▶▶▶ ineo I-NIA315Ue, 3.5 Inch IDE/ SATA Hybrid Hard Drive Mesh Iron Enclosure to USB 2.0/ eSATA (Black)

Thursday, October 28, 2010

ineo I-NIA315Ue, 3.5 Inch IDE/ SATA Hybrid Hard Drive Mesh Iron Enclosure to USB 2.0/ eSATA (Black)

ineo I-NIA315Ue, 3.5 Inch IDE/ SATA Hybrid Hard Drive Mesh Iron Enclosure to USB 2.0/ eSATA (Black) Review

Like the description should indicate, this is a 3.5" IDE/SATA hard drive enclosure.

The distinguishing quality of this model is the metal mesh screen that forms the top side, which provides good passive ventilation that will hopefully let you run your drives safely without the use of any fans. Other units I've tried rely on a close fit of the aluminum shell of the enclosure to the top of the hard drive to conduct the heat out, but if the drive metal isn't sitting right up against the enclosure metal, you end up trapping heat in that tiny air space. This design is better.

A single screw releases the drive tray from the enclosure, which will be nice if you swap drives out often.

Fit and finish are above average but not the best; the biggest annoyance was my vertical holder, which didn't sit flat on its rubber feet.

Overall, a good pick for the price.