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LIAN LI EX-10Q USB 3.0 External 2.5″ Hard Drive

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Introduction:

TechwareLabs has reviewed countless portable storage devices over the years and we continue to be impressed with the trend of increased storage capacity in a decreased space leading to smaller devices. Add this to the trend in technology continuing to allow for faster transfer speeds and you have the recipe for USB 3.0 devices such as the one we are looking at today.

The portable 2.5” drive has been around for a several years now and since USB 3.0 has become main stream peripheral manufacturers are already offering 2.5″ portables in a USB 3.0 flavor. One manufacturer in particular is Lian Li who has always engineered some of the highest quality all aluminum computer cases and enclosures which have been second to none in the market place. We have one of Lian Li’s 2.5” HDD External Enclosures that is USB 3.0 compatible, let’s take a close look at the new EX-10Q 2.5

ex-10q-b

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ex-10q-03

Feature:

USB3.0 Superspeed up to 5G Mbps
Bridge Chip VL700
AC Adapter NO
Material Aluminum
Internal Interface SATA-II
External Interface USB 3.0
LED BLUE LED for power / Write

Specification:

Transfer Rate: Super-Speed USB 5Gb/s (Max), High-Speed USB 480Mb/sSATA
Compatible: SATA I & II HDD
Support Microsoft Windows 7 / Vista / XP / 2003 / 2000 / ME / Mac OS 10.X / various Linux kernels USB2.0
Dim: (W)75mm x (H)12mm x (D)130mm
RoHS Compliance

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Closer Look:

<KENOX S860  / Samsung S860> <KENOX S860  / Samsung S860>
IAN LI EX-10Q Our EX-10Q as Tested was Red

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The EX-10Q comes in several colors and all are the annodized aluminum which is extremely durable and they recently added color of red which looks amazing!

<KENOX S860  / Samsung S860> <KENOX S860  / Samsung S860>
In the sun light the red ionized color looks incredible! Shown here is the included USB 3.0 cable which connects to the EX-10Q drive

Click on the Thumbnail for a Larger Image

The EX-10Q does not need an additional AC power adapter but does come with the standard USB 3.0 cable (different than USB 2.0) with dual USB ports on the PC side in order to obtain the additional power required to run the drive.

<KENOX S860  / Samsung S860> <KENOX S860  / Samsung S860>
LED Power/Write Indicator
I/O USB 3.0 Port

Click on the Thumbnail for a Larger Image

Lian Li keeps to a clean and simple design with a single power/write indicator LED. The EX-10Q is otherwise very clean and smooth. We really like the top mounted indicator as opposed to other manufacturers which mount the indicator traditionally on the front or even on the rear panel of the unit.  This configuration makes interpreting activity much easier.

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We installed our own hard drive in the EX-10Q and took a ran a few benchmarks. After these benchmarks were completed, we took the drive out of the external case and connected the hard drive directly to the SATA II cable connected directly to the motherboard and ran the same benchmarks to give you an idea of what to expect as a guideline. A benchmark of your drive is likely to product different results but you can use our numbers to gauge overall performance differences between the EX-10Q connected through USB 3.0 as opposed to through an on board controller.

<KENOX S860  / Samsung S860> <KENOX S860  / Samsung S860>
With the cover off. With the controller board removed

A look under the hood of the EX-10Q provides no surprises. What we have here is the simple circuitry and SATA/power interface as well as some vibration dampening foam and your mounting holes for the drive.  The addition of the vibration dampening foam is quite nice as most 2.5″ portable enclosures skim right over this added extra leaving you with nothing but metal on metal noise.

lianli-usb30-externalenclosure-hd-tunepro3-00-benchmark lianli-usb30-externalenclosure-hd-tunepro3-00-benchmark-direct
HD Tune Pro with the HD in the EX-10Q HD Tune Pro with the HDD connected directly to the motherboard

The scores here were pretty close and goes to show USB 3.0 is worth every penny for the added performance.

lianli-usb30-externalenclosure-sisoft-physicaldisk-inenclosure lianli-usb30-externalenclosure-sisoft-physicaldisk-inenclosure-direct
SiSoft Physical Disk in EX-10Q SiSoft Physical Disk with HDD directly connected to motherboard

The SiSoft benchmark of Physical Disk shows only a tenth of a difference between EX-10Q and directly connected SATA Port. Impressive!

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Conclusion and Gallery

Awesome Hardware Award

Lian Li has once again released another product which has a simply amazing look and like every other product they have ever designed and released to the public performs without question. The anodized aluminum surface (a common feature of all Lian Li products) is just beautiful and also adds some ruggedness to an otherwise scratch prone aluminum. The one point of the EX-10Q which could be seen as drawback would be the USB 3.0 cable which if lost or damaged can be a real pain to get a replacement.

Given the features, looks, price and excellent speed offered by the new EX-10Q we are happy to give it the coveted TechwareLabs Awesome Hardware Award.

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4 Comments... What's your say?

  1. Overall I have to agree. Last quarter while I was looking through at Walmart I had the same arrangement. I eventually to acquire it.

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