Mediasonic ProBox HD6-SU3S2 3.5" SATA Hard Drive Enclosure - USB 3.0 & eSATA Aluminum Body

I have 2 of these with 1 tb hard drives. Put an esat card in my pc and get great performance. The speed is alot faster than with usb connections. It is nice that I can also use the usb on for laptop.

This is one of the more well-implemented external drive cases I've seen. The electronic assembly looks clean. Unlike some cases I've seen reviewed here, everything works as it should - the drive slips right into the connectors, mounting screws line up properly, and the case fits together snugly. Whether this is related to the fact that it's made in Taiwan (most other brands seem to be made in China), I can't say. I'm using it with a Western Digital WD30EZRS 3tb drive. Although Linux isn't listed as an officially supported OS, this case and drive combination works fine for me with Puppy Linux version 5.25 (kernel version 2.6.33) and Clonezilla 1.2.12-60 (kernel version 3.2.18-1). Clonezilla identifies it as a "very big drive." Puppy makes no comment about it, but simply handles it with aplomb. My system doesn't speak USB 3.0, so I'll leave it to others to review how well that works. But at USB 2.0 speeds be warned that this, like other similar interfaces, is no speed demon. Clonezilla took about 36 hours to back up a 500gb drive onto this unit! Once I've had a chance to test the ESATA interface, I'll update this review. It would be interesting to hear from anyone who has tried this case with drives even larger than 3tb, the largest officially supported drive. I have 2 earlier models similar to this. Both are the earlier USB 2.0 versions. One is the model with ESATA, similar to this (HD6-SU2S2), and the other is the USB only model (HD6-SU2). Neither one supports drives larger than 2tb. About 2 weeks ago, I posted a query in the Mediasonic forum, inquiring after upgrading these earlier models. Within hours, I received a reply from Mediasonic that they'd check into it. However, as of this date I've received no further response. Thus, at the moment I'd suggest caution, since I've seen some of the earlier models (HD6-SU2, HD6-SU2S2, and HD6-SU2FW) still floating around at various vendor sites. These may or may not have been upgraded to support drives over 2tb, or they may work only with some operating systems. Inquire carefully.

I have experienced random disconnects from this harddrive enclosure. Sometimes the PC will even fail to recognize the drive upon boot up requiring shutting down the drive and turning it back on again for Windows 8 Pro to recognize. I checked the connections, used different usb 3.0 ports and even swapped out USB 3.0 cables with other 3.0 cables I have and the same problem continues. The drive inside is a brand new 2TB Seagate drive from Dell that I removed as the main boot drive from a One in 27 XPS Touch. I made an SSD drive the boot drive on that machine and wanted to use this Seagate as my data drive. In short, these random disconnects makes the system unreliable for work. I had several occasions already when I tried to save a file and have gotten errors from Windows that the device no longer is available. I was able through persistence with 5 or 6 attempts to backup the data I already had on it to a Fantom 2TB USB 3.0 external and that drive works without problems. I'm not sure if I just got a dud, but I have google the problem and others on the net had similar problems with Windows 7. It's unfortunate because the enclosure really is nice, but worthless if it doesn't function the way it should. I'm grateful for Amazon's generous return policy, thanks Amazon!

Would have 5 Stars, but the product information was wrong. It is only SATA I or SATA II -- NOT SATAIII. It says I and II on the box, and if you can read the box on the picture it says the same thing. If you have 6.0Gbs SATA III Drives DO NOT BUY. If you have 3.0Gbs, then it's GREAT! Fortunately the drives I needed these for were II, so it worked out, but I was paying for and wanted II (for other drives down the road. 5 STARS for CRAZY EASY SET UP. The drives came out of a old computer, slipped right in these cases (unscrew two small screws, cover comes off), put cover back on, plug into power and USB3 (or eSATA, which is what I"m using due to ports available on my rig). It comes with no instructions, but the heck of it is... it simply didn't need any. It LITERALLY takes less than 60 seconds to unscrew the case, drop in the hard drive, screw it back, and plug in the power cord and data cord. PERTURBED by the mislabeling. Would have bought something else, but am happy that these worked out. I have NEVER had any tech item work so fast and easy (except maybe the Western Digital Passports). Recap: SATA II, not III, EASY SET UP, no install, no disk, no need to format. Last thought, I was able to partition the drive I put in it. I was not expecting it to be as easy as an internal.

Needed a cheap 3.5" external drive enclosure with USB 3.0 and this fit the bill. Speeds are comparable to using a standard SATA 6.0gbps connection, actually calculated out the difference on my PC to it being 4% slower through USB 3.0. Nothing to complain about. Construction seems a little cheap. LED lens was popped out of place, wires are ran with too much slack. Just some extra care to take care of those. Hard drive WAS going to sleep on me. Disabled power management for the USB hub it was on and installed device firmware for the enclosure that prevents the drive from spinning down and haven't had an issue since. Firmware found here: http://forum.mediasonic.ca/viewtopic.php?f=71&t=1519 Mine was specifically the HD6-SU3S2.

that.s very good

Note: Precautions while installing the drive. 1 Unscrew the controller, Plug it into drive then screw it back again. Dont force the drive while the controller is screwed in to the housing cause the housing is of very cheap quality and i think it would break easily if forced enough. 2 Dont overtighten the 2 screws which holds the housing and aluminiunm cover. Becouse the screw holes are in the housing and would break by overtightening them. And Update the Frimware. First check if the spin down problem presists then update the frimware because maybe newer revisions might be updated already. It is located here http://forum.mediasonic.ca/viewtopic.php?f=71&t=1519 Update: Jan /17/ 2014 After i sent an email to amazon about the broken Housing and the defective adaptor they sent me a replacement instantly I am very happy with amazon regarding their customer service. But the seller (mediasonic) have lousy customer service, I have sent them 2 emails. 1 was about the support of higher capacity drive as i wanted to use 4 tb. (didnt responded at all) 2nd was to tell them that i recieved broken one. I also sent an email this time to amazon and they just sent me replacement without any hassle and received it quickly in just 2 days. Mediasonic responded after a day or 2 after the replacement was dispatched from amazon.ca The replacement solved my problems ( Broken housing and bad power adaptor ). But the harddisk drive spin down problem was still there so i went to {mediasonic website > Forums > USB 3.0 Single Bay Enclosures - for PC Users > No HD Spin Down Firmware for USB 3.0 Single bay enclosures}, and downloaded the frimware update and flashed it. Now it doesnt turn off the hard drive while its idle. The process was pretty much easy and the instructions were clear. I would now give it 4.5 stars now. and would deduct 1/2 star for price it shouldnt be more then 33 dollars. Note: Havent tested Esata yet will update review when I have. Previous review. First of all I will start with the Pros. * The Aluminium Cover is of very good quality and feels very sturdy. * The drive stayed relatively cool even under high activity ( Benchmarks) the maximum temp was not more then 35 - 38 Degree Celcius The Aluminium cover did a great job at dissipating the heat. * Compatible with 4 tb drives, I am using Seagate ST4000M000 * Speed was great on USB 3.0 used it with Seagate 4 TB ST4000DM000 HDD ATTO and Crystaldiskmark Max Write 158.7 MB/Sec. Max Read 159.4 MB/Sec. +-1% HD Tune Pro Max Write 156.9 MB/Sec. Avg Write 120.3 MB/Sec. HD Tune Pro Max Read 152.6 MB/Sec. Avg Read 109.5 MB/Sec. * Recognized the 4 TB drive easily on windows 8 on USB 3.0 (didn't have to install any driver or anything it loaded automatically) * Comes with both Esata and USB 3.0 cable including its power adaptor, Vertical stand, manual. * Installing the HDD in the enclosure was an easy process. The Cons * The housing that holds the drive is of very very bad quality seems very fragile, I think if it falls once the housing would break before the Drive it self Even if its in its aluminium cover. I received a cracked one already and I think it wasn't due to shipping cause amazon packed it very securely and the packing of the enclosure it self was very good it just indicates bad quality control of Mediasonic. (Update: recieved new replacement ) Note: While installing the drive into the enclosure remove the Controller PCB located on the housing which is held by 2 screws then plug that PCB in the drive, Don't force the drive into the housing while its PCB is screwed in. There's risk of breaking the housing. * The Enclosure came with its led cover loose inside it but i was able to pop it right back in easily. It has been mentioned by other reviewers aswell ( Not much of a big deal though but still ) Again bad quality control. * (Update: The replacement fixed this problem) The power adaptor of it I think didn't provided enough power to power the HDD or was defective, I used Seagate ST4000DM000 it takes about 7.5 watts according to its specs. The problem was when I ever I flip the power switch of the enclosure at the back and as the drive starts to spin the adaptor made kinda whirring sound like something was spinning in the adaptor or shorting, and while copying stuff to the drive it would sometimes freeze and I have to powercycle it to make it work again. First I thought it was the drive but I had a 12 volt 2.5 Amps power adaptor lying in my spare parts box it had the same pin as of the mediasonics provided adaptor so I plugged that instead of provided one and voila it worked and I was able to copy files without any interruptions. * (Update: After flashing the frimware its Fixed now.) If the drive is left idle (If theres no activity like Read or Write ) for sometime it requires a powercycle to get it recognized again. Not good for someone who will use it for NAS purpose on USB enabled router or Pc. Conclusion: Overall I think its a good enclosure. Can be used with USB 3.0 or Esata interface, No bottleneck interms of speed for most Spin Harddisk drive for which it is made for, Does a better job at keep the drive cool passively. But because of the quality control issues, fragile plastic housing and price I will give it 3.5 Stars. 1/2 star for price it would be good for 30 to 33 bucks considering the lousy HDD housing. 1 Star for bad quality control.

I needed an external enclosure that had both USB 3.0 & e-Sata connections. This unit was relatively cheap, and well reviewed. It has performed very well for the three months I have used it. Disk mounting straightforward, though not as convenient as the Orico I also use. Runs extremely cool with a WD 3TB drive, and damps any noise and vibration from the disk well. No interface problems to date.