Enermax Brick 3.5in
This large 3.5in aluminium enclosure features basic top and bottom slide panels, the former for inserting drives, the latter for screwing them firmly in place. A standard blue LED indictor blinks while files are in copy or read mode and there's a clunky on off switch alongside.
The enclosure comes with a stand for keeping the whole thing upright, but, overall, it's a very basic unit and couldn't get much simpler if it tried. At £22, ti's the cheapest 3.5in enclosure on test and you do rather get what you pay for. Still, its transfer performance left nothing to complain about.
Reg Rating 60%
Price £23
More info Enermax
Enermax Brick 2.5in
The HDD tray here slots into a loose aluminium sleeve covered either side by slide-on plates. If you're a quick change artist, then the fact that you need to screw it all together might not appeal as, unsurprisingly, the case is a bit rattly if you don't. A faux-leather pouch provided bolsters protection and keeps it all from jiggling, should you decide to skip the screw fit.
Unlike some of the portable enclosures here, the USB 3.0 cable isn't a split type and seemed none the worse for it. I did find it easy to accidentally dislodge the cable from the chassis though which was a bit of a worry. And if I were to get really pernickety, according to the manual, the LED indicator glows blue while powered up and turns purple while in use. However, aside from a barely noticeable flicker while reading and writing files, the luminous blue LED remains the same and didn't appear to change colour. But then again, I've not had an Ishihara test recently.
Reg Rating 70%
Price £23
More info Enermax
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COMMENTS
Re: Why blue LEDs?
My theory on blue LEDs is that the world (as in the world outside of R&D labs) had to put up with boring red dome LEDs for decades, then green ones came along, which were mildly distracting, then yellow, orange, multicoloured and white ones, but they were all rather boring. Mankind's nature is to want what he can't have and for a very long time in the world of LEDs, that thing was the colour blue.
Finally, along came blue LEDs. They were dazzling and bright and shiny and above all very expensive. If your project or gadget had a blue LED it was cool, period. The delayed gratification that happened with blue LEDs elevated them briefly to uber-cool status. Now blue LEDs are cheap, but the coolness factor hasn't decayed enough. At least it hasn't as far as product designers are concerned. After all, they are the same people who drooled longingly at the blue LEDs in the RS catalogue while everyone else was busy thumbing their mum's Littlewoods one, and consequently every new piece of PC hardware we buy has more and more of the fucking things. I can see five right now from where I'm sitting, and that's only because six of my motherboard's eight power phases are idle right now. If I start up a 3D app, this place lights up like bloody Heathrow.
Why blue LEDs?
How can anyone who lives in a country where the emergency services use flashing blue lights find blue LEDs in anyway relaxing? Normally, seeing flashing blue lights in your peripheral vision means you should immediately look around for a way to free up the road, lest you delay some poor sod on his way to hospital... And seeing flashing blue lights suddenly appear behind you means pull over and ask the good officer politely how you can help him.
Re: Why blue LEDs?
Agreed, blue LEDs in consumer products is the work of the devil or a politician*. There is a big reason why car tail lights tend to be red and emergency lights are often blue. It's the same reason that many devices designed to be used at night tend to use red illumination. It's because red is a nice low energy photon, which is also likely the reason red LEDs came out so long ago, and won't wreak havoc with your night vision. Blue on the other hand is a high energy photon and the LEDs are usually bright enough so you don't need night vision because they illuminate the room sufficiently to see clearly. Either works but when visiting a friend out of state and crashing on the pull out sofa bed in the den I found the blue LEDed wifi router blinking away like a bloody lighthouse in the corner to be a bit distracting.
*I know, it's a distinction without a difference.
Re: ISOs and rugged
> Just install Hyper-V
I hope Microsoft doesn't actually pay you for this Genghis Khan Subliminal Marketing effort.
You should also check where in a virtualized system "security" enters the game. It's instructive.
Re: Why blue LEDs?
But these enclosures will never be seen in a server room. Similarly the hugely loud fans found in equipment in server rooms would never be tolerated in a home/office environment.
Blue LEDs are seriously irritating for people with gradually worsening short sight: blue is the first colour to lose focus. And besides that, the light emitted is horribly intense.
Blue LEDs: not even once.
