Antec MX-1 USB/e-SATA 3.5-Inch Hard Drive Enclosure

by Antec

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 9.8 x 3.5 inches ; 1 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B000NZVR3Q
• Item model number: MX-1
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (118 customer reviews)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: July 15, 2008

Product Description

Keep your data safe and cool in Antec's MX-1 portable Hard Drive enclosure. Features a blower fan to keep your drive running cool, and allowing you to operate the enclosure continuously. Simply install your drive, connect it to your computer and start transferring your data at blazing speeds over USB2.0 or eSATA. There's not even any need to install drivers. The MX-1 is made with a special dual-layer design that reduces noise and is lightweight for easy transporting.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

38 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best investment I've made., December 19, 2009

By 

M.D.C. "The Franchise" (San Diego, CA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Antec MX-1 USB/e-SATA 3.5-Inch Hard Drive Enclosure (Personal Computers)

Length:: 3:06 Mins

The video speaks for itself. Basically, I prefer this over my Thermaltake for one reason: The ease of swapping drives in and out of it when I need to. Right now it's sitting in my entertainment unit with my media PC, and it contains my entire life collection of stuff. It may not be the most attractive or the most durable. But if you need flexibility there really are no better out there. If you want something that's built like a tank and looks like a rock concert then get the Thermaltake N0012USU Max 4 Active Cooling 3.5-Inch USB 2.0 eSATA Hard Drive Enclosure instead.

UPDATE - 10/9/2011:

Yes, I still have this enclosure. I actually had forgotten about it until recently. I moved it from my entertainment unit to just below my iMac, and I had it persistently connected and powered on since the iMac's purchase in late 2010. I mentioned before that I had both this and the Thermaltake I referenced above, right...well, the Thermaltake bit the dust two weeks ago. Not specifically "Dying" per se, but it started making a very horrible noise. AS though something were contacting the fan repeatedly. Like a rattle but not a rattle. Even taking it apart didn't fix the issue. Fortunately the drive was not affected by this, but the noise was just unbearable.

The Antec, on the other hand, still chugs along without an issue. Had all sorts of dust on the inside of it, but otherwise solid and stable. No problems whatsoever. Considering the general build quality, color me impressed with this enclosure. I was not pleased to see that Amazon no longer stocks it; it truly is one-of-a-kind.

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Quiet, cool, fast, October 31, 2007

By 

Dr. Klamm (Austin, TX USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Antec MX-1 USB/e-SATA 3.5-Inch Hard Drive Enclosure (Personal Computers)

My house doesn't have the best air conditioning, so I've long been looking for a decent active-cooled hard drive enclosure. After reading a favorable review of the MX-1 at Silent PC Review, I decided to buy two of these enclosures (paired with two very quiet WD Caviar SE16 drives) to use for backup and music storage with my MacBook Pro. I'm quite pleased. The drives run cool and relatively quietly -- while they aren't silent, the hum of the fan tends to blend in to the ambient noise of my study. And if you use the eSATA interface, you'll find the performance to be equivalent to that of an internal drive, which is nothing short of spectacular if you've previously only used Firewire or USB2 drive enclosures.

The MX-1 enclosure isn't quite perfect. As the product photo makes clear, the enclosure is not particularly attractive; it reminds me, in fact, of a VHS tape rewinder, and it's almost as bulky. You'll probably want to tuck your enclosure away and out of plain view if looks matter to you. Also, the inclusion of a Firewire 400 interface would have made the enclosure more versatile and useful, particularly to Mac users, though it's hard to fault Antec for this omission when few PCs are equipped with Firewire ports. Finally, I would have preferred a slightly larger power switch, since you typically need to find the power switch by feel rather than by sight. Bear in mind that these are only quibbles; the MX-1 enclosure gets the important things right: cooling, noise, and performance.

A note on assembly: one of the screws can be slightly tricky to position, and it helps to have a pair of screw-holding tweezers when you're putting this together. In general, however, assembly is not bad.

33 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars good enclosure, but eSata is not sata, July 26, 2007

By 

anonymous "anonymous" (East Coast USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Antec MX-1 USB/e-SATA 3.5-Inch Hard Drive Enclosure (Personal Computers)

This enclosure works great with the USB cable. If you have an eSata port on the back of your computer (directly on the motherboard) it works even faster. But if you hope to use the included eSata back-panel bracket that plugs into a regular sata port in your motherboard, be aware that sata is not eSata, and this *will not work* with some chipsets. In particular, it doesn't work with the nForce4 Ultra chipset or the Sil 3114 that are found on a Gigabyte GA-K8N Ultra-9 motherboard. It seems to depend on whether the timings of your motherboard sata ports happen to fall within the timing specs for eSata --- this can happen, but it is not guaranteed.