I build a lot of computers and servers and I am always repairing someone's computer for them. I use external hard drives to recover their data if their hard drives are failing. This case makes it nice to take to someone's home and attempt to recover their data for them. I also create backup copies of the boot drives for faster recovery of my own computers.

This tool-free drive case is easy to assemble and mount a drive and it is ready to use. Just be careful inserting your SATA drive into the case and make sure that the plugs are in the proper position. Slowly close the side of the case to assure that it is engaging the drive connectors properly and make sure that the latch securely closes. I have included a video of the case's features and how it works.

This is an excellent case for the money and it was easy to use and put together. It literally took a minute to assemble it. The data transfer was fast and it performed well. The case is well designed and rugged and made of thick aluminum alloy. Here are some of the features:

Anker external case and accessories:
* Drive Enclosure
* USB 3.0 cable - split Y cable format
* eSATA cable
* HDD protection film
* Instruction manual
* 18 month warranty

Anker case Main Features:
* Converts any 9.5 mm and 12.5 mm thick 2.5 inch drive into a portable external hard drive for mobile backups.
* Has USB 3.0 (Up to 5 Gbps) port with downward compatibility with USB 2.0/1.1 ports (Up to 480 Mbps data transfer speeds).
* Has an eSATA port but requires USB connection to power the drive. Up to 3 Gbps data transfer speeds.
* Easy tool free installation and assembly.
* Supports hot swapping.
* Case is 2MM (0.080 inch thick aluminum) rugged case.
* Powered by USB so no other power source needed.
* Supports mechanical hard drives and SSD style drives
* Compatible with SATA 1, SATA II and SATA III style drives.
* eSATA is used for data transfer only and will not power the drive. You must use the USB cable for power and may need to connect both USB cable plugs to your computer for large data transfers.
* Make sure to undock the drive from your computer Operating System before unplugging it to avoid data corruption.
* Good price for the drive case.

Test results:
* Using a USB 3.0 port and writing to the drive in the case that was a SATA III SSD drive my average write speed was 77 MB/s. This was with 31 files that were 20.3 GB in size. And they were writing from a SATA III standard hard drive.
* Read speed to a SATA III SSD drive was 112 MB/s
* Write speed using eSATA port from a SATA III SSD drive was 160 MB/s but it started at 1.6 GB/s.
* Pretty good results from an external case drive.

This is a good product and it is priced right, it deserves a 5 Star rating.

I received a sample product for evaluation and I promised to provide a fair and honest review. I hope my video review is helpful for you.

I originally wrote a praising review, but I must change it to a poor one. After putting a Samsung 840 Pro SSD into the enclosure, it's obvious that the chipset used in the enclosure cannot keep up with the SSD. If my research is correct, this enclosure uses a NS1066 chipset, which does NOT support SATA III. It also does not support UASP (even though the Amazon listing says it does). I'm debating returning this enclosure since I need full SSD speeds over USB 3.0.

UPDATE 2013-11-17:

The USB 3.0 connector on this enclosure has failed for me. It's too "loose", height-wise, and wiggling the cord makes the drive appear/disappear to my computer. Unacceptable. I've contacted Anker support to see if they'll send me a replacement. Hopefully that one lasts longer than this one did.

UPDATE 2013-11-19:

Anker has sent me a replacement, and the connector seems sturdier on the new one. However, I'm seeing the same slower speed results compared to other USB 3.0 docks.

This case, USB 3.0 mode:
Sequential: 254.5MB/s read, 204.8MB/s write. write caching off (it's forced off always)

Plugable USB 3.0 SATA Hard Drive Lay-Flat Docking Station (Latest ASMedia ASM1053E Chipset):
Sequential: 336.5MB/s read, 196.3MB/s write. write caching on.
Sequential: 331.5MB/s read, 201.6MB/s write. write caching off.

So, I'll be sticking with the Plugable dock for now, which isn't as "portable" but definitely faster.

இ Fuzzy Wuzzy's Summary:
ѾѾѾѾ Somewhat recommended; best used with 5400-RPM drives. I actually rate this 3.5 stars instead of a full 4 stars.

փ Positives:

փ The hinged-door design allows easy installation of a drive in less than one minute without the need to use a screwdriver.
փ Although this enclosure is designed for 9.5mm and 12.5mm drives, it also works with 7mm drives.

