News For You

background :.

I unfortunately had a hard drive failure, which turned out to be a regular feature on Dell inspiron notebooks. When this happened, I went to the local computer store in Redmond and picked up a regular 2.5 inch Hard drive to Desktop Computer IDE adapter that would allow me to connect my laptop hard drive to my desktop computer. This cost me about 15 bucks and using it left my laptop hard drive precariously hanging inside the case without any real stability.

This was a decent solution as most operations were temporary solutions to get data off or on a Hard drive. Going to a school where a lot of my friends had Dell laptops, I used this adapter very often.

problem :.

At work, we have a lot of laptops as well and people are busy breaking their laptops with spyware and what not so there is a lot of need to get their “personal materials” off of their drives while we wipe their drives clean and put on a new OS.

research :.

This is why I decided to get a more permanent solution. A quick search on google and pricewatch turned up hard drive enclosures for laptops at about 40-50 dollars. Some people even had them listed for up to 100 dollars. Being an ebay junky I decided to search for a better deal.

jackpot :.

The first search for “laptop hard drive enclosure” brought up hits for 2-4 dollars. Thinking this was obviously a good starting bid, I decided to flip through the “completed items” pages. But to my surprise, these usb2 hard drive enclosures were really going for only 2 dollars.

After reviewing the savings-zone’s (the seller) feedback, I decided if he sold over 5,786 items, and had a feedback rating of 99.4%, he must be doing something right.

After wincing at the 9.95 shipping and 1.95 insurance, I decided it was still worth it to get the $2.95 laptop hard drive enclosure just to see if it was really true. I won the auction on Friday. Paid on Friday, and I had the laptop enclosure in my hot hands by Monday.

delivery :.

Hearing my shrieks of excitement, the rest of the IT Department gathered round my latest winnings.

First we were all surprised that there was an actual product inside of the envelope. Then we were surprised that there was indeed what seemed to be a USB 2.0 slim, alloy hard drive enclosure and all the necessary parts. Even a leather carrying case, cables, and a screwdriver.

hilarity :.

Psyched about this new toy we decided to investigate. I first decided to read all the features on the box. This is where the hilarity began. The following is a verbatim listing of the features:

- Big Capacity
- Need not the drive
- Stability reliablely
- The super thin design
- The ultra high speed rate
- Magnesium’s aluminum alloy
- USB interface at High speed, the plug-and-play

1. It’s amazing that a slim hard drive enclosure can have big capacity
2. It’s even more amazing that it need not the drive.
3. I’m glad it comes with Stability reliablely
4. It’s not just thin. It’s the super thin.
5. Not just any ultra high speed rate. THE ultra high speed rate
6. I don’t know who Magnesium is, but he must make some mean aluminum alloy
7. I think I just learned something.

translation :.

After stopping laughing, the three of us decided that maybe the included documentation might be able to tell us some more. After digging around, I found the “User Menuer” . This seems like a bad post on engrish.com . It’s like the worst kind of phonetic spelling. I can just imagine some poor asian man on the phone with some guy in Texas:

Texan: Naw, I want my prahduct to have a manual.
Asian: Ok. Very good. What you call it?
Texan: A Manual.
Asian: Menuear?
Texan: No a Manual.
Asian: Manuer?
Texan: No, it’s a Maanuuuaal.
Asian: Menuer?
Texan: No it’s a … screw it. Yes. Menuer.
Asian: Very good.

Then the inside of the manual looks like it was read to a person on a word processor who was on the phone with someone who was cutting out every third of fourth word. And then they put that text into babelfish and converted it to French, and then converted it back to English. The end result is a jambalaya of technical words, windows, usb, and “warning”. Following these instructions would definitely make you know less about computers than when you started.

the hardware :.

Fortunately the logic board looks decent. Everything is printed on it nicely, the connectors are solid. The actual enclosure feels like its magnesium alloy, the purple poweder coat on it is actually pretty good. The only thing that bothers me is the USB2.0 logo with the subtitle MOVABLE HARD DISK.

It’s pretty easy to connect a hard drive to the logic board and then you slide the hard drive in to the enclosure. I assume it makes a pretty nice heat sink but it does offer the most secure protection.

design :.

After enclosing the hard drive, I figured out that the 4 screws in the bag were probably for use with the enclosed screwdriver. You can use two of the screws to screw the entire enclosure shut. Although, I noticed while screwing the enclosure shut that the screwdriver is conveniently magnetized to conveniently help you lose your data.

The USB connector cable uses a proprietary connector on one end I have never seen before. On the other end of it are two standard USB dongles. I immediately thought. Is this what they meant by USB 2? I thought it was safest to plug both in. So I did.

After the hard drive loaded, and I was happy that the hard drive enclosure worked, I unplugged one of the plugs. Sure enough it still worked. I have no idea.

final thoughts :.

Overall, the drive is easy enough to set up. Was detected automagically by windows XP. Seemed to operate at USB 2.0 speeds. Came with a nice fake leather carrying case, and was definitely worth the 2.95.

If you have a laptop, I would definitely recommend getting this as a convenient option to lug around an extra drive, attach storage, transfer information, or do a backup, or to get a laugh.