USB 2.0 External Enclosure for SATA or IDE 3.5-Inch Desktop Hard Drive HDD up to 2.0 TB

Great packaging, great products. When they say the fan in this unit is quiet, they mean it. nice to be able to actually cool any drives being put into the case. Only issue I have is the directions for mounting the hard drive inside the case are misleading. You don't use screws for this case. It's a nice thing but why go to the extra expense of including screws when not are needed?The lighting, which tells when the drive is off or on, is a nice blue. I bought two of these at the same time. One the light is a bright blue while the second drive the light is dulled slightly. Still, better then others that I have which either have yellow or bright white. The light is positioned at the front of the case, which is a good thing.The foot cradle is packaged inside the case. You'll find it when you open it up. Prepacked setup is for the PATA IDE drive configuration. Unfortunately, the directions assume the external drive that goes into this case is a Master rather then a Slave. Thus, it says to set the jumper to Master. Be careful as doing so gives you unwelcome results if the unit is a functioning as a second or third external drive. I have six external drives connected to my laptop. These cases will be replacing other cases which eventually die as the electronics wear out. I'll be buying more of these cases as I expand my library of hard drive space, especially since these cases have the ability to handle drives up to 2 terrabytes. That generally means they have heavy duty electronics.The case compartment has ample space for the cabling to fold properly so as not to break any connections. Nice because previous, less expensive cases, were problematic for cable folding.After several months of using since the initial review, I have to admit, I want more of these cases. Super cooling. Very quiet. Haven't had any issues. Don't know why anyone else does unless they don't understand the differences between jumper settings, regardless whether it is in the instructions or not. One caveat, I didn't even have to screw my hard drives down into the case frame. My drives fit nicely and snug.I have six external hard drives set up and attached to my USB 10 port extender (also purchased from Amazon). If you have a basic understanding of how hard drives work and know the basics for setting jumpers, you won't have any issues with these cases.

I suppose this is a gender related review. This unit looks like something I remember from my military service 45 years ago. It is very sturdy, very functional, but looks like it was built for military use/abuse. As an engineer, and an old guy, I don't mind the the function over aesthetics appearance of this enclosure. The appearance is not shoddy - the black paint finish is well done and thorough. It's just that the unit is not sleek, shiny and modern looking like one might expect on a modern office computer desk. I kind of like the retro look of this burly enclosure, but I doubt many wives would agree.The design of this enclosure, using mostly relatively thick metal (aluminum/magnesium) components, envisions low tech manufacture on simple metalworking tools. Even the detachable stand is sturdy metal. The black speckled paint finish likewise bespeaks of low tech manufacture in a sophisticated home garage or rural Chinese metal shop. Even so, all of the multiple components fit together very well with little or no misalignment. In fact, I was impressed with the construction quality. Only the external side panels are plastic, and that is likely because they are too complex in shape to produce on simple metal presses.I marked this enclosure down a bit for "Ease of Installation" because the simple manufacturing design requires a lot of simple parts, rather than a few complex parts. That means there has to be a lot of screws to keep it all together. You wont get this enclosure open with just one or two screws. Once you do get it open, the installation of either IDE, SATA I, or SATA II 3.5" drives is straighforward. Figure on a minimum of 10 minutes from opening the package to plugging in the hard drive. I've tried it with both IDE and SATA drives, and there were no issues - the drives worked perfectly.I haven't noticed any noise from the front or the sturdy "speaker grill" air exhaust. There is a good amount of free air space around the hard drive for cooling.As for reliability, I've only had mine for about six months, so I don't know if the electronics will last for years. Mine has never failed or given me any problems, so I suppose it is just as reliable as any other. You are very unlikely to hurt it by knocking it off the desk. The hard drive is firmly attached inside, so it may suffer from from a fall.The unit comes with everything you need, except the hard drive. It should be sturdy enough for military, industrial, or kids use, but looks like it would fit in best on a clumsy geek's desk, or a college student's cinder block supported bookshelf. I think it's a "guy thing" to see the beauty in this sturdy metal enclosure. It works for me!