ჯ Negatives:

փ The circuitry is too slow for use with an SSD drive. I rate this 4 stars for use with a 5400-RPM drive, 3 stars for use with a 7200-RPM drive, and 2 stars for use with an SSD drive.
ჯ Even though the top, bottom, and one side of the enclosure are made of a single piece of rigid 2mm-thick aluminum alloy, I wish the plastic end plate that holds the USB and eSATA ports was also made of aluminum.
ჯ While the metal enclosure allows heat to dissipate by conduction through the aluminum body, some ventilation holes should have been added to allow heat inside the enclosure to escape via convection.
ჯ While one advantage of this enclosure is that you can quickly insert, eject, and hot-swap drives, the need to peel off the very sticky "HDD protective film" from the drive's printed circuit board is very cumbersome if you need to use this enclosure with different drives.
ჯ If you do use a 7mm drive inside this enclosure, the drive does not automatically eject when you swing the hinged side door open and it can be difficult to extract the 7mm drive out from this enclosure.

What is in the box package?

₪ Anker tool-free external hard drive enclosure
₪ Adhesive-backed "HDD protective film" for covering the hard drive's printed circuit board
₪ 36" Micro-B-to-dual-USB-A USB 3.0 Y-shaped cable
₪ 40" eSATA cable
₪ 8-page "Instruction Manual" foldout leaflet that also states the 18-month warranty

There are many 2.5-inch hard drive enclosures on the market these days. These 2.5-inch enclosures are great for housing the hard drive from a failed laptop, if you are upgrading a laptop's hard drive or operating system, or if you have extra internal drives sitting around. But some enclosures are too slow with their transfer rates, due to using slow chipsets or USB 2.0. And some enclosures have poor build quality or use too much plastic in the enclosure. This Anker hard drive enclosure is mainly made of a rigid 2-mm thick aluminum alloy shell, with a plastic hinged side door and plastic end plate that holds the USB and eSATA ports.

Because this is a tool-free design, installation of a 9.5mm or 12.5mm hard drive can be accomplished within one minute. The package includes an adhesive-backed "HDD protective film" plastic sheet that is precisely shaped to fit onto the printed circuit board of the hard drive. The adhesive is quite sticky, so make sure to properly align the protective film before you press it onto the circuit board. The protective film is needed to prevent a possible short circuit if the drive's printed circuit board touches the metal case. To open the hinged door, you press and slide the button located at the end of the door. After attaching the protective film onto your hard drive's circuit board, you look at the SATA connector on both the hard drive and inside the enclosure to make sure that they are properly aligned and then slowly slide the hard drive into the enclosure. With most drives, the printed circuit board should be facing downward, with the enclosure's "Anker" logo facing up. As you push the drive into the enclosure and the drive plugs into the SATA connector inside the enclosure, the hinged door will close. Fully swing the hinged door closed, and push in the button latch to lock the door into the case. That's it! Your drive is now ready to use. To remove the hard drive that is installed inside this enclosure is just as quick and easy. You just press and slide the button latch, swing the hinged door open, and a plastic arm inside the enclosure nudges and ejects the hard drive, pushing it out and disconnecting it from the SATA plug. The button latch does not always easily open or lock the hinged door with one press-and-slide attempt, but you can usually get the latch to open/close after a few tries.

The rear of the drive has the USB 3.0 and eSATA ports along with an LED that glows blue when the drive is plugged in, and the LED blinks in a red color during read/write activity. While the hard drive status LED would have been better positioned on the front end of the drive, with the cable connections facing the rear, this was likely not possible due to the design using a hinged door that latches in the front of the enclosure.

Although Anker does not advertise this as being compatible with 7mm-thickness drives, you can securely fit a 7mm drive inside this enclosure, but there are two considerations when using this with a 7mm drive:

(1) While a 9.5mm or 12.5mm drive snugly fits inside this enclosure, you have to be a little more precise in aligning a 7mm drive as you slide it into the enclosure to align the SATA connector.

