StarTech InfoSafe SAT3510U2V Aluminum 3.5" Silver USB 2.0 to SATA External Hard Drive Enclosure

Pros: Fast delivery Good price Solid construction Simple to use On/Off switch in back USB external connection Nice color Runs pretty cool Looks nice on the desk

Cons: No Cons at this point

Overall Review: This is a good HDD enclosure. I installed a Western Digital 750GB SATA drive inside, formatted it in Windows 7 64bit Pro, and it's up and running. Simple, so simple a caveman could do it. :-) Good for backing up your important stuff.

Pros: Solid aluminum construction; clear, concise English instructions; everything needed is included; took literally minutes to assemble. Snug, secure fit of drive in unit. Non-skid base a great bonus. No problems supporting my 1.5 TB WD drive at full capacity.

Cons: None.

Overall Review: This is an excellent enclosure that bridges the gap between the plastic throwaways for $10 and the $100 RAID-style enclosures that are frequently overkill. I used this enclosure to house a 1.5TB WD SATA drive and attach it to my Slackware Linux server. Installation and setup were flawless. Linux recognized the USB device instantly, assigned it as SCSI device ID /dev/sda, where I then partitioned and formatted it with the ext3 filesystem with no problem whatsoever. The only minor caveat I would offer is to exercise caution inserting/removing the drive tray. The tray contains the drive connector and electronics, and the fit into the main case is very snug (which I like); however, the enclosure's status/activity LED's are mounted on the outside edges of the enclosure's small system board, and could be damaged if carelessly forced back into the drive housing. Just pay attention to the edges as you slide the tray back into the case and you should have no problem. Excellent product.

Pros: - Solid extruded aluminum construction - Snug fitting foot for vertical placement on a desk - Has a power switch on the back - Includes extra screws for back cover - Compact, protective, external SATA design - provides a good heat sink for warmer running drives

Cons: - two front mounting holes do not align with drive - screws are of poor quality - USB cable is only 3-feet long (36 in.)

Overall Review: Overall this drive enclosure will work for its intended purpose if you are willing to compromise and take care with your own workmanship. The power switch does allow for drive ejection and power down to swap out same type drive enclosures. Beware, the rear cover mounting screw heads will strip if you do not use high quality tools (Klein, for example) due to the low quality of the screws. Also, take care with torque and alignment of the screws or the aluminum cover will strip. There are 6 screws provided in a bag inside the package: 2ea. short counter-sink drive screws 2ea. long counter-sink drive screws 2ea. black replacement cover screws It is unlikely that you will be able to use the longer drive screws to secure the drive into the enclosure. The holes in the enclosure are several millimeters out of alignment on both sides. We had Seagate Constellation 1TB drives that are very common, so its not likely a drive issue. It is ether a manufacturing error or a design flaw with the enclosure. Note: These holes may align on thinner drives that do not completely fill the inside of the aluminum sleeve if you use a bull pin or a miniature screw driver to center the drive holes first. This just emphasizes the need for care when installing the drive as the 2 rear cover screws are the only thing holding it into the extruded aluminum sleeve. The USB cable is shorter than standard at only 3-ft. Even the power cord is the standard length (5 to 6-ft). So if your computer is on the floor and you want the drive on the desk, you should also order an appropriate USB-A to USB-B cable of your desired length. Do not be surprised if the case feels hot to the touch when the drive is running under usage. The aluminum acts as a natural heat sink and comes to near the operating temperature of the drive inside of it. For our drives, this is close to 40C. It also cools within minutes when the drive spins down when not in use.

Pros: price

Cons: fit and finish weren't all that great. Countersunk holes could have been deeper so screws would have been flush.

Pros: This is exactly what I needed and has performed very well. Newegg shipping was great as always. Tested with a 250gb WD and a 1TB Seagate.

Cons: The led lights scared me thinking they wouldn't fir back into the case. I bent one of them just a little to be sure with no problems. Just be careful.

Overall Review: Works as described, I'm very happy with the purchase!

Pros: SUPER FAST shipping by Newegg (as always). Ordered on Tuesday afternoon, and received Wednesday morning at 10AM!!! Hard drive installation was simple, although the instructions on what screw to use where was unclear, but as I am a genius, I figured it out :)

Cons: None so far

Overall Review: Shipping from Newegg ROCKS!!!

Pros: Has always worked

Cons: Tight fit for hdd, screws don't match up well with their respective holes, and plugs feel cheep. Minus 1 egg.

Pros: Low cost, working great with 2 TB drives. No fan, but drives stay cool.

Cons: Does not work with all drives > 2 TB

Overall Review: I have 3 of these enclosures. The first two have 2 TB drives and work fine. The latest I bought with a 3 TB Seagate Barracuda ST3000DM001 and this drive does not work in the enclosure. The drive is fine when installed internally using SATA, but in the enclosure the drive shows up as two drives: a 2.1TB + another drive that is the remaining space. I called StarTech customer support. They were quite helpful, actually. The tech believed that it is because the Seagate is using Advanced Format. Suggested that I call Seagate for a tool to remove Advanced Format and setup as 512. I called Seagate and their tech says that is not possible: the Advanced Format is "deeply embedded" in the firmware. Anyway, will RMA thanks to newegg's great return policy and get a drive that is known to work with Advanced Format drives.