Love these enclosuresNovember 13, 2008 I love these MX-1 enclosures - I presently have three of them and they are all working very well. The price is a little high when you consider what it is, but even that has gotten better as of late, decreasing from around $60 to $40 over the last year or so. One of my MX-1s is attached to my Tivo S3 holding an ESATA drive so it is always on and the case does a great job of keeping the drive cool, though you may want to use a higher-end ESATA cable for an application like that where keeping the connection is critical - I use a Siig (also from Amazon) and have been very happy with it.
Good Bang For Buck - Runs CoolNovember 2, 2008 Poor Instructions - But sooner or later you figure it out - then works very good - this one has an internal fan - the other one doesn't-eh!!
Great Product Runs very cool, quietOctober 18, 2008 So I initially wished to purchase an external hard drive as opposed to an enclosure/internal hd but since I am planning on building a new desktop soon it made more sense to go with the latter. As I stated in the title this product is fantastic, cooling is great, the whatever sound (if any) is obliterated by the sound of my laptop fan. It currently houses a WD640gig 7200rpm drive and is doing fine.
Nice styling, works fine minor design quibbles....October 14, 2008 1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This purchased was part of an extended troubleshooting effort for a Western Digital My Book external hard drive that suddenly bricked; I wanted to test the WD hard drive in a new enclosure to see if it was the platter or interface circuitry that was the issue. I uninstalled the WD drive out of its original case and installed it in the Antec MX-1 to complete the diagnosis..
This is a nice looking plastic/hard rubber case. Like many other hard drive enclosures, the power switch is inexplicably located on the rear of the enclosure.
During the drive install, you will remove and then replace a total of seven screws (one for the top cover, one for the fan plate and four for the drive itself). Other reviews have commented on issues with the fan plate screws; I didn't find access a major PITA, but a long shaft screwdriver and tweezers (or a small item pick-up tool will make the job easier).
The enclosure is very quiet, and there's no obvious disk activity light (the LED is very small and subdued).
Finally: even though the instructions are text-free pictographs, they are among the best I've ever seen (a far cry from Ikea offerings!).
PS: The verdict on the WD: bad drive: http://www.amazon.com/review/R3RV6CABZBFRTE/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm
Works well, good designOctober 7, 2008 A nice actively-cooled design. In a short test, the exterior of the case didn't get warm at all.
Connectors all fit snugly, there's a front activity LED, and the design inside is nice, the drive drops into place and slides back to connect, no fumbling with shortie cables inside a cramped case. It's not completely silent but not very loud either.
The vents for the case are not shrouded, if you used your MX-1 regularly the inside of the case may get gunk inside (eg, pethair).
Also, the USB connection will not function if an eSATA cable is connected to the case (even if it's not connected on the PC side). Remove the cable entirely to use it in USB mode. (there's a diagram in the directions indicating this but it wasn't totally clear)
Decent case, good purchase like most gear made by Antec.
