USB 3.0 Hard Drive Disk External Enclosure Case for 3.5" SATA HDD & SSD, Tool-free Installation, Support UASP & 8TB Drives

The enclosure comes nicely packed in a presentation box. The box contains the drive enclosure, power supply, USB 3.0 lead, set of 4 drive screws and a guarantee card. The guarantee is for 12 months. There are no instructions supplied but if you do require instructions then this probably isn’t the right product for you anyway. The enclosure box is quite large at 180mm x 115mm x 35mm. It’s not the most attractive case I’ve ever seen but it is very functional. The top cover slides off for quick access to the drive bay. No screws to undo. There is a solitary SATA III plug in the corner of the bay. Fitting a 3.5-inch drive is very easy indeed. Simply slide the drive in with the manufacturers label on top. Push all the way in until you hear the drive snap on to the plug. A 2.5-inch drive isn’t quite so easy as you have slide the drive, with the manufacturers label on top, over to the right before pushing it home on the SATA plug. There are 4 drive screws supplied if you wish to secure either size drive into place. Once your drive is fitted you can slide the top cover back on the enclosure. Now insert the power supply plug into the socket on the enclosure and plug the other end into the mains power. Then insert one end of the USB 3.0 lead into the enclosure and the other end into your computers USB 3.0 port. You can use a USB 2 port but expect much slower performance. Finally, press the power button on the enclosure and your computer should instantly recognise the new drive and assign it a drive letter. Fairly straight forward. As far as overall performance is concerned, you may not get the same drive performance as you would if you connected the drive directly to a SATA III port inside your computer. I have run some tests on two different drives so you can compare the performances’. One is a standard 4TB HDD and the other is a 120GB SSD. On both types of drives there is a drop in performance on the random read and write speeds. Sequential reads on the other hand are very similar and sometimes even faster. Performance on the SSD is more significantly affected. None of these figures show anything that I would be worried about. In real life scenarios I didn’t feel any real differences in general use. Overall, I am very pleased with this drive enclosure. At the moment they’re selling it at £18.99 and this offers excellent value for money. As I said it might not be the prettiest but it’s quality through and through and does the job I require of it. I hope you found my review helpful.

I bought this to use for backup HDDs, being able to keep them installed semi-permanently with the plastic covering keeping out dust (my other caddy is an open vertical slot type so I have to cover the HDD with a paper bag). It came with a USB cable, a power adaptor and some small screws & screwdriver (to secure the HDD, but which I haven't bothered with as I'm not moving the enclosure round much). The case opens easily and has a very satisfying feel, being tighter when nearly closed and looser when sliding it open, so it is very easy to slide on and off and not at all fiddly. The 3.5" HDD engaged with the connector easily too and is rigid enough to make the screws optional. Printed on the packaging box are the contents/specs, including the sentence "Unique electronic switch design, long press 3 seconds for on/off". The switch works well, and there are two tiny LEDs atop the enclosure to indicate disk activity and when it is switched on (although the drive spinning gives an audible hum as well). There is also a bright green LED on the PSU to indicate when the power socket is live. The whole operation was as simple as could be, and the build quality is very good. Data transfer speeds were what one would expect and I would recommend this as a suitable purchase for anyone needing an external HDD enclosure. The only possible negative points are that the PSU cable and the USB cable are each only a metre long, but this is typical so I am not marking the product score down because of it. I have been able to place the enclosure on my desk and use it with both my PCs with what was supplied, so they were long enough (just).

Over the years I've gathered a collection of old 3.5 and 2.5 inch HD drives as I've upgraded the storage capacity of old PCs. Rather than throw these away, I kept hold thinking I'd find a use, the only problem being finding a suitable and reasonable cost external housing for them. And that's where the Eaxer USB 3.0 HDD External Enclosure comes in. It's a very simple way to make use of spare HDDs, adding additional storage capacity to existing computers. The design of the unit is, to be honest, functional rather than stylish but the black plastic materials feel like they are of reasonably good quality. To open the enclosure, the case lid simply slides off to reveal the inside. This can accommodate either a 3.5 or a 2.5" SATA HDD and these simply push onto the SATA connector mounted at one end. Owing to its additional weight, a 3.5" drive can be further secured by means of four screws - the screw holes in the case perfectly matching those in the drive I used. There are no additional mounting screws for 2.5" drives. Once installed, the case lid simply slides back in place and closes with a satisfying click. In use, the enclosure worked flawlessly. Using the supplied cable, it can be connected to either a fast USB 3.0 port or a slower USB 2.0 port with the expected drop in data throughput. I tried both ports and both methods work with no problems whatsoever. So, for the asking price of £18.99, the Eaxer USB 3.0 Hard Drive Disk External Enclosure is functional, offering good performance and value for money.

