When it comes to hard drive enclosures there are many choices. Honestly from all of the testing I have done most hard drive enclosures seem to be very much the same, only differing slightly in the looks, features, and bonus accessory departments. From these stand points I think that the Ultra 3.5" HDD USB / eSATA Enclosure is great. With a great look, sporting good features and with one of the best bonus accessory bundles we have seen here. Let’s take a closer look at why we found this to be such a deal:

Price: $44.98

Closer Look:

Now let's move on to specifications and features:

Specifications:     

• Enclosure Type:      3.5"
• Compatible Drives:      3.5" Hard Drives
• Drive Interface:      SATA
• Enclosure Interface:      USB 2.0/eSATA
• USB 2.0 Transfer Rate:      480 Mbps
• Serial ATA Transfer Rate:      3000 Mbps
• Enclosure Material:      Aluminum

Features:

• Supports 3.5” SATA Hard Drive
• Solid Aluminum housing provides maximum thermal efficiency and heat dissipation
• Plug and Play, no software required
• Compatible with 3.5” SATA Hard Drives up to 1TB
• Serial ATA Transfer Rate: 3000Mbps
• USB 2.0 Transfer Rate: 480Mbps

Now let’s get some testing done:

Test Setup:

• CPU: Q6600
• Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3
• Memory: 2 x 2GB Kingston
• Video Card ATI Radeon EAH 4550
• Power Supply: Thermaltake Litepower 450W
• Hard Drive: Seagate 500GB SATA
• Optical Drive: LG DVD-RW With Lightscribe
• OS: Windows XP Home SP3

For this test I will be running HD Tune and recording the average Mbps, access time, burst rate and CPU usage of this enclosure, I will also be timing the transfer time of a 10MB, 100MB, and a 500MB file, I will be running these test for both the USB and eSATA for all of the competitors.  I will be putting the Ultra 3.5" HDD SATA to USB2.0 / eSATA Enclosure up against a Coolmax 3.5” enclosure and an In-Win ‘NA.

HD Tune (e SATA)

 Transfer Times (USB)

  Times (e SATA)

So from these numbers we can see that this is a fairly good enclosure. While it might not have been the best enclosure that we have done so far, it still did great. While it might not have taken the lead, it still came in a close second with only fractions being what kept it from first place. To tell you the truth I was a little skeptical at first when it said that even without a fan it was going to keep my hard drive nice and cool, which to my surprise it did. While my hard drive might not have stayed as cool as it did with in the In-Win ‘NA (still only slightly behind), or even in the Coolmax enclosure (with its 80mm fan), the thing that impressed however was the fact that it kept the hdd almost as cool without the need of a fan, and did so silently.

OK enough with this, let’s move on to my final thoughts:

So what did I think of this enclosure, I thought it was good. Like I said in the start, when it comes down to it most enclosures are the same just with a few small changes. With the Ultra 3.5" HDD SATA to USB2.0 / eSATA Enclosure I found it to be a great deal. To start I have make sure that I make note of the fact that out of all of the HDD enclosures that we have done here, this was the first to come with an eSATA bracket, just in case your computer case doesn’t have one mounted on it and if your motherboard didn't come with one. Also it might be a small thing but the fact that this enclosure comes with a screwdriver is another great bonus in my book, this is one of those screw drivers that is the perfect size for working in computers. One more thing is the stand that comes with it, with this stand it provides the enclosure a place to rest were it is less likely to get knocked over or have something rested on it, and to reduce the vibration from it resting on your desk or where ever you use it.

So now after that little schpeel, would I recommend it? I sure would. Like I have mentioned some enclosures are very similar to other enclosures out there. But from the test we saw that the Ultra 3.5" HDD SATA to USB2.0 / eSATA Enclosure almost took the lead, but in my opinion, exploded into first simply because of the small things that Ultra decided to supply with it, from small thing such as a screw driver and a stand, to an eSATA bracket and 6ft of both USB and eSATA cables.  So to sum up, it worked great and came with an awesome selection of bonus accessories.

Pros:

• Looks Great With its Brushed Aluminum Finish
• Comes With A Great Selection of Bonus Accessories
• Fairly Priced
• Worked Great

Cons:

• Doesn’t Have a Cooling System (for some this is an issue)

3.26 Copyright (C) 2008 Compojoom.com / Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved."