Here is a USB 3.0 UASP SATA III 2.5 inch hard drive enclosure that can be had for $18 on Amazon right now.
USB 3.0, SATA III, UASP that is a handful of acronyms isn't it? With UASP support, it will one of the faster enclosures out there designed to be used with Solid State Drives (SSDs).
Overall, this is a pretty good device that is a solid performer with one glaring problem that I will get into later.
Overall, the construction is nice for plastic. I like the quick removal design and the on-and-off button. This is a tool-free enclosure.
Performance wise, it is pretty good. Using a 240GB SATA III Crucial M500 SSD, I was getting close to 300 MB/sec writes and on average, 400MB plus in reads via USB 3.0.
The speed difference is attributed to the UASP ASMedia chipset. UASP chipset is a $3 premium over the regular Inatek USB 3.0 enclosure. The one to get is the FEU3NS-1E pictured on the below.
I guess the only real cosmetic difference with the UASP version is the blue lettering vs white. Again, the $3.00 premium is well worth it. For comparison, here is the same Crucial M500 attached to a USM Seagate 3.0 adapter. The performance difference is noticeable. 400MB/sec reads vs 250MB/sec!
If the speeds are great, so what is my beef with it?
Well, everything is cool except the connector. It uses the USB "A" full size connector. The cable is a dual sided USB A male connector which is an odd choice. I have a gazillion USB 3.0 drives and devices and they all use the Micro-B USB 3.0 flat connector cables. I don't need to carry cables with me from location to location because I often have a pile lying around all over the place. With this, I have to tote the cable along with me to use it. This is my only beef with the product. Overall, it is good and cheap. It does the job but that cable connector is a bit of a let-down.
Amazon Link:
Model # FE2002-US/ FEU3NS-1E.
http://www.amazon.com/Optimized-Inateck-Enclosure-Installation-Compatible/dp/B00FCLG65U/ref=sr_1_sc_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1392340198&sr=8-1-spell&keywords=inatek+USB
Interesting article but what I really need is a dual USB caddy which I can plug into a Raspberry Pi and play my music collection from. I can stream it from my NAS via wifi but a USB drive would mean I wouldn't have to wear my tin foil hat. I have this thing about radio waves bouncing around unnecessarily! Any recommendations?
ReplyDeleteOh by the way - if you have a PI, you may want to check this out:
http://www.raspyfi.com/
I have been playing around with it lately and it needs some more work but I have to say I'm impressed! Pair it with an MPD app on Android or IOS and you have a nice music streaming device. I'm quite find of the web interface too so you don't need an app to use it.
Wow I just came across this blog - really interesting :) You should start up your own website and Youtube channel - I'm sure you will get a solid following in no time. :)
ReplyDeleteI got this enclosure today and have problems with my rMBP Mid 2012. It never loads UASP kext. Inside enclosure I have Samsung SSD 840PRO - 512GB. Speeds I get are 60MB/s writes and around 190MB/s reads TOPS. It appears under superspeed devices in system profiler but never loads the kext. I am on 10.9.3. Any clue?
ReplyDeleteI get the same issue on my rMBP 10.9.3
DeleteAre you guys using this through a USB hub or direct? Most hubs will drop down to B-O-T.
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