The Antec MX-1 Actively Cooled Hard Drive Enclosure is at the higher end of the 3.5" hard drive enclosure market. However the benefits of the case far outweigh the cost. Antec are well known for providing high end desktop and tower cases for maximum cooling of internal components.
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The overall design of the case is optimised to allow for a minimal footprint with the greatest cooling for the hard drive. This ensures a good operational life for the hard drive through active cooling (a fan is mounted below the hard drive in the case, therefore minimising the chance of the drive malfunctioning due to overheating). The enclosure is also backed up with a 3 year warranty which is much longer than most enclosures.
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We decided to install a 750mb Samung SATAII drive in the enclosure, and found the installation very easy following the pictorial instructions enclosed with the enclosure.
The lid to the enclosure was removed by releasing a screw from the base and sliding the lid back and up. In order to install the drive, two further screws were removed along with two power connectors, and the hard drive mount slid forwards and removed. The hard drive was held in place similar to other enclosure by four screws. However, in contrast to other enclosures, the drive rests on four rubber gromets and a rubber gasket, which minimise the vibrational noise of the drive, a problem in cheaper enclosures. After this we rebuilt the enclosure in reverse of the above methods.
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The Antec MX-1 Actively Cooled Hard Drive Enclosure has two interfaces for connection to PCs, a standard USB connection (~480MBps), or an eSATA interface so that it can act as a standard drive to the system (therefore faster than USB).
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We tried both interfaces and found both to be easy to connect. Antec even includes a cable and faceplate for mounting in desktop cases for ease of connection.
Following connection both interfaces gave fast transfer speeds as expected for each interface, and the hard drive was instantly recognised in XP and Vista.
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All in all the Antec MX-1 Actively Cooled Hard Drive Enclosure is a very well designed and stable platform for backup devices and supports all of the latest SATAII hard drives. We definitely recommend the enclosure despite the extra cost for people that need a very stable and secure external backup device.
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For more hardware reviews visit Computer Takeaway.
James Youell is the founder and one of the editors for http://www.computer-takeaway.co.uk
Computer Takeaway is website dedicated to independently reviewing PC and mobile communications hardware and software.
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