Product Description Keep your data safe and cool in Antec's MX-1 portable Hard Drive enclosure. Features a patented blower fan to keep your drive running cool, and allowing you to operate the enclosure continuously. Simply install your drive, connect it to your computer and start transferring your data at blazing speeds over USB2.0 or eSATA. There's not even any need to install drivers. The MX-1 is made with a special dual-layer design that reduces noise and is lightweight for easy transporting.
Best External EnclosureSeptember 2, 2008 I have two of these units now. When they go on sale in the $35 range they can't be beat. They work with USB 2.0 or ESata and come with an ESata internal to external bracket/adapter and cable. I use Acronis TrueImage 11 to image my operating system drive using ESata and it is amazingly fast. These enclosures don't get scratched as easily as some of the glossy or aluminum enclosures which is a plus if you are moving them around a lot. The active cooling is quiet and effective and the gel mount keeps the drive quiet. They also work with 1 Terabyte drives, see Antecs website for proof. I highly recommend the MX-1.
PerfectAugust 21, 2008 I had a 1TB drive that I found on sale which was a rebranded WD sold under the Calvary brand name. I'm on a laptop and it's HD is relatively small and I like to save all my work as a computer science major, so this fit the bill. There was a rebate that brought it down to $20-25, so I jumped on it.
Luckily, my laptop has a eSATA port, but the reported xfer speed is the same as USB 2.0 at around 50 MBs/sec. I did a HDTune benchmark and it reported better performance through eSATA, so there's some problem somewhere in my setup, but I highly doubt it's the enclosure. I asked other owners of the laptop I have and they actually report lower transfer speeds, but maybe they haven't upgraded their Vista to SP1 yet.
I sometimes get lazy and leave the HD on and it's light is always on, but the HD itself shuts down to save power (since when I try to access it, it always takes a few seconds to start up), so I don't feel guilty for wasting power.
For what I use it for, mass external storage/back-up, it's performed it's job without any complaints. Even though I don't need another, I'd be very tempted to buy it again if that rebate came up or better yet went on sale (I hate rebates) - it's that good/useful.
Works as AdvertisedAugust 21, 2008 I chose an Antec MX-1 Hard Drive enclosure (which included the eSata cable) based on the recommendations of other reviews. My purpose was to use it to hold a Western Digital 1 TB eSata hard drive for a DVR hard drive extender. The case included its own cooling fan, which is a plus. Delivery from Amazon was quick, but the MX-1 arrived without the installation instructions included, as specified on the box. Fortunately the instructions were available online via Antec's website. Installing the hard drive in the case was really simple and required only a few minutes with a Philips screw driver.
The HD extender works great. More info on this extension can be found on my Blog.
great design, but power connection issuesAugust 18, 2008 first of all, this is a very nice case when it comes to durability, cooling, quietness, and flexibility. I love the ability to connect via eSATA and USB. however, the power connection (a mini-DIN) is simply a bad idea, and I consider it a design flaw.
some have already complained that the DIN is loose, and though mine isn't, it does do what most DIN connections do when you rock the cable back and forth, which is have half of the pins lose contact in the socket. this causes a problem if you try and do *any* movement of the device while it is on, including adjusting the USB cable, or trying to re-orient the chassis on its side. This wouldn't be such a problem in itself except that it typically causes rapid power switching which is VERY bad for hard disks. I'm in the middle of recovering a damaged disk right now due to the power connector dropping and aquiring power 5 times or so when i simply pushed the unit backwards a couple of inches. yeah, that was a mistake.
so if you can guarantee you won't be shifting this thing around a lot (like i do, especially to load movies via eSATA and watch them via USB,) then i'd say go for it. once it's on and plugged in, it works like a charm. but be very careful during movement. I'd go so far as to recommend turning it off any time you plan on altering its position, or to adjust cabling.
Cool and quietAugust 12, 2008 I combined the Antec MX-1 USB/e-SATA hard drive enclosure with a Seagate DB35 Series ST3750840SCE Hard drive (750 GB). I use only the USB port and have found it fast and reliable.
Installation of the hard drive was VERY easy.
*** Hard drive installation tip *** I did not remove the two wires from the logic board as illustrated in the installation diagrams. I just carefully flipped the hard drive tray over, screwed down the hard drive and reassembled the case.
