Product ReviewsEAGLE ET-CS2XMESU2-BK External Enclosure
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With 10 User Reviews
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 Rating: Review Date: 10/23/10  |
Cons:
Power consumption
Pros: Easy to swap drivesConstructionLots of included extras |
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Rating: Review Date: 07/11/10 |
Cons:
was hard to get drive to slide in and close
Pros: Lots of extras, nice looking Comment:
I got this case to hold my old ps3 drive but getting the little bugger in took some fiddling to get it to seat right. I got an MIR with this and the MIR did come through but it had a time limit of 25 days from when it was issued and I received it with maybe 3-4 days left to get it in the bank. |
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Rating: Review Date: 06/08/10 |
Cons:
-fragile-feeling power socket
Pros: -eSATA is fast-nice cables-pretty design Comment:
This is a pretty nice enclosure. The "tool-free" design may not literally be what it purports, but from some of the other reviews it would seem that locating a paperclip, ballpoint pen, nail, toothpick, hairpin, or myriad other pokey things is a completely impossible task.The metal mesh covering will bend if you crush/squeeze it, but it is fairly rigid and in addition to looking nice and shiny it will prevent the fingerprint plague so common in current electronics. The design also seems to bleed heat fairly well, but I don't know that it does so any better than other passive, non-plastic enclosures. The vertical stand is lightweight and grips well.The included cables (USB interface, eSATA to eSATA interface, and dual-USB to power plug for eSATA use) are fairly good. There's a carrying satchel, which is some kind of multi-layer mesh (much like the surface of Razer's Goliath mouse pads), and which seems slightly small to cram all these parts into. Its design seem to target letting the drive cool off rather than providing shock protection. But then in this size range, any real shock protection has to be a part of the drive electronics.Using the enclosure with my motherboard's ICH10R ports yielded identical performance to plugging in the bare drive, but it is a slower model (Hitachi 5K320 250GB) so that may not mean much. When using a JMicron based nGear controller however, there were some sporadic drops in speed in sequential read tests. Whether this was due to the enclosure or the controller card is unknown.The only thing that's outwardly worrying about this product is the power socket, which is necessary when using the eSATA interface. The centre pin in this socket is very thin, and the mechnical design of its plug makes it a tight fit... I would not be surprised if it snaps right off one of these days. In my opinion it would have been a better idea to use a 2.5mm miniplug as it would have been much sturdier. |
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Rating: Review Date: 05/16/10 |
Cons:
"Tool Free" is kind of a gimmick, as others have pointed out.
Pros: Solid 2.5" enclosure that supports eSATA and USB 2.0. Comment:
This is a solid 2.5" enclosure that does the job. I own one of these and two Acomdata ones (both that support eSATA), and I like the Acomdata brand's build quality a bit better, even if it's not tool-free. |
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Rating: Review Date: 01/18/10 |
Cons: Occupies 2 USB ports
Pros: Compact sizeSolid constructionVery easy to swap drives Comment:
Purchased the enclosure to recover a laptop HDD, and it worked like a dream! It's very, very well built, with no cheap or extra material. Comes with a stand to allow for vertical operation. Highly recommended! |
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Rating: Review Date: 11/22/09 |
Cons: None
Pros: Lightweight, easy to use, harddrive snaps in a second with no problem Comment:
Ignore everyone who complains that this device is not "toollless." I'd gladly take using a paperclip over 4-6 screws and a screwdriver anyday, particularly when you're swapping hard drives frequently. It's not difficult at all.I'm quite impressed with the product; I plan on using it to swap several more hard drives, and this does a much better job than the clunker stand-up docking stations that I've tried in the past. My 300gb 7200 5v seagate works fine on 1 usb connection. I'd highly recommend it to anyone who's looking for a reliable enclosure that's not made of cheap plastic parts. This review was modfied by poster @ 11-22-09 11:50 AM |
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Rating: Review Date: 10/03/09 |
Cons: - NOT tool-free- USB cable not double-headed for use with low-power USB ports on laptops
Pros: - Cheap on sale with MIR- eSATA, with cable included- no screws Comment:
Quality seems to be so-so, like the other 2.5" enclosures I've seen. The stupidest part is that they brag about it being tool-free, yet you need a paper clip or the included tool to open it. At least no screwdriver is needed to secure the drive. Don't plug in eSATA and USB cables at the same time, or it won't work. The included storage pouch is pretty cheap-looking. |
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Rating: Review Date: 09/11/09 |
Cons: USB cable is not best quality, loose connections cause drive to be disconnected easily
Pros: Nice enclosure, tool-less (sorta), included pouch, all cables, eSATA Comment:
Just bought it and brought it home. The enclosure is quite nice, plenty of cables etc included, and the stand is great to have as well. My only complaint is that the included USB cable seems to be of suspect quality as it moves around in both my laptop's USB slot and the slot on the drive. I've actually disconnected it twice now in an hour by just moving the drive around due to the non-secure connection. |
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Rating: Review Date: 06/23/09 |
Cons: not actually tool-less
Pros: sturdy, don't need outlet for power when using esata Comment:
Overall a nice unit, however the fact it needs a tool to open defeats the purpose of a tool-less enclosure, which is annoying considering they could have easily used a button or slide-lock. The tool is basically just a skinny metal rod and clips into the base, which means you have to carry the base with you or risk losing/breaking the tool. When using the esata cable you need to use the usb-to-dc cable to power the drive; nice because you don't need an outlet, but not nice because it uses two USB ports in addition to the esata port. |
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Rating: Review Date: 05/20/09 |
Cons: requires tool to open
Pros: nice case, esata Comment:
The tool snaps into the bottom of the vertical stand. You could also use a paper clip- its a hole on the side much like the ones found on CD drives.Comes with a pouch and 3 cables:1: esata2: single head usb to micro usb cable3: dual head usb to power cable. As its likely esata doesnt carry power for 2.5 (havent tested) this is a really nice detail that was missing on my last 2.5 esata external. This review was modfied by poster @ 05-21-09 02:38 AM |
I have owned this enclosure for several months, though I have barely used it during this time. I will explain the reason after detailing the positives about this enclosure.This enclosure is a bit thicker and longer than some other 2.5" enclosures I own, but it feels very solidly built. The tool-free drive swapping involves using a paperclip or the included paperclip-like-thingie, but it really is much more convenient than getting the screwdriver (and dropping the screws on the floor). The drive also comes with a bundle of goodies including a vertical stand (with the opening tool on the bottom), a soft pouch, and an USB mini-B cable and 2-port USB power cable.All in all, using all the cables will take up 3 USB ports. And this is where my gripe comes in. I suspect the circuitry of this enclosure requires much more power than other enclosures. You need to be careful of what drive you put inside it, and what you plug it into. Certain laptop drives have higher power requirements, and some laptops even limit the amount of current provided to USB ports when running on battery power.I tried to use a Western Digital Scorpio Blue 640GB in this, and it was unable to fully power up even when running off 3 USB ports. The drive and enclosure are recognized when plugged in, but crap out whenever I try to write a file to it. The same drive when put inside my Acomdata enclosure runs fine off 2 USB ports.Stick with Seagate drives when using this enclosure!