Question 1

Does it come with USB cable?
Thanks

Accepted Answer

Yes - it comes with a USB cable (the connection at the enclosure may be custom, not sure, but the other end is standard USB - with blue coloring to signify USB 3.0)

Question 2

Will this function on USB power, or is the AC adapter 100% necessary?

Accepted Answer

The AC adapter is 100% necessary.  If it is plugged into the USB port but the AC adapter is not plugged in, the RX308 will not power on and will not be recognized by the system.  This is an external enclosure for a 3.5" desktop hard drive, and they require more power than the USB port can provide.

Question 3

What does it enclose?  Is it like a usb hub?

Accepted Answer

No.  It encloses what would otherwise be a current internal hard drive - it can be used to hook up the hard drive to a laptop or desktop.  It converts the knife bar connectors of the hard drive to a USB cable. Useful in many ways.

I have used it for testing or repairing drives from other computers or for copying a large amount of data (video) from one desktop to another.  It can also be used to carry data for a laptop that doesn't have a lot of internal storage.  It is technically slower than a direct internal connection, but I haven't found the delays to be much of a bother.

Two caveats:  Make sure you put a scrap piece of foam rubber at the far end of the drive before closing it up. It will keep the drive from slipping off the knife contacts.  Don't ask.... Also make certain you "Safely Remove Hardware" and that the unit is then turned off so that the heads are "parked" before moving it around. EVERY time, no exceptions!

Question 4

Can you put a 2.5" drive on this?

Accepted Answer

The power and data connectors are the same but since this case is made for a 3.5" drive you won't be able to attach the screws which secure the drive to the tray, so a 2.5" will just flop around unless you rig something up. Probably better to just purchase an exterior case made for your HD.

Question 5

Can I use this to format a couple old Cheetah 10k RPM drives ?
Thank you.
Lou

Accepted Answer

If they are still the 3.5" form factor, then probably yes. I have always used a 7200 RPM drive, and it currently displays the heat at the time it is running. If you are running a 10K, then I would suggest getting an additional cooling device.

Question 6

What style usb cable does this have? I own the unit but lost the usb cable and this is not a common type of USB 3.0 cable. Is it proprietary?

Accepted Answer

The USB cable has the the standard usb connection on one end and the usb printer connection on the other.

Question 7

Will this work with Windows 10?

Accepted Answer

Yes this will work with Windows 10. It is a standard USB interface.  The key really is the File System on the hard drive you put into it.  It does NOT come with a hard drive preinstalled.  You will have to get that separate put it in and format it using windows 10.

Question 8

I want to know if there is a limit to 4 GB size. In the description it says  "Up to 4TB Maximum Capacity per bay" why not 6 or10 GB HHD if it fits and they should as long as it is a 3.5 HHD ?

Accepted Answer

The RX308 uses the ASMedia 1153 controller. When the ASM 1153 controller was designed, the largest commercially available hard drives at the time were 4TB in size with 6TB just beginning to be sampled but not in volume production. The ASM 1153 controller uses LBA48 addressing mode which means in theory the largest drive that the device can support is about 144.1 PB (the same as 144,000 TB, so you shouldn't have problems with any modern day 3.5" SATA I, II, or III Hard Drive

Question 9

Does the A/C Adapter accept 220-240V/50Hz?

Accepted Answer

The answer is "yes, but..." meaning the adapter will accept the voltage and line frequency but you will have to purchase the plug adapter to convert from US plug to the wall outlet of wherever you are going.

Question 10

Could I use a 6 GB  3.5 Seagate HHD in this enclosure? what limits it to 4 GB only?

Accepted Answer

You can safely use it with a driver larger than 4TB. When the enclosure came out the largest size drive available at the time was 4TB. I have safely used it with larger drives i.e. 8 TB but it should easily work with 18 and 20 TB drives as well

Questions & Answers