good , and we're quite pleased with our purchase. I configured ours to use a Western Digital Scorpio Blue (WD10JPVT) SATA 3.0 1TB 5400 RPM 8MB Cache 2.5" Bare Hard Drive.

Installation:
There are no screws or sliding rail guides to open up this case to install a hard disk. Using a small flat head screwdriver and gently sliding it in the gaps at the corners of the case and slowly and carefully turning and lifting the top plate up, the interior was easily exposed. The kit comes with a thin plastic film with a cutout for a hard disk drive's main spindle, and two small adhesive strips that separate and insulate the bare drive controller chips from having direct contact with the bottom plate of the case. I made sure to have the insulation film line up correctly and manually held it in place on the bottom of the disk drive as I slid the drive to the case's back mounted SATA controller. Considering that the SATA controller didn't have any significant flexing or bending, and the overall compact size of the case, there was a small but reasonable amount of room at the front of the case and on the sides to slide the disk drive into the SATA controller. Although the kit comes with a 15" / 40cm USB 3.0 cable, I would have preferred a slightly longer cable, but the length of the bundled USB cable is acceptable.

Performance:
Overall formatting of the drive using this case under Windows 7 or OS X Mountain Lion was straight forward and quick. Although the case and disk drive will work when connected to a USB 2.0 port, to gain the best I/O throughput and performance from the disk drive, it's highly recommended that the drive and case is connected to a USB 3.0 port for regular use. As a quick check of the drive after installation and formatting under Windows 7 using the NTFS file system with default cluster size, I was able to copy over a folder of about 1.6GB in size using the Windows Desktop Explorer almost instantaneously. Reformatting under OS X Mountain Lion using the Mac Journaling File System was slightly slower, but still, done in a reasonable amount of time. The initial backup of the MacBook's 106GB of data to the drive using the Arctic case was completed by Time Machine in approximately 38 minutes, with an average transfer rate of a bit over 2.5GB per minute.

Pros: It's a nice, compact little enclosure that takes up very little more room than the HDD itself. Once assembled, it seems to be pretty sturdy and is easy to use.

Works fine on both USB 2.0 and 3.0 when used with the correct cable (such as the one included).

Cons: It could have used a little padding on the top and bottom.

It was a bit tricky to pry the case open to install the HDD.

The case was a bit too long and it was possible to slide the HDD in and out of the SATA connector a bit. I shimmed the end with a bit of folded paper so the HDD wouldn't be able to shift inside the enclosure.

The included USB cable is a bit on the stiff side.

Other Thoughts: CAREFULLY READ THE DIRECTIONS! The directions show using a screwdriver to pry open the case. I found a sturdy knife blade works better (just don't cut yourself!). The case cover has to go back in a certain direction to make sure it latches properly. Again, read the directions carefully. Also, pay attention to which direction the plastic piece goes onto the bottom of the HDD.

A USB 3.0 A to USB 3.0 Micro B cable, such as the one included, must be used with this enclosure. USB 3.0 Micro B is a standard (albeit uncommon) USB 3.0 connection, not a proprietary one as one review stated.

One reviewer was concerned about the case shorting out on the HDD printed circuit board. A piece of clear plastic with a couple of adhesive strips is included to be applied to the back of of the HDD to protect the circuit board (it would have made more sense to have lined the inside of the case bottom). Be sure to not lose that piece of plastic when first opening the packaging.

The product description says the case is aluminum in one place and stainless steel in another place. It's stainless steel.

Pros: Good price; nice looking unit; small and light; easy installation; seems quite fast; only one USB port needed to power.

Cons: Minor--SSD fits a little loosely (need to put a very thin layer of foam sheeting in to hold snugly), but I tested with an old SATA 2.5" HD from my notebook and it fit very nicely.

Pros: Small nice size and reasonably well built.

Cons: Cable is just too short, and rather stiff. No limp noodles here, which would be a good thing. Cable is so short and stiff that it really tends to twist in the case enclosure....would be alright if it was a locking plug. Other down side is a proprietary cable. Don't lose it!

Other Thoughts: Not bad, good for travelling....originally bought to clone a laptop HDD to a Samsung 840 SSD.....well the Samsung software sucks so not used as was intended, but not bad for a back-up solution travelling.

Pros: Sleek, thin case and aesthetically pleasant. Nice transfer speeds through USB 3.0 on my Macbook Pro (22 GBs in less than 8 minutes). Stuck a 500 GB WD hard drive in there it worked fine. I use it as the primary backup drive for my computer.

Cons: Included cord is really short and stiff. Prying apart the case to install a hard drive is annoying, but I don't plan to swap out drives constantly. USB connector that goes into the case feels like it could break easily, so I'm being really careful with it.

Other Thoughts: Definitely look into this if you need an external case for your SATA 2.5" hard drive.

Pros: The size and looks of the enclosure have to be the best aspect, the speeds are very good even with the hard drive I installed.

Cons: Gets fingerprints very easily, and the bezel is soft enough to get dents when opening.

Other Thoughts: The cons are not worth taking away an egg in my opinion, for when I used a precision screw driver it left very small un-noticeable marks. I uploaded to youtube a video i made about it

Pros: Looks good
Small size
Transfer speeds seem good
Seems to be built well

Cons: It's small size is both a pro and a con. No real protection for the drive

Other Thoughts: This is exactly what I've been looking for. The case isn't much larger than the drive itself, so it's very small, what I wanted. Of course that also means there isn't any case to really absorb impact. Pushing on the top pushes on the drive itself. But that's the tradeoff for the size, and most modern drives are pretty tough anyways. It seems built well, but at the same time, there isn't a whole lot to it to get wrong. A plastic frame and two metal covers that snap on. That said, the covers do snap on well and feel tight. As some other people have said, you do need a knife or small flat head to pry out the cover, not a big deal though. And for nothing but a black plastic frame and a couple of metal covers, it's sharp looking. No crazy patterns or any other functionally useless design elements. It’s like it was designed by grown-ups instead of a bunch of kids like some others.
I put a Hitachi 1TB 7200 RPM drive in it, and it works perfectly. Good transfer speeds for a mechanical drive. Lots of space. And with the promos it was all of like 90 bucks in total. Hard to be with a 7200 RPM drive.

Pros: Smallest thinnest 2.5inch hard drive enclosures I've ever owned. 1st USB3 enclosure I've tried that really works. Good value.

Cons: Short cable

Other Thoughts: Some have complained hard to open. I had no trouble. You need a small thin screwdriver to pry open though. Snaps shut no screws.

Pros: Sleek and Thin. USB powered. USB 3.0 speeds.
It's not that complicated to open, and I have not marred the plastic ring at all doing so. Just be careful when opening with a super small precision standard screwdriver.

Cons: One could easily sort out by pressing too hard on the case. The SATA interface inside is not protected from this. So, i cut out a piece of card stock and fit it over the circuit board. The hard drive slides in, leaving a 1/8" gap to slide back and forth. I gather under normal use it would not slide, but I cut a small piece of sticker foam and put it on the end of the drive to keep it from sliding. If you use a "Thin" 7mm drive like I did, you will have to install something as well to keep the drive from banging back and forth.

Other Thoughts: Nice overall to look at. Performance is good. But I think next time I will sacrifice looks and go for stability of the internal drive.

Pros: Extremely happy with this external case. And I'm pretty picky when it comes to computer gear. This case is extremely thin and of high quality. It boots via WinPE (I've had a few that wouldn't) and speed seems to be pretty good. I'm running a 7200 RPM 750GB Seagate in it. The cable to hook it up is pretty short. This was a plus for me but some may want a longer cable.

Cons: Both of these are not a really big deal. Case is a little hard to get open. It has no screws but is definitely not tool-less. It isn't stated that it is, just wanted to add that. You need something pretty thin to pry it open. And lastly is fingerprints. The case gets smudged really easily. Both of these aren't deal breakers for me and definitely not worth subtracting and egg.

Other Thoughts: Newegg needs to change the description for this. It is marked as Aluminum but is not. The case itself is Stainless Steel. And don't try to put a drive thicker than 9.5mm in it because it will not fit. I heartily recommend this and am going to get another one.