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Let me ask you a trick question, is there anything that says party more than a hard drive enclosure? Probably just about everything does. In spite of their relative uselessness at most parties, they are still a nifty device when you need to add some space to your computer's memory, or retrieve something off of that hard drive in the computer that went to a better place last month. This review takes a look at the specifications and abilities of one such product. The CP Tech 3.5” Hard Drive Enclosure. An external storage subsystem packed with features that may very well make you consider buying one for your next wild party...or not. Let's find out:

 

Provided By - CP Technologies USA

Price – $35.95

Closer Look:

The outside of the cardboard package is fairly simple. The front shows what this product looks like in its stand and tells you exactly what type of enclosure it is. The back points out some of its specs, features, system requirements, etc. We'll be getting more into those a little later on. Also on the bottom corner on the back it gives the contact information for the company.

 

 

 

The device is located among the interior of the packaging, obviously, along with the stand, manual, necessary cords, and a couple pieces of Styrofoam. Score! Also included is the installation cd which you only need to install with windows 98 computers. This installation is easy and explained well in the manual.

 

Below are some shots of the front and back of the actual enclosure. The front looks snazzy enough, and gives decent cooling. The back is simple and straightforward. Click on any of the pictures to get a better view.

 

The picture below gives you an idea of the internal components. To connect the hard drive, you just connect it to the mounting plug. It is the grey strip visible in the following picture.

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  Now that we know what's what, let's look into this enclosure specs and features on the next page...

 

 Specifications:

System Requirements:

• USB 2.0:

              - Support Windows 98SE / ME / 2000 / XP / Vista

              - Support Mac OS 10.2 or higher

• eSATA

              - Support Windows 2000 / XP / Vista

Case Material: Aluminum

Unit Size: 213mm x 125mm x 36mm

PIO mode 0-4, DMA mode 0-2, ultra DMA mode 0-4

MMC-2 command pass through ATA-PI command

Compatible SATA I/II HDD

SATA I/II transfer speed up to 1.5 Gbps (150 MB/s)/3 Gbps (300MB/s)

Application: Any single 3.5" Serial ATA hard Drive (Desktop size) ATA-6 compatible

Interface/Ports: eSATA 1 port(7 pin) + USB 2.0 1 port(4 pin)

Data Transfer: USB 2.0 up to 480 Mbps (60 MB/s) eSATA up to 3 Gbps (300 MB/s)

Features:

Compliant with USB specification revision 2.0

Compliant with ATA/ATA-PI specification revision 6

RBC command conversion for ATA device

eSATA mode support hot plug (Note: Need MB host interface support the function too)

 

 

Testing Setup:

• Processor: Intel Core2 Quad Q9450
• Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-X48-DQ6
• Memory: OCZ SLI Ready 2 x 2GB
• Video Card: Nvidia 260 GTX
• Power Supply: 800w power supply
• Hard Drive: Seagate 750GB SATA
• Optical Drive: LG DVD-RW
• OS: Windows Vista Ultimate

Testing:

To test the CP Tech CP-E305 Hard Drive Enclosure, we will see how it performs using a few basic data transfer tests using the program HDTune. We will also be doing a 10MB, 100MB, and 500MB file transfer and test it in seconds. Then we can compare it to some of the other enclosures available, the Kingwin EZ-Dock, and the Thermal Take Vi-on.

 

So we can see from this that all in all the enclosure is fairly average when it comes to file transfers. The cpu usage is somewhat increased compared to the others while using USB, but the result is a quicker transfer time on larger files.

Let's wrap this all up in the conclusion on the next page... 

Conclusion:

So the CP-Tech Hard Drive Enclosure has proved itself to be a very stable piece of machinery. It’s not a breakthrough technology by any means, but as far as this price range goes, this makes a very solid purchase for your home or office network. When it comes to media, the scene seems to be shifting from megabytes, to gigabytes and terabytes. To preserve a collection of movies, music, games and whatever else, people are searching for new ways to store large amounts of data at a lower cost. Lucky for them, companies like CP-Technologies USA are rising to the challenge with products such as this one. It’s a basic, straightforward enclosure, but it can get the job done simply and especially quickly. Let’s sum it up.

Pros:

• Good Data Transfer Speeds,
• Sturdy Enclosure,
• Decent Price,
• Nice Look,
• Well Ventilated Cooling System, 
• Easy to Use,

Cons:

• Lack of Outstanding Features,
• Not as Polished/Pretty as Some People Might Like,

With all of these facts in mind, and through the power vested in me, I hereby give the CP Tech 3.5“ hard drive enclosure, the Bronze Overclockershq.com award.

 

 

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