Kingwin Hard Drive Enclosure – A Reliable Performer!
Written: Nov 27 '07
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Cool lights, some nice design features
Cons: Cheap components
The Bottom Line: Reliable, but cheap as opposed to inexpensive.
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| OpalMan's Full Review: Kingwin (KH-350U-BK) USB 2.0 External Drive Case |
We switched from doing our backups on tape to doing them on an external disk in order to make encrypting them faster and easier a little over a year and a half ago. One of the backups is relatively small and we use and IDE drive for this. When we went looking for a drive enclosure that would connected via USB 2.0 and connected IDE drives, we found the Kingwin drive enclosure at a reasonable price. It also fulfilled the “cool” factor for one of my co-workers with its light bars running down each side.
What I Like
Unlike most drive enclosures, this one has an indicator for drive activity. This is a very nice feature to know at a glance that there is activity on the drive. As with most enclosures, this one has a Power Indicator. On this device, it is a blue light bar running down one side of the device. The Drive Activity indicator is an orange light bar running down the opposite side of the device. (This is what my co-worker thought was “cool” about it.)
The unit allows you to screw down the drive to the bottom of the device rather than the sides like most enclosures. This is a great feature when combined with the construction that allows the top to be removed by sliding it out of the way. This gives easy access to the drive.
There are also some cool features that I like, but not many for the way we use it. The IDE connector has a nice handle to make disconnecting the drive much easier. The problem is that it isn’t sturdy enough for everyday use. It consistently broke after just 25 – 30 uses. For most users, this will never be an issue, but for our use, it is less than desirable. The end unit also has four screws to hold it on to the rest of the device. They hold up reasonably well to repeated use. They are a little longer than necessary, which probably accounts for this better use, but can be annoying when removing the drive on a daily basis.
The Bottom Line
Despite the small problems mentioned in the review that affect us in the way we use the enclosure, it is a great device for the average user. It is reliable, sturdy, and has some nice features that make it ideal for a home user. The only derogatory comment I can make about it for the home user, is to buy a quality USB cable as the included one is “cheap” and prone to failure.
Recommended:
Yes
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