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Rosewill RX81US-HT-35A-BLK Hard Drive Enclosure
Installation
Installation was a breeze. Just remove the four screws, pull the enclosure out and screw in the hard drive. It can't get any simpler than that. As for installing the eSATA bracket, you'll have to remove your case and install the bracket, nothing Techwarelabs readers can't handle :).
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Inside |
Installed drive |
Testing
Test Setup |
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| Processor | Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 |
| Motherboard | Asus Commando |
| Memory | OCZ DDR2 2GB PC8500 |
| Hard Drive | Western Digital WD7500AAKS 750gb |
| Operating System | Windows XP Pro w/SP2 |
| Software | SiSoftware Sandra |
Benchmarking
The first test we ran was with Sisoft Sandra. Unfortunately, we ran into some testing problems. Although the "read" benchmark was able to complete, there were error messages with the "write" benchmark. This is not the fault of the enclosure as it happened with other enclosures. For unknown reasons, it stated the drive needed to be empty to complete the benchmark, even though the drive was brand new and empty.
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SiSoft Sandra USB |
SiSoft Sandra SATA |
In our next benchmark we used HD Tune. As you can see from the results below, using the SATA interface would be the best method for connection. The SATA interface almost triples the performance of USB. In addition, CPU usage is also reduced. There would be no reason to use USB, unless you're using the enclosure on a laptop without eSATA ports.
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HD Tune USB |
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HD Tune SATA |
Conclusion
There's not much else to say about this product. It gets the job done, while looking good doing it. The pictures don't do it enough justice. The size of the unit is smaller than other enclosures I have come across. There are some tradeoffs with the enclosure being small. Although there are ventilation slots on the front of the enclosure, it still does get a bit hot under usage and at idle. It would also have been nice if the enclosure included firewire ports as well. However, Rosewill does have other enclosures that have this option.
If you need an external enclosure, the Rosewill RX81US-HT-35A-BLK is highly recommended.
Pros
- Includes all hardware and cables
- Uses eSATA
- Aluminum goodness
- Small and compact for a 3.5" enclosure
- Price (street)
Cons
- Runs a bit hot, not enough ventilation
We would like to thank Rosewill for allowing us to review this product. You can pick one up now from Newegg for $26.99!!
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