Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
WARNING!!! There are 2 versions of this product, June 18, 2008
I recently purchased this unit to be used with a SATA hard drive. Upon receiving it yesterday I discovered it only has an IDE style connector.
I called Coolmax's tech support number, and was told that this unit was originally manufacturered in an IDE version, but they have since changed it over to a SATA interface, without changing the model number. (Nice, huh?) Apparently there are both versions floating around in the marketplace, and they even have the identical UPC bar code number. Coolmax tech support offered to ground ship me a different front face plate, to convert my unit over to SATA. But who knows how long that is going to take?
If you read Amazon's product description for this unit (as of June 19, 2008) it says "SATA" in the title, but says "Interface: IDE" buried in the description.
Since my Amazon order was placed through TigerDirect, I also contacted them to see what they might be able to do for me. They said their notes also indicate that some folks who wanted the IDE interface received the SATA instead. He said I could return my unit and reorder a new one, but there is still no guarantee which version I would receive the second time around.
So if you place an order for this unit, be forewarned you have no control over which interface you will receive. There are alternative products you could buy instead, and save yourself the potential aggrevation.
+++ Update Edit: After about five days I did receive the replacement panel from Coolmax. However, because of panel connection differences, the hard drive position inside the enclosure is different, and I had to drill four new holes in the aluminum box for mounting it. I'm up and running, but much more grief than necessary. Also, I see Amazon has now removed the previously mentioned IDE reference in the product description.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
cheap... and worth what you pay for, October 14, 2008
First, the good part. It installs easily, and works right away. So, if you want a cheap enclosure for a drive that you want to salvage form that old computer that you are about to throw away - it maybe exactly what you are looking for.
Now, for the disappointments. The biggest one is that it intermittently disconnects and reconnects - every 5-10 minutes. Often in the middle of I/O operations. Even during windows backup I hear click (off) and a few seconds later click again (on). Windows backup reports "backup couldn't complete. Write error". Usually, after 10-15GB of writing. Once it ran all the way to 80GB; but I was never able to finish the backup.
Among smaller annoyances:
The light only indicates that it is plugged in - not whether it's on or off. weird. Also, it is in the back - it's hard to see in typical setup. But since it's useless - it doesn't matter where it is.
The cable is A-A, so if you lose it (or if the one that comes with it is two short) - it's not easy to grab a more typical A-B. Although if you need to buy one - the cost of A-A and A-B is about the same.
Windows reports that I am plugging it into USB 1.1 port and that I can benefit from using USB 2.0. No other USB device plugged into this port produces this message (other USB drive, WebCam, USB mouse - nothing).
Support is atrocious. First few emails got auto-generated response; then the live person came on, and blamed motherboard, USB drivers, Windows, California fires, but wasn't even considering troubleshooting the enclosure itself. Well, I guess for under $20 it's a gamble.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent product, March 26, 2009
This is an external hard drive enclosure. It works well. Easy to set up.
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