Thermaltake Muse eSATA External SATA II Enclosure
Installation
Published: 4th April 2006 | Source: Thermaltake | Price: |
Author: Matt Krei (FragTek)
Hardware Acquired: Thermaltake
Installation
Installing the PCI backplate was a cinch, I had a perfect spot for it between my bottom video card and my sound card. Depending on how small your case is or how tightly you may have your case packed with expansion cards I can see potential for not everyone having room for this but the odds are pretty low of that happening. The whole installation process took me about 15 minutes or so. The longest part was trying to get my fat hands through my cables and tubing to where I could get a good angle to unplug my HDD LED cable and get it attached to the lead coming from the PCI backplate (this is to operate the analog data transfer gauge). Other than that, simply plug the SATA cable in to a free SATA header on the motherboard and find a free 4-pin molex for the power and you're done inside of the case.
Installing your chosen hard drive in the enclosure couldn't be an easier process. The enclosure itself is a screwless design with an easy-open lever on the side that allows you to swing open the case. Inside you'll find your two small cables for your data and power headers on the hard drive. Simply plug these in and set your hard drive in the enclosure over the 4 pins in the base of the case which will slip in to the hard drives underside mounting holes. There's a thick rubbery-type pad on the top of the enclosure that sandwiches the hard drive in place very well when you close up the case, after a big of gentle shaking I couldn't hear anything moving inside. This makes the enclosure a great candidate for mobility as your HD won't be banging around inside while you're traveling.
Just as a quick note, you can also see in the above picture that Thermaltake has yet again used a SATA150 inside of the enclosure to connect the hard drive to the PCB. This could prove to be detrimental to the boasted performance ratings from Thermaltake.
Once you've installed your hard drive the only thing left to do is connect the two external cables provided to you in the kit, flip the power switch, and boot up your computer. Voila! Instant SATA hard drive space. It took me a total of two reboots before it was completely setup and ready for use in Windows Server 2003.
Now let's see how this enclosure stacks up to the competition!
Just as a quick note, you can also see in the above picture that Thermaltake has yet again used a SATA150 inside of the enclosure to connect the hard drive to the PCB. This could prove to be detrimental to the boasted performance ratings from Thermaltake.
Once you've installed your hard drive the only thing left to do is connect the two external cables provided to you in the kit, flip the power switch, and boot up your computer. Voila! Instant SATA hard drive space. It took me a total of two reboots before it was completely setup and ready for use in Windows Server 2003.
Now let's see how this enclosure stacks up to the competition!
Most Recent Comments
nice one, i think i might make my own external drive 

Nice review Frag. I'll look forward to seeing what TT have to say 
Damn good idea for those who need some space

Damn good idea for those who need some space
Good job frag.
Only was able to skim it but looks nice so far Frag.
BTW, was this one of those that you were able to keep or do you have to return it?

BTW, was this one of those that you were able to keep or do you have to return it?

Quote:
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Originally Posted by name='WC Annihilus'
BTW, was this one of those that you were able to keep or do you have to return it?
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Hopefully it's a keeper 
very nice review Frag , looking for more reviews 

didnt look to bad but i missed a "next page" link

Feel free to discuss the review here...