Customer Reviews

Coolmax 15436 480Mbps USB 2.0 SATA IDE Enclosure

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

If you plan on just putting one hard drive in it, screwing it shut, and leaving it alone this is a great drive enclosure. Me being a computer tech, I was planning on using it as an enclosure to backup clients data or for emergency data recovery. After about the third time of unscrewing those tiny screws they started to strip out, and after about the tenth time I ended up destroying the unit trying to get it open.

The enclosures electronics have always worked good for me but have never tested the external sata connector.

I too was attracted to the flexibility of this enclosure: ATA and SATA inside, USB2, FW400, SATA outside. Turns out its pretty cheap, the case itself is not designed to be taken apart and reassembled, the connectors are pretty weak and you can not use more than one at a time via Firewire. That was the show stopper for me. USB mode was also pretty slow and it has no fan so it gets HOT, which is bad for your drives. Pass this one over and get a enclosure for your specific needs or expect to spend more money for good quality.

Not sure where these negative reviews are coming from, but this enclosure deserves a far better rating than what is shown.

I just ordered my third CoolMax CD-311 hd case. My other two enclose stacked WD Raptor drives which travel with me everywhere I go. I have run this enclosure in every possible configuration, with the e-sata port being the faster transfer rate by far. I have never had so much as single glitch out of this durable, well built enclosure. Yes the screws are small, but they are long, and if you can strip them out of the extruded aluminum case, you are waaayy over-tightening. The case actually dove tails together, so the screws do little more than button the unit up. As a product engineer I say kudo's to the designer of this case.

Even with WD Raptor drives, which at full load run at nearly 60C (140F), this enclosure handles the heat and dissipates it well. I even like the stack-ability and the rubber feet isolate vibration.

The bottom line is that out of the many hd cases I have tested, used and owned, this is the BEST. Even without a grounded plug. But then, I don't run my computer outside in the rain.

But I suppose a review can't be all good, so if I were going to nit-pick, I think the silver sticker on the backside of the unit, near the input ports, could have better adhesion, the unit does not completely seal out dust, and as a whole, the unit looks somewhat dated. But then I will take functionality over looks any day.

At first, I really liked this product, I used the firewire port exclusively until I found an eSATA PCI express card for my laptop.

After a few months, a 500GB drive froze and was lost ... I accepted it as "one of those things" and bought another drive (different make). After a couple months, this also froze the exact same way.

I used mine quite a bit on the road and to be fair, it's possible the power connection may have had something to do with it, but after $400 in lost drives, data and time, I went with Nexstar enclosures again which have been durable and now offer all 3 interfaces.

PS: I recently bought a PCI express eSATA card and it's at least 3x faster than firewire in true data transfer rates ...

I have to confess that I didn't purchase this item through Amazon, but through a local electronics megastore (F*y's). I was drawn to purchase this unit because of the flexibility of connecting via SATA, USB2.0 or firewire, and the unit handling both IDE and SATA drives.

However, after connecting everything up, I tried to power up the unit and NOTHING! You think they'd at least check to make sure these units turned on before they ship them. I don't know whether the problem is in the AC cord or the power adapter, but this unit is as lifeless as a brick. Not too surprised in retrospect - unlike my MacAlly PHR-100AC unit, this unit does not have a fully grounded power supply. (I always like to see grounded AC power for my computer equipment...)