SABRENT Ultra Slim USB 3.0 to 2.5 Inch SATA External Aluminum Hard Drive Enclosure [Optimized for SSD, Support UASP SATA III] Silver (EC-UM30)

I am glad I bought this enclosure box.Package includes1. All-aluminum box with side panel easily removable, because it screws are not tighten initially2. Tiny Philips screwdriver and 2 screws for the side panel in a small plastic bag3. USB 3.0 male-male 3 ft cable4. Black (artificial) leather protective pocket to store the boxAssembling takes less than 1 minute.I plugged my 2.5" hard drive salvaged from dead notebook into detached side panel of this box and slid hard drive with the panel into the box until side panel closed it. Then I had to secure this panel with 2 small screws and it was done. I had a nice looking durable portable external drive.Screws are for standard small Phillips screwdriver.No power connection is needed. I plugged box into mu USB 3.0 desktop connection and it just started working in seconds.Now I can retrieve all of my important files from the dead laptop and I will keep a nice durable external hard drive as a bonus.

I bought this enclosure a while ago but long story short, if you have a spare 2.5 Inch Drive laying around and need an enclosure, you can't go wrong with this one. It is easy to install into the case itself, make the connections, and plug and play from there with zero need for any software or third-party tools.One thing of note however; I used an SSD and installed it into this enclosure (it seems that Sabrent has made updates to the overall design itself since I bought this so the issue maybe resolved), but it did noticeably slide around and there was enough "play" inside the enclosure for concern. I did end up putting a piece of thermal pad inside the drive to help with heat management, but also stop the drive from bouncing around and playing / ruining the SATA connection. That is more of a me issue as in I didn't do my research well enough before buying this enclosure, but nevertheless, an issue that I did want to make a note of and make everyone aware of so they don't make the same mistake as me.

one trait that this enclosure has going for it is the aesthetics. the aluminum appears to be anodized silver, and is quite beautiful, the included cable is white, and combined this looks very professional and sleek. unfortunately the endcaps are plastic that screw on with tiny little screws. the aluminum feels kinda weak, the complete inverse of my poweradd pilot 2gs battery. the endcaps don't line up well with the edges of the aluminum, and the screws are made of a pretty crappy metal that can strip if you are not very careful. although I'd give the aesthetics 4 stars, the build quality is more like a 2. the included cable is a meter in length, and the cable does feel plenty sturdy. although the type A connector on the drive makes the cable a bit harder to find a replacement for, I feel like I am less likely to damage the connector. physically speaking, the enclosure is among the smaller enclosures I have owned, as the board adds only around a centimeter to the length of the drive.the performance of the enclosure is as expected, which is to say good enough for almost any use case. sequential read and write speeds topped out at 257.5 and 237.8 MBps respectively (crystaldiskmark snapshot attatched), which is more than fast enough if you plan to be using it with a standard mechanical drive, but not fast enough if you plan on installing an SSD and need the full speed of the SSD. the drive wast tested with a samsung 840 evo 120gb, which has been tested to have around 500MBps read and write speeds when connected through SATA III, so it seems that this enclosure is only SATA II compliant, which is in line with the product description.the place where this enclosure really hits it out of the park is value. what you get is an attractive looking enclosure that is plenty fast for file transfers unless you are putting a SSD in it and NEED SATA III speeds. the build quality of the enclosure is a bit of a let down, but for the cost of only a few cups of coffee, I can't help but recommend it.

I'm going to go ahead and give it 5 stars because it's doing what I want it to do. I have to admit that I had to tweak it a little - but I had watched a lot of YouTube videos and was prepared for that.From the reviews, discussions, and videos, the problems are: shorting, rattling, closure issues. Before installing my drive, I address all three of these:One: shortingThere is some pointy solder that can touch the case. Place a few pieces of electrical tape over these before installing the drive.Two: rattlingThe far end of the drive can bang around at the bottom of the case. Place a few strips of electrical tape on each side of the far end of the drive and it will fit more snugly and not rattle.Three: there appears to be a gap when closing the caseAlternate screwing in each side of the case until the top is all the way on. Then tighten until the top snaps in and the gap disappears.I know this seems like a lot of work for 5 stars; but, really, it only took me a few minutes with some electrical tape and the included screwdriver tool. And the result is a super-useful, super-fast USB 3.0 HDD enclosure. I'm really happy with it.

Perfect! Plug and play. Just add your drive. Great for game and profile transfer. This was my second unit.