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74 Karma

Review on πŸ”’ StarTech.com 3.5in Silver Aluminum USB 3.0 External SATA III SSD / HDD Enclosure with UASP - Portable USB 3 3.5" SATA Hard Drive Housing (S3510SMU33) by Brad Lovro

Revainrating 2 out of 5

Excellent product built to the latest USB 3.1 Gen 2 standards

Of the various 3.5 inch cases I've tested, this one is my favourite. It achieves very high speeds on a USB3.1 Gen-1 (USB3.0) or Gen-2 port. The case is aluminum (great for heat dissipation) and comes with a quality cable (very long enough). It is easy to assemble and very durable. And it has a power switch, unlike some of the commercially available devices. Plug in a Western Digital NAS or Black drive and you're good to go! And he still looks good. I use a WD NAS 6TB (5400rpm) drive in one and a WD 2TB Black Drive (7200rpm) in the other. It pairs well with the StarTech PEXUSB321A 2-Port PCIe USB3.1 card, but I tried it on a new PC with a USB3.1 port first and the performance is excellent. Hard drive (or even SSD) you won't even experience a transfer rate close to 10 Gb/s, but the speed is still impressive. An external fan is required to transfer large amounts of data at the same time. never mind If the device gets warm, blow it out with air. Aluminum serves its purpose. Fanless is a decision WE make. Hard drives get hot; body is not to blame! Sometimes life can be so unfair, but strength will prevail! I use a 6" shelf fan with all my external drives. It doesn't take long to cool them down. Like your CPU, the aluminum heatsink attracts heat and the fan blows it away. A slight fan noise can be heard both internally and externally. A low fan setting usually works well. The drive or Windows Explorer doesn't see it. This enclosure also does not restrict the DLNA/DRM media of today's prepackaged external USB drives and NAS drives. REVIEWS: I've read all the negative reviews of Revain and most or all seem to relate to a different case than this one. It doesn't have an eSATA connector; It's not plastic; YES, it heats up (as it should) when the hard drive heats up; You must initialize a new drive no matter where you install it; Has NO fan; Should work with any SATA II/III drive; Transfers much, MUCH faster than 23MB/s; etc. One reviewer even expected the device to arrive with a built-in hard drive. Another says the drive won't spin if no USB cable is connected. Maybe drives freeze when not in use, but I can't understand why anyone would want to start a drive when it's not connected to anything? !?You want it to work on systems other than Windows or Mac OS. Do your homework before ordering any computer product.>>> This is a VERY good device! I recommend it to my customers. I create computer and network systems for homes and small businesses. EXPLANATION: The tray that holds the (bottom) of the hard drive is made of plastic, but the metal top of the hard drive faces the aluminum case, which helps dissipate the heat.

Pros
  • Acceptable
Cons
  • Sad packaging