Antec - MX-25 2.5" Hard Drive Enclosure

I was up and running with the enclosure in no time.... but only because I knew what i was doing. The average user would probably have a much harder time since the instructions where only a series of pictures showing you how to insert the drive into the enclosure. A lot of people who have left reviews complained about the lack of a power cable. They are completely justified in their displeasure. However, the good news is that you can use a USB adapter to power the drive while using eSata. This is really helpful in mobile situations where you don't want to have to lug around a wall wart power adapter. As far as I could tell, this was the only enclosure with this feature. The 'manual' should have pointed this out. Yes the LED will light up a room, but its nothing some electrical tape won't fix. A drive access LED would have been nice. When transferring files from a Window 7 computer to a drive in this device (Western Digital Scorpio Black 320GB 7200RPM 3Gb/s) through USB I was sustaining write speeds of about 400Mb/s and bursting speeds closer to the full 480Mb/s. When I transferred the same files again through eSata, I sustained write speeds of 720Mb/s-1120Mb/s and burst speeds up to 1432Mb/s. So It seems like this enclosure only supports speeds up to 1500Mb/s (Sata I speed) and not the 3Gb/s of Sata II??? Drive was hotswappable with USB connection, but didn't seem to work with the eSata connection. I don't know much about how thats supposed to work though.

Well, given the nature of the product, there's very little to say about it. you open it up with a tiny screw, stick the drive in (upside down in relation to how it opens up), close it up, and plug it in. The drive is thankfully surrounded on all sides to keep it from absorbing too many shocks from an accidental drop, but I'd wish it had some way of being cooled, as there is no apparent manner to keep the drive cool for long operations. I like that it has an eSATA port, so that I could have faster speeds than what USB would allow me to do. While I could live with it not coming with that cable, I do find it inconveniencing that it neither came with a power adapter in the box, or that it's not easy to find a compatible one, as most of those I'd been able to find will only cause the blue light to flicker on and off and the drive won't spin up. And did I mention it's a SERIOUSLY bright blue LED light for the power/activity? Now, I understand having something that could tell you it's on and active right away, but that single light seems to contrast sharply with the rest of the unit's styling. I would have preferred a softer light, or making the Antec logo glow and flicker when operating. But these are cosmetic critiques. With the provided cable, it works as intended, and does the job.

I read the reviews and saw that some people said their computer would not recognize the drive, and I had the same problem. I was just trying to use the usb connection, and when I plugged it in, the blue light came on, but nothing else happened. I looked at the y cable and wasn't impressed, so I took the cable from my camera, and the instant I plugged it in, windows started installing the driver and it has worked perfectly ever since.

My fiancee's power supply on her laptop had died recently. I thought I would pick up an external hard drive enclosure to salvage any data on her hard drive. This was the only 2.5" enclosure available in my area so I bought online and used the in-store pick-up option (great service!). Unfortunately, this enclosure only supports SATA drives (which the online description does not tell you). Needless to say I will be returning the drive enclosure.

recently upgraded my PS3's HDD and had to buy somethng to store the old HDD. Found this and thought it's stylish at the same time very easy to use. It has some connectivity issues though. It sometimes disconnects itself from the computer and start to flicker, especially when you're accessing the HDD (reading/writing) but very minimal and could be connected again.

I had a spare 2.5" hdd laying around and wanted more portable. This fixed both. Easily put the drive in and plugged it in to the comp. The cord length is super long. I know it might be useful for some, but it was too long. Minor complaint.

Enclouser fit my 12.5mm harddrive, which can be hard to find. Very well made. Really makes a nice external harddrive if you have a 2.5'' drive that you want to use. Antec makes good products.

Was able to easily attach the drive. Nice looking enclosure. Needs to connect to 2 USB ports to provide power but no power cord needed so its easy to take with you. Handy for accessing multiple drives.