(2) A 7mm drive does not automatically eject out when you open up the hinged side door. Although it is possible to shake the 7mm drive loose from its connection to the enclosure's SATA connector, to avoid damaging the drive, I use a hemostat to grab the end of the drive and pull it straight out. If you have tweezers with a strong grip, you can use tweezers to pull a 7mm drive out. If you do not expect to remove the 7mm drive once you have installed it, this will not be an issue. But it can be a real nuisance to remove a 7mm from this enclosure, which is why Anker does not advertise this enclosure as being compatible with 7mm drives. Once a 7mm drive is installed inside this enclosure, it seems to be held as securely as a 9.5mm or 12.5mm drive. Even if I shake the enclosure (with the drive not connected to the computer, of course), I do not hear or feel any rattling or looseness from the 7mm drive that is plugged inside the enclosure. But this enclosure could have been easily designed to also properly eject 7mm drives if Anker made the internal plastic cantilever arm wider. With the current design, the internal cantilever arm is skinny, and when opening the hinged side door with a 7mm drive installed inside, the arm swings out in the space above the installed 7mm drive, instead of pushing the drive outward. If this internal cantilever arm was made wider, increasing its width by about 3mm, it could then properly eject a 7mm drive and thus could be used with 7mm, 9.5mm, and 12.5mm drives alike.

The rear of the enclosure has the USB 3.0 and eSATA ports. This enclosure includes a Y-shaped split USB cable. You will likely not need to plug in both USB-A connectors unless your computer or USB hub does not supply enough power through the USB port. USB 3.0 ports provide up to 900 mA of bus power, whereas USB 2.0 ports provide up to 500 mA of bus power. SSD drives require less power than 5400-RPM drives, which require less power than 7200-RPM drives. So you may need to plug both USB connectors into two USB ports if you install a power-hungry 7200-RPM drive inside this enclosure and plug it into a USB 2.0 port, or if your plug the installed 7200-RPM drive into a USB hub that does not supply sufficient bus power. The 36" USB cable is a bit long in length for a portable hard drive enclosure. A 20" or 24" USB cable would have been a sufficient length and more compact to pack. Using the supplied eSATA cable will not also power the hard drive, so you still need to plug in the USB cable to provide power to the hard drive when you use the eSATA connection. As with all USB 3.0 devices being backwardly compatible with USB 2.0, you will only get the faster USB 3.0 speeds if you connect this drive enclosure to a USB 3.0 port. Connecting the drive to a USB 2.0 port will result in slower transfer speeds.

Using a Western Digital 1-TB 5400-RPM 9.5mm drive, I get an average sequential read speed of about 82 MB/s and write speed of 78 MB/s. But on a different brand of hard drive enclosure, I measured a faster sequential read speed of 104 MB/s and write speed of 91 MB/s using this same drive. So while the circuitry on this enclosure is not extremely slow, it is also not very fast. When I plugged in a Samsung 840 SSD drive, I measured a sequential read speed of about 245 MB/s and a write speed of 195 MB/s. Using the other brand of 2.5-inch drive enclosure that has an ASMedia 1053e controller chipset, I measured a sequential read speed in the range of 270 MB/s and a write speed of 230 MB/s through a USB3.0 port. I originally purchased two of these Anker enclosures for two 5400-RPM drives. Since this enclosure is not that slow when used with 5400-RPM drives, I decided to just keep them. But if I had originally intended to use these for 7200-RPM or SSD drives, I probably would have returned the enclosures.

This enclosure is hot-swappable and its quick installation and ejection mechanism would be ideal for situations where you need to quickly or frequently use different drives inside this enclosure. However, because you need to use the included protective film to cover up the hard drive's printed circuit board, to swap out different hard drives means that you have to peel the protective plastic film off of one hard drive and stick it back onto another hard drive's circuit board. The protective film is coated with a very sticky adhesive and it can be really annoying to repeatedly peel the film off of different drives' printed circuit boards while being careful not to damage either the plastic film or the PCB. When I peeled the plastic film off of one hard drive's PCB to stick it onto another hard drive's PCB, the adhesive was so sticky that it pulled off some small stickers that were previously attached to the surface of the PCB. The adhesive is so sticky (like very sticky duct tape) that it could potentially damage the PCB due to the entire PCB surface being tugged by the adhesive while I peel the film off of the PCB. And if the plastic film is peeled off hard drive circuit boards too many times, the adhesive backing can lose its stickiness over time. Using the protective film is fine if you are going to always leave the same hard drive inside the enclosure. But this really is not an optimum design and solution to prevent the circuit board from contacting the metal enclosure, and needing to carefully peel off the sticky film and reattach it onto another hard drive makes this enclosure not easily and quickly hot-swappable. I would have preferred some nubs or rails of plastic or rubber spacers or bumpers be attached to the inside of the enclosure to prevent the hard drive's circuit board from touching the metal enclosure instead of having to stick this protective film onto each hard drive that I insert into this enclosure. If you frequently need to hot-swap different hard drives (e.g. you work in the I.T. department at a company), using a hard drive docking station is a much better solution than using this quick-install-and-eject enclosure. Both the Uspeed USB 3.0 & eSATA to SATA External Hard Drive Docking Station for 2.5 or 3.5in HDD, SSD [UASP and 4TB Support] and Plugable USB 3.0/2.0 SATA Hard Drive Docking Station (ASMedia Chipset; UASP and 3TB+ Support) work well and are far better than using this enclosure for situations where you need to swap out multiple drives.

A common gripe that I have with hard drive enclosures is that most of them do not have ventilation holes to allow heat to escape via convection. And when an enclosure uses more plastic than metal, it further retains more heat for a longer period of time inside the enclosure. Seagate and Western Digital are making pocket-sized external hard drives that are becoming smaller and more portable, but I worry about the long-term reliability of these drives since they are totally sealed up inside the compact form-fitting enclosure and the drive's generated heat can only slowly dissipate through the enclosure's metal and plastic walls. This Anker enclosure is mostly made of metal so the heat can at least dissipate by conduction through the aluminum alloy surface. But I would have preferred that this enclosure also have some vent openings to allow more heat to escape from inside the enclosure. Anker makes a "USB 3.0 to 3.5-Inch SATA external hard drive enclosure" that does use a metal grill on one end to facilitate better cooling. Heat buildup inside this Anker enclosure is not an issue if you are using an SSD drive, but I would not use this enclosure for a 7200-RPM drive. Not only does an SSD drive generate less heat than a 5400-RPM or 7200-RPM hard drive, but heat also degrades the long-term reliability of spinning hard drives more than it affects SSDs. If you want to frequently access large photo and video files from a 2.5-inch 7200-RPM drive, you should look for an enclosure that offers better cooling using both conductive (i.e. metal body) and convective (i.e. vents or fans) approaches. This Anker enclosure, and most 2.5-inch hard drive enclosures, is better suited for SSD and 5400-RPM drives that do not generate as much heat during heavy use. A 5400-RPM drive can also build up a lot of heat inside this Anker enclosure during extended periods of reading/writing large files.

I have also previously used the following 2.5-inch external hard drive enclosures: ORICO 2595US3 -OL Aluminum Tool Free USB3.0 2.5 inch SATA Hard Drive External Enclosure,Sabrent USB 3.0 To 2.5-Inch Sata Aluminum Hard Drive Enclosure Case for 9.5mm, 12.5mm 2.5-Inch SATA-I, SATA-II, SATA-III HDD and SSD Black (EC-TB4P),Acomdata Tango USB 2.0/eSATA 2.5-Inch SATA Hard Drive Enclosure TNGXXXUSE-BLU (Blue), and the MiniPro 2.5" SATA to USB 3.0 External Aluminum Hard Drive / SSD Enclosure (up to 15mm, UASP). A quick synopsis of how these other enclosures compare with this Anker enclosure follows...

The Orico enclosure is very similar to this Anker enclosure; it is also a tool-free hard drive enclosure that uses a nearly identical hinged side door to seat and eject the drive, and it is available in a variety of snazzy colors. It has USB 3.0, but no eSATA connection. I rate the Orico enclosure 3.5 stars just like I rate this Anker enclosure 3.5 stars.

The Acomdata Tango enclosure is more rigid than this Anker enclosure. It is a single piece of attractive curved aluminum, available in black, blue, and red colors, with two plastic end plates, whereas this Anker enclosure also has plastic along one side in addition to the two plastic end plates. Unlike this Anker enclosure that totally seals up the hard drive, the Tango's plastic front plate has a small grill with ventilation holes to allow heat to also escape via convection. But the eSATA and USB 2.0 chipset on the Acomdata Tango is slower than the chipset on this Anker enclosure. I rate the Acomdata Tango enclosure 2 stars, and it is only for people who do not have USB 3.0 ports on their computer and people who only want to use its SATA port since its USB 2.0 port is quite slow. But unlike many enclosures that have a SATA port and also include a SATA cable, the Tango drive does not include a SATA cable in the package. The Acomdata Tango enclosure has been on the market for more than four years now with its outdated USB 2.0 design. If Acomdata would ever update their Tango enclosure to support SATA-III and USB 3.0 speed, I would then rate it 4 stars. It comes with a very generous 3-year warranty, which is twice as long as the 18-month warranty on this Anker enclosure.

The Sabrent enclosure's build quality is not as good as this Anker and it uses really tiny screws that are annoying to assemble the enclosure. The interior of the Sabrent enclosure is coated with rubber, which helps protect the drive from bumps and prevents a possible short circuit if the hard drive's printed circuit board touches the metal casing, so it does not need the protective film attached to the hard drive that the Anker enclosure uses. But the rubber coating also acts as an insulator to keep much more of the heat trapped inside the enclosure. Even though the Sabrent enclosure uses a metal body, its interior rubber coating slows down the release of heat generated by a hard drive, blocking the conduction of heat through through the metal wall. Instead of coating the entire interior with rubber, it should have just used a few nubs or bumpers of rubber. I rate the Sabrent enclosure 3 stars.

The MiniPro enclosure is, by far, my favorite hard drive enclosure. It is taller in height than this Anker and the other enclosures mentioned, but that is because it can accommodate 7mm up to 15mm drives such as Western Digital's 2-TB WD20NPVT and WD20NPVX drives. Most 2.5-inch drive enclosures cannot hold a drive larger than 12.5mm. It is not as wide or deep as the Anker. This Anker enclosure has size dimensions of 5.2"x3.5"x0.7" while the MiniPro has size dimensions of 4.9"x3.1"x1.0". The MiniPro allows heat to quickly escape both by conduction through its all-metal body and by convection through the 74 round holes on its front panel grill. Its ASMedia 1053e controller fully supports UASP. Anker claims that their enclosure supports UASP, but it really does not. Like the Acomdata Tango enclosure, the hard drive mounts onto the printed circuit board using four small screws, and the assembly then slides into the enclosure. I like this method of assembly because it solves the short circuit risk of having the hard drive's printed circuit board possibly touching the metal enclosure without needing to stick an adhesive-backed film onto the drive's circuit board (on the Anker) or having to coat the interior walls with rubber and thereby reduce the metal's heat conduction properties (on the Sabrent). Unlike the Acomdata Tango enclosure, this Anker enclosure, and most 2.5-inch hard drive enclosures, the front and rear end plates are metal on the MiniPro. The front and rear panels on most 2.5-inch hard drive enclosures are made of plastic, and the MiniPro's metal plates are more rigid. The MiniPro costs a bit more than this Anker enclosure, but it has the best build quality of any 2.5-inch hard drive enclosure (I would even call it a "military-grade" build quality), and I rate the MiniPro 5 stars. This is the ONLY 2.5-inch hard drive enclosure that I would currently rate as 5 stars. The MiniPro's chipset and circuitry are even faster than this Anker enclosure, which is already pretty fast, making it ideal for use with SSDs, and its well-ventilated design keeps a drive cooler than most other 2.5-inch drive enclosures, making it ideal for use with hot-running 7200-RPM drives. The MiniPro has a 1-year warranty. While it would be nice if it had a 3-year warranty like the Acomdata enclosure, its build quality is excellent and I have not had any problems using three of the MiniPro enclosures. It comes in both a USB 3.0 model, MiniPro 2.5" SATA to USB 3.0 External Aluminum Hard Drive / SSD Enclosure (up to 15mm, UASP), and a USB 3.0 and eSATA model, MiniPro 2.5" SATA to USB 3.0 & eSATA 6Gbps External Hard Drive / SSD Enclosure (up to 15mm, UASP).

I rely both on my own research and the opinions of others to help me make informed buying decisions. I hope that this review helped you to be a wise shopper! :)