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Rachael Young photo
South Korea, Seoul
1 Level
464 Review
0 Karma

Review on πŸ“ Acomdata Samba USB 2.0/Firewire 400 3.5-Inch SATA HDD Enclosure SMBXXXU2FE-BLK (Black) by Rachael Young

Revainrating 5 out of 5

Best Firewire 400 Enclosure I've found Price

I've tried 4 different USB/Firewire SATA enclosures and this is by far the best. I had no problems for 6 months using it with my old Mac Mini and Ibook G4. If you have a newer Mac, get Firewire 800 (1394b), otherwise it's great for my purposes, and Firewire 400 is much faster than USB for bulk file transfers. Installation is very simple, the aluminum case keeps the drive cool and is sealed so there is no vibration or increased drive noise. The dual color status LED is a plus, not just a blinking single color LED. You can tell if there is a lot of I/O activity or a hard drive is sleeping by the color of the LED. I've tried a similarly priced Macally case, and it won't spin a 2TB 7200rpm drive. correct due to the power supply with a lower amplifier. so it was returned. I have gone through 2 Rosewill RX81-MP cases in less than 2 years. I like them but they don't last long. I also have an ICY DOCK case which I think is great but it cost me twice as much and is no better than the Acomdata case. It also amplifies any drive noise but luckily I use Samsung Spinpoint 2TB drives and they are very quiet and cool. I wrote this review while ordering a second Acomdata case and will be buying more unless someone is looking for something better, but for now this is the best value for money design I've found so far.

Pros
  • Hot Plug and compatible with Mac and PC
Cons
  • Neutral