USB 2.0+ Firewire 1394 Combo Enclosure for 3.5-inch SATA Hard Drive up to 2.0 TB

Have had for a few weeks now, on 24/7 backing up a media center. It works great and as advertised, for a great price. Somewhat cryptic instructions, but its not rocket science to begin with. Assembled easily and does keep the drive cool. Not silent, but certainly quiet operation. This unit offers a good variety of options, including daisy chaining together. We'll see how it hold up long term, but very satisifed so far.

I was excited to purchase this enclosure. I had been looking for a while and just couldn't find the "right" hardware for my 2TB back-up hard drive.When I came across this one I thought it was cool looking and judging by the description, which outlined the large cooling fan, I thought it was a great solution to overheating.I ordered it, but was very disappointed to find that it did not work after I carefully installed my hard drive in it.Either it was damaged during shipping or something was not manufactured properly.Installation was a breeze. That was perfect. If only the power had come on.I was also a bit annoyed at the fact that on the picture the unit looks white. I really wanted it to be white with a very noticeably Black Fan on the side. For the record the unit is Silver.Of course I returned it.After a couple of weeks and more research, I ended up ordering a totally different unit.The only reason I did not buy the same model from the same vendor was because I felt the packaging was less than optimal the first time around. I decided that if it was going to be shipped in the same manner again that the chances of it arriving damaged were still there.I really loved the design. There is another enclosure available just like it in all black but it does not offer the Firewire connection I wanted for my system.Don't be totally discouraged from buying one of these units for yourself. Maybe they will be more careful with the packaging and the unit you get will actually power on.

As many of the other reviewers found, this device did not work when connected to my Windows 7 laptop via Firewire. As I look at the reviews, I can't find ANYONE who has connected successfully via Firewire. The instructions said there was an issue with Windows 7 Firewire drivers and that I needed to install the legacy drivers. I did that and the drive worked afterwards, but I could not copy my video files to this drive without Windows crashing every time without finishing ("Windows has experienced an unexpected shutdown"). As I think about this, it is not a good idea to use old drivers. My 5+ year old WD MyBook works with the current (nonLegacy) Firewire drivers; in fact the MyBook was online when daisy-chained behind this enclosure when this enclosure was not responding. I think this one is going to need to go back.For those who might buy this for USB use, my only complaint is the blue LEDs on the front are too bright; so bright that you can barely see the red LEDs that flash when the drive is moving data.

The fan in this unit blows the air outside the case rather than inside.I have always found that wind blowing continuously directly on the hard drive is what keeps it cool in a well ventilated enclosure.The fan blows very little air and is very weak as with a unit made by the same manufacturer before. My remedy and suggestion for this is to reverse the fan by removing it's 4 screws and turning it around. This way the drive will get more cooling directly. I also recommend keeping the unit flat (horizontal) rather than standing in a vertical position. I also loosened the screws to the top of the case and inserted a few nickels in-between the top of the case and the side to create air ventilation if using the unit horizontally to allow more HD heat airflow to escape.This particular unit I found works much faster and efficiently when connecting it to firewire rather than USB. I also as a final approach to keeping the drive and unit cool placed 4 stick em 1 inch felt pads as legs on the bottom to allow the fan which when unit is placed flat will raise the unit to increase airflow to the fan and also keep the bottom cool. Many hard drive designs will rapidly fail or not operate properly if place vertically. Western Digital Raptor drives explicitly will void warranty to unit if placed vertically. The Hard drive is like a record on a turntable - Gravity ad's wear when placed vertically.So with all the above Modifications the unit works great for me. Without these or other modifications I would not recommend using it - it will not sufficiently keep your hard drive cool for prolonged periods of usage.