I picked this up as part of a small project to make a storage/portable Ubuntu Studio workstation. The idea was to see if I could get something at a fair price, good performance, and maybe good durability (compared to USB keys/external SSDs). I could have just shopped for a low budget/on sale drive but I decided on an enclosure/SSD combo for three reasons:
Up-gradable/repairable - Normally, if you out grow your storage and need an upgrade or your drive fails, you are stuck buying a new one. This option helps address this issue by allowing the memory to be upgraded/replaced by swapping the drive in the enclosure with a new one. If a new enclosure is needed (due to failure or an upgrade), it can also be swapped out. Swapping out either the drive or the enclosure could be less expensive than buying a new external drive/USB key would be (depending on sales, requirements, and available options).
Multi function - This enclosure could be used to back up/restore hard drives, perform operations on a hard drive that is not installed in a system, or even copy/clone a drive when performing a storage upgrade instead of just for storage.
It's fun - 'nuff said.
So far this combo has been working out pretty well. I've booted a copy of Ubuntu Studio and performed some video streaming/file read/copy operations to test it. Below is my unboxing and review.
Overview/Package
The enclosure (on left) is in a fairly small package. The SSD I bought to use with the enclosure comes in a box that isn't much smaller. Considering it comes with two USB cables and a carrying harness, the packaging is pretty compact.
Unboxing
Mounting a drive
Case Assembly
Performance
Conclusion
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