If you have upgraded a laptop - eg replacing the hard disk with a SSD - you may have a spare 2.5" SATA internal; drive that would otherwise be gathering dust. This little gadget will enable you to turn it into a useful external USB hard drive. This enclosure will enable you to do this quickly, easily and very cheaply. Assuming the SATA drive you install has a decent capacity, you can, for example, start performing the back-ups you always promised you would get around to doing! As the description indicates, you don't need any tools -there are none of the tiny fiddly screws that USB enclosures often use to hold things together. With this unit, the case slides apart, you just push the SATA drive onto the internal connector, and slide the case panel back. The disk is held quite securely in the case which seems very well made. The unit comes with a USB 3.0 cable - but it works fine, albeit at a slower transfer speed of course, with USB 2.0. I've got 4 or 5 USB enclosures and this one certainly represents the best value for money. I've only had it a few days but, so far, I can't see any reason to award less than 5 stars.

As a computer tech of many years, I have to say that this was the most straightforward external hard drive eclosure installation I have ever done. The only tool I needed was a sharp knife to get into the Amazon packaging so that doesn't count! Do I have some reservations, well yes in certain circumstances. If you are likely to be carrying this around then I have doubts as to whether the lugs holding the sliding bit of the case will hold out, so suggest you get a proper ruggedised box instead although a bit of gaffer tape would also work. This isn't a negative on the Eaxer enclosure because it isn't sold as something you can bung in your bag. Only other comment I have is that the length of the cables provided. Power cable is 90cms and the good quality USB 3.0 cable is 1m. If you are going to sit the enclosure on top of or by the side of a computer, then there shouldn't be an issue so long as the power is within reach, otherwise you might want to buy cable extenders or a longer USB cable as well. Plug and play on Windows 10, iMac and MacBook Air without any problem. In fact it installed so quickly on Windows 10 I wasn't sure it had completed at first. Highly recommended.

It works perfectly. Only 3 stars because of the design of the lid. It doesn't stay closed properly. I could see it opening by itself carrying it in a rucksack for example. Good otherwise

Brilliant easy to use thanks

This USB 3.0 hard drive enclosure comes boxed with all you need to access any bare SATA drive. Included, is the enclosure, power supply, connecting USB 3.0 cable, 4 hard drive screws to secure your 3.5 inch drive and a 12 month warranty card. The enclosure is made of plastic and is very light. Once your drive is in place, the lid slides on and closes with a satisfying click. The enclosure supports both 3.5in and 2.5in SATA hard drives, but if your looking to use this as a portable device, only a 3.5 inch drive can be secured in place at the bottom with the supplied screws (which is nice to see). A 2.5in drive cannot be secured in place as none of the screw holes line up. In saying all that, if your just going to use this enclosure on your desk, next to your computer then the screws are really not needed and you can swap drives in seconds. The unit powers on with just one press of the power button, but it requires you to hold the power button for 3 seconds to power the unit off. This is to avoid accidentally powering down the unit while the drive is being accessed, which could in turn, lead to data loss. While the drive is powered there are two very small lights on the enclosure, one power light and one hard disk light which flashes as the drive is being accessed. As regards to the speeds, when working with USB 3.0 I tend to find the bottlenecks are more to do with the hardware you are using than the USB 3.0 limits. I placed an old SATA hard drive in the enclosure and transferred some files using USB 3.0 to another mechanical drive and hit speeds of 24Mb/s, but files from the same drive transferred to my SSD drive were nearly 4 times as fast at 92Mb/s. So no complaints about it's USB 3.0 speed capabilities. Overall if your like me and salvage old SATA drives from broken laptops and desktop computers, this is a good way of putting them to good use with this very capable enclosure. If you have found my review helpful, please click below, thanks.