Customer Reviews

Sabrent ECS-STU35 USB 2.0 to 3.5-inch IDE/PATA or Serial ATA Aluminum Hard Drive Enclosure Case (SILVER)

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

 

 

I recently went through another Windows XP meltdown (thank you Bill) and decided to get a new HD to use strictly for data storage. I got an internal for cost reasons and needed an enclosure. After a long time looking for the right one, I found one that offers both SATA and IDE connectors.
Once connected the product does it's job - connects to the PC and stores data. But it's built like a grade-school shop project. Cheap aluminum held together by screws, hot glue gun and a lot of luck.
The IDE and SATA connectors are short and stiff so you really have to wiggle to get your drive inside. The power cord barely fits in a socket and the moment you breathe on it it falls out.
But the most annoying thing is the rattling. This thing is put together in a way that every time the HD spins it rattles like crazy.
Go find yourself another product. I'm giving it 2 stars only because I was able to recover my data quite nicely and quick thanks to the USB 2.0.

I was kinda worried when I read the other reviews for this product, but I had recently lost my desktop PC's Windows system drive and my only hope was to put it into an enclosure like this and try to fix it from my laptop. I was not disappointed! I'm very glad I purchased this device and consider it a steal at the price Amazon has. The drive that failed is an IDE, but I knew I would want the flexibility of installing a SATA drive for use as an external storage device, and this seemed like the only enclosure capable of doing both.

It's not flimsy as other reviews have called it, but the whole thing basically comes apart in four pieces when you undo the screws to install the drive. If you do it in your lap, it'll be a handful, but it's really easy to put together again. The materials are first-rate, and the enclosure has plenty of ventilation holes. I wish it had a fan, but after more than 12 hours of continuous running I encountered no heat-related problems. It has both IDE and SATA interfaces inside, the IDE is easier to install than the SATA, but both are very easy to do. I think the easiest way to install the IDE is to pull the data cable off the enclosure's circuit board and plug it into the drive first, then plug in the power connector to the drive, place the drive in the enclosure and finally plug the other end of the data cable back onto the circuit board. To connect a SATA drive later, it was necessary for me to remove the IDE cable entirely. Unfortunately I found no easy way to stash the cable in the enclosure itself for safe keeping.

There are two external interface options, the USB 2.0 and an eSATA. A USB cable is supplied with the unit but no eSATA cable. This was a little disappointing, since I think the eSATA would be potentially faster. I don't have an eSATA port on my laptop so having both options is good, but I'll get a cable and use the eSATA from my desktop in the future. The USB 2.0 interface is a little slow, of course, compared to a drive installed directly in a PC.

In summary, I was able to take my failed Windows drive and repair the file system on it from my laptop using this enclosure. I recovered everything and got my desktop back up and running 100%. I also installed a 500GB WD SATA drive to use as external storage and that's working great. I highly recommend this enclosure!

EDIT: This thing has passed the test of time! It is now almost a year since I first got this enclosure and it has been great. No problems with Sata or IDE drives and I've occasionally forgotten to turn it off for several days with no ill effects. Not blindingly fast, but very reliable and easy to use.

A little cramped inside. The trick is to remove the front panel out of its slot before attaching the power and data cables to the drive. That gives you a little more working room. Then you can slide the drive in where it needs to be before re-installing the front panel. With a little trial and error, I had a 250gb SATA drive working in about 15 minutes. Nice aluminum interior/exterior and lots of vent holes for cooling. Seems to work fine.

After reading some of the negitive reviews on this product I was kind of hesitant to buy it. I'm glad I did. It went together well and has functioned flawlessly. It had plenty of room for my 3.5" IDE drive and even an extra set of cables for when I upgrade to a larger SATA drive in the furure. It met my need for a means to recover data from an old hard drive and has offered me an option for portable storage as well. Don't think I could be happier with this product. Even if it gives up the ghost tomorrow, It will have given me my moneys worth.

Attachments are poor. The Power cable doesn't stick to the drive well. a single move will crash the drive.

The product is as stated in the advertisement. It does rattle sometimes so I place a small piece of paper on one side. It works just great with all of the HDDS I have so far. I would recommend this enclosure to anyone. I just hope the connection for the power works over a period of time I have had similar ones fail after a year. I will see.

Work a pretty well but it doesn't have any protection for harddrives and the sound its a high

Despite being pretty flimsy, I had high hopes for this case. Until I moved it for the first time and one of the components on the controller burned up.

In the trash it went, I'm off to shop for something better.

Has good features. Lazy people should post a proper picture showing true color. Made on a minimum budget. I would have paid a few dollars more for something that seemed better built.

First one didn't work. Had to return it and order another one. Return and refund ok. Second one has worked fine. Easy to open and install HD.