Pros: Works easily with most IDE drives and all SATA drives. No additional power supply needed for IDE laptop drives. No special drivers needed in XP, Vista, Win 7.

Cons: Not really cons for the tool, but see some warnings below.

Overall Review: A must have for every computer techs toolbox. It can also come with integrated card reader (but that model is bigger). Be cautious about power connections, always use the included power brick (it's good quality). Do Not try to use the computer's internal power supply to power the hard drive while this is connected, it will blow out something (I managed to blew out the onboard USB controller on my personal computer). Not specific to this device, but some IDE drives require configuration as if they are Master or Slave, some will not work on Cable Select, Some will not work as Slave; it varies by manufacturer/model. I tend to go with whatever it is set with out of the computer, and if that doesn't work, try Master, then Cable select.

Pros: Worked flawlessly for over a year with my Maxtor 320GB SATA 2.0 drive inside, Aluminum exterior is great for dissipating heat, Very BRIGHT LED on the front lets you know it's turned on, good build quality.

Cons: Little stand is worthless (easily tipped/not great), but case can easily slide around on a desktop (or slide off the desktop) if it's not in the stand. Unit completely died when I swapped out the hard drive to 1TB: controller chip now has a burn mark on one corner. Failure may have originated from the LED connector: it is not clearly labeled which way it connects (it can connect more than one way).

Overall Review: Transfer speeds flatline about 30MB/s read using HDTune, so not great performance. The drive I tested it with was getting over 80GB/s when tested on SATA connection, so the USB to SATA was an obvious bottleneck. I bought this in a combo-deal. I love the Vantec's USB-to-IDE/SATA device I got for troubleshooting and other computer work. I have literally worn out the SATA cable. This enclosure has not had that much use and has been disappointing in design, longevity and performance (although I haven't tested many USB drives performance).

Pros: It is silent, easily usable from factory, and good build-quality. Most ChromeBox units are not upgradable from factory, but this is essentially a low-power Intel NUC. Hardware is capable of supporting 4K UHD at 30Hz. Has HDMI and DisplayPort.

Cons: Although it is very capable as a ChromeBox, it is not going to perform awesome as anything that requires significant compute power. It does not have analog video (VGA or S-video) but nobody really wants analog anyway.

Overall Review: The firmware can be upgraded (Thanks MrChromeBox!) to allow any UEFI-capable operating system to be installed, and the bottom of this ChromeBox can be removed to add a larger M.2 SSD and up to 8GB DDR3L RAM. I recently added a 128GB ADATA m.2 M+B Key SSD and upgraded the RAM and have a decent Windows 8, 8.1, or 10 desktop that is absolutely silent. It is not for major gaming or massive spreadsheets, but it does play some games and browses the web just fine. Many people run Kodi or XBMC media centers, but I had a spare Windows license and just wanted a basic Windows computer.

Pros: Small, compact, sleek, pretty. Quiet, low Power. Compact. At $200 when purchased in 2014, this was a great value. A 500GB drive is more than adequate for most users. Great for a media streaming computer.

Cons: Although this Celeron Processor can outperform a Pentium 4 according to benchmarks, it seems much slower as delivered. The mechanical 500GB hard drive made the system lag, and every mouse click was tedious. It has very limited upgradability, but it isn't meant to be a futureproof solution for someone that likes to upgrade.

Overall Review: I almost immediately replaced the mechanical hard drive with a small 64GB or 120GB SSD so I could stand to use this. I have become a bit of an SSD snob, spoiled by the instant response. This computer has been in use as a media display device, running a PowerPoint presentation 24x7 at the entry of a business for several years without issue. It has performed that function satisfactorily.

Pros: Amazing performance. (Burst at 1.2 GB/Sec, 600 MB/s sustained on my SATA 2.0 interface with >2GB .iso transfer) The best performance of any SSD I have ever purchased. Reasonable value $/GB. Samsung Quality and 3-year warranty. Less weight than a platter drive You can mount it anywhere. :)

Cons: Still not as cheap $/GB as a platter drive, but for four times the performance, I'm willing to accept one-fourth the capacity for the money!

Overall Review: The reliability ratings on the SSDs from the top tier (Crucial/Micron, Intel, Samsung) are on-par or surpass the top platter manufacturers for most platter-based products (WD, Seagate, etc.) so you should give them a try. Make sure you have a decent power supply, dirty power can cause issues that appear to be bad SSDs. I have had great experience with Samsung drives. Remember, if it hasn't been published, BACK IT UP!

Pros: Fantastic, unbeatable value, low cost, superior reliability. This thing is still going strong. Perfect for a budget build.

Cons: Only one small fan. Fan bearing seized up after 2+ years under my desk. Still powering my computer just fine another year later because my case fan pulls a significant amount of air backwards through the power supply... possibly the reason the PSU fan failed! I got one of these with a computer case but moved it over to another case and purchased an expensive PSU for the person that wanted the case.

Overall Review: After 4+ years, PSU board shows significant heat discoloration. This is not really a 480 Watt PSU, but it can handle short bursts near that! It is only rated for 330 Watts, so don't plan on using this with a huge video card or ten hard drives. It has been great on my quad core system with several USB-powered peripherals and card reader. Phenom II X2 560 (unlocked to quad-core B60).