Review on 📦 StarTech.com 2.5-inch IDE Hard Drive Enclosure - Supports UASP - Aluminum - IDE and SATA - USB 3.0 HDD Enclosure - External Drive by Douglas Hall

Every few years when I upgrade my laptop or when the laptop dies (as happened with the recent Toshiba motherboard failure), I reassign the hard drive to external. I've done this a few times so far and usually opt for a cheap drive case. In this case the drive was SATA and I felt it was time to upgrade to the USB 3.0 standard. My current system doesn't currently support USB 3.0, but likely my next system will, so I wanted to ensure compatibility with previous versions. Installing the disc was painless. I installed the drive and then twisted the two halves of the case with the screws that came with it. I had two extra screws just in case, but they weren't needed. My drive fit perfectly and didn't bounce around, but for a thinner drive, you might find it helpful to install a small piece of styrofoam or even cardboard to keep the drive from hanging around inside. Just make sure you don't block or cover the hard drive vents. Once the cable was connected, the drive would power up and I was able to move files back and forth with no issues. It is really that easy. The drive also has a very small white LED light to let you know it's running - although depending on the drive you can probably hear it running internally (unless you're using an SSD, of course). The disc case also included a protective sleeve to prevent the disc from getting scratched - a nice bonus I suppose, but not much in my opinion. All my previous drive cases have had the same cases and this one is of the same (cheap) quality. My previous cases were steel with plastic end caps, so I like this aluminum case better. It's light and strong, and aluminum looks better than cheap plastic. I don't have a major complaint here, but if I have to point out one small flaw, it's the special connector used on the drive end of the cable. My other drives use standard USB connectors on both ends of the cable, which makes them convenient because I don't have to worry about running specific cables next to specific drives. In this case, however, I need to make sure I don't lose the cable as it's the only cable I have available to work with this drive. All in all, this is a good case at a reasonable price. Serves its purpose and looks good doing it. It's hard to complain